OK, so that's not much of a new idea. Now for one that many first time entrepreneurs miss..."Top­down" value­based pricing If you have a good sense of the impact your product or service can have on customers, try pricing it backwards: first set the price, then figure out who'll need and value it enough to pay your price. In this scenario, your costs shouldn't matter. If you can tell that something is worth $1,000,000 to an ideal buyer, and they’re willing to pay for it, what does it matter if your costs are $100,000 or $10,000? Charge $1,000,000 Maybe anyone can use what you've got, but who would find it especially valuable? Who needs it? What is the impact you can help create? What is the dollar value you can justify because of that impact? Rethinking this’ll help you (re­)Nail your Niche...working backwards from who the best customers could or should be. These ideas can apply to your $50 general users – perhaps you should rethink that and charge $125? – and also to your $150,000 enterprise customers – perhaps you should really charge $750,000?This only works when you're different or unique enough and people believe your value and the expected results. Anyone can claim anything on the Internet – how do you back it up, so people believe you? Another side benefit of this: When you imagine setting a higher price, it forces you to imagine how you'd deliver enough value to customers to justify it. For many of you, especially if you're too early to have much of a customer base, this "backwards"/ value­based pricing approach is still useful, even as just a thought exercise that challenges how you think about your customers and your value to them. Simplicity, Not perfection High­end pricing and deals get complicated. A complicated pricing structure may “perfectly” capture revenue, at least in theory, but in reality, complex pricing makes it harder for customers to buy, and harder to keep track of what has or hasn’t been delivered. Confusion will slow things down – including when your champion has to explain the structure to the CFO or ultimate decision­maker. Balance customizing the deal with keeping it as understandable as possible. When you need to decide between simpler pricing and “perfect” pricing, go simple and don’t be afraid to leave some money on the table in order to close the deal. Don't be afraid to experiment with pricing. It's hard getting your pricing “right”. And even when you do nail it down, markets change, you release new products, or your competitors come out with something that forces you to revisit how you price or discount. Don’t let the fear of losing a deal stop you from trying out new pricing ideas with prospects. 3 THINGS EVERY ENTERPRISE CUSTOMER WANTS TO KNOW Even though the enterprise sales process has many steps and stages, it ultimately has to answer three questions for the customer: why buy, why you, why now. #1: "Why should I do anything?" The easiest way to help a potential customer answer this question is to identify their important initiatives. Every large company has strategic business initiatives that are always going to be funded and that are driving its IT investments. Once the sales and marketing teams have uncovered these initiatives (as well as the critical capabilities