3 Simple Formulas to Price Your Offers to Sell Like Crazy

By Justine Beauregard 

Think about the last item you purchased. I bet the price wasn’t a factor until you determined it met your needs. This isn’t a coincidence; it’s science. Price is one of the final decision markers we evaluate when purchasing.

As a 17-year sales coach, I’ve never been one to get stuck on pricing. Instead, I ask questions like, what do I believe is the value of the offer? Not to me but to the end user. How much time will it save them? How much more ease will it provide? What will their experience be like?

Next, I consider what price will be a no-brainer for others. If you don’t overthink this one, it will often come very naturally and quickly to you.

And, finally, what price excites you? What price would make you feel incredible about selling and fulfilling your offer to many people?

There are two core objectives when pricing an offer to sell like crazy.

1. You must feel valued and see a return on your time and effort.
2. The buyer must feel valued and see a return on their investment.

Most businesses will price their products and services based on the market, leading them to race to the bottom and effectively undermine their value—and joy.

We both know you aren’t the rule; you’re the exception. You are a powerful goddess who honours her boundaries, prioritises pleasure, and trusts herself to price for the benefit of all. You price differently and know your time is best spent on the delivery of your offer, not the price for which you sell it.

With this in mind, let’s walk through a few simple formulas to help you find your ideal price point for any offer in minutes. No second-guessing, just simple math paired with confident decisions.

Formula 1: The Reverse-Engineered Method

This one is perfect for you if you’re an online service provider, like a coach or consultant. Start by choosing how much you desire to make in a year. Let’s use the magic $100,000 everyone seems enamoured with these days.

Then, calculate how many weeks you plan to work per year, how many days you plan to work per week, and how many hours you plan to work per day.

Suppose you wish to work 45 weeks a year, Monday through Thursday, for 5 hours daily. This will give you an hourly rate of $111. You’ll then want to triple this number since you won’t be paid when you’re not serving customers, and fulfilment is often 33% of your time as a service provider and solopreneur. That’s $333 per hour.

So, whatever your offer involves in terms of time, ensure you’re hitting that $333/hour mark.

Formula 2: The Picasso Method

You are never selling an offer; you are selling the outcome it provides.
Physical therapists don’t sell meal plans and supplements; they sell expedited weight loss. Website designers don’t sell a WordPress website; they sell a stand-out online presence that helps you generate leads and sales with less effort. A clothing designer doesn’t sell blouses; they sell confidence and a luxurious lifestyle.

When you price based on outcomes, the possibilities are endless! Pair this with the assumption that people see expensive items as higher quality, and you have no ceiling to your pricing.

If you’re someone who has an easy time quantifying outcomes like this, this may feel very exciting for you! This often results in a more high-end pricing strategy for product-based businesses and package-based pricing for service-based companies.

Your best next step? Ask yourself, “what is this outcome worth to someone?” Then, skip the hard math and price based on the value you assign to each outcome, factoring in your costs to ensure there is plenty of upside in it for you.

It’s like the story of Picasso at a farmer’s market. A woman asks for a self-portrait. He draws for 50 seconds and says, “Here you go. That will be $5,000.” She replies, “What? That took you under a minute to make!” To which he replied, “No, ma’am. It took me 30 years.”

You cannot associate your value in this model with costs, time, or even effort. It’s about your ability to expertly deliver their ideal outcome.

Formula 3: The Profit Mapping Method

The third formula is more traditional, “business math.” This one is ideal for product-based businesses because it’s focused mainly on the cost of goods sold.

The first step is to calculate your cost to produce one item. If you’ve ever seen an episode of Shark Tank or Dragon’s Den, you’re familiar with the language “landed costs,” which includes product development, production, packaging, placement, and promotions.

Let’s say, for instance, you sell body lotion. It costs you $3 to make 10 oz of cream, $2 for the branded packaging, $5 for shipping fees (which you include), and you estimate $1 per bottle for general marketing costs. That makes your landed cost per bottle $11.

Assuming you aren’t using a distributor or wholesale partners to sell it, choose how much profit you desire to make from selling one bottle. If that number is 30%, you’ll want to charge $14.30 per bottle of lotion, rounding up to $14.99. It’s that simple.

Now, it’s time to decide.

Which pricing formula speaks most loudly to you, and why? Don’t overthink it. Use the one that comes most readily or takes the least effort. Then, price your offer and start selling it everywhere!

The world awaits.

Justine Beauregard is an expert sales coach and trainer who has raised over $1MM for nonprofits, has been a published poet since the age of nine and currently runs a 6-figure sales coaching business. Her favourite thing is to help you close more sales with fewer objections and make it easier to find your ideal sales process and persona, and she has never met a pizza she didn't like. 

You can find out more about Justine here.