Confession: I’m an Apple Fanboi. Those who know me are acutely aware of this.
If it starts with “i”, chances are I’ll buy it. I can be a little discriminating, but my experiences with the brand and every customer service touch have reinforced that feeling.
P:G uses QuickBooks for our accounting, The interface is old, clunky and screams, ‘I WAS MADE FOR A WINDOWS PC’ and just doesn’t flow well. So this week, I was surprised when I saw a QuickBooks app appear in the Mac App Store.
Gleefully, the screens and systems looked the upgrade I’ve been so desperately wanting for my 2012 version of the software.
But the team at my accountants, Antos Advisors, cautioned me about QuickBooks Online because they had issues importing the data. So the app was “free”, but the were charging monthly or annually for a subscription.
I embrace this model; others prefer an outright purchase. But if it means an endless supply of updates and upgrades and support? Count me in for that payment plan.
This is where the bamboozlement started.
Mac App Store
Three tiers; simple, Plus and Essentials monthly for $12.99, $39.99 and $26.99 respectively. So…which one makes the most sense for me? And are they compatible?
QuickBooks 2012 Upgrade Offer
I then go fire up QuickBooks 2012 and get a message telling me that there is now an app available in the App Store and click for a video and more information. I did, I watched the video, and then scrolled down to the pricing section. 
There weren’t three tiers of pricing, there was only ONE. And that price didn’t match any of the first three prices.
What the heck is going on, I wondered? So I went to Intuit’s page for Quickbooks, navigated my way around and got a THIRD set of pricing.
QuickBooks Web Page
Really, enough of this is ENOUGH.
Fast forward a half hour and two sales people later, I buy it for $6.97/month, a promotional price nowhere to be found. Seems they’re running a special for June and are trying to calculate the right price point to sell the software. I more than expressed my displeasure.
A transparent internet makes this behavior dangerous and undermines your credibility.
People expect variable pricing from people like Amazon, airlines and event tickets where it’s a matter of supply and demand. But if your clients cannot clearly understand what you are offering and you are promoting an identical product through multiple sales channels, you’ll get caught, and you’ll have questions to answer and depending upon the personality type of your client, you can find yourself in hot water.
So don’t advertise pricing?
In a field such as logistics where pricing fluctuates daily or weekly based on supply and demand for transportation services, there’s no advantage in getting caught out of sync with the market. Pricing in such an intimate relationship as logistics where the service and experience are far from commoditized lends itself to a different strategy for success. Don’t bamboozle; be transparent, or be invisible. Either of those will keep good will high and animosity low.