Discussing The Cost of Contracting Jobs on Your Website

I am going to let you in on a little secret. What you charge to paint someone’s home, fix a leaky pipe, or remodel a kitchen is not top secret. In fact, it never has been! I know you do not want your competitors to know your hidden talents, but the fact of the matter is this: If a competitor wants to know what you charge for your services, they will find a way.
Guess what? It is ok that they know. There is not really anything to hide.
What I would like to accomplish in this post is to encourage you guys to do something that might be out of your comfort zone. I would like your company to begin open discussions with your prospects online about the cost and prices of your line of work.
Let me explain a bit more of what I mean. If you begin to post ideas of what things cost to your potential customers and do this more than your competitors (stay on top of this), you will build more trust and credibility with your prospects. You can become the go to place that consumers visit to learn what it costs to paint an average size bedroom, repaint kitchen cabinets, or what a price range would be on a kitchen remodel.
Example from a Pool Contractor
This is not something that I just came up with on my own and am praying it works. Believe me, it works. Take for example, River, Pools and Spas. This company started blogging back in 2009 and started posting articles that dealt with cost. They held nothing back. They were an open book, answering questions consumers had about their line of work (installing fiberglass pools). Over the next several years, their blog became the most popular pool blog in the world. It also made them the most trusted pool company in their area, making it so much easier to sell work. When they got a lead, people had a general idea up front of what a pool cost, so their closing rates went through the roof!
My friend, Marcus Sheridan, (now a consultant) who started the River, Pools and Spa’s blog, spends most of his time “preaching” a very similar message to what my blog topic is all about: being transparent and holding nothing back from your audience. (Follow Marcus’s blog here)
So without going into much detail in this blog post, the takeaway is simple: start thinking through what questions consumers have about your line of work and the cost involved, and start creating content that will answer those questions.
“But David, a kitchen remodel could cost $15,000 or $200,000. There are so many variables.” “You know that painting an exterior could be as simple as $3,000 and as complex as $100,000. How on earth can we educate a prospect on what it cost to paint an exterior?”
If you have a question similar to the above, you are thinking too big. Start much smaller! Think about how you do this on a daily basis now when you go to a prospect’s home or business. They explain what they want completed and you typically begin educating on a price range of what it will cost. Am I right? Educate the prospect before you get called to do an estimate. It will save you both time, and you will close more jobs.
Your Turn
Am I just blowing smoke, or do you agree that posting more about the cost of your services is a good idea and will work? Think about how easy it is to shop prices online for products. We then buy from the sources we feel are most trusted or convenient, like Amazon, Apple, Home Depot, etc.