Frank's Blog

Pricing is never an easy decision. Large companies believe they have an advantage because they see price movements across the country and pay close attention to economic forecasts. They use data to drive their pricing decisions.


Small businesses often cite their lack of good data for poor pricing decisions, for guessing. That’s a mistake because the fact is we, small business owners, have the advantage.

As an owner of Advanced Metal Products I have a personal relationship with almost all of my customers. I talk to them on a fairly regular basis whether we’re working on a project or not.

A “How’s it going?” call from me is not a red-flag to my customers that I’m prying or being a pushy-salesman. A call from me is a regular occurrence and a courtesy, if that’s the right word, they’ve come to expect.

After talking to my customers we’ve decided to keep our 2009 labor rates throughout 2010, barring something unforeseen such as high inflation. That means that, despite some increases in raw materials, our pricing structure has not changed since the beginning of 2008.

It’s simple really, I’ve known some of my customers for decades and I trust them to tell me what’s happening with their business. They know that while the friction between buyer and seller never goes away entirely, we're much better off cooperating with one another than we are treating each other as adversaries.