I look forward to receiving a daily blog from advertising copywriter and marketing consultant Bob Bly. When it comes to pricing his marketing skills, some of the ideas this Montville, N.J., self-employed entrepreneur follows could apply to the way you price your hoof-care work.

When Bly has a full writing schedule, a number of his copywriting colleagues tell him to: “Raise your fees,” or “You’re not charging nearly enough.”

But Bly doesn’t raise his prices, or only by a modest amount once in a great while. Here’s why he follows several pricing ideas that his competitors don’t understand.

1 He doesn’t want to squeeze clients for every last dollar he can get out of them.

2 For his services, he prefers to charge a fair and reasonable fee — not what clients would consider being an exorbitant fee.

3 A friend and marketing expert in pricing all types of services once told Bly, “Your price should fall into the middle of the top third in your field.”

Here’s the rationale around following that pricing point. When you price in the middle of the top third, you’re well compensated. However, Bly maintains that if you charge at the top of the scale, you have two problems.

First, many potential clients will hesitate to hire you, because they think you are just trying to get as much money out of them as possible — putting yourself first, and them second.

Second, as a mentor once told Bly, “If you charge an enormous fee and your work bombs, that client will never hire you again.”

When it comes to setting prices, Bly follows the golden rule that says you should do unto others as you want others to do unto you. As an example, he says folks don’t like it when a contractor, repair service, or salesman charges outrageously high prices. And as a result, he doesn’t think you should do so either.

“Charge fairly, so you get what you are worth without breaking the bank,” Bly says. “This works out better for your clients and for you.

“If you think I am stupid for not bleeding clients for every last dime, that’s your prerogative. But I simply do not agree with you — and I’m going to continue to make my prices fair and affordable.”

Any thoughts on how this pricing structure relates to what you’re charging for your footcare services? What hoof-care pricing structure do you follow? Send me your ideas at lessitef@lessitermedia.com.