Strategy
"We'll just talk pricing on the call" is why you lose to Best Buy.
Homeowners spending six figures want to pre-qualify themselves before they book a call. If your site refuses to give them any pricing signal, they'll assume you're out of their budget — or worse, that you're hiding something.
The problem with hiding pricing completely
Most integrators we audit have some version of "Every project is custom — contact us for a quote." It sounds professional. It is, in practice, a conversion killer.
Here's what actually happens: a homeowner browsing on a Saturday evening sees that, assumes you're either (a) too expensive or (b) going to waste their time, and books with the integrator down the road whose site said "Dedicated theaters starting at $45,000 — most projects $65k–$180k."
The pricing-transparent competitor didn't give away a secret. They filtered. The 20% of prospects who saw those numbers and self-eliminated were never going to buy from you either. The 80% who remained were pre-qualified and ready to have a real conversation.
The three-tier pricing anchor (the one we build for every Cwell client)
You don't need to publish a spreadsheet. You need three anchor points that tell a prospect, "yes, this is the right place for the kind of project you're thinking about."
- Entry — "Starting at $XX,XXX" for the simplest version of the service (single-room automation, basic theater upgrade, starter audio system). This sets the floor.
- Typical — "Most clients invest between $XX,XXX and $XXX,XXX" for a well-specified project. This is where 70% of your actual work lives.
- Flagship — "Six-figure projects and new-construction pre-wires quoted individually." This signals upside and invites the best prospects to raise their hand.
“The point isn't to quote every job on the page. It's to make sure the prospect knows they're in the right neighborhood before they fill out a form.”
What to anchor each tier against
Don't just publish a number. Publish a reference the prospect can picture. Every tier should include:
- A one-sentence description of what a project at that tier includes
- A photo of a real project at that investment level (ideally one of yours)
- Three bullet points on what's specifically included and, crucially, not included
- A call to action appropriate to that tier — "Book a 30-min discovery" for entry, "Schedule a site visit" for flagship
The FAQ block that handles every objection
After the three tiers, a short FAQ does the heavy lifting of pre-handling the questions your sales team gets on every discovery call.
- "What's included in the starting price?" — itemize in plain language
- "Do you finance?" — yes/no with one line on how
- "How long does a typical project take from contract to turn-on?" — give a real range
- "Can I use equipment I already own?" — this one saves you hours of disqualification calls
- "What's the ongoing cost after install?" — support plans, monitoring, firmware updates. Be honest; it's a selling point.
What this does to your pipeline
Transparent pricing doesn't reduce lead volume — it changes lead quality. The integrators we've moved to this model typically see:
- 30–50% fewer total form fills (the tire-kickers and wildly-underbudgeted prospects self-filter)
- 2–3x higher close rate on the leads that do come in (they already know the neighborhood)
- Faster proposals, because the discovery call starts at "let's talk about your room" instead of "let me explain why this costs more than a soundbar"
Takeaway
Pricing pages are filters, not quotes.
You're not trying to sell a $150k project off a web page. You're trying to make sure the homeowner who's ready for a $150k project feels confident enough to book the call. Three tiers, one photo each, a short FAQ. Ship it this week.
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