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Perfecting Your Pricing Strategies You're no blue-light special. Throw in the extras, play to the customer's needs, and get the price you deserve.

By Marty Nemko

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Again and again, I've seen incompetent people earn more thancompetent people. One reason: They know how to charge. Charge $500when the customer would have paid $1,000, and you've justtossed $500 down the toilet. Charge $1,000 when the customer'spuking point is $500, and you've tossed a customer down thetoilet.

Sometimes, it's not how much you charge--it's how youask. Should you charge by the hour or a flat fee? Go for the bigsale or start 'em out with a small one? When's the righttime to spring the price on them? What if a customer tries tobargain with you? Should you offer a sliding scale and risk beingtaken advantage of by fat cats who plead poverty?

The questions all boil down to this: How can you chargeabove-average fees while leaving customers knowing they'vegotten a good deal? The following strategies have worked for myclients and for me. The 10 minutes it takes you to read throughthese strategies may yield you more money than any 10 minutesyou'll ever spend.