How Often is Too Often

Pricing is another way of communication between humans, meaning that, just like humans, it is not guaranteed to be 100% logical or consistent.

Case a:

“Hey Carl, we are finally caving into the pressure and will be raising our price 25% from January 2023.”

” Well, you guys deserve it. Let’s go on.”

Case b:

“Hey Carl, we are finally caving into the pressure and will be raising our price 20% from January 2023.”

” Well, you guys deserve it. Let’s go on.”

— then again, in March 2023–

“Hey Carl, despite our recent price hike we will have another one, just 4% this time though”

“That’s too bad, I don’t think we can follow you there, I’m sorry.”

Is this realistic? Very. People would rather pay a 25% hike than a 20 and then a 4%. It’s about the relationship – they can be ok with you doing what you must to stay profitable every once in a while. But do it too often, and it starts to feel like you are “yanking their chain”, testing or pushing them to see just how much they actually need you. 

Nobody likes to feel that way, and people will resist this much more because of their ego, even if it seems illogical.

So, how often is too often, when it comes to price raising for an individual client? A good rule of thumb is once every few years unless something unprecedented is clearly going on. In normal circumstances, that rhythm of price raising should not alarm most sensible clients.