How to Price Your Washers and Dryers Higher Than Your Competitors

By Stephen Bean | Mar 31, 2010

Yep… you read that title correctly. I said higher prices than your competitors. You see, it’s not all about price because customers know that there is a difference between price and value. They can feel it deep in their bones. Price is merely the unit cost paid, but value is what is really perceived and received compared to what they might be paying less for elsewhere and not getting.
 

The art form for commanding and receiving higher prices from your customers is to do much more for them and – equally important – letting them know that you’re doing much more. No product sells itself. If it does, the price is simply too low. 
 

Your main job as a self-service laundry owner (or any business owner for that matter) is to constantly communicate value to the customer, and your prices charged are only a part of the value equation. 
 

Yes, the customer may be able to get it for less elsewhere, but what’s the total deal and what are they not getting that they are paying less for elsewhere that they might really want and value if they knew it was available?
 

Did you know that you can point to your higher prices as a reason for customers to use your coin laundry? There is a vast difference between “the same” and “similar.” Commodities are the same because they have no discernable differences. Your laundry is unique because it’s owned and managed by you. It’s not a commodity.

Your laundry must have discernable differences from other laundries to justify the higher prices charged. Never allow your laundry to be viewed as a commodity – if you do, your prices will likely end up being those of your competitors. And, to be quite frank, in the world of business from a pricing strategy standpoint you are only as smart as your “dumbest” competitors. 
 

By the way, cutting prices to attract business or meet competition is a non-strategy and will end up being a self-inflicted wound. Your competitor does not cut your vend prices… you do! 
 

I might also remind you that you are not in the laundry business to wash and dry clothes. You are in the laundry business to make money, and you only wash and dry clothes to perpetuate your enterprise. That’s the American system of business, and those of us who understand it and work within it tend to make more money than those who simply do not.
 

It’s important to remember that, if price were the only reason to buy, only one vendor would sell everything, and he or she would last the longest until all of the competitors went broke. There would be no need for a sales function because the lowest price would literally preclude the need for an overt sales effort. 
 

People will tell you that they buy on price because all things are essentially equal, but in reality things are not equal. Commodities are by definition all the same, i.e. no discernable difference. So, point out your discernable differences, including the subtle differences in non-commodity terms. 

People don’t mind paying higher prices for goods and services, but they don’t want to think they are the only ones doing so. 
 

Therefore, use testimonials in your advertising. And, when you do so, don’t use undefined statements because they are suspect – be specific. For example, don’t say, “A lady from Peoria loved our laundry.” Instead, say, “Mary G. from Peoria simply loves our new big-load machines because…” What’s more, if Mary will permit you to use her last name, do so, which will further validate her testimonial. And using her photo along with her name would deliver an even stronger message.

Buying decisions are usually based on emotion and justified with logic. The five psychological fundamental buying motives are fear, greed, guilt, exclusivity and the need for approval.
 

Did you know that it’s commonplace for people to pay more for the same product to satisfy one or more of these primary psychological buying motives? It’s true.
 

For example, the reason people pay more for the same product at a convenience store rather than going to a large supermarket to buy it is best exemplified in the name of the store – “convenience” – which can represent to the customer a fear of standing in line at a big store, along with feeling somewhat exclusive.
 

Paying more for the same product is actually very prevalent within our economic system. Consider the following examples:
 

When people travel by airplane, train or boat, they have a choice of how they travel – first class or coach, inside stateroom or one with an ocean view. Prices paid for choice of seat or accommodation is a function of needs to be satisfied. Nonetheless, all travelers arrive at their destination at the precise same time.
 

How about the lodging industry? You can book a suite or a simple room. The bottom line is that, regardless of the accommodations arranged, the traveler has a place to sleep.
 

Consider the restaurant industry. You can eat at McDonald’s for a few bucks or the newest upscale steakhouse in town for a hundred dollars. The end result is that you are no longer hungry after your visit.
 

Feel like a pizza? Where I live I can get a large, single-topping pizza from Little Caesars for $5, or I can go to a number of specialty pizza restaurants and pay three times that amount for the same thing.
 

Let’s go to a concert. Here you have a choice of multiple seats, which is referred to as scaling the house at different prices, depending on how close particular seats are to the stage. Regardless of where you sit and what you paid for your tickets, you will see the exact same concert as everyone else in attendance.
 

Do you need to hire a lawyer? Well, you can hire one for $100 per hour or $500 per hour. It’s your choice – but both went to law school are members of their state bar.
 

And here is my personal favorite – automobiles. They come in an infinite variety of sizes, shapes and prices, depending of course on what you decide you need. Whichever car you choose will get you from Point A to Point B – with or without heated leather seats.
 

The real issue is that your product is what it is but also what the customer thinks it is. So, if your overall product is perceived as better and having more benefits and satisfying more buying motives, then you can ask and receive more for it. You just need to be creative in establishing your unique selling features, because perception is reality, and customers actually vote with their feet. If they like what you have to offer, they walk in; if not, they walk out or don’t walk in to begin with. It’s that simple.
 

The trouble with not having enough money is that it takes up all of your time, because you are then spending a disproportionate amount of time trying to get more. So, why not place more emphasis on being creative from a marketing perspective, and if you do, you likely will become more successful and then be able to spend more of your time as you wish.
 

Rather than complain about being in “dysfunction junction” because you’re not making mega-moola, how about getting wired and inspired about creative marketing? Developing knowledge of individual buying motives is the key to increasing the amount spent per household visit at your self-service laundry.
 

If you do so, the financial economy of your laundry very likely will improve in direct proportion to your understanding of your customer’s “psychic economy.”
 

Your financial future is in your hands. Take command. You truly are the “Sarge in Charge.”