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Today’s episode is my take on hiding prices. And it’s a hard no for me. While it can be done ethically, tune in to hear the other side and some prompting questions to consider. It’s not as black and white as you might think.

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My Name is Annie Miller and I’ve never hidden pricing from my customers.

I received a series of questions from a follower a while back. These question boxes turned into a DM conversation. And now I am podcasting about it. I swear content is a never ending cycle.

The question box started with “Should you avoid telling price over text / message? Only on calls?”

Before we get into WHY I am against withholding price, and how I get my clients to feel comfortable having their prices for all the world to see, I want to make clear that you’re not a bad person if you hide pricing. And you’re not stupid for using the logic you’ve likely been taught. My hope to offer an alternative. Maybe one you haven’t considered.

It’s just like me not using sales calls. Plenty of my clients use sales calls and ENJOY THEM. My job is to make those as efficient and natural for my clients as possible. That, for me, includes revealing the price before the call. The call is a confirmation of the sale, not where the sale is actually initiated and made. We’ll get to that later.

So, if at the end of this episode you still want to hide your pricing, I respect that. Because I am, as I say, for YOUR BIZ, YOUR WAY. Not your biz, my way. 😉

I simply want to make sure you’re aware of your options.

As I said, I plan to cover two things: 

1. Why I encourage having prices listed or at least starting prices listed.
2. Exact methods I use with my clients to make that a comfortable, natural, and joyous situation

Moving forward, I am going to tell you what I tell my FitsPROs and biz clients – sell and create content from a consumer point of view. You have more market research available to you in the way YOU OPERATE. And if you can learn to observe yourself in consumer settings, you will learn so much.

Why did you make that purchase? What did you think it would bring you? Why did you share that post? What did it make you feel? Why do you scroll past certain ads and get sucked in by others. Observe your own psychology and behaviors online. Become a student of the consumer. After all that is who you’re creating content for and selling to.

Now, let us. Apply that to price withholding. I am a particular type of buyer. If we can acknowledge that bias first, that might be helpful. I want the facts. I want to feel informed, and then to make my decision based on all the information I’ve gathered.

Thus – I lean towards doing the same for my consumers and customers. I, and you, are not here to convince anyone of anything. Okay? In my digital classroom, we are here to provide all valid and needed information in order for prospects to make their own full grown ass adult financial decisions. Yes?

Back to consumer-first approach of sales – There are no right or wrong answers here, I just want you to answer honestly to yourself. And if you’ve never experienced these, I want you to imagine. Deal?

1. Do you enjoy when someone does not have their prices listed? How does it feel, either way.
2. When you ask what the price is for a given offer, and the company or owner beats around the bush or says let’s hop on a call, how does that feel?

Answer those how you may. But this is the WHY in my opinion. I would hate for someone to have not known the price, been a great fit for my programs but didn’t know how much to save or set aside, so they miss out. I’d rather be straight with them, so they can prepare, save, or make an empowered no, it’s simply not a good investment right now. Then I can keep them in my audience and maybe, down the road, they enroll, or send others my way! That’s a win in my book.

If we claim and want to run an “authentic” business but our client coach relationship starts by withholding very important information, is that a good representation of authenticity? Of trust? For me, it’s a no. Makes me think of that reel audio: “Don’t like it, its just never been thing, so it’s a no for me.”

As a consumer I want to know the price. Period. On everything. Always. Because I am capable of weighing my own options and what is feasible for myself. Right?

So why treat my customers differently? It, in a sense, feels disrespectful to me to hide prices. Maybe that’s the root of it. If you hide prices out of fear – fear that they won’t understand the value, fear that they’ll walk away, fear of rejection, let’s maybe evaluable that motive.

If you’re like, “but I charge premium prices for my offers, they don’t know the value yet,” I’ll get to that very soon. You’re one of thousands that have the same question. Because every freaking person in this industry has been taught to charge up the butt and hide prices until the sales call. Fuck me, dude. 

Before we get to HOW you can keep your prices AND never have to “reveal” them again, I need to give some more back story: Client efficacy is very important to me. It’s a pillar at Annie Miller Concepts – across fitness and business offers. We want our consumers and customers to feel responsible and capable. That begins with the checkout process. But we have our part in that.

This is where the HOW comes in.

I am NOT encouraging going from no prices listed to just putting your prices on your application and making no other changes. No no. Remember that the goal of listing prices is contingent on the prospect feeling INFORMED. That value which you describe on the sales call needs to illustrated elsewhere.

So let’s make a few things clear. By the end of your transition to revealing prices, the following needs to be implemented:

Value of program made clear through:

Who it’s for

What the result or expectation is upon implementation of your coaching

Who it’s not for

Any prerequisites or requirements

The process or methods that you use

If you have social proof (testimonies), those as well, to back your claims

If you have different pricing tiers, you can have a range listed or say “starting at” 

That can happen on sales page or a simple application. The information above would be in paragraph and bullet point form. Then the application would be below.

On the application, the price is LISTED – you can 500% acknowledged that this is a serious investment, that it’s NOT cheap.  Get in front of that objection and meet the prospect right where they are.

Essentially no one should end up submitting the application who is not right for the program, or is not ready to make the investment listed CLEARLY on your sales page or application.

I am sure on your application, you ask if they are ready to invest? Of course it does. But that’s not really a valid or helpful question if the investment is unclear. Thus you can update that question to regard the price listed above, and give options varying from Hell yes to yes but my stomach is in my butthole. But there is no option that says NO. Because why would we take an application or do a sales call with someone who literally just said they are not ready to invest? We don’t want to waste their time or our time. A respect thing, again.

I like to then encourage clients to make clear on the call that they understand the price, and they are ready to invest that, this call is simply for you, the coach, to learn more about them and fill any gaps they might have regarding the process/coaching. It should be a very chill convo. With no sweating right before you awkwardly reveal the price.

Also, I teach in my objection-proof sales how to deal with “I need to speak to my ____”, but really that should not be a thing if they already know the price.

This whole process is all about communication. If someone asks in the DM’s, lead them to your sales page or application, letting them know that’s where all the info they need is, and they can find the price there. Or have the convo in the DM’s, making clear you don’t want their money if you can’t help them. Because that’s the truth.

I hope this spicy little episode was helpful for you. Maybe counter to what you’ve been taught in the past. Like I said, I go much deeper with my clients, in FitsPRO Foundations and in my Objection-Proof Sales Bonus to FitsPRO, but one thing is clear – I think having your price listed will feel better if you can figure out how to do it in a way that keeps the prospect informed. You’re on their team. Make that known.

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