New Business vs. Old

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RichardLavigne
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p.2 #1 · New Business vs. Old

TRReichman wrote:
RichardLavigne wrote:
Agreed... But I think that if you've pigeon-holed yourself into such a small category of wedding style, that in and of itself represents a poor decision.

It doesn't have to be about style, some people just don't want to have the wedding that their friends are having. Plus, working a small category means that you make more and work less. Not necessarily a poor decision.

- trr

Yes and no... it means that you can perhaps charge more and work less in terms of a per wedding basis... but it also means that you have to work harder and smarter to pinpoint your specific client. You need to learn how to tap into that market and you have to work harder to maximize the number of bookings.

IMO, referral bookings are easy money... I work far less to get them, because the former client has already done the majority of work selling us to their friend.

Dec 24, 2012 at 08:18 PM

Andrew Welsh
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p.2 #2 · New Business vs. Old

10-20% referrals. Low number is mostly due to my climbing the price ladder pretty steep in the last 3 years. I get far more tire-kickers from friends of ex-clients from 2-3-4 years ago and they find I am way out of their price range. I expect this to bounce back up over the next couple of years. Huge difference between $1200 clients and $2200 clients; not so huge from $2200 to $3200.

Someone like Tony has been established at his price point for 2-3 years already.

Note: I aim to shoot only 5-8 weddings a year, so weigh that in your analysis.

Dec 26, 2012 at 03:58 AM

RichardLavigne
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p.2 #3 · New Business vs. Old

Andrew Welsh wrote:
10-20% referrals. Low number is mostly due to my climbing the price ladder pretty steep in the last 3 years. I get far more tire-kickers from friends of ex-clients from 2-3-4 years ago and they find I am way out of their price range. I expect this to bounce back up over the next couple of years. Huge difference between $1200 clients and $2200 clients; not so huge from $2200 to $3200.

Someone like Tony has been established at his price point for 2-3 years already.

Note: I aim to shoot only 5-8 weddings a year, so weigh that in your analysis.

I disagree... IMO, price changes have no effect, assuming the quality of work matches the new price. In 3 years we've gone from an average sale of $3000 to $5500. We've raised our price every single year.

Dec 26, 2012 at 07:40 PM

Andrew Welsh
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p.2 #4 · New Business vs. Old

RichardLavigne wrote:
Andrew Welsh wrote:
10-20% referrals. Low number is mostly due to my climbing the price ladder pretty steep in the last 3 years. I get far more tire-kickers from friends of ex-clients from 2-3-4 years ago and they find I am way out of their price range. I expect this to bounce back up over the next couple of years. Huge difference between $1200 clients and $2200 clients; not so huge from $2200 to $3200.

Someone like Tony has been established at his price point for 2-3 years already.

Note: I aim to shoot only 5-8 weddings a year, so weigh that in your analysis.

I disagree... IMO, price changes have no effect, assuming the quality of work matches the new price. In 3 years we've gone from an average sale of $3000 to $5500. We've raised our price every single year.
I didn't articulate it well, but the difference between 3k to 5.5k is smaller than the difference between 1.5k and 2.5k, as far as clientele are concerned. Like a decaying exponential curve graphing the number of bookings on the Y axis, and cost on the X axis. The drop off is steep when you jump from inexpensive to mid-range.

Most of my referrals from older clients truly can't afford me. I will get referrals from my newer clients/weddings in the upcoming years, which is why I expect that percentage to pick up again.

Dec 28, 2012 at 04:45 PM

TRReichman
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p.2 #5 · New Business vs. Old

I think price changes have a big effect if they are significant enough. We've raised prices aggressively throughout our history and we've had to rebuild our client base 5-6 times. Then again I think most people tend to underestimate the reality that you need to be refreshing your client base all the time anyway if you want easy sustainability.

- trr

Dec 28, 2012 at 04:53 PM

Andrew Welsh
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p.2 #6 · New Business vs. Old

TRReichman wrote:
I think price changes have a big effect if they are significant enough. We've raised prices aggressively throughout our history and we've had to rebuild our client base 5-6 times. Then again I think most people tend to underestimate the reality that you need to be refreshing your client base all the time anyway if you want easy sustainability.

- trr
You bring up a good point TRR. Another way to look at what I was saying is by percentage increase versus dollar amount. $1k to $2k = 100% increase in price. $3k to $4k = 33% increase in price.

Dec 28, 2012 at 10:50 PM

RichardLavigne
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p.2 #7 · New Business vs. Old

hmmm... interesting points.

Dec 28, 2012 at 10:59 PM

Tony Hoffer
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p.2 #8 · New Business vs. Old

Andrew, for what it's worth our price point has definitely changed in the last 2 or 3 years.

Dec 29, 2012 at 02:07 AM

Andrew Welsh
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p.2 #9 · New Business vs. Old

Tony Hoffer wrote:
Andrew, for what it's worth our price point has definitely changed in the last 2 or 3 years.
Didn't know that, thanks. I was assuming you might have bumped up from ~3k to 4.5/5k in last 2-3 years (back to the percentage change thing). I'm just tickling the 3k market at the moment.

Dec 29, 2012 at 02:55 AM

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