*This is part 2 of a 3 part series about your offerings. If you haven’t gone through Part 1 yet, I suggest going back to this blog post to decide on which offering you will focus on. Then in Part 3 we will talk about marketing that specific offering.
Now that you know what offering you’re going to focus on, it’s time to nail down the pricing. We are going to walk through how to price a class series, workshop, private sessions and memberships.
I will also share money mindset resources as we all run into these issues when it comes to pricing. While money is often uncomfortable to talk about, it’s critical to making the best decisions in your business.
Money Mindset Resources
I’m not a money mindset coach by any means but I’ve got some resources for you that have helped me and many others that I’ve worked with:
Jen Sincero wrote You Are A Badass At Making Money and it’s fantastic! Here’s a link to my bookshop.org store that shares proceeds with local bookstores.
**This was also a podcast episode (episode #160. Use the player below if you'd prefer to listen to this message.
General Rules For Pricing Your Offerings
While there are many factors that go into pricing any offering in business, there are some general guidelines that you can apply to most:
Know the cost to provide the product or service - this includes material/supply cost as well as software cost and your time
Know the market value for the product or service - do research for comparable products and services to get this understanding
Know your niche - the more specialized an offering, the higher the price usually is
Know the project volume - the volume of sales you can realistically expect can help you determine the best product or service for your business and impact pricing
Know your needs - this impacts what you offer more than anything but you need to understand your needs to ensure you’re offering the optimal offerings
Let’s dive into knowing your needs and project volume a bit more.
Your Needs & Project Volume
For example, if you want to make $30,000 per year, let’s look at a few offerings to see how that would work out:
Private Sessions at $100 per hour
Let’s assume you’re taking home 50% of the revenue = $30,000 x 2 = $60,000
$60,000 / 12 = $5,000 per month
$5,000 / $100 = 50 private sessions per month (12 per week)
Class Series at $160 per 6 weeks series
Let’s assume you will run 6, 6-week series throughout the year
$60,000 / 6 = $10,000 per series
$10,000 / $160 = 62 students per series
Membership at $25 a month
$60,000 / $25 = 2,400 members per month
By understanding what you need/want to make in your business as well as how much of a specific offering you would need to sell, you have a more realistic view.
If you read 2,400 members a month and your stomach dropped a bit, then opening up a membership isn’t likely the offering I’d suggest for you right now. However, if you have the dream of running a membership one day you can still work towards that but now you know what types of numbers you’re realistically looking at.
It’s also important to note that the reality is that you will have several offerings throughout the year but if you’re trying to fill all of them at the same time it will confuse your audience and you will burn out.
It’s better to identify one that will be your signature offer and then have some specialty offerings throughout the year. You can also build upon your signature offering over time.
For example, if you ideally want to have a membership but your audience size doesn’t support that at the moment, you could have other offerings like private sessions or class series as you build your audience and slowly increase your membership. Over time you can lessen the amount of other offerings you have available.
Your next step
Price your offering based on the suggestions I’ve shared in this blog post. Work out the math and go for it knowing that you can adjust your prices down the road if needed.
Until next time give yourself permission to name your price and grace along the way. I’ll talk to you soon!
“Overall, when it comes to pricing you want to know a few things: your cost involved, your time involved, and the volume you need to hit your target revenue."
- Amanda McKinney