How to publish prices without losing money
5 min read
"Call for a quote" costs you the customers who were ready to buy and only wanted to know if you were in range. Publishing something — not everything — is almost always more profitable than publishing nothing.
1.Publish a floor, not a ceiling
A starting-at price sets expectations and removes the customers hunting for the cheapest possible option. It does not commit you to a number for a job you have not seen.
2.Price on factors you can ask about
Square footage, vehicle size, bedrooms, roof pitch, system age, frequency. If the factor can be a question, the quote can be automated.
3.Give a range, then explain the range
A range plus one sentence about what moves it ("heavier soiling and pet hair move this up") is credible. A bare number invites an argument later.
4.Charge for the visit when the visit is the work
For diagnostic trades, a stated service call fee filters out tyre-kickers and protects your day. Say it plainly on the page.
5.Never publish your worst-case discount
Whatever number is visible becomes the anchor for every negotiation. Publish the range you actually want to work in.
6.Revisit prices on a schedule
Costs move. Pick a quarter, review your ranges, and update the site — a quoting system that is one edit away makes this a five-minute job instead of a project.
7.Package the common jobs so buyers can compare themselves
Most local businesses sell the same three or four jobs over and over. Give each one a name, a starting-at price, and a short list of exactly what is included and what is not. A buyer who can place their own job into one of your packages is a buyer who arrives already qualified, already expecting your price band, and asking to book rather than asking what it costs.
8.Show what changes the price before the customer asks
List the two or three factors that genuinely move your number — access, condition, size, urgency, after-hours work — with a plain sentence each. This is the same conversation you already have on the phone, done once, on the page, at 11pm while you are asleep. It prevents the awkward revision on site, because the customer read the reason for it before you arrived.
9.Make the next step obvious next to every price
A price with no adjacent action is a dead end. Every published range should sit beside one button that starts the instant quote or the booking, so the moment the number feels acceptable there is nothing left to do but continue. Pricing pages lose more revenue to missing buttons than to being too expensive.
The short version
Published ranges qualify buyers before they cost you a drive. Revora's quote builder turns your factors and add-ons into an instant range and sends you the completed answers with the lead.
Questions people ask
Won't competitors see my prices?
They already can, by requesting a quote. Their knowing your range costs you far less than the customers who left because nothing was shown.
What if my jobs are too custom to price?
Then price the entry point and the common cases, and be explicit that complex work is quoted after a visit. Something beats nothing.
Should I show prices if I am the most expensive option in my area?
Yes, and say why in the same breath: what is included, what you carry, what you guarantee, how fast you turn up. Price-shoppers were never going to be profitable customers, and buyers who care about the job being done properly need a reason to accept a higher number. Hiding the number only delays that conversation until after you have driven out.
How often should published prices change?
Review quarterly, and change immediately whenever your own costs step up — materials, insurance, fuel, labour. Small regular adjustments are absorbed without comment; one large overdue jump is the change customers argue about.