Why not…institute “value engineering” into your products and services. Make products that give the customer more, but actually cost you less.  The classic example is improving the packaging of your product to be easier to open or extract the product from, while reducing the packaging cost (yes, it’s do-able for almost any product or service — been there, done that)!  Why not brainstorm this with your employees and your customers? – Please share your comment below to enhance these ideas!

Why not…offer customers cost-reduction by outsourcing what they do to you?  Saves them and grows your volume!  For example, if you do marketing communications, maybe you could do all of their mark-com for a customer instead of just doing their advertising. — Please provide your comment below to add to these ideas!

Why not…substitute costly services for less costly (niche into smaller, more specialized jobs)?   Maybe do much smaller jobs and create a niche which your larger competitors haven’t wanted to be in; example might be do remodeling construction instead of major projects.  Why not brainstorm this with your key people to see what might be do-able here? — Please leave your comment to add to these ideas below!

Why not…instead of adjusting price, adjust the amount you sell for the price?  For example, a pound of coffee isn’t anymore; it’s somewhere between 11 and 12.5 ounces.  Maybe you feel it’s sneaky to increase price this way, but it’s being done everywhere, right or wrong.  If the customer still perceives value, it’s probably okay.  Another idea: airlines, banks, and others have long been adding “fees” instead of just increasing price.  Again, right or wrong, it is what is taking place in the world and is now coming to be accepted.  The real question is:  how can you BEST increase your price, and still assure the customer gets a proper price-to-value deal?  Food for thought, analysis, trial, and implementation. — Please add your comment below to improve these ideas!