Pricing can feel like a personal decision, something that not everyone is comfortable talking about.. yet it is the difference of a business that is sustainable and a business that is failing. Your customers/clients want the best price based on the value they perceive your business offers, and that is the task at hand - showing your value.
Before we jump into that, I will say that I personally started out by just throwing numbers out on a quote without any basis or financial consideration. I coordinated a ceremony for $500 and actually lost money by the time I factored in how much time I was putting into the event. I wasn’t profitable but I was so excited to get my foot in the door that I ignored basic business fundamentals by doing so. This post is for all of those planners out there who either have been there or are currently pricing their services at random numbers - and I hope this will inspire you to invest the time to dive deeper.
After years into owning my wedding business and working around raising kids, I was ready to “go full-time” and needed to really hone in on the numbers in order to be profitable for the long term future. Comparing your prices to another planners prices won’t serve you well until you understand your expenses and your capacity for how many events you would like to plan. Figuring this out seemed easy enough, but it wasn’t until I purchased Kristin Kaplan’s pricing workbook that I was able to really work through each question and put everything together in one place.
Kristin’s pricing workbook is specifically for creatives who offer either a service or a product and it is broken down in an easy to digest pdf workbook that walks you through the steps of looking at expenses, package prices, the capacity/volume and helps you identify pricing that actually fits your specific business model. I can’t recommend this workbook enough!
While there are a ton of profit and loss statements and accounting tools out there to help you arrive at these numbers, the most important thing is that you keep chipping away to continually make your business profitable. As much as I love planning weddings it is a business at the end of the day and we as planners cannot truly serve our clients well if our businesses are not successful. Responsible pricing helps the entire industry, this starts with educating ourselves and our clients on our value & expertise that we bring to the table.
Wondering if you are on the right track in your business? Reach out for a free discovery call or check out our resources page for helpful courses, templates & links!