Would Your Raise Your Rates. And If so how High

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It's not your price that matters - it's where you focus your attention while getting it. You can charge $400 and be working in a market with unlimited upward potential. Likewise you can be charging $2,500 and in an inevitable tailspin.

There's no such thing as a bottom-feeder price just a bottom-feeder mentality, and that can happen at any price.
 
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Here's something we all are guilty of and nobody can deny this. We've all seen a product or service that we said there's no way I would pay that much. Someone else can see the exact same thing and will easily buy that product or service.

It's not about just raising your prices for the sake of raising them, but how well you can convince more people than not that your prices are more than worth it.
 
I made a mistake of significantly raising my prices this year. I'm paying the price for it. What I'm realizing is what Taso is preaching. Raise your level of product. Get out of these rat hole situations and ditch the "partners" and reach out to a better class of clientele. Create marketing materials (website) and continually work at improving them and keeping them fresh. Raising your price to $400 or $500 is probably a given but keep in mind, those are still bottom-feeder prices.

And yes, I realize this is wasted bandwidth.
No it's not. I agree with Taso and what he said. My question is if you did decide to raise your prices, how much would you raise it from what it is now? That question is for everyone here.
 
My question is if you did decide to raise your prices, how much would you raise it from what it is now? That question is for everyone here.

Mix - to find the answer, please go back and read the numerous previous threads (across numerous boards) where you've asked this same exact question.
 
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No it's not. I agree with Taso and what he said. My question is if you did decide to raise your prices, how much would you raise it from what it is now? That question is for everyone here.
the answer to that question is simple... whatever you WANT. Will it work? Well, that is based on the answers to my previous post in this thread, which you clearly referred to, but obviously didn't comprehend well enough. You can go from $1000 to $1200 or $2000 to $2500 if you want. I've slowed down on increasing my starting price, and now focus on how I can get my overall ticket price up, since no one just books a "sound only" option with me. My avg event price goes up every year by around $250... so clearly the amount is all about how much work you're putting into earning that increase.
 
Since I am working on building a business in my area (where the average price for a dj is between 600 and 2000), my starting price is 600 for a basic wedding package (sound only). Is this a good place to start, or should I go higher?
 
About 10 years ago I doubled my rate from $795 to 1595 mostly to price myself into retirement, it didn’t work while I was slower for about 18 months it picked back up and I had much better clients in the long run
 
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I made a mistake of significantly raising my prices this year. I'm paying the price for it. What I'm realizing is what Taso is preaching. Raise your level of product. Get out of these rat hole situations and ditch the "partners" and reach out to a better class of clientele. Create marketing materials (website) and continually work at improving them and keeping them fresh. Raising your price to $400 or $500 is probably a given but keep in mind, those are still bottom-feeder prices.

And yes, I realize this is wasted bandwidth.
Rick let me please ask you these questions. When did you raise your prices and how much did you raise your prices? How many bookings have you gotten with your new prices? I still contend when you raise your prices by a decent amount it's going to take a bit of time for things to get to where you want them to be. I agree with Taso and it's time for me to look at ways when I get well enough to get back to Djing to look at things that need improvement including better online presence.
 
Mix, you've already been given all of the advice (repeatedly, across multiple forums) on things you can improve to make things better (again, several times). The only thing stopping you from improving .. is you. We can't help you with that.
 
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About 10 years ago I doubled my rate from $795 to 1595 mostly to price myself into retirement, it didn’t work while I was slower for about 18 months it picked back up and I had much better clients in the long run

Were you active in your marketing after the price change or did you just coast, letting the new price tier clients find you? I bumped my price about 50% this year and it just went to crickets. I was too scared to leave it and backed off.
 
Were you active in your marketing after the price change or did you just coast, letting the new price tier clients find you? I bumped my price about 50% this year and it just went to crickets. I was too scared to leave it and backed off.

Many more potential brides and grooms are using Thumbtack than ever before. The pricing is much lower for obtaining a DJ on there than any where else when it comes to weddings.

I just checked my insights on Thumbtack. ...I have not booked anything on there, and been using the service for about 2 months now. They now have a "Instant Match" Service where you use present prices, and prospects go on there, and get instant price quotes. Up to 15 of them it looks like! It seems to be anywhere from 6 to 15 different quotes per prospect.

I can check my insights into each quote. They don't give you exact prices others are quoting, but the insight let's you know which DJ had the highest price, and who had the lowest. It also let's you know which DJs the prospect contacted, IF ANY.

I noticed that the very lowest priced DJ is often NOT contacted by the prospect. There must be poor profiles, or something turning prospects off from going with the very lowest price quote most of the time. The highest price quote is also almost NEVER contacted.

It seems the DJs who get contacted are usually the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th lowest. ...Sometimes it seems the 2nd highest price is contacted by the prospect.

I am learning that my price is WAY HIGHER than most other DJs in my market on there.

My average quote on 450 quotes was $1,127. That includes low priced parties. If it only had wedding quotes factored in on there, my average would be higher.

Other DJs average a quote of $577. ...I am pretty much double the average DJ price on there. ...I'm also often the highest price quote.

They have a bar graph showing other quotes in relation to your own. I recently quoted $1,850 on a 7 hour long wedding on there. There was one quote about 1/4 the price of mine for a 7 hour wedding. One quote was about 4/5 the price of mine. Every other quote was a little less than half of my price quote.

In 2 months zero bookings on there. ...Sure many of the leads are bogus. Others are just looky loos and have no intention of booking a DJ on there. But some are real as well. Probably 30% to 40% of the leads on Thumbtack are going to be legit potential leads.

...My point is that Working Internet Leads is not going to fair well for you now that you raised your price a good bit.

You need to have referrals from wedding planners, previous clients who speak highly of you to their friends looking for a DJ, or Venue managers.

The higher your price point, the fewer prospects you will get directly from the internet.

My Sept. 15th wedding came from a wedding wire search. They procrastinated on booking a DJ, and I was lucky enough to get it booked just over 30 days out ...The Sept. 8th wedding came as a referral from the venue, and I don't think that couple shopped around much. They were an older couple in their 50s. Sept. 1st and Sept 2nd both came as referrals from Wedding Planners directly to their couples they were working with, and both of those were nice paying weddings for me.

My September 29th wedding came as a suggestion from another bride to the groom. They had 3 DJ companies suggested to them by different people. They ended up booking me, and it's through another company that got the referral from a previous client. (My name was not suggested, the other company's name was suggested, and I was the DJ that ended up getting suggested for a phone call with the client because their current DJs were all booked already. Had a great conversation with the groom, and he was comfortable booking me!)


There are now so many DJs competing for business on the Internet that you will notice your bookings decline due to that from here on out. You need referrals. If you are relying on the Internet to generate business for you, then you will realize your prices have to come down in order to get back to booking more of those internet generated prospects.

I am not going back on my prices which is why I am going back to networking a lot more, and establishing working relationships with planners once again.[/QUOTE]
 
I think you have to get real about what the price trends really are today.

Taso, for example is selling style . . not DJ service and that is true for nearly every vendor catering to a wealthy social tier. Quality as we usually define it isn't really the operative element today. Being trendy is far more relevant to higher priced markets.

DJ service and the retail goods that accompany it simply aren't that valuable or difficult to acquire today. Technology, worldwide trade, shipping, and the internet all converge to reduce many items and core services to their lowest common denominator. (Also known as eliminating the middle man.)

Style . . however, requires a social and interpersonal IQ and it's a balancing act that leverages a person's own social intelligence and adaptability in a constantly connected and changing social trend. This! . . . people will pay for.
 
Were you active in your marketing after the price change or did you just coast, letting the new price tier clients find you? I bumped my price about 50% this year and it just went to crickets. I was too scared to leave it and backed off.
Just let it coast, it wasn’t about money at that point it was about working less often, I have never marketed just word of mouth, my booking were down about 30 to 50 percent for about 12 to 18 months but came back stronger than ever after that, you have to be patient and wait for the new income level clients to find you or create a way to market to them

Rick in my opinion you change your pricing and structure fat too often it’s hard for people to figure out where you are at people like stability
 
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Many more potential brides and grooms are using Thumbtack than ever before. The pricing is much lower for obtaining a DJ on there than any where else when it comes to weddings.

I just checked my insights on Thumbtack. ...I have not booked anything on there, and been using the service for about 2 months now. They now have a "Instant Match" Service where you use present prices, and prospects go on there, and get instant price quotes. Up to 15 of them it looks like! It seems to be anywhere from 6 to 15 different quotes per prospect.

I can check my insights into each quote. They don't give you exact prices others are quoting, but the insight let's you know which DJ had the highest price, and who had the lowest. It also let's you know which DJs the prospect contacted, IF ANY.

I noticed that the very lowest priced DJ is often NOT contacted by the prospect. There must be poor profiles, or something turning prospects off from going with the very lowest price quote most of the time. The highest price quote is also almost NEVER contacted.

It seems the DJs who get contacted are usually the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th lowest. ...Sometimes it seems the 2nd highest price is contacted by the prospect.

I am learning that my price is WAY HIGHER than most other DJs in my market on there.

My average quote on 450 quotes was $1,127. That includes low priced parties. If it only had wedding quotes factored in on there, my average would be higher.

Other DJs average a quote of $577. ...I am pretty much double the average DJ price on there. ...I'm also often the highest price quote.

They have a bar graph showing other quotes in relation to your own. I recently quoted $1,850 on a 7 hour long wedding on there. There was one quote about 1/4 the price of mine for a 7 hour wedding. One quote was about 4/5 the price of mine. Every other quote was a little less than half of my price quote.

In 2 months zero bookings on there. ...Sure many of the leads are bogus. Others are just looky loos and have no intention of booking a DJ on there. But some are real as well. Probably 30% to 40% of the leads on Thumbtack are going to be legit potential leads.

...My point is that Working Internet Leads is not going to fair well for you now that you raised your price a good bit.

You need to have referrals from wedding planners, previous clients who speak highly of you to their friends looking for a DJ, or Venue managers.

The higher your price point, the fewer prospects you will get directly from the internet.

My Sept. 15th wedding came from a wedding wire search. They procrastinated on booking a DJ, and I was lucky enough to get it booked just over 30 days out ...The Sept. 8th wedding came as a referral from the venue, and I don't think that couple shopped around much. They were an older couple in their 50s. Sept. 1st and Sept 2nd both came as referrals from Wedding Planners directly to their couples they were working with, and both of those were nice paying weddings for me.

My September 29th wedding came as a suggestion from another bride to the groom. They had 3 DJ companies suggested to them by different people. They ended up booking me, and it's through another company that got the referral from a previous client. (My name was not suggested, the other company's name was suggested, and I was the DJ that ended up getting suggested for a phone call with the client because their current DJs were all booked already. Had a great conversation with the groom, and he was comfortable booking me!)


There are now so many DJs competing for business on the Internet that you will notice your bookings decline due to that from here on out. You need referrals. If you are relying on the Internet to generate business for you, then you will realize your prices have to come down in order to get back to booking more of those internet generated prospects.

I am not going back on my prices which is why I am going back to networking a lot more, and establishing working relationships with planners once again.
[/QUOTE]
Any DJ who’s been around a while shouldn’t need cold internet leads you should be able to fill your calendar with referrals and repeat clients, well if you are providing at least an acceptable service and leaving a good impression with your clients, if not have fun with the cold leads
 
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Gotta agree with tunes... it does take time. As i transitioned into a more "high end" category, my inquiries were hit or miss, with some willing to pay my new pricing, and some wondering when did I become so expensive. In fact I still get it 2 or 3x a year from clients who booked me 5 yrs ago and need me for something else (just happened with a sweet 16 client whose daughters package was $1400 and now the same package was $2750... they didnt book). However, with time, my branding was effective and now I'm referred to amongst all as a high end dj within my markets. In fact some consider me the most expensive dj they know (even though I am definitely not). This past weekend at the end of my party the mom from saturday was saying how all her friends thought she was crazy spending 4k on a dj for a sweet 16, however at the end of the party all her friends were saying I was the best dj they've ever seen, and have no idea how I had all the kids on the dancefloor when usually they're known to just sit in a corner. Same thing for weddings, I am expensive, but most of my calls are from people who have seen me in person and know the difference, or believe the dj is important and love to dance, and know that spending more will help them get the results they want.
 
Just let it coast, it wasn’t about money at that point it was about working less often, I have never marketed just word of mouth, my booking were down about 30 to 50 percent for about 12 to 18 months but came back stronger than ever after that, you have to be patient and wait for the new income level clients to find you or create a way to market to them

Rick in my opinion you change your pricing and structure fat too often it’s hard for people to figure out where you are at people like stability

Prior to this year, I'd been very steady ($650-$750). At the start of the year I bumped from $750 to $1150. Have booked a handful but it went to crickets. A month ago, I went back to $850 and planning to stay there for a while. I agree, it's not good to jump around but I just don't have 18 months to not generate this extra income in hopes that I'll be re-discovered at the higher rate.