Review
Applying the information in the
Pricing Guide can give you a significant advantage over your competition no matter where you live. --
Noel Ward, Editor in Chief, NADTP Desktop Publisher's JournalIf You Find Yourself Giving Premium Work at Pauper-Producing Prices, GET STREET SMART!
- Secrets to Money-Making Operation
- Business Costs Determination
- Building Your Own Production Standards
- Pricing for Maximum Profit
- Quick & Easy Job Estimating
- Bidding and Negotiating Techniques
- How to Defend Increased Billing Rates
- How to Successfully Compete
- Charts, Diagrams and Sample Forms
- Over 380 Pages of Valuable Information
It's Your Key to Maximum Profit! --
Robert Brenner's Pricing Guide For Desktop Services is an essential reference tool for any "desktop" entrepreneur offering services in a competitive market. The Pricing Guide For Desktop Services is an impeccable source of information for setting competitive prices, breaking down and allocating costs, developing production standards, calculating budgeted hourly rates, finding the break-even points, developing creative pricing strategies, and how to go about estimating and bidding a job. Pricing Guide For Desktop Services also surveys proven and successful ways to to find customers, provides business profiles and demographics, sample worksheets and forms. Two other publications from the Brenner Information Group are also highly recommended for the entrepreneur: Desktop Production Standards (17-0 $49. 95) and Pricing Tables: Desktop Services (16-2 $49. 95). These Brenner Information Group titles can save not only money and time, but reputations and the making of critical miscalculations that so often lead to the failure of new enterprises. -- Midwest Book Review
From the Publisher
Brenner Information Group has released its fourth edition of the popular
Pricing Guide for Desktop Services (formerly called Pricing Guide for Desktop Publishing Services). This business tool is designed to help desktop service providers set prices that produce maximum profit.
In this valuable book, author Robert Brenner covers the concept of price, pricing techniques, strategic and tactical pricing, performance standards, budgeted hourly rates, ways to bill service, estimating, and bidding and negotiating techniques. He details the composition and character of direct, indirect, fixed, variable, and overhead costs. Brenner shows how cost and productivity relate and are key factors in setting prices. And he explains how to develop custom production standards and how to use these to generate budgeted hourly rates so owners can bid a flat rate on job opportunities. Using tables and examples, Brenner shows the reader how adding staff can affect overall shop productivity and billable hourly rates. One chapter explains when to charge by the item, hourly rate, function, or job, and how to charge for alterations, corrections and update revisions.
The book shows the reader how to find break-even and how to determine maximum income potential. Many pricing strategies are described including cost plus, loss leader, discount, 2X and 3X pricing, and the use of "price points" to squeeze maximum profit out of every sale. Brenner also explains when and how to cut prices, raise prices, and how to handle objections to price changes.
In the chapter on estimating, bidding and negotiating, Brenner shows the reader how to develop a custom estimating form, how to respond to bid requests, and how to price various jobs. He also describes how to negotiate so both parties can win and develop a lasting business relationship.
A chapter on street smart secrets provides case studies on specific pricing and estimating applications and describes how to use revenue earned by each employee to measure individual productivity and shop profitability. Then the book shows how to use contract award value to determine the potential profit to a winning vendor so the reader can fine-tune a shop's operation and pricing strategy.
The key to a profitable desktop service business is smart pricing. This 382-page book shows how to make more money providing desktop services. A tear-out return card in the book lets buyers obtain a free copy of AlphaQuote, an MS-DOS copyfitting and estimating program.
