Small differences in prices or pricing policies can greatly affect the extent to which your populations use your services. Your market research or marketing audit will help you understand what your clients can and are willing to pay. If there is a discrepancy between your market information and your prices, then you can decide what kinds of changes to make by considering:

• the way prices were originally set;


• clients' perceptions of how reasonable your prices are;


• staff perceptions of prices;


• regular monitoring of your unit costs, pricing policies and procedures, and competitors' prices.

Price setting. The usual method to set a fair price for a service requires finding out:

• how much the service actually costs you to deliver it;


• whether clients have the ability to pay the full cost or even more;


• how much other organizations in your area charge for similar services.

After considering how your prices were set, look at your clients' perceptions of your prices.