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Business Articles

Practical thinking for owner-run businesses on pricing, inventory, cash, customers and getting found, and on making better decisions with the data you already have.

4 articles on Pricing and margins, newest first

The Margin Question Most Owners Can't Answer

Pricing and margins5 min

Which of your services actually makes money? The usual way of answering points owners at the wrong line. A worked example shows how to read margin by service, and by hour, before you cut anything.

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Pricing and margins6 min

Is Wholesale Worth It?

A wholesale order looks like found money until you price the margin you traded for it. How one case sold wholesale compares to direct orders, and the break-even that says when the trade works.

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Pricing and margins5 min

Why Didn't Cutting Costs Increase Your Profit?

Cutting a cost rarely cuts the work it was paying for. The work migrates onto whoever is left, usually the owner, at a rate the books record as zero. That is how a payroll line improves while the business gets worse.

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Pricing and margins5 min

Should You Raise Your Prices?

The unanswerable question is how many customers you'd lose. The exact one is how many you can afford to lose. On a 62% margin a 10% raise lets you lose one in seven before it costs you a cent — and a 10% cut makes you win one in five just to break even.

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