Say Your New Price Once, and Let the Client Answer

Imagine an event planner named Harriet Vosper who has charged $10,000 to plan a wedding for five years. Over the winter, she decided that couples who book her from March 1 pay $11,500. She changed the fee on her website and in her proposal. She has not yet said the new fee to anyone.

On March 4, Mrs. Ellingworth calls about her daughter’s wedding next June. It is for 150 guests, in a tent at the family’s farm. Her friend Mrs. Hallett gave her Harriet’s name. Harriet planned the wedding of Mrs. Hallett’s son two summers ago. Near the end of the call, Mrs. Ellingworth asks what Harriet charges.

Harriet has a tasting at two, and $11,500 suddenly sounds like a lot. “My fee has just gone up, I’m afraid,” she says. “It’s $11,500 now. It was $10,000 until this month, but I’m doing a lot more for each couple.”

Mrs. Ellingworth is quiet for a moment. “The Halletts paid ten,” she says. “Would you do it for that, since they sent us?” Harriet does not want to lose the first wedding at her new fee. She agrees to $10,500, which is $1,000 under the fee she set.

Suppose instead that Harriet says the fee the way her website gives it. “My fee to plan the wedding is $11,500, from the first visit to the farm through the last dance.” Then she stops. Her heart is going, and she looks at her notes instead of filling the quiet.

A few seconds later, Mrs. Ellingworth asks whether the fee includes finding the caterer. Harriet says that it does. Mrs. Ellingworth books a visit to the farm for the next Saturday.

Harriet offered the same work at the same fee both times. In the first version, she told Mrs. Ellingworth three facts a new client had no way of knowing. Her fee had changed, it used to be $10,000, and she thought it needed an apology. So Mrs. Ellingworth measured $11,500 against $10,000, and asked for the old price.

In the second version, $11,500 was simply Harriet’s fee. All Mrs. Ellingworth had to weigh was the work.

So the first time you say a new price, say it as your price. Give the round figure once, with no word about the old one and no apology. Then stop, and let the client speak first. Here is why the old price slips out, and what three photographers found.

A new client has never heard your old price

When you raise your price in stages, new clients pay it first, because to them it is simply your price. So the first time you say a new price aloud is usually to a client who has never heard the old one.

The old price is still in your head that first time. You have said it for years, and the new figure is the one that sounds strange to you. So the old price tends to come out in small words around the new one. “Now,” “new,” “just gone up,” and “I’m afraid” each tell the client that there was a lower price. Saying the old figure tells them what it was.

Here is the course’s view of what that costs you. A client measures every price against the first one they hear. When the old figure comes first, the new one sounds like a jump. “I’m afraid” goes further, because it tells the client that you think the price needs an excuse. It is an apology for the price. Together, the old figure and the apology are why Mrs. Ellingworth asked for $10,000.

The fix is to say the price the way a client would find it on your website. Give the round figure, say what it covers in a few words, and stop. It is the same sentence you say aloud three times before the meeting, so it is not new to your voice.

A wedding photographer tried a higher price on the last inquiries of her year

Michelle Lange is a wedding and newborn photographer in Albany, New York. In 2019, she wrote in Rangefinder about how she raises her prices. She has tested increases many times, she wrote.

When she was almost fully booked for the year, she raised her starting price slightly. The higher price went to the inquiries that came in for the rest of that year. She was already reaching her income goals. So the higher price was a way to see whether it changed how many inquiries booked. “It was a nice way to get my feet wet without getting my pants soaked,” she wrote.

Other times, she raised her prices “a couple hundred dollars from one day to the next.” Earlier in the article, she gives her readers this advice. “Do not feel bad about increasing your prices or feel like you need to explain why those increases happen.”

Lange’s prices went out in writing, and the step to saying a price aloud is the course’s own. What carries over is when she tried them, and what she left out. She tried a higher price when a no would cost her little, because her year was nearly full. She also tells her readers not to explain an increase.

So if you can, start your new price at a time when your calendar is nearly full. Then less rides on the first few answers. Give each of those clients the figure with no explanation.

A photographer’s rule for the seconds after the price is to stop talking

In 2017, Rangefinder asked three photographers how they made their businesses more profitable. Tiffany Angeles, a photographer, runs Unlimited Style Photography. Her first tip was about the moment after the price.

“Know when it’s time to stop talking,” she said. “So many people talk themselves right out of a sale by offering discounts and add-ons before they allow the client to respond.”

Another of her tips is about what the client’s answer means. She suggests assuming that money is no concern, because you do not know whether a client “recently received a bonus, or Grandma is paying.” Then you can “confidently tell them the price.” “They will either get the money or make adjustments,” she said. “Either way, it’s not a reflection of you personally.”

The seconds after a new price can be the hardest part the first time. The figure is bigger than any you have said for this work. So the quiet after it can feel like a verdict on you. Angeles’s view is that it is not one. The client is deciding about their money and their plans.

So your job in those seconds is the same as after any complete answer. Say nothing more, and look at the plan between you while the client thinks.

The client’s first words tell you what to say next

When the client speaks, they may ask a question, say yes, repeat the figure, or mention what a friend paid. Each has a short answer:

They ask a question. Answer that question in a sentence or two, and stop again. Mrs. Ellingworth asked about the caterer, and Harriet said that it was included.
They say yes. Say what happens next, and nothing more about the price.
They repeat the figure. A client who repeats it is often weighing the size of the decision, not asking for less. Say that it is a big decision, and say the price again in the same words.
They say a friend paid you less. This can happen in the first months of a new price. The friend who gave your name may have hired you at the old one. Give the date and your fee in one sentence, without an apology. Harriet could say, “The Halletts booked me two years ago. My fee for a wedding is $11,500.”

Leave the old price out of that last answer, and do not offer it. A friend’s price is a fact about an earlier year, and your fee is a fact about this one.

Why saving the new price for a large job goes wrong

Imagine a caterer named Nadia Sedgwick who has raised her prices for new clients from April 1. A seated dinner for up to 30 guests goes from $7,000 to $8,000. Her smaller parties go up by about the same share. In the first week of April, two small inquiries come in, a dinner for 12 and a lunch for 20.

Nadia has a wedding that Saturday, and her new prices feel like a lot to say for a small party. So she quotes both at her old prices. She tells herself that she will start the new price with the next large job.

In May, Mrs. Thornbury calls about her husband’s 60th birthday, a dinner for 30 in their garden. It is the job Nadia wants most of all, and it is the first time she has said $8,000 aloud. “It would be $8,000,” she says, and her voice goes up at the end. “But I can look at the menu if that’s more than you had in mind.” Mrs. Thornbury says she will think about it. She books the caterer her sister used.

Nadia’s mistake was saving the new price for a large job. The first time she said it, she had the most riding on the answer. Her nerves showed in the offer that followed. She also quoted the two small parties at her old prices, to hosts whose friends might hire her.

The version that works starts on April 1, with the dinner for 12. Nadia quotes it at its new price, and the host books. By May, she has said her new prices a few times. When Mrs. Thornbury asks, Nadia says a sentence she has said before. “It’s $8,000 for the dinner, with the servers and the rentals included.” Then she stops.

A higher price is not a bluff the first client will call

The first time you say a higher figure, it can feel like a bluff. Many professionals expect the first client to laugh, or to ask who they think they are. So they wait to say it until they feel ready.

Amanda Holloway is a high-end senior photographer who takes about four clients a month. Her clients are seniors and their parents. In 2017, she told Rangefinder how her sales went with the clients she aimed for. “My first two ordering sessions in my target market yielded $4,000 sales each,” she said. An ordering session is where her clients choose the albums, canvases, and digital files they buy.

She tells clients her prices ahead of time. “The way the collections are laid out, I don’t even have to sell anything,” she said. “There are no hard sales, no bargaining and no hassles.”

Holloway’s first clients at that level bought. In the second version of Harriet’s call, Mrs. Ellingworth asks about the caterer, not the fee. Harriet’s heart is going when she says $11,500, and she says it anyway. She set the fee over the winter, for reasons, before the call.

The course’s view is that nerves on the day are about the moment, not the price. Lange’s advice to “believe in what you are putting out there” is about the price, and Harriet settled that in the winter. A figure you have said to a few clients stops sounding new.

The doubt that comes with a new price tends to pass once a client pays it. That happens sooner when the first client is the next one who asks.

How to say your new price for the first time

Choose the date your new price starts for new clients. Change your website and your proposal that day. If you can, choose a time when your calendar is nearly full, as Lange did. For example, a florist might start her new wedding price in October, when most of next June is booked.
Write your price sentence with the round figure and what it covers, and nothing else. Cross out “now,” “new,” “just,” “I’m afraid,” and the old figure. For example, a tutor writes, “It’s $4,200 for the term, with two sessions a week.”
Say that sentence to the next new client who asks after your date, whatever the size of the job. Do not quote the old price to small jobs while you wait for a large one. For example, a coach gives his new price to the client who wants three sessions. He does not save it for the one who wants a year.
Say the sentence once and stop. Look at your notes or the plan between you, and let the client be the next to speak. Leave out any discount, add-on, or reason.
When the client speaks, answer what they said and stop again. For example, an interior designer who is asked whether her fee includes the kitchen can say, “Yes, the kitchen and both bathrooms.”
If a new client says a friend paid you less, give the date the friend booked and your fee, in one sentence. Do not offer the friend’s price.
Judge the new price by what most of your first few clients did, not by the first one. One client’s pause tells you little. For example, a personal trainer might write down each new client’s answer for the first two months before he decides anything.

Next: The core course ends here, and the electives begin. The first is for photographers, and it starts with what wealthy clients want from a photographer.