Hi guys,
A long while back I recieved an email from a potential client on a price quote. I quote her not really thinking. Now that she's coming for a tasting soon, I went back through to her emails and I'm shocked at what I gave her.
Would you just best advise if she wants to book, that I go ahead and just suck it up and take the loss, or tell her due to XYZ I had to impliment a slight price increase?
I would put an expiration date on it even in an email. But, you have her emails, depending on how long ago she emailed you, you could possibly use that. I have brides I quoted last year for next year, just a general range, but if they emailed me to set up a consultation and tried to hold me to a 10 month old email quote, I wouldn't just suck it up and take it... If the email was 3 weeks ago, then yeah, you should just eat it.
If it was more than 3 months ago then I would email her before the tasting and let her know that you wanted her to be aware that the price you quoted her is no longer valid and then give her a new quote. Then she will have the option of either still coming in or if it's out of her budget then you don't waste your time.
Yes, anything quoted that long ago without booking is nothing more than an old quote. If she had booked based on the quote back then, that's one thing. But without booking, a quote is not anything you can be held to. I would just let her know that your prices have changed since last year and give her a new quote. At worst, if she insists on the old price, you can tell her you're already booked for that date. Since she never held it with a deposit or contract, she has nothing to do but move on.
Just out of curiosity:
To those of you in business (I do not sell cakes), how often do you raise your rates? It seems like the costs of ingredients and supplies and energy go up weekly, or monthly/quarterly/semi-annually/whatever. How do you stay on top of this and not lose money?
Laura,
It was indeed about a year ago
Thankyou for the advice everyone!
Goodness, you can certainly raise your price then without apology. Everything has jumped since then.
I think your prices should be set so they can handle some fluctuation in your costs. After all, you don't lower your prices if the cost goes down, do you? Do costs ever go down? Okay, let's say if you hit a great sale. Usually you don't pass your savings on to your customer. Once or twice per year, barring any large price changes, should be often enough to take a look at your pricing to see if it still works for you, if you're still priced competitively, etc....
Costs of ingredients fluctuate daily so every 6 months or so, I reevaluate my pricing and adjust accordingly.
I think your prices should be set so they can handle some fluctuation in your costs. After all, you don't lower your prices if the cost goes down, do you? Do costs ever go down? Okay, let's say if you hit a great sale. Usually you don't pass your savings on to your customer. Once or twice per year, barring any large price changes, should be often enough to take a look at your pricing to see if it still works for you, if you're still priced competitively, etc....
This is so true...I raise mine periodically, but not on a regular schedule. it depends on what the market in my area is doing. I check the other businesses in my area to see what they're doing. I raised my prices recently, but I hadn't raised them much in the last couple of years because of the economy and because nobody else in town seemed to be budging either.
I will be raising my prices next month from $2.50/serving (buttercream) to $3.00/serving.
There is a guy in a near by town that raises his in September. Starting next September that is what I am going to do. It is usually that time of year I start booking the following year's weddings so in my opinion, a perfect time to increase prices.
I generally change prices the first of the year, if needed.
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