Yesterday's Price is Not Today's Price: Why My Fee Will Continue To Increase Each and Every Year

Question: “I’m a coach and speaker who is thinking about raising my prices with new or existing clients… should I? How do I do this with integrity and with respect for my clients?” 

Bottom Line: You should raise your prices if and when doing so is aligned with you, your vision, and your business. This article offers considerations as you work through the decision to increase your fees… or not. 

The Foundation: Business Principles I Subscribe To

Below are a few of the business principles I lean on when I think about pricing my coaching, speaking, and consulting services. These principles don’t need to be your principles - although feel free to adopt any that work for you - however, they underlie my practice of raising my coaching and service fee every year. My intention is for you to understand the foundation of which the rest of the article is built and encourage you to reflect on your own business principles. 

1. Yesterday’s price is not today’s price. I got better today so my price goes up tomorrow. More on this point next. 

2. The right price to charge a client is always the price you’re empowered by. Be careful of taking too much input around “shoulda, coulda, woulda” - that includes this article. If you’re not feeling undercut and are enjoying the work together… LET IT RIDE. 

3. The clients who you are meant to work with will celebrate you elevating your business… even if that includes them paying you more or having to let you go. 

4. Choose your risk. There is as much risk to raising your coaching fee as there is to keeping it the same. 

5. Hot take: If you are committed to your own growth, it is your professional responsibility to raise your prices in alignment with your own growth. You will act as a model for your client standing in their own value. 

Without further ado… There are two reasons why my fee will increase year after year. 

Why I Raise My Price | Reason 1: ROPI - Returns On Personal Investment

If the value of my product (me, the coach) goes up, so too should my price. By investing in my learning, growth, and development, there is tangible and intangible compound value to the client.

In 2022 alone, I invested about $40k into my personal and professional development. That includes personal coaching, certifications, masterminds, and other training. This doesn’t account for books, travel to educational events, or industry-related calls I attended. That investment (of money, time, and energy) has directly supported every client I’ve interacted with. As I have accumulated more knowledge and experience to pull from, it has allowed me to add more value. 

This accumulation and application of value happens non-linearly. Combining skillsets or tools together creates an exponential gain. See more on Metcalfe’s Law if you’re interested in this exponential network effect. 

Here’s how it plays out practically: 

• Sport: An MMA fighter who masters Jujitsu and Krav Maga is greater than 2x more dangerous to his opponent. Why, you ask? He can mix styles together to create an entirely new style - while also keeping his opponent guessing where he will strike next. 

• Academia: An English speaker that learns Spanish doesn’t just add a new vocabulary, she adds new perspectives to view all cultures. She is able to interact with the world in a new way by mixing different grammatical structures and ways of thinking to produce creative and new results. 

• Business: A tech company builds a new app and sells it on the Apple Store for $9.99. As they continue to get customer feedback, they make improvements, decide to hire a consultant for strategic guidance and bring on four new team members to handle the increase in demand. The price increases to $24.95 to align with the new value the app provides customers. 

Why I Raise My Price | Reason 2:  Inflation… Ya know, like economy stuff…

This one is simple. The rest of the business world accounts for it… why shouldn’t we?

Inflation, currently at 8.3% is a product of the capitalist economy we live in. And there is nothing you can do about it 😘. Every year, most employers give their employees a raise commensurate (at the minimum) with the rate of inflation. 

Some coaches enroll their clients in this from the start. They might say, “So you’re aware, my price will increase by 5% at the start of each year to account for the natural inflation costs. Do you have any questions?”. 

Managing Risk: Won’t I chase away customers? 

Yes. There is ALWAYS a risk in raising your prices. There’s also ALWAYS a risk in keeping them the same. By defaulting to keeping our prices the same - meaning we are committed to the comfort of avoiding the fee-increase conversation - we also avoid the growth that we stand for as coaches. 

For me, increasing my prices every year is in integrity with the intentional investment I deposit into my own development. And the act of owning my value is in integrity with the work I do with my clients. 

Maintaining Your Price: Why You Wouldn’t Raise Your Price

I know many coaches who choose to keep their prices the same with clients that they’ve maintained for a long time. Coaches that have been coaching for 10+ years still might have clients who are paying their two-year pricing mark.

There is no right or wrong here. This is a personal choice. The right price to charge a client is always the price you’re empowered by.

There are two reasons for holding your price as is: 

1. Relationally, You Reward Longevity. This is just a good thing to do with people you’ve built significant trust and relationships with. They chose to ride with you when you weren’t as good as you are now. 

2. Practically, You Make More Money. Marketers and salespeople will tell you that there is a cost to acquiring a new client. As long as you and your client are empowered by the relationship and continue to do good work, you can offer a reward/incentive by holding your prices at the price they started with. As we know, there is time + money + energy that go into enrolling a new client. 

Currently, I reward longevity and do not raise my prices for clients who I maintain relationships with consistently over time. This takes into account one condition - our coaching must be consistent without significant breaks or pauses. If we take a 6-month break, they would return at my newest price point, and I am transparent in communicating this prior to taking a break. 

Also, I may change this as my business grows and evolves 🤗 You get to decide how you want it to go. 

Practices for Application

1. Identify and define your business principles. 

2. Determine your stance (or policy) regarding raising your fee. If you’re empowered by your prices and your work, bookmark this tab for later and close out ;) 

3. Consider the interval you will use raise your fees (most folks use an annual model).

4. Set a ‘by when’ or due date you commit to raising your prices. Commit to having conversations with your clients by the end of the month about the change in structure. 

Happy pricing, 

Seb

Works Cited: 

• Metcalfe’s Law and Why You Should Keep It In Mind | by Thaisa Fernandes | PM101 | Medium

• Inflation: What It Is, How It Can Be Controlled, and Extreme Examples