Good, better, best pricing: how to build and present the quote

Good, better, best pricing means one quote with three options at three prices, each one including everything in the option below it plus something more. The customer picks one and signs. Nothing about the work changes; only the way the choice is put to the customer does.

Because a single price invites a yes or a no, while three prices invite a comparison, and the comparison is with your own options instead of another company's quote. Consumer research has long found that people facing an uncertain choice lean toward the option in the middle, which researchers call the compromise effect.

• It changes the question. "Which one?" is easier to answer than "Do I hire you?"
• It makes the middle look reasonable. Next to a higher Best option, the Better price feels like a fair choice. Itamar Simonson's 1989 study in the Journal of Consumer Research is the classic paper on this middle-option pull.
• It lets the customer upgrade themselves. Customers who want everything done pick Best without you pushing. That is an upsell the customer chose.
• It keeps price shoppers. A customer who would have walked away from one $800 number may still say yes to the $585 option.

Start with Better: the job you would recommend for this property if the customer asked your honest opinion. Then make Good the smallest job you are proud of, and Best the full job with the add-ons this property actually needs.

Examples by trade

• Pressure and soft washing: Good = house wash. Better = house wash, driveway and walks. Best = adds gutter brightening and the patio or pool deck.
• Window cleaning: Good = outside only. Better = inside and outside. Best = adds screens and tracks.
• Gutter cleaning: Good = clean out and flush downspouts. Better = adds a gutter face brightening. Best = adds guards on the worst runs.
• Recurring work: Good = a one-time visit. Better = two visits a year on a service plan. Best = four visits a year with a rotation of services. See selling service plans.

Big enough that each step adds something the customer can see, small enough that stepping up feels easy. A common starting point is Better at about 30% to 40% above Good, and Best at about 25% to 40% above Better, then adjusted to the real work in each option.

each option's price = the sum of its line prices (from your price list), less any bundle discount
step up = (Better − Good) ÷ Good
check: every option's margin ≥ your minimum margin

Example (invented prices): Good $585, Better $799 (a 37% step up), Best $1,045 (a 31% step up). If the customer picks Good, the job still clears the minimum charge and the target margin.

• Bundle discounts make steps up feel good. "Add the driveway for $214 instead of $239 on its own" is easier to accept when the discount is real and applied the same way every time.
• Don't make Good too cheap. If Good is so stripped down that nobody should buy it, customers who pick it will be unhappy, and you will get the callback.
• Keep Best believable. A Best option at three times the Good price makes the whole quote look like a stretch.

Show the options side by side, mark your recommendation, explain the difference in a sentence each, and let the customer pick and sign on the spot or from a link. Walking through them in person or on a call beats emailing a PDF and waiting.

1. Lead with the problem you saw. "The north side has heavy green growth, and the driveway has oil stains by the garage."
2. Walk the options from Better down and then up. "This is what I recommend. If budget matters most, this one covers the house. If you want everything done at once, this adds the gutters and patio."
3. Mark one as Most popular or Recommended. Only if it is true for your customers.
4. Offer small add-ons as tick boxes. A window rinse or a trash-can pad clean can go on any option.
5. Make signing easy. A link they can open on their phone, with a signature and a date, closes more quotes than "call us when you decide".
6. Follow up on a schedule. A quote that is not signed in three days gets a short, friendly follow-up. Then another a week later.

Track three numbers before and after you switch: your close rate, your average ticket, and which option customers pick. If close rate holds and the average ticket rises, it is working.

Options are whole versions of the job, and the customer picks exactly one. Add-ons are small extras the customer can tick on top of whichever option they chose. Use options for the big decision and add-ons for the small ones.

Keep add-ons to a short list, three to five at most, and only ones that make sense for this property. A list of twelve tick boxes turns a simple decision back into homework.

Yes, but the options are usually about how often, not what is included. A property manager or an HOA board compares a scope and a frequency against a budget, so the three options are three service levels for the same property.

• Good: the core areas once a year (entrance monuments, sidewalks, the clubhouse).
• Better: the core areas twice a year, plus the pool deck.
• Best: a quarterly plan with every common area, and priority scheduling before board meetings or inspections.
• Put the yearly total on each option as well as the per-visit price. Boards approve budgets, not visits.
• Expect the decision to take longer. Send the quote in a form the manager can forward to the board as it is.

• Options that are not really different. "Good" and "Better" that differ by one $20 item look like a gimmick.
• Too many options. Three is enough. Five makes the customer stop and think about whether to do it at all.
• Hiding the recommendation. Customers hired you for your judgment. Tell them which one you would pick.
• Typing discounts by hand. One rep gives 10%, another gives 15%, and the invoice no longer matches. Put the rule in the price list.
• Never looking at the results. Without the option mix, you are guessing whether the prices are right.

• Quotes hold up to three options side by side, with one tagged Most popular by the rep, and stack neatly on a phone.
• Customers tick optional add-ons on the quote page and see the total change as they go.
• Customers sign online with a typed name and a drawn signature, from a link you email or copy and send yourself.
• Bundle discounts from the price list apply to every option the same way.
• Reports show which option customers picked (Good, Better, Best or a single option), next to close rate and average ticket.
• Follow-ups send email steps for each pipeline stage on a schedule you set, so a lead with a quote out hears from you without anyone remembering to write.