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Pretty much every company that doesn't display pricing doesn't get my business. There is invariably a competitor that does display pricing and I'll have bought

Pretty much every company that doesn't display pricing doesn't get my business. There is invariably a competitor that does display pricing and I'll have bought that before the sales rep gets back to me. My philosophy/hunch is that reducing friction equals providing value. I always aim to provide value at every link in the value chain and reducing friction (displaying clear pricing and minimal click instant signup) is an easy way to do that.

sosuke 11y ago
I had that experience trying to find out how much a dang AC unit costs. Call for pricing feels like an enormous expenditure to me now.
- LanceH 11y ago
  Going through this right now. Just got quoted $1400 higher for the same unit I bought last year from the same people. Nevermind that it is for the 2nd floor and wouldn't get used as much and should presumably be a much smaller unit.
ryanSrich 11y ago
In the consumer space I 100% agree. Having worked in enterprise though the "no pricing" scheme is par for the course. You don't see SAP prominently displaying their prices online, and for good reason.
- wesd 11y ago
  What's the good reason? Is it because the pricing strategy is charge as much as the customer is willing to pay?
  - edgarvaldes 11y ago
    Maybe to avoid the competition going [arbitrary amount] dollar cheaper.
  - mrgoldenbrown 11y ago
    because most of the cost is going to involve customization/implementation services of some kind - you don't just buy SAP, run an installer on your PC, and start using it.
  - ryanSrich 11y ago
    I can only speak to what we do at Catalyze. http://content.catalyze.io/blog/why-there-is-no-up-front-pricing http://content.catalyze.io/blog/why-there-is-no-up-front-pri...
    - softawre 11y ago
      That was interesting, thank you.
    - rorykoehler 11y ago
      From the link: >we believe strongly in a core message of the Lean Startup movement: We want to talk to people. What if people don't want to talk to you? This should be entirely opt-in. Intercom makes this a seamless experience. A certain large segment of people want upfront pricing information with no human involved. If you can't give exact pricing because your product/service is too complicated at least give some example setups and their respective costs. This way at least we have a ball park figure to anchor our thinking. No one wants to waste time exploring unfeasible (due to cost) options. Otherwise it becomes a turn off because it starts to feel like a negotiation rather than an exchange.
  - beat 11y ago
    Pricing for the enterprise can be an incredibly complex thing. License management as well. I used to work for a company that provided custom pricing software for highly complex products (did you know a semi truck can have over 4000 options?). They charged hundreds of thousands for a custom pricing software solution - but it was mostly a custom job, some off-the-shelf software but mostly a ton of customization for that particular customer and their very complex business needs. So no, you can't just charge a flat rate like it's a box of Fruit Loops.
    - restalis 11y ago
      That's not "pricing for the enterprise" you're describing, it's pricing for customizations. Yes, each customization can be negotiated separately and when there can be "over 4000 options" it makes sense to not display them all but to guide the client through. This may be a case where complexity may warrant private interaction (or at least it used to be that way as nowadays the entire array of option complexity can be left to be sorted out with a software application).
      - ef4 11y ago
        > That's not "pricing for the enterprise" you're describing, it's pricing for customizations. This is not a very meaningful distinction. Big enterprise software deals inevitably involve customizations and integrations.
        restalis 11y ago
        Yes, I wasn't trying to put them in antithesis, I was trying to point out the wider context, and yes, I agree with you (that the narrower context automatically involves all of the wider encompassing context). The meaningful distinction is that customization warrants contact requirement, for both big enterprises and individuals.

sosuke 11y ago

I had that experience trying to find out how much a dang AC unit costs. Call for pricing feels like an enormous expenditure to me now.

LanceH 11y ago
Going through this right now. Just got quoted $1400 higher for the same unit I bought last year from the same people. Nevermind that it is for the 2nd floor and wouldn't get used as much and should presumably be a much smaller unit.

ryanSrich 11y ago

In the consumer space I 100% agree. Having worked in enterprise though the "no pricing" scheme is par for the course. You don't see SAP prominently displaying their prices online, and for good reason.

wesd 11y ago
What's the good reason? Is it because the pricing strategy is charge as much as the customer is willing to pay?
- edgarvaldes 11y ago
  Maybe to avoid the competition going [arbitrary amount] dollar cheaper.
- mrgoldenbrown 11y ago
  because most of the cost is going to involve customization/implementation services of some kind - you don't just buy SAP, run an installer on your PC, and start using it.
- ryanSrich 11y ago
  I can only speak to what we do at Catalyze. http://content.catalyze.io/blog/why-there-is-no-up-front-pricing http://content.catalyze.io/blog/why-there-is-no-up-front-pri...
  - softawre 11y ago
    That was interesting, thank you.
  - rorykoehler 11y ago
    From the link: >we believe strongly in a core message of the Lean Startup movement: We want to talk to people. What if people don't want to talk to you? This should be entirely opt-in. Intercom makes this a seamless experience. A certain large segment of people want upfront pricing information with no human involved. If you can't give exact pricing because your product/service is too complicated at least give some example setups and their respective costs. This way at least we have a ball park figure to anchor our thinking. No one wants to waste time exploring unfeasible (due to cost) options. Otherwise it becomes a turn off because it starts to feel like a negotiation rather than an exchange.
- beat 11y ago
  Pricing for the enterprise can be an incredibly complex thing. License management as well. I used to work for a company that provided custom pricing software for highly complex products (did you know a semi truck can have over 4000 options?). They charged hundreds of thousands for a custom pricing software solution - but it was mostly a custom job, some off-the-shelf software but mostly a ton of customization for that particular customer and their very complex business needs. So no, you can't just charge a flat rate like it's a box of Fruit Loops.
  - restalis 11y ago
    That's not "pricing for the enterprise" you're describing, it's pricing for customizations. Yes, each customization can be negotiated separately and when there can be "over 4000 options" it makes sense to not display them all but to guide the client through. This may be a case where complexity may warrant private interaction (or at least it used to be that way as nowadays the entire array of option complexity can be left to be sorted out with a software application).
    - ef4 11y ago
      > That's not "pricing for the enterprise" you're describing, it's pricing for customizations. This is not a very meaningful distinction. Big enterprise software deals inevitably involve customizations and integrations.
      - restalis 11y ago
        Yes, I wasn't trying to put them in antithesis, I was trying to point out the wider context, and yes, I agree with you (that the narrower context automatically involves all of the wider encompassing context). The meaningful distinction is that customization warrants contact requirement, for both big enterprises and individuals.