Pricing
How to raise your prices without losing your clients
A staged approach to pricing that most owners leave two years too late. Includes what to say and what not to apologise for.
6 steps · 7 min read
← All playbooks- 01
Work out your real margin first
Take one recent job. Add up every hour anyone spent on it, including admin and revisions. Divide the fee. That is your actual rate.
- 02
Raise new client prices immediately
New clients have no reference price. Change your quote today and watch the conversion rate. If it does not move, you were underpriced.
- 03
Segment existing clients
Three groups: profitable and pleasant, profitable and difficult, unprofitable. Handle each differently.
- 04
Give notice, not a negotiation
State the new rate, the date it starts, and one line of reason. Do not apologise and do not offer alternatives in the first message.
- 05
Expect to lose some
Losing twenty percent of clients while raising rates forty percent leaves you better off with more time. Do the arithmetic before you panic.
- 06
Diarise the next review
Twelve months out. Annual increases are normal. Silence for five years then a shock rise is what damages relationships.