There has been many times where the guy with that mentality that I'm referring to, felt as though he was being ripped off because I didn't charge enough. I've had other techs in the same business to admit charging these type of people more, because the person didn't feel secure being charged less. Now does that make any sense? It doesn't too me!
How true!
Just yesterday (really , yesterday) I was talking to a high-end cabinet maker in the complex I have my shop in. He told me he thought I should raise my prices dramatically. To illustrate this his point, he related the incident that resulted in his pricing strategies. Here was his story:
A couple earning about $400K per year paid him a visit and asked him if he could design a dining table for them.
He generated a design that they loved. When they asked him how much it would cost, he said it was quite labor-intensive and could cost as much as $15,000 to produce. He never heard from them again.
A few weeks later, a "design consultant" paid him a visit. She had a client that wanted a very high-end dining table. She showed him some drawings.
Of course, they were his original drawings. The only thing that changed was that his name was removed from them.
He looked at the drawings and told her he thought the design was very nice (he didn't mention that he was the original designer). He told her it would be expensive to produce - about $20,000.
She said, "Fine, here's a check for $5000 down. Give them an invoice for $25,000 - $20,000 for you and $5000 for me."
While the couple knew that the person who built their new table was the same person they had originally received the $15,000 quote from, they never acknowledged the fact and never complained.
His point was that they did not want a $15,000 table. They wanted something better. They wanted a $25,000 table and were happy to pay extra to get what they wanted.
Would HT3's sound better if they cost $15,000 - $20,000 per pair like other speakers with similar drivers? Of course not. But I bet there would be some who might regard them as superior.
Price increases go into effect on June 1st
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- Jim