E99 Transcript
Quick poll. Who in here has a pricing problem? Anybody? No hands. Great. Stay anyway.
Because the maker we're talking about today is perfectly happy with their prices. Thrilled, actually. They haven't sold anything in months, but the prices are right. Just ask them.
If you're listening and thinking, this one doesn't apply to me, that might be the tell.
This is the last of the four pricing traps and the fifth episode in our series on pricing. And at the end of last week's episode, I told you fear rides underneath this one in a big way. So let’s take a look under the hood.
Let's start with what this “identity trap” really is. The price is serving a self-image. It doesn't reflect cost. It doesn't reflect the market. It doesn't even reflect the maker's own confidence. It’s all about image and your identity as a maker.
And here's what makes this group different from the other three. This maker isn't in any pain about pricing. They think they've already got it right, for the image they're trying to present. That's a very different conversation than someone who knows they're stuck.
There's one more difference. Avoidance, fear, and no anchor are more likely to land too low. This is the one trap that prices too high. And nothing within the maker pushes it back down.
This is the pattern most likely linked to image, ego, and the fear of what others think of you. The other traps are focused inward, on what we think of ourselves. This one does that too but it also includes a heavy dose of what we think other people think of us, or what we want them to think of us, whether it's true or not.
Last time, fear moved the price when someone reacted. Here, the price serve as a picture of the maker for anyone who's looking, whether anybody reacts or not.
And here's where the fear I promised you comes in. Backing down from a high price feels like admitting something about yourself. So, the price stays up, even after no-sales. And the no-sales get explained away as something outside of self.
There's research on this. People tend to credit themselves for good outcomes and put bad outcomes on outside causes. And when something threatens their image, that pattern gets stronger. That comes from a 1999 review by Campbell and Sedikides. Researchers still argue about how much of it is ego and how much is people simply expecting to succeed. Either way, it shows up a lot.
We take on price as a reflection of us, and that's a slippery slope to be on. We are not our work. It does not define us.
Three personalities live in this trap. The Peacock, the Origin Trap, and the Name Dropper. Our first one is the Peacock.
The Peacock wants to be known as the high-priced designer. The price is about status and image. And it usually sticks even after several no-sales, because backing down would feel like admitting something.
I've seen this one a lot. When I was in the industry, I'd cruise the hallways at market and visit the temporary exhibits of start-ups and rookie designers. I applaud the attempt. But some of them were true peacocks. Outrageous prices, and the obvious attitude that they were far above the crowd, when in fact nothing was happening.
And when pressed for a reason, it was always the same. The crowd doesn't understand my design aesthetic. It's the wrong crowd. They don't get it.
Now, sometimes they were too early to a trend. That happens. But mostly it was just outrageously out of touch.
That's the pattern I mentioned earlier. The win is about me. The no-sale is about them.
A high price can be right. It's right when something outside your own opinion backs it up.
So here's the fix. Ask what would have to be true for this price to hold. Then look for evidence that isn't your own opinion. Sales at that number. Repeat buyers. A waiting list. People who come back.
And a no-sale doesn't tell you the cause until you compare. I teach sewing classes, and someone once asked me if the one class she wanted didn't run because of the price. I had to say no. Every other class was the same price, and they were all full, with waitlists. It wasn't the price. It was a time of day when nobody could come.
Same goes for your work. If your other pieces at that price sell and one doesn't, price isn't the cause. If nothing sells at that number, it probably is.
Next up is the Origin Trap.
The Origin Trap believes a rare fabric, a personal design, or a flattering technique justifies a high price, whatever the execution, and whether or not anyone is asking for it. The tell is, "It's silk, so it's worth it."
I saw this a lot as an adjunct, in product development and design classes, and as a judge in competitions. Students pricing a prototype at a ridiculous number because it was silk. Make anything out of silk, even poor quality, and they think it's worth thousands.
Sometimes they didn't know any better. Sometimes they were starry-eyed. But the fabric was great and the construction wasn't equal to it. It was obvious they didn't know how to handle that type of fabric.
I made a point to them about the pricing sheet. It has to reflect the season you're in. I don't mean the calendar. I mean the season you're in as a maker. A beginner with incomplete skills cannot, under any circumstances, sell at the same price a professional can.
I had a student who designed things and had someone else sewing the garments. That's expensive, and he wanted to learn to sew so he could make them himself and stop paying that labor price. The problem is that his skills would take several years to match what he was getting from the professional. It was hard to get him to see that he wouldn't be able to sell the garments he sews for the same price as the ones the professional made.
Another student wants to sell bags. She's simply not at the skill level yet to sell at a venue for the same price I sell at.
Last week I said a beginner's first guess is allowed. It is. The trouble starts when a beginner prices like a professional.
There's research that backs this up too.
In another study on price perception, researchers gave some people coffee mugs, then asked what they'd sell them for. The owners of the designs asked about twice what buyers were willing to pay. The median selling price was about $5.25 from the owners. The buyers came in at around $2.25 to $2.75.
Now, none of these studies were about garments or sewn goods. But it shows how easy it is to love what you made and expect everyone else to love it just as much. That's the maker's problem in one sentence.
I saw this in design rooms all the time in the industry. Young designers were so proud of their designs, and then the items came back with an order to strip some cost out. Cheaper buttons. Let go of some of the details. Cut the sweep of the skirt by a third. All to get the price where it needed to be. For some of them, it was almost an affront to their image as a designer.
So here's the fix. The cost of the silk goes in your cost number. The market number depends on what the finished piece looks like and wears like. Have someone outside the project compare the construction to what the price is claiming. Sometimes we are too close to our work to have an unbiased eye.
The next personality inside the Identity trap is the Name Dropper.
The Name Dropper benchmarks against couture or established designer pricing, without acknowledging the brand equity, reputation, or track record behind those prices. "If they can charge that, I can too, because what I'm designing things that look similar."
Here's my favorite example. Madeleine Vionnet was a leading figure in Paris fashion, known for her draping and her bias-cut dresses in the 1920s. Many a design student has tried that technique because on the surface it looks simple. A front and a back, with straps.
But silk on the bias takes very special handling, stitching, and precision. The quality is very difficult to match.
Her pieces looked simple and carried a high price tag. The students saw that high number, and they priced their own to match. The quality and construction were nowhere near. Her price came with her reputation and quality standard. Theirs did not.
There's a study on this, sort of. Two researchers, Tversky and Kahneman, spun a rigged wheel that landed on either 10 or 65 only. It looked like it was a regular spinning wheel, but it only had two stops. Then they asked people to estimate the percentage of African countries in the United Nations. A very weird and off-the-wall question indeed. The people who saw the higher number guessed higher, even though the spin was random but rigged.
Now, that wasn't about handmade, and it wasn't about couture. But it shows how a number you've seen can pull your thinking, and how our minds can trick us in all kinds of ways.
Remember No Anchor, the maker with no reference point? This maker has one. It's just the wrong reference point.
So here's the fix if you’re tempted to just copy the number from the high end line. List what that designer's price includes that you don't have yet. Years. Press. A waitlist. A name. Experience. Knowledge. Then compare yourself to makers at your own stage, the way we talked about last week, with three to five comparable makers.
Then take the next right step along that road to status.
So, we’ve looked at the Peacock, the Origin Trap and the Name Dropper. All three are protecting an image. Your image. Your Identity.
The cost is the same across all three. The price never gets tested. Work sits unsold, and the reason given is always about someone else.
Nothing can be fixed if you're unwilling to look at the truth behind the numbers, and sometimes a bit of humility is warranted. You don't have to beat yourself up. Find out where you are right now. There's a starting point, and skill and experience are what move the price up.
The fix has the same thread as the last three episodes. And like episodes before there is a bit more nuance here. Decide on purpose as always. But here, use evidence from outside your own opinion. Put the price next to the two numbers from last week. What it costs to make, and what someone will pay for that kind of item. And see what happens. Remember the work is NOT a reflection of who you are. We are not defined by our things.
As I said in the beginning, most people in this pattern don’t think they need any of this conversation. They think they are perfectly justified in their pricing. If you want to test this theory, this might be a great place to start. Find out in the privacy of your own home. For the price of a good meal you can get honest with yourself and find out where you land. No one has to know but you.
It's called Pricing Confidence, and it's a small purchase. If you want to see which trap you land in, or which personality you are, grab it at virginialeighstudio.com/pricingconfidence. I'll put the link in the show notes too.
So now you know the mindsets behind how you price. Next week, we'll talk about how all of it fits into the big picture, and how you use it in your own creative business.
You've seen the claims online. One simple hack, and you've got a six-figure handmade business. Retire your husband in one year. The math doesn't math in handmade, and it never did. It might happen to one person in several thousand, and it probably isn't going to happen. But a portfolio career in handmade succeeds more often than not. I have one. That's the fantasy I'm dismantling.
Next week, The Portfolio and the Price. Meet me back here.
