Help! I'm torn. I'm creating a brochure for my business and I wonder if it's better to list my service fee's in the brochure and on my website or leave it for consultation. What does everyone think?
Deanna
Fresh events
Cincinnati
Views: 6488
Here is more input, As a professional DJ/Entertainer and Ordained Officiant, I do have my prices listed for my clients to see before they decide to call me and set up a time to meet.
What sets me apart from all the rest is that as the owner, I want to personally take care of all of my clients hence why I only schedule one wedding per weekend. That way my clients know that I will be the one handling every aspect of their wedding day music and entertainment. I put great value into each wedding that I do and have done and that reflects into my pricing.
Silver Wolf I would say that being the owner and the client knowing you will be at their event does not set you apart from other companies. It may from a few but their are MANY companies that are single operators and therefore do EXACTLY the same thing. Posting your prices based on that doesn't make much business sense. Please know that I am not trying to insult you in any way whatsoever.
If you post your prices on your website you have to know that by doing so is either going to attract more business or detract more business. It will detract more business if the price is above the average/norm/industry recommended. If a price is more than what is budgeted the prospective client will most likely move on to another vendor. If your prices is spot on or below they will further inquire depending on the design and content of your website.
We must all remember that Brides will only shop for most of these services ONCE in their lifetime! Not all vendors are priced equally and it should be up to the client to decide based on meeting with vendors and using recommendations from other vendors, venues, past clients and such to decide if they want to spend more, equal to or less than the average price for a vendor. What are their priorities? Do they feel their wedding will be better because of the vendor? Does the vendor provide more value for a slightly or signifcantly higher price. None of those things will be vetted, discussed or drawn out if pricing is on a website.
We book our clients at meetings. Our meetings are amazing and represent our amazing work and therefore we would never ever post our prices on our website as we would be doing a diservice to potential clients by having them never meet with us. I truly believe that every client that meets with us is lucky they did as are we lucky. They are treated to a well thought out presentation and representation of our work. We get the chance to show them what we do, how we do it and what are clients are saying about us.
Today my wife had two meetings and booked them both. This would have NEVER happened if they would have spotted our prices on our website. They simply would not have had the chance to see video, get a tour of the member's are of our website, see pictures, lighting demos, music programming demos and in depth discussions about how we have fixed all of the "Danger Zones" at weddings.
I guess what I am saying is instead of deciding to post or not post pricing for the wrong reasons find out if you are priced below, at or above the average for your vendor category. If your below then post prices because that is a great thing to sell. It may not be for the client [lol] but hey you know what they say, "you get what you pay for". If you are priced higher then you should figure out if you think that clients would pay more if only they would meet you and see what you do. Do you have great meetings? Then you probably shouldn't post prices as you'll have more opportunities to convert those who have underbudgeted for your services. You won't have much of a chance if they see your prices on your website. Now if you are priced at pretty much the average or what the wedding industry has suggested they budget [another topic i'd love to discuss] then this is the hardest one to decide. But at least you have the tools to know which direction to go.
Disclaimer - Most of our clients are referral based. Vendor referrals, Venue referrals, Private [Invite Only] Bridal Shows, Past Client referrals, Referrals from guests at past weddings and lastly from those who read our client reviews on Weddingwire, Weddingchannel and Yelp.com.
Disclaimer 2 - If a prospective client asks us our price via email or on the phone we ignore it and move the conversation into the appointment. We also spend time getting to know them which is EXTREMELY helpful. If they like you they will meet with you. For us it is all about the MEETING. If client asks again about pricing either at the end of the phone conversation [which rarely happens or in a second email then we will quote a starting price because it's not good to make someone upset and they are most likely not our client at this point anyway. Might as well not make them mad!
I really truly hope this has helped and I hope this reaches as many vendors as possible. Good luck to all and have a blessed Sunday!
I recently re-designed my brochures and I listed prices. You may want to do economy pricing for Brides with a small budget and pricing for Brides with a grand budget. Also state prices vary according to cost of living or operating expenses, special orders, etc. Lots of Vendor websites state their costs as I think this lets a customer know if they can afford their services. It helps both ways to me! Be abundantly blessed!
Rhonda
Rhonda,
How can you be both the budget vendor and the high-end vendor? I believe you should choose who you want to serve and how you want to be seen. Either way is fine but I'm not sure there are many that can pull off doing both simulateously. Think of big companies...I can't think of very many that serve both the budget [Wal-mart & Kia] and the affluent [Nordstroms & Lexus]. Just food for thought and you to be abundantly blessed!
I don't list pricing, my pricing is flat, but if after they hear about what you do, a lot of our clients will go the extra mile to pay for great service. If you don't give them an opportunity to hear what you do, they will just decide on you based on price... I don't want my clients to decide on me because of my fee, I want them to decide on me based on my service... and as much as we would like to think they read through your entire website... they don't... bride's don't read full context anymore, they speed read and look for hard figures like "cost"... if they aren't there, they have to inquire.
I'm not sure people pay more for great service rather than they see value in what you do. Remember that it's all about them. What benefits them and their event rather than the features and service. I agree with you that if they like the look and feel of your site [colors, pictures, reviews and some content] they will inquire, especially if you have an availability form and possibly even a carrot for them to chase!] It sounds like you must do a good job of showing your clients value.
We post a "starting at" price and then include a package price buried in our website. Our prices are not the highest nor are they the lowest in the area. I have noticed that most of our web inquires go to the "price" page and ask again what the price is when they send in an inquiry. I know my competitors in the market will email a prospect with their inflated price and then have some special if they book by a certain date. Not sure how helpful this is, I'm still trying to figure it out!
Carol Lockhart
Agree, "starting price" means a level to start a real discussion.
You can find "starting price" on every important sites of wedding photojournalists.
I strongly believe that this is about what kind of product or service you are providing to brides. As a musician, there are a myriad of different fees I can be quoting, depending on length of performance, where I am asked to perform, if the bride requests music outside of my standard repertoire, if I need to use amplification or not, etc. If I were to post fees, it would only be the "starting at ____" fee. I actually want to encourage brides to phone and ask for a quote, because she will begin to shop by benefits rather than price.
Exactly! I would also say that by having them contact you, you get a chance to make a connection, ask questions and get to know them. If you have a great personality, make friends quickly and are well liked you'll book people because they like you even if you cost a little more. It's been called High School rules rather than College rules. I've been posting replies today so you may see more in others comments. Have a great weekend!
I think that is fair to put your fee for no matter what kind of business.
I am wedding photojournalist, WPJA and ISPWP member.
Both of this two main wedding photographers are showing fees of every member listed by them.
You will have less emails just asking for prices, every potential client will go to the next level! (one real level of discussion about Big Day).
Aurel,
A vast majority of clients will ask about pricing before asking you about anything else. This is because they've never ever shopped for a Wedding Photographer err I mean Wedding Photojouralist [lol] so the only measuring stick they have in their arsenal is "price". Posting your prices on your website will definately lower the amount of emails you get which also means it will lower the number of prospects you can turn into appointments then into bookings. Do you post your prices on your wesbite? If you do, have the substantially decreased amount of emails that you receive not asked you again about your pricing and what it includes etc? I just believe this is stuff that should be gone over during a meeting while you will be able to ALSO go over the other sided of the equation. What are they getting for that price? Who are they getting for that price?
I have found that no matter where my prospects come from they ask about price about 80% of the time. I pretty much assume they want more information that just price and proceed using that assumption. One thing I do is just let them know what is the normal process. I guide them. You know how children actualy crave discipline? I think prospecitve clients crave guidance and will feel comfortable with you guiding them to an appointment with you without knowing price first. This will not work for everyone and for the expetions you will need to quote a "starting price" but it will work for more than you think.
I enjoyed posting replies this evening and I think I will join my wife in our TV room for a little "Pawn Stars". We're kind of addicted to that show! Happy weekend to everyone!
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