Should you reveal the rates for your services on your website? This is an ongoing debate I struggle with and I know I’m not alone.

At a recent workshop I attended, the speaker was deadset against putting prices on your website. She advocates talking about everything but and then getting them to call you to get the price so you can delve into the emotions around the decision for that particular person–and thereby convince them of your value at any price. Otherwise, she said, people see the prices, go into sticker shock, and don’t call when they may actually be able to afford your services if they realized how much value they were getting.

But I have three issues with that.

1. Her business, and many of the people attending, is coaching. And if you look at a bunch of coaching websites, you’ll find a few with prices so you have an idea of the price range to expect. But I still get people asking me to write 500-word articles for $75. If their expectations are that far out in la-la land, no amount of conversation will probably convince them to pay my rates. So frankly, I don’t want to waste my time on the phone with them.

2. If I don’t see a price, I usually don’t bother to call. I don’t want to feel like a nimrod if they say its hundreds of dollars above what I was thinking. Plus, I don’t want to be pressured to make a decision on the spot. I like to know ALL the details and think it over first. The upside is that when I’m ready to talk to you again, I’m ready to buy.

3. You really have to be really good at navigating that phone conversation because people probably will still have sticker shock. She gave us tips for doing that, but her process requires you to be comfortable talking about other people’s emotions, and I’ll admit I’m not. Not with people I barely know anyway. The woman she pulled from the audience to demonstrate this started crying–that would freak me out. I want clients to be excited that we’ll be working together, but I certainly don’t want anyone to expect that I can singlehandedly pull their business from edge of disaster or make them a millionaire. It takes at least two to dance those tangos.

Previously, I had been leaning towards just posting all the rates for various projects on the website and letting people just purchase them through the shopping cart. They’d know upfront whether or not it fits their budget and we can skip the whole awkward price discussion. But now I’m wondering if I’d be better with a hybrid solution of some sort. Any suggestions?