Should you raise your prices?

There are a lot of small business owners out there who really put off raising their prices. They will argue that they need to remain competitive or that their customers wouldn't use their services if they raised their prices and a whole host of other excuses.

But I want to put a point across to you about what's been happening out there recently. Don't know whether you've noticed, but fuel, food and energy prices have gone through the roof recently and show no signs of abating. These 'bigger' companies have no issues about raising their prices even if it means their customers suffer or their public image is badly affected. They're simply increasing their prices because they don't want their profits to fall. Nice attitude eh?

Now I'm not suggesting for one second that you should act like these companies in the way you behave towards your customers and certainly not that you should raise your prices just for the sake of it, but I do want to make a point.

If the cost of living has gone through the roof, are you being fair on yourself if you're charging the same prices as a year ago (or in some cases much much longer than that)? You should be reviewing your prices on a yearly basis and nothing is more true than at the moment.

Bite the bullet and look to raise all your prices by 10% - at least. For existing customers just notify them that as of x date, your prices will increase and stick to this. And don't worry too much if they say they don't want to work with you any more. If they leave you simply because you're reasonably raising your prices, chances are that they won't be the customers you want to work with anyway.