The right price

It makes sense that business owners should raise their prices every year. After all, there is a pretty good chance you are paying more for materials, equipment or any other aspect of your business. But I do hear from both landscapers and consultants that some companies are afraid to raise prices because they don’t want to lose customers.

That always leads to the question: If you legitimately need to raise prices, and someone isn’t willing to pay more, do you really want them as a customer?

I know I’ve written about this before, but I continue to hear from smart people in the industry that you can’t be afraid to increase your prices, at the very least for new customers.

I’m happy to report that I saw some good news after reviewing the survey results for the 2022 Benchmarking Your Business Report, which is our cover story this month.

In our current report, 81% said they charge more now than 3 years ago, which is a 15% increase from 2020. And no one lowered prices.

In our 2021 report, only 66% of respondents said they charge more now than they did 3 years ago. Two percent said they charge less, if you can believe that.

A whopping 94% of companies with revenue more than $1 million charge more now compared to 84% in the 2021 report. Geographically, the West Coast saw the largest percent increase, with 89% saying they charge more compared to only 72% last year.

As far charging per hour for labor, the service that saw the biggest increase was snow, with an increase of almost $12 an hour more in the 2022 report compared to 2021.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Great Resignation and steep pay increases in some industries affects the responses in our 2023 report. But you’ll have to wait until next year for those results.