# Price Before You Scale

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/retail-price-five-times-cost · Last updated 30 October 2026

You have a product selling and a bigger order in front of you, and you cannot say whether the margin leaves enough cash for payroll. Ivanka Menken uses the Price-to-Cost Multiple inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, a 6-month programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST: start the retail price at roughly five times landed cost, then test it against gross margin and weeks of payroll. You leave with one written price test and one cash number to watch.

## Sales are up and the cash is not

- You are pricing on gut feel.
- Revenue is up but cash is tight.
- You do not know the margin by product.

**THE MOMENT:** A stockist wants a bigger order. You are pleased, then you open the bank account and wonder how you will pay for the stock before payroll. The product sells at $30. It costs about $12 to make, pack and deliver, a number you have never written beside the price. You cannot say what each sale leaves, or how many sales it takes to cover one week of wages.

### THE PRICE, AS IT STANDS

- Retail price: $30, set by feel
- Landed cost: about $12, not written down
- Gross margin per unit: not known
- Stockist share: not in the price
- Weeks of payroll per 100 sales: not known

## Sell more at the same price

The obvious fix was volume. Say yes to the bigger order, push the product harder online and let more sales cover the gap. It added work and stock costs before it added cash. At $30 against a $12 landed cost, each sale left $18, and a stockist taking its share would leave far less. Selling more at that margin made the cash problem bigger, and faster.

## The price had been set against a competitor

Ivanka noticed the price had been set by looking at a competitor’s shelf, not at the founder’s own costs. Nobody had written landed cost beside it. Nobody had asked what a stockist would need to keep, or how many units it took to pay one week of wages. The price looked like a market decision. It was really a cash decision that had never been made.

## A cash decision before a market decision

The diagnosis was not that the product was too cheap for the market. It was that the price had never been tested against the cash it needed to produce. Growth was about to multiply a margin nobody had measured.
The reframe: price is a cash decision before it is a market decision. A starting point of roughly five times landed cost gives room for a stockist’s share, the freight nobody counted and the payroll the business has to meet. Then the market tests the price. Not the other way round.

> Price is a cash decision before it is a market decision.

**The cost of staying stuck:** Selling more at a thin margin can make the cash problem worse. Every extra unit needs stock paid for up front, and each one adds less than it seems to.

## The tool: Price-to-Cost Multiple

The Price-to-Cost Multiple starts from what one unit really costs to land, then sets a starting retail price at roughly five times that number. It is a starting point, not a law. The price is then tested twice: against gross margin per unit, and against the number of sales it takes to cover one week of payroll.

It is one sale on one page. Landed cost, the five times starting point, the current price, the margin gap between them, and the weeks of payroll that 100 sales cover at each price. At the bottom, the next quote or order where the new price gets tested.

It replaces a price copied from a competitor’s shelf, a landed cost nobody wrote down, and the hope that more volume will fix a margin problem.

### What goes on the page

1. Landed cost: $12 a unit in the example, made, packed and delivered
2. The starting point: five times cost, $60 in the example
3. The current price: $30, two and a half times cost
4. The margin gap: $18 a unit now, $48 at the starting point
5. The cash check: weeks of payroll that 100 sales cover at each price
6. The test: the next order or quote where the new price goes out

It sits inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, next to the Price-Cash-Confidence Chain and the monthly Money-and-Clarity Scorecard. You work the numbers through together and take them to your own adviser. It is coaching, not accounting or financial advice, and there is no separate checkout.

## One sale on a page

In the first session, Ivanka put one sale on a page: sale price, landed cost, gross margin and weeks of payroll covered. Then she asked two questions. What price are you willing to test? What answer would change your next move? The founder wrote the five times starting point beside the current price and saw the gap. They left with one price test for the next stockist conversation and one cash number to watch each week.

### The questions

- What does one unit cost to land, all in?
- What would a stockist need to keep?
- What price are you willing to test?
- What answer would change your next move?
- Which cash number will you watch each week?

### THE FOUR-STEP LOOP

1. The one thing: The bigger order, at a price nobody has tested.
2. The numbers: $12 landed, $30 now, $60 as the starting point.
3. The story: Why the competitor’s shelf set the price.
4. The commitment: One price test, at the next order.

Before the next session, the founder quoted the next stockist at the tested price and counted one number each week: gross margin dollars against the week’s payroll.

## A tested price and one cash number

By month 6, the product has a written price test behind it, a clear margin number and one cash measure reviewed at every session.

**BEFORE**

- The price was set by feel.
- Landed cost was never written down.
- Volume was the only plan.
- Nobody knew what a sale covered.

**BY MONTH 6**

- A written price test against landed cost.
- A clear margin number for each product.
- One cash measure reviewed at every session.
- Growth decisions made after the price, not before it.

The programme is the container: 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions, a monthly scorecard, and reviews at month 3 and month 6.

## Price the product before you sell more of it

Ivanka Menken built Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring for founders of $500K to $3M businesses that are growing while cash tightens. She reads the numbers with you, asks the question you have been avoiding, and keeps you to the decision you write down.
This fits if you sell a product, your price came from a competitor or a feeling, and a bigger order is close. It does not fit if you want someone to do the books. The decision in front of you is one price test. Write landed cost beside your price before you say yes to the next order.

> During our sessions Ivanka isn’t just talking theory. She is sharing her own lived experiences.
>
> Business owner

## Who fits, and who does not

### It fits

- You sell a physical product, direct or through stockists.
- Your price came from a competitor or a feeling.
- Revenue is up and the cash is tighter.
- You will write the price test down and watch one number.

### It does not fit

- You want accounting or financial advice.
- You want a done-for-you fix or someone to set prices for you.
- You want a pricing formula to copy without testing it.
- You sell only your hours, with no unit cost to price from.

### Investment

**AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, 6 months.** The Price-to-Cost Multiple is part of Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. It is not sold separately.

Included:

- 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions
- The monthly Money-and-Clarity Scorecard
- Reviews at month 3 and month 6
- The Price-to-Cost Multiple for each product decision

Three founding places in total, shared across all 1:1 mentoring, are available at AUD $1,000/month ex GST, in return for honest monthly feedback and a testimonial, which can be anonymous.

- [Join Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/eVq4gzdKgekN6pcbIcdQQ0t?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=retail-price-five-times-cost)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=retail-price-five-times-cost#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/cash-tight-growing-founder)

## Questions about Price-to-Cost Multiple

### What price should I test?

Start at roughly five times landed cost, the full cost of making, packing and getting one unit to you. In the example, that is $60 for a $12 unit. It is a starting point to test, not a rule. Ivanka Menken works it through with you inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, and you test it at the next order.

### What margin do I need?

Enough to pay a stockist’s share, the costs you forgot and the payroll you have to meet. Five times cost leaves 80% gross margin at retail, and about 60% if a stockist buys at half the retail price. Ivanka Menken tests the number against your own costs inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. Take the figures to your adviser.

### How does this affect payroll?

Each sale leaves a gross margin in dollars. Divide one week of payroll by it and you know how many sales cover a week of wages. In the example, $18 a unit needs far more sales than $48. Ivanka Menken puts that number on the scorecard inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. It is coaching, not financial advice.

### When do I review it?

At the next session, after the price has met one real order or quote, and then monthly on the Money-and-Clarity Scorecard. Review the margin dollars against payroll. The number of sales alone can mislead. Ivanka Menken reads the result with you inside Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, before you decide the next move.


## Write the cost beside the price

If a bigger order is close and you cannot say what each sale leaves, start with Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring. The Price-to-Cost Multiple is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether the programme fits.

- [Join Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/eVq4gzdKgekN6pcbIcdQQ0t?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=retail-price-five-times-cost)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=retail-price-five-times-cost#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Cash-Tight Growth Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/cash-tight-growing-founder)
- [The full Price-Cash-Confidence Chain](https://ivankamenken.com/cash-tight-growing-founder#the-chain)
- [Set a gross margin floor before you quote](https://ivankamenken.com/gross-margin-floor)
- [Set a floor before the next quote](https://ivankamenken.com/book-fair-floor-price)
- [Test the product before the retail pitch](https://ivankamenken.com/market-booth-demand-test)

- Every way to work with Ivanka: https://ivankamenken.com/work-with-ivanka