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Episode
23

Value Based Pricing with Blair Enns

An interview with
Blair Enns

Introduction

Value Based Pricing is a term that frequently comes up when people talk about service based businesses, but exactly how it works is often a mystery to us designers. In this episode Ian speaks to Blair Enns to learn what value based pricing is, and how it can be used to build a profitable business whilst also providing the best service possible to your clients.

Blair Enns is the author of the highly acclaimed book The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, and Pricing Creativity: a guide to profit beyond the billable hour.

Blair Enns Interview Transcription

Ian Paget: Designers almost always struggle to work out how much to charge, and like I said, I feel like your recent book Pricing Creativity is a superb guide to help designers price their work effectively. In the book you discuss value based pricing, and a few years ago that was a real mystery to me. I read so many different things, and I never really understood it, not until I read your book. So to start off the discussion, could you explain what value based pricing is, and why you would recommend designers and creatives take this approach to pricing?

Blair Enns: Yeah. So value based pricing is simply charging not based on the inputs of time and material, not based on the market value of the outputs of say the logo, but based on the value to the client of that logo. Logos in particular, it’s pretty hard to assess the impact a logo is going to have, but the larger, the more established the business depending on the category of the business where the brand compete in, you can … There’s some categories where it’s easier to make a discernment than others.