How I Stopped Price Haggling

Like most wedding professionals, I have experimented with a ton of different prices and package options over the years.

A lot of times it felt like throwing options up in the air and seeing what stuck. You have to start somewhere, right?

It’s a process of trial and error for sure, but after each new add-on, upgrade, and rate I tested, I took what I had learned and re-strategized so I could move my business forward in the direction I wanted to go.

Got Maself Edu-ma-cated

Last low season, I took Steph and Jeff’s Rapid Growth System course. I wanted to make more money, of course, but my primary goal was making more time.

For me, that meant I wanted to get prospects booked quicker with fewer phone calls and meetings. I wanted to invest less time in marketing without losing my current level of sales. I just wanted…NEEDED…life to be easier!

How did I accomplish this goal?

Other than hiring a virtual assistant from Upwork to type up all my wedding outlines for $17 a pop (a day’s worth of work for me typically), I restructured my packages to just two offerings: a Done-For-You package and a Do-It-Yourself package.

I still have my add-ons and upgrades but now just two basic service levels. When I tried out these offerings, I was going against the industry standard of offering at least 3 packages, but here’s how I made it work.

Done-For-You vs. DIY Package

In my Done-For-You Package, I put all of the things that I felt my dream DJ clients wanted and enjoyed…from personalized wedding Grand Entrances to my signature detailed wedding outlines.

In the DIY package, I put all of the things that I felt were standard with lower priced DJs: no personalized announcements to introduce the First Dance or the Cake Cutting, the client providing me with a playlist, floor plan, and timeline on their own, no venue walk-through with the client, etc.

I priced the DIY package for each level (4 hour, 5 hour, etc.) $250 less than the Done-For-You.

During the almost year now that I have been using this system, I have had a number of clients tell me they were on a budget and really needed to cut costs….BUT each and every one of them booked the Done-For-You (perhaps for fewer hours or perhaps without the walk-through).

All in all, ZERO DIY packages were booked. The package exists at this point merely to show the value of the package/service level I prefer providing…without me needing to “educate” the prospect on the importance of having a great wedding DJ.

Package Pricing

The other piece of this puzzle for me was trying to maximize sales amounts and bookings, so I created separate price points for each source from which a client contacted me.

In other words, I figured out the average amount clients from The Knot vs. Pinterest vs. googling “country DJs” vs. Offbeat Bride were willing to pay, and I catered the prices to their price points.

In the end, this helped me to stop price haggling because I already knew I was in the right price range with each contact.

“Help Me Get You a Price”

The other piece of the “price haggling” puzzle for me was changing all of my lead autoresponders to focus on 1) engaging the person in a conversation about 2) getting them a price as soon as possible.

Millennials are less and less interested in pre-sales phone appointments, in my experience, so I bit the bullet and started simply emailing them my prices.

Instead of pushing for that phone call or being sales-y about my services, I focused on, “Here’s what I need to know to get you a price a.s.a.p.”

Now I’ve got their attention—and my response rates went through the roof!

After usually two emails back and forth figuring out things like how many guests they expect and whether they need lighting or a separate sound system at the ceremony site, I emailed over the Done-For-You and DIY package details and prices that matched their needs. I then concluded that email by asking if they’d like me to send them some of my mixes or see one of my Done-for-You wedding outlines.

Yes, I could have included my mixcloud page link and attached an outline without them asking, but, by engaging them back and forth, we are building rapport, and I’m increasing the likelihood that they’ll book with me.

Again, responses went up dramatically. In the past, I would have kept going around in circles with them about how I only give that info out over the phone.

The end result was higher profits than last year, more booked events, and so much free time that I started writing for all of you awesome people here on Book More Brides.

How do you deal with price haggling? Tell me your tricks in the comments below.