8 ways to increase your prices confidently, without losing any clients

Want to increase the prices of your jewellery, textiles, photographs or designs? Double your prices or fees even?

But are you worried that you will disappoint your clients? Or that they won’t buy from you anymore?

Many creatives worry about increasing their prices. But the fact is that most creatives don’t charge enough!

So, what are the professional ways to increase your prices or design or commissioning fees? Here are my 8 ways to increase your prices confidently, without losing any clients!

1. Warn your existing clients in advance

It’s always good to be professional with your existing clients. Let them know in advance that you will increase your prices, and when this will happen. You don’t have to give them any reason why you want to increase your prices (see our blog post with 8 good reasons to increase your prices here), and there is no need to defend yourself either!

But it is professional to let them know in advance that you are going to increase your prices at a given time. It will build professional and trustworthy relationships.

And in fact …. your price increase might even create a sales opportunity for you! By getting in touch with your clients about an upcoming price increase might actually spur them into action to buy or order before your prices go up, or simply reminds them of you and they may place an order! It’s a ‘trick’ that many businesses use.

2. Only increase your prices for new clients (to start with)

If you offer a creative service then you might like to keep your existing clients on your older, lower rate, but increase your prices or rates for new clients.

It’s far easier to raise your design fee or hourly rates if you are delivering design services (e.g. commissions, workshops, design work, freelancing) than when you are supplying creative products, because services are more intangible and therefore harder to compare with each other.

Plus you might not publish your prices as openly as creative product-based businesses.

3. Increase your prices in January

It’s very common to increase your prices in January, especially if your business or material costs have gone up (think about the constantly fluctuating gold price) due to economic circumstances and inflation. Many businesses increase their prices by a certain percentage without batting an eyelid! So what’s stopping you as a creative?

Having a sale in January to get rid of old stock is a great idea and then you can increase your prices afterwards.

4. Stop selling old stock and launch a new collection!

One of the easiest ways to avoid disgruntled clients is to discontinue certain products that don’t sell well or aren’t profitable.

Many creatives are a bit like hoarders and keep making more and more and more …

GET INTO ACTION: What are your best sellers?

Get into the healthy habit of reviewing your products and collections at least once a year and check out what your bestsellers and most profitable products or services are. Don’t guess, do factual research!

Become aware of the so-called Pareto-principle: 20% of your products generate 80% of your profits!

As part of your annual clear out make a decision to discontinue 20-25% of your existing range, identify some gaps in your collections and add new variations to your bestselling items (e.g. a change in colour or use different materials?), and then relaunch your collection at a higher price level.

This is a far better and more strategic way to create new work and launch successfully. You can get in touch with your previous clients (both trade and consumers) to let them know you are stopping certain products (see tip 1 above) but are introducing new complementary products or colours. This is a great way to upsell and get happy existing clients to purchase from you again.

5. Are your branding & photography in line with your price positioning?

Why can others charge more than you can?

(Great question! Think about it for a moment.)

Often the answer is that they have a better profile and branding than you! It takes time and dedicated effort to improve your profile but it does work and is very effective in the long term. A good starting point is to improve your brand and photography, which can be a relatively quick way to increase the perceived value of your creative products and you can, therefore, raise your prices!

REAL LIFE STORY: How our client tripled her sales

A couple of years ago I worked with a textile artist as part of Get Clients Now marketing course. She had an illustrious 20-year career but sales and commissions had gone down considerably. Together we worked on identifying who her clients really were, and the exact galleries and high-end events she wanted to sell at. She started working on a database with the right interior designers, galleries, commissioners, collectors, and journalists. She realised that she needed to improve her website and that she wanted new images of her work, so we introduced her to a great photographer who created stunning interior images for her website and social media. She took nearly half of her old work off her site. And when she launched her new site she was confident enough to double her prices. She was selected to take part in three major events too, which further increased her profile – and confidence!

Guess what? Last year she sold three times as much as she had done in the year before. And nobody questioned her prices – not even once!

The key to increasing your prices? Boost your confidence and raise the perceived value.

6. Are you selling in the right places?

Pricing is relative. What’s expensive for one person is very affordable for another.

• If your work is very high-end and luxurious then selling it on Etsy isn’t probably going to work because visitors there expect a lower price.
• If you are selling at a local open-air craft market then the price you can charge is limited, purely because visitors don’t expect to find good quality work there (unless it is an event with a good reputation of course …)
• If you are selling low-priced products at a well-known craft event then people-in-the-know will think ‘What’s wrong with it?’ rather than ‘That’s a bargain!’.
• Galleries in big cities can often charge more than local galleries.

Indeed, the places you sell and what you can charge really depend on each other.

If you are selling in the wrong place then clients might not value your work, and therefore it’s too expensive (for them).

GET INTO ACTION: Focus on your ideal clients

Think about the price you want to charge, and then work out: “Where do the clients that WANT my work AND can AFFORD it shop? Do I know the SPECIFIC shops, boutiques, online retailers and events that my ideal clients go to?”

If people in your local area can’t afford your work then it’s time to start looking further afield and find people in other areas who are interested and who can afford it.

It’s YOUR job to go and find YOUR dream clients! (Read our blog post here about getting to know your ideal clients) Or you need to adjust your work based on your local circumstances if you don’t want to go further afield. The choice is yours.

Are you worried that clients might think you are too expensive? Read this blog post. 

7. Get more confident. Stop undercharging!

So, what’s one of the most important aspects to changing your prices?

Frankly, it has a lot to do with you simply making the decision that you are worth it and getting the confidence to charge more!

Of course, that’s often easier said then done …

Many creatives undercharge for their creative products and services … for many different reasons! If you struggle with charging the right amount, seeing the value that you create for yourself, or you struggle with money hang-ups and your confidence then I highly recommend this book by journalist Barbara Stanny Overcoming Underearning. It’s one of my most recommended books and although I am pretty confident about money I did get some great insights from it about my money mindset and worth too. Go on, sort yourself out. You are worth it!

8. Some clients might actually like it that you are charging more …

The weird thing is that increasing your prices isn’t all that bad  …

If your work is appealing to collectors they might actually love it when you increase your prices … their collection is rising in value and they know that they backed a winner early on!

Have we inspired you to get into action to increase your prices confidently without losing clients? Or do you want to share with us how you increased your own prices? Please let us know in the comments box below.