Have you raised your prices in the last year?

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Talking through it in this thread gave me enough clarity on what I want to do. I changed my website earlier today, and sent the new pricing to an inquiry that came in today.

It always feels better once you get a booking at the new rate. Hopefully one will come through soon.
 
It's great to read that some members are raising their rates. Unfortunately the Mobile DJs that should listen and read advice. do NOT take part in this forums.

Back in the 90s, I attended the Mobile DJ conference in Las Vegas and they had a speaker named Mark Ferrell and he advised at the time that Wedding DJs should charge $1200. I believe that Mark later packaged a get what your worth CD and sold it to DJs. I did not buy the CD because back then I was already worth and charging more than that in NYC & Long Island. I know that Mobile DJs who give advice on YT have good intentions, but good luck justifying $1500 today due to inflation.

Most Mobile DJs still don't get it and will never get it.
 
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I'm still not "in demand" enough to raise my rates.
In fact, I haven't raised them in a few years.
But I am very comfortable with my rates.
It's right in the middle of what guys are getting around here.
 
The best feeling is when you raise your prices and end up booking more. I am now around 3K, and have booked more in the last 6 months than I ever have.

Just do it!

Reading this thread has made me notice something. How old are you?
 
Barely been working because of what was going on. So no raising prices even though prices for many things have gone up to make up for the lost money during the shut down.
 
I remember an episode from The Sopranos when Artie Bucco was facing competition from a new upscale Italian restaurant. He was forced to get ads showing a "buy one get one free" coupon and his clientele, while increasing in numbers, went way down in the quality and cash flow they had.

Lesson learned?:sqeh:
 
This year has been hard on my health. Both physically and mentally. I'm 57 and I have to realize that I'm not 10 feet tall and bulletproof anymore.

Agreed my friend. My knees told me to quit in late 2013...I was only 54. :sqfrown:
 
Agreed my friend. My knees told me to quit in late 2013...I was only 54. :sqfrown:

Honestly, 54 is the age that sticks out in my head as the right age to retire at as a mobile DJ. That gives me 15 more years. My Dad doesn't want to give up deejaying his hand dance club. He expects to be back at it by middle of February after he recovers from his next heart surgery which is occurring in 10 days. He just turned 77 years old. I can't see myself bothering with it at his age though. I

In regards to raising prices. I already raised my lowest tier wedding package $100. I am going to raise my middle tier package in price before we reach Christmas. I have a message on the website saying " (Increasing soon - Book now for current price)". I am also raising my base party package in price. I am debating how much I want to raise that at this point though. The higher my party rate, the fewer and fewer parties come our way. But I am okay with that at the same time
 
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It's not just about raising your prices. It's about who can you find that will believe you're worth the price you're asking for. If nobody wants to book you at the price you want it doesn't matter what your price is. You can have a price of $1,000 and if nobody books you at all for that price then people don't believe you're worth that price. Also it's about who you are targeting your business to. for example if you're charging $1,000 and the people contacting you on average want to spend say $400, then I say that will be a tough sell. Not impossible if you're a really good sells person. Just very difficult to pull off.
 
It's not just about raising your prices. It's about who can you find that will believe you're worth the price you're asking for. If nobody wants to book you at the price you want it doesn't matter what your price is. You can have a price of $1,000 and if nobody books you at all for that price then people don't believe you're worth that price. Also it's about who you are targeting your business to. for example if you're charging $1,000 and the people contacting you on average want to spend say $400, then I say that will be a tough sell. Not impossible if you're a really good sells person. Just very difficult to pull off.

I don't think it will be that difficult to hit the number of events I want to book myself on in 2022. Now, I would be far more cautious about raising my prices if I were doing this full time, and wanted to push 50+ events in 2022. However, I only want to book 24-28 with my minimum being 20.

I am definitely not bothering with $400 events these days though. It has been years since I did one at that price, and the last one was because it was a non profit organization, and I gave them a 50% discount, and I won't be doing non profits at a big discount moving forward for the foreseeable future. My current lowest price is now $787.50 which would be for a 4 hour birthday party on a Sunday with 10% off for it being a Sunday. Saturday 4 hr parties are $925 now which is very close in price to an off season 4 hour wedding reception.
 
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I don't think it will be that difficult to hit the number of events I want to book myself on in 2022. Now, I would be far more cautious about raising my prices if I were doing this full time, and wanted to push 50+ events in 2022. However, I only want to book 24-28 with my minimum being 20.

I am definitely not bothering with $400 events these days though. It has been years since I did one at that price, and the last one was because it was a non profit organization, and I gave them a 50% discount, and I won't be doing non profits at a big discount moving forward for the foreseeable future. My current lowest price is now $787.50 which would be for a 4 hour birthday party on a Sunday with 10% off for it being a Sunday. Saturday 4 hr parties are $925 now which is very close in price to an off season 4 hour wedding reception.
Great post and as I have said in the past it doesn't matter what it is. Some will easily pay for a product or service because they believe what they have to offer is worth it. Others for that same thing will say no way will I pay that much. It really comes down to who you target your business to.