The Pricing and Monetization Podcast: The Audioblog of TapRun.com

I noticed something odd about this coupon from Toojay's Original Gourmet Deli. Can you guess what I'm going to say? I added a red rectangle as a hint. Coupons are often intended to lure relatively Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/toojay-coupon-discount-pricing

Nearly every business has a petty cash drawer that contains a small amount of money to be used for low-value purchases. Have you ever wondered why? In a way, it's strange that businesses have a two-tiered system for handling monetary transactions. For most purchases, items go up the chain of command. Bosses, analysts and auditors have to Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/petty-cash-and-pricing-strategy

Following up on my post about placing a price tag on a human life, I thought I'd upset even more people with a relatively straightforward question: Are there some products that should not have a price? Remember, I'm next asking what can't have a price - there are ways to value just about Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/should-every-item-have-a-price

As I look around Boca Raton, Florida, I see many folks driving fuel-efficient hybrids. The economist in me wonders why all of those drivers of high-efficiency cars hate the planet so much. Wouldn't it be better if we could force companies to produce less fuel-efficient vehicles? Many environmentalists would say the idea is crazy. Many Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/environmentalism-and-pricing-jevons-paradox

Sometimes, as I walk around Boca Raton, people come up to me and ask me "Who is your favorite pricing economist?". They typically expect me to name a famous economist like Adam Smith or Milton Friedman. They're all shocked when I tell them that the person who understood pricing best was the actor Bruce Lee. There is no example of his Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/bruce-lee-expert-pricing-economist

I've already written about trying to price your services. But let me ask you a related question. How much are you worth? That is to say, what price should the country put on your life? Non-economists would be aghast at that question, but its answer is central to the very way that the Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/price-of-a-human-life

Sometimes my reputation as a software engineer preceeds me. Other times, people simply see me with a computer and try to hire me on the spot. I was recently approached by a businessman for a simple project in Boca Raton, Florida. It involved writing some custom software to spider through a website, download millions of records and organize Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/when-is-the-price-too-high-to-accept

Criminal enterprises are fantastic laboratories for the field of economics. When participants are willing to throw off the shackles of laws and/or morality, they can try all sorts of things to maximize their income streams. Though a staunch law abider myself, I am fascinated by folks who commit one crime in particular: racketeering. Despite Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/profit-maximization-with-software-engineering-certifications

Yesterday was election day in America. I cast my votes in federal, state and local races, but frankly, no issue caused me more headaches than a ballot initiative in Palm Beach County (home of Boca Raton). It wasn't because I felt extremely passionate about the issue, but because it dealt with my favorite topic: pricing. Here's the basic Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/pricing-an-unknown-product

What's the one item that almost everyone sells but no one understands how to price? Their time. I was talking to a recent graduate a few days ago. He was salaried and working at a new job. As it turns out, he received straight salary, but was awarded no paid time off. Any hour he missed led to deductions from his paycheck. Immediately I Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/thinking-of-salaries-as-pricing

As the author of Charge Like a Rhino: The Software Pricing Handbook, a lot of people have been asking me questions about how to price their products (software or otherwise). Needless to say, everyone was aghast when I announced that my next book would be priced significantly lower than my first. Was this an admission Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/next-time-i-am-charging-less

Tiered pricing is an excellent tactic for selling goods and services. Typically a handful of offerings are advertised in such a manner that allows a customer to select the one that best meets his needs and ability to pay. Its use is so prevalent that many expert marketers divide businesses into two types: Those that use tiered Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/tiered-pricing-gone-wrong

When I first started reading about pricing strategies, I thought that there were only two: those that relied on honesty and those that relied on lies (fraud). It all seemed pretty simple, but as usual the real world turned out to be more complex. Marketers soon realized that making statements that were completely devoid of meaning could be a Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/meaningless-prices-in-advertising

It has become very fashionable to tell folks to avoid competing on price. I've heard this at networking events, in entrepreneurship articles - even over business lunches. I hope you've been ignoring this advice and all those who offer it. They say that competing on price will lead to your company going broke. They say that Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/competing-on-price

Debates are common when figuring out what to charge for a good, but I think it's far more interesting to hear folks ague about how pricing effects their decisions to buy. I have a confession to make. I love loss leaders. Unlike "door buster" which is a meaningless marketing term, a loss leader is a bonified deal. Merchants price their loss Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/exploiting-loss-leaders

The message is clear: there is a shortage of qualified programmers. News reporters repeat this message over and over. Politicians cry out for a solution. Businessmen are stating that their businesses are being hurt. But the problem isn't a shortage of qualified developers, the problem is that none of these folks understand simple Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/no-shortage-of-software-engineers-a-pricing-story

Alert the press! I made a recent discovery worthy of the Nobel Prize for Economics (which unfortunately doesn't exist - it's actually the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, but I digress). I attended a business networking Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/economics-of-nametags

I've been thinking about appliances lately, and I keep noticing their energy star ratings. Devices bearing the energy star seal are more energy efficient than other devices. Buyers can do a bit of reading and quickly determine how long it will take for the savings in energy costs to offset a possibly Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/market-inefficiencies-in-pricing-appliances

A lot of people think that pricing products is easy. Oh how wrong they are! Let's take the classic example of a library. Here in America, we've been spoiled by libraries that provide borrowing privileges at no cost, but libraries used to work very differently. A few hundred years ago, libraries required paid memberships. Administrators Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/why-are-libraries-priced-free

I recently enjoyed a great lunch at one of my favorite restaurants. The entire experience was good. The food was tasty, and served in reasonable portions. The staff was attentive and made sure that we were seated promptly. The premises were impeccable and beautifully laid out. All in all, it was a great outing, with one glaring exception: the Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/learning-to-price-software-at-a-restaurant

I spent years as a software developer and project manager. Now I'm ready to begin yet another career: fortune teller. That's right. Thanks to my magic crystal ball, I can see into the future and am ready to report back on the state of software engineering. Long story short: the future isn't bright, and it's only going to get worse. The writer Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/cruddy-programmers-are-the-future

I'm very interested in picking out prices. I firmly believe that if a company doesn't choose a pricing strategy carefully, it's likely to leave a lot of money on the table. But many others disagree! The band Radiohead received a lot of free attention for allowing customers Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/pay-what-you-want-works-sometimes

The word is getting out! With the imminent release of my book on software pricing strategy, everyone is asking me about what they should charge for their small businesses and startups. Here's one conversation today. Friend: I'm going to start offering classes. What should I charge? Me: Fantastic! Who Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/how-much-can-i-charge-for-a-class

I recently spoke to a businessman about his project. He'd handed it off to a couple of programming teams and the result was the same each time. Failure. Every software engineer wants to be the one who can do what another guy can't, so I asked to so see the writeup describing his project. I was shocked. Maybe that wasn't it. I was bemused. Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/business-of-programming

The sales funnel is a classic marketing tool used by marketers everywhere. It is also used incorrectly, causing wasted marketing dollars, lost potential sales and (most importantly) lost time. So what is the sales funnel? It is a strategy for breaking down the sales process into a series of steps, each focused on a smaller number of sales Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/sales-funnel-no-sniper-scope-yes

One of my friends purchased a product. It was a small, resealable plastic box containing a piece of sandpaper and six pieces of sticky tape, each roughly a square inch in size. Let's pretend that you own the company that sells this product. How would you price it? If you were to price on cost, you would probably quote a price in the Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/pricing-of-tape

What would you say if I told you that I spent three times as much money as a friend who bought a bike? Not only that, but I bought a bicycle that is more fragile, less stable and is significantly less comfortable to ride? You'd probably say that I made a poor buying decision. I did not. My friend purchased a mountain bike, designed for Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/bicycles-and-product-positioning

As a business owner, I often need to purchase products and services, so it makes me happy when vendors can clearly explain the benefits of their offerings. The better they can describe their wares, the more straightforward my decision making becomes. Unfortunately, many salesmen try to control the sales process and attempt to channel potential Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/how-to-lose-a-sales-lead

Perhaps you've heard of the "Law of the Hammer". It's an expression that says that if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. On the surface, it makes sense to rely most heavily on your greatest strengths. If you are smarter than most, it makes sense to rely on your intellect. If you are an excellent marketer, it makes sense to Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/law-of-the-hammer

Someone asked me to explain why I'm so interested in marketing, so I told him the Parable of Bob. Bob was a great statistician. His boss liked him, and his coworkers thought he was a mathematical genius. One day he decided to quit his job and start his own company. It seemed like a no-brainer. He had a great product - a mastery of Episode link: https://taprun.com/articles/marketing-in-a-nutshell