How to Increase Your Prices
Every October, for the past 3 years, I’ve kicked off my annual “Pricing Adjustment Review” for all of my clients. It doesn’t necessarily mean every client’s pricing increases every year. This is more art than science.
Sometimes I don’t touch pricing. Sometimes I actually decrease their pricing. There’s a method to my madness.
But every year, I review everyone’s pricing.
Why?
>Because I want to run an intentional business
>Because I hate SALY (same as last year) without a good reason
>Because if my prices aren’t tracking with inflation, then neither is my take-home pay
>Because it’s hard to tell your client they need to raise their prices when they’ve never seen you do it either
So I block time on my calendar, every fall, to kick off this 2-month SOP:
Send customer appreciation gifts
Run my current pricing reports
Review clients for disengagement / static pricing
Determine adjusted pricing for each client
Review for long-range pricing exceptions
Digest, think, consider (about a 2 week process for me, after I’m done hyperventilating about increasing prices)
Draft client communication
More hyperventilating
Send client communication (with thoughtful timing)
Update internal billing systems
Then, on January 1st, while I’m still rubbing sleepies out of my eyes, my clients’ new fees are auto-drafted, before I even get out of bed.
If the above 10 steps are enough for you to get going - amazing! Go run your race! It’s a great time to review your clients’ pricing. Let me know how it goes.
If you’d rather run as a pack, have someone virtually hold your hand, and have a space to ask questions over the next 2 months, join us for Part 1 of the Pricing Increase Workshop series that kicks off on Friday. We already have 43 members RSVPed, so it should be a Goldilocks-sized group - not too big, not too small, just right ;o) If you can’t make the time, a recording will be available for 2 weeks, so you can stay on pace. Details below.
Also…there is far less hyperventilating these days. It becomes easier and more natural each year you do it. But you have to start somewhere.
Cheers,
Erica
What’s Happening in Aligned
Pricing Increase Workshop (Part 1 - Determining Your Prices)
Office Hours w/ Erica:
Pricing Increase Workshop (Part 2 - Drafting Client Communication)
Pricing Increase Workshop (Part 3 - Updating Your Systems)
Question of the Week > What’s one small workflow tweak that's saving you time this fall?
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More details in the link above.