Time to Raise Your Rates Archives - Small Business Coach, Women Business Coaching - Client Attraction

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Is it time for you to raise your rates? The answer may very well be, absolutely—especially if you’re almost at full practice capacity. A lot of entrepreneurs hold off on making the decision to raise their rates because they’re afraid of the push back from clients and prospects who may complain.

Well, I have three strategies for you that will make you more money immediately. These are the same strategies that we teach all of our clients at all levels of our Client Attraction Winners Academy. They are simple to implement and you will eliminate the push back from clients and prospects when you decide it’s time to raise your rates.

The first thing I want you to do is consider not raising your rates with existing clients. See, I’ve been in business for 12 years and I’ve raised my rates many times over the years. In fact, at one point in my business I was pushing up against full practice capacity so often that I was raising my rates every three to four months, little by little.

What I realized is that clients who are used to paying a certain amount don’t like to pay more for what they’ve gotten. They certainly don’t like to receive less, so my strategy over the last few years is simply to grandfather your existing clients into the old rates—your existing rates that they have been paying—but also educate them that if they even decide to leave and then come back, they will be coming back at the new rates. Have them understand that. You’re letting them know that it’s in their best interest to stay with you for years to come.

Next, when you’re announcing new rates, to make sure that prospects don’t get cranky about the increase, you need to announce that you will be increasing your rates by a certain deadline. Perhaps you’ll say, “Starting June 1st or December 1st, I am raising my fees or my prices by this much to this amount. Luckily if you decide you want to work with me before June 1st and you sign up, then you will be grandfathered in at the old rate.”

It could be a week, it could be two weeks, it could be six months. I recommend one month; 30 days. What happens is you’ll start seeing a deluge of new orders and new clients come in before the deadline. If somebody then chooses not to sign up with you before your new rates go into effect, it becomes their choice and they will understand that you are now only available at the new rate.

The third strategy around raising your rates is to give your prospects and clients a rationale as to why. It could be that you’re adding new services or you’re adding bonuses or simply it’s time because you’ve been charging this amount for quite awhile. If you let people know why you’re doing something, it feels more authentic; there’s more integrity in it. So write out a rationale ahead of time and communicate that when you are letting prospects and clients know that you are raising rates.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

When was the last time you raised your rates? Take some time to evaluate how your products and programs have evolved since then and determine if the time is right for an increase. Then map out your strategy on paper. Set a deadline for your new rates to go into effect and determine how you’ll communicate your increase to existing clients and new prospects.

Good luck!

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