What if the fastest path to profit didn’t require more clients, more staff, or more complexity?
That’s exactly what Warren Buffett demonstrated with one simple strategy: raising prices.
When he bought See’s Candies, he didn’t focus on cutting costs or scaling operations first.
Instead, he raised prices—more than 50 times, sometimes by as much as 17% in a single year.
The result?
Over $1 billion in lifetime profit.
Buffett famously said:
“If you have to pray before raising price 10%, you don’t have a great product.”
Let’s break down what that means for your business—and how you can apply it right now.
Why Price Is the Most Underrated Growth Lever
When founders want to grow, they typically default to:
- Getting more clients
- Expanding services to existing clients
These can work—but they require more delivery, more overhead, and more complexity.
Raising your price, by contrast, creates instant leverage.
Every additional dollar in revenue goes straight to profit—assuming costs remain stable.
A Real-World Example: $600K/Month Agency at 20% Margin
Let’s say your business earns $600,000/month in revenue with a 20% profit margin.
That means you’re keeping $120,000/month, or $1.44M per year.
Scenario 1: Raise Prices by 10%
New revenue = $600,000 × 1.10 = $660,000/month
Delivery costs stay flat at $480,000 → New profit = $180,000/month
That’s an extra $60,000/month, or $720,000/year in pure profit
A 50% profit increase, just from one pricing decision.
Scenario 2: Switch to 4-Week Billing
Billed every 4 weeks instead of monthly gives you 13 cycles per year:
- Old model: $600,000 × 12 = $7.2M/year
- New model: $600,000 × 13 = $7.8M/year
Delivery cost stays the same: $480,000 × 12 = $5.76M/year
New profit = $7.8M – $5.76M = $2.04M/year
That’s a 42% increase in profit—with no change in team size or delivery effort.
Combined Impact: Raise Prices + 4-Week Billing
- $660,000 per billing cycle
- 13 billing cycles = $8.58M/year
- Annual delivery cost: still $5.76M
- Annual profit: $2.82M
That’s nearly double your original $1.44M profit.
Profit increase: $1.38M/year, without hiring, chasing more clients, or doing more work.
3 Signs You’re Undercharging
Before you raise prices, it helps to ask: Am I already leaving money on the table?
Here are three clear signs:
1. You’re Winning More Than 70% of Proposals
A high close rate feels good—but it often signals that you’re priced too low.
You don’t want to win every deal. You want to win the right deals at the right price.
2. You Haven’t Changed Your Pricing in Over a Year
If your costs have gone up, but your prices haven’t, your margin is shrinking with every sale.
Inflation and rising team costs demand regular review.
3. You Discount to Close Deals
If you find yourself dropping price just to get the “yes,” it’s often a sign of unclear value, weak positioning, or fear of losing business.
None of those are solved by charging less.
What Buffett Meant by a “Great Product”
“If you have to pray before raising price 10%, you don’t have a great product.”
A great product isn’t flawless. It’s clear, outcome-driven, and valuable.
You have a great product if:
- You solve a high-stakes problem
- Clients experience a clear ROI
- You deliver consistently
- You’re known for what you do best
- Clients stay, refer, and renew
If that sounds like your business, you already have pricing power—you just haven’t used it yet.
How to Raise Prices With Confidence
Here’s how to move forward without guesswork or risking client trust:
1. Test a Price Increase on New Clients
Start with a 10–20% bump on new proposals. Track what happens. If close rates stay strong, you’ve validated your value.
2. Shift to 4-Week Billing
This small structural change adds an 8.3% lift in revenue per client, annually. It also creates steadier cash flow and greater predictability.
3. Add Annual Price Increase Clauses
Include a 5–12% annual adjustment in new contracts, tied to inflation or cost of delivery.
Frame it as future-proofing your service, not a surprise rate hike.
Why Fractional CFO Support Makes This Work
You don’t need to guess when it comes to pricing. With the right financial visibility, pricing becomes a strategic tool—not a risk.
A fractional CFO helps you:
- Understand gross profit by service and client type
- Model how pricing changes affect overall profitability
- Build a forward-looking forecast tied to your goals
- Replace emotion with data in every decision
This is how you stop reacting—and start engineering your business for sustainable, scalable profit.
The Bottom Line: Profit Doesn’t Happen by Accident
Warren Buffett didn’t scale See’s Candies by adding more customers or slashing costs.
He simply charged more for a product people already loved—and it added over $1 billion to the bottom line.
You can do the same.
If your business delivers real value and you’ve built loyalty, it’s time to price like it.
Ready to Build a More Profitable Pricing Strategy?
At Argento CPA, we help $2M–$10M businesses confidently raise prices, improve margins, and scale profit—not just revenue.
Our fractional CFO services give you:
- Pricing and margin analysis
- Forecasts tied to real business goals
- Profit-focused dashboards
- The confidence to lead with numbers, not instinct
Book your 45-minute Profit Diagnostic today.
We’ll help you build a pricing roadmap that fits your business model—and your ambitions.