Transparent Pricing Strategies

Head of Sales: We're posting all our pricing online. Everything. CEO: Absolutely not. Competitors will instantly undercut us. Explain yourself.. Head of Sales: Our competitors already know it. They send fake prospects to our demos monthly. Meanwhile, we waste 19 hours per week on "budget qualification." CEO: That's called sales. Head of Sales: That's called theater. 87% of prospects decide their budget before talking to us. We just dance around it for 3 calls. CEO: We'll lose negotiating power. Head of Sales: What power? There's a Slack group with 4,200 B2B buyers sharing our quotes. Your pricing is already public. You just don't control the narrative. CEO: This will kill enterprise deals. Head of Sales: Our biggest deal last quarter came from someone who saw HubSpot's pricing. Called us BECAUSE we were more expensive. Said it meant we were serious. CEO: One lucky example. Head of Sales: Stripe publishes pricing. Worth $50 billion. Zoom publishes pricing. Crushed every "enterprise" competitor. Meanwhile, companies hiding pricing are still cold calling. CEO: The board will panic. Head of Sales: The board wants efficiency. Current math: Talk to 100 prospects, close 8. With pricing public: 30 call, 12 close. Less waste. Higher intent. CEO: How could you possibly know that? Head of Sales: I "leaked" our pricing in a Slack community. Every lead from that leak closed in under 2 weeks. They came ready to buy, not browse. CEO: That's.. kind of genius. Head of Sales: The best prospects respect transparent pricing. The worst ones need convincing it's worth it. Which would you rather sell to? CEO: Fine. One month trial. Head of Sales: Already built the page. Goes live Monday. CEO: Of course you did. PS: Hiding your pricing doesn't make you premium. It makes you scared. The best companies sell with confidence, not mystery. I'm Conor Paulsen - I help companies turn LinkedIn into a top revenue channel. Follow me for more actionable LinkedIn sales tips & tricks.

It’s humbling: 17 years in sales, $44M+ in B2B deals closed… and I still get ghosted after pouring 40 hours into a pitch. 2 months ago, I sat down with my leadership team and told them: our sales process is broken. Currently: → A “quick chat” turns into 3 Zoom calls. → Weeks of back-and-forth email threads. → Too many proposals that go nowhere. By the time we finally send over pricing, they've either: • Ghosted • Picked someone else • Forgot why they reached out in the first place As much as I hate to admit it, many of our deals at @Incepteo still undergo this process. So, we're making a significant change: Productizing our services. Yes, I know it's a huge buzzword – but here's what we're planning to do: 1) Make it easier for the client to say “yes” People buy when they are excited. People buy when they trust you. They don't buy when they have to wait 2 weeks to understand what they're getting. Imagine if the only way to book a flight was to: → Call the airline → Explain where you're going → Wait 3 days → Then get a quote No one would fly. But, that's exactly what the typical service business' sales process looks like. Proposals (quotes) take hours for us to prepare AND prevent buyers from quickly accessing the information they need. If someone’s interested in working with us, we want to show them exactly what we do and why it works in minutes. To do that, we'll… 2) Build online estimators for our core offers Not every client needs something 'totally unique.' In reality: → 80% of what we do is repeatable → 20% is custom (but can still live inside a well-defined package) So, we're building an online estimator that help prospects get: • A transparent price range • A ballpark timeline • An overview of deliverables This information comes in a few clicks on our website. No calls or weeks of waiting needed. We’ll still add human oversight before onboarding, but this reduces lead time drastically. 3) Communicate the “how” (not just the “what”) Even with clear pricing and timeline, there's still a trust gap. They still need to know: • Why we’re different • What our values are • How we actually deliver the work. Otherwise, we’re just another AI solutions firm with a nice landing page. Clients buy on outcomes AND the process. Now that we've reduced repetitive discovery calls, we can use that time to connect deeply on values and vision. We'll share our 'how' across our website, leadership content, and direct messaging. If prospects can’t tell us apart from 3 other firms charging wildly different rates—that’s on us. It's our job to visualize the invisible. Productizing services makes the buying experience better for you and your customer. • Shorter sales cycles • Less ghosting • Better-fit clients who are aligned with how we work Clarity → confidence → conversions. We're still building our estimation system, but the early signs are promising. Curious to hear your feedback on productizing in the comments. 

Legacy sellers fear price transparency—modern sellers seek it out. For decades, opaque pricing was a shield. The less buyers knew, the more leverage sellers had. Here’s why legacy teams resist transparency: -Race to the bottom. If pricing is public, competitors will undercut them, forcing a discount war. -Losing deal control. No more artificial urgency, end-of-month “specials,” or negotiation games. -Buyers skipping the process. If buyers see the price upfront, they might self-select out before a rep can “sell them” on the value. But buyers aren’t waiting for permission. -80%+ of buyers research pricing before ever talking to sales. -50%+ walk away if they can’t find it. -Deals with upfront pricing close 2x faster than those that require negotiation. Price transparency doesn’t kill deals. It kills friction. It builds trust, speeds up sales, and eliminates the hesitation that stalls buying decisions. Modern sellers know: price transparency isn’t a risk—it’s a growth strategy.

Price transparency isn't about pricing. It's about authority. Here's what most people get wrong: They think hiding prices makes them look exclusive. Actually, it makes them look uncertain. Real experts aren't afraid to own their value. As one client said, "I want to be the Lexus of my industry." Here's why transparent pricing builds authority: 1️⃣ It shows market confidence ↳ You understand your worth ↳ You've tested your pricing ↳ You're not guessing anymore 2️⃣ It filters your audience ↳ Tire-kickers exit early ↳ Serious clients stay ↳ Everyone respects clarity 3️⃣ It demonstrates leadership ↳ You set market expectations ↳ Others follow your lead ↳ You own the conversation 4️⃣ It builds trust through action ↳ No surprises = no friction ↳ Clear prices = clear decisions ↳ Transparency = professionalism Here's what we do: → Announce price changes 6 months ahead → Explain the value increase → Honor legacy pricing for existing clients → Set clear deadlines for action The result? • Zero pricing drama • Faster sales cycles • Higher-quality clients • Stronger market position Remember: How someone feels about your pricing is none of your business. Tie it to your value and you can never go wrong. What's your approach to pricing transparency? Share your experience below.

Would you stop at a gas station that didn’t post pricing? Maybe if it were the only option within one hundred miles… Maybe. There are many reasons why B2B companies don’t openly share pricing. None of those reasons are customer-oriented. If someone has to talk with sales to get pricing, you’re putting a major obstacle in the way of the sale and wasting your team’s time. I've been a primary decision-maker in purchases for businesses I own, companies I've worked for, and on behalf of clients. There are many times I've skipped companies during the research process because I couldn't determine their price and didn't have weeks to wait for sales to reach out to schedule a meeting. Sales lost instantly. Instead, position your product well and create messaging that clearly shows the value upfront. Then, create a pricing page with actual pricing. You can get creative here. Ideally, you create set pricing or minimum pricing that you display for the world, but more importantly, for your prospects to see. Alternatively, you can show a price range or a typical price or create an entry offer like an assessment. Customers want to know pricing upfront so they can self-qualify in or out. Your price is also an important factor in telling prospects what level of service you offer. With AI being used as a primary tool for research, buyers are in the driver's seat now more than ever. At this point, there will be pessimistic protestors who oppose transparent pricing. I have just one thing to say: would you buy gas from this station? #b2bmarketing #enterprisemarketing #pricing #meme