One of the ways that I earn income is by making money as a music consultant. If you haven’t read my previous article on making $125 an hour as a church music consultant, I would recommend that you check it out. I, also, work as a music consultant and piano teacher and I consult other musicians on how to build their brands, price their services, and (when the time comes) raise their prices. One of the facts about being a musician, is that if you have a website (and yes, if you are a professional musician you should have a website), you do not want to put your prices there.
You may be wondering "well should I have packages that I offer?" Yes, have packages but never post prices. Why? The why will be clear in a minute but first, let me just say first that I’m writing this from a music consultant's perspective and am basing this advice on trends I have seen in my field of expertise. Use your discernment and research your field if it is different from mine, however, much of this rings true in other consulting fields, as well.
As a consultant, when you price your services before you demonstrate your value, you open yourself to a host of objections and often attract less than favorable types of clients. Furthermore, many good prospective clients will go elsewhere if the tone sounds like you are more about charging them money than you are about offering value. Here are the 3 main reasons why you should never post rates or discounts on your website.
1. Price Shoppers
When you post your prices you make it that much easier for parents/ clients to price out your services. At that point, they no longer will see your accomplishments in the same way or view the value of what you can offer them. You become a number. They aren’t going to try to price out the pros and cons of doing business with you. They are going to look at the bottom number and then go look at someone else’s bottom number and maybe (if you’re the cheapest) they’ll come back.
This puts people in the wrong frame of mind and often attracts the type of clients you don’t want to deal with. If you get someone calling you and they want a price, don’t give them one on the phone. Tell them that you want to fully assess their needs first. Offer them a free consultation or mini-lesson (if you are a music teacher) and you can discuss price after that. You want a chance to demonstrate your expertise and ingrain in their mind a reason why you are worth your price.
2. The Coupon Clipper
Everyone knows of someone or maybe you are this person (hopefully not) who does that "couponing" thing where they try to get three and four times worth of goods from coupons. You will occasionally get clients with a “coupon clipper” mentality and they are the worst. I don’t put them under price shoppers, because they are a level above price shoppers.
If a price shopper parent doesn’t like my rate and can’t see the value in my services they usually move on until they can find someone willing to take them on at that rate or they come back and agree to your rate. “Coupon clipper” clients know that you are worth your rate. The see the value and that’s why they want to undercut you. They’ll try to haggle on the price and if they can’t get it, then they try to stack discounts that you may be offering.
The best way to deal with these sorts of prospects is to refuse to play. Tell them that you charge what you need to make a living. When you teach you give them 100% attention. You wouldn’t want to offer them a reduced value lesson so you are unable to reduce the value of your services.
3. Competition
While many musicians in your community may be amicable with you when you are at events together, don’t believe for a second that at least some of them wouldn’t take a potential client from you if they could. If you post your rates on there they can easily find them, some of them will try to undercut you and offer a “deal” to price shoppers (or if you are higher they can raise their rates just below yours and justify it because you are _____ much per hour).
While your competition raising their rates because of you isn’t necessarily a bad thing, you don’t want the focus to be on the money but rather on achieving the results. The industry (whatever industry you are in) benefits when consultants are paid what they are worth and clients achieve the results that they desire.
Occasionally, you may get new musicians moving into the area contact you and ask your prices. They usually do this because they are trying to figure out how much to charge. Rule of thumb, never discuss price on the phone with anyone. I always tell anyone that calls and asks about prices that I offer a free assessment/ mini lesson and then we can discuss price. Neither I, nor any of the musicians I have consulted have ever had a competitor show up for a lesson.
Summary:
Posting prices with your packages is great for retail stores and monthly subscription sites. You are not Netflix. Get that idea out of your head. If you are offering a premium consulting service you want to avoid associating a number with your services (at least until your prospects see the value that you can provide them with your services).