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In order to grow a long-lasting, successful business with maximized profits, you need to know how to raise pool service prices without losing clients.
Oftentimes, pool service business owners are afraid of raising their pool service prices out of fear of losing clients.
However, when you know the right steps to take, you can keep your best clients and make all of your jobs profitable.
Now, let’s get started.
In order to successfully raise pool service prices without losing your best clients, you need to take the right steps.
As you evaluate your accounts and decide which clients and how much to raise their pool service prices, consider these factors first:
While you might be afraid of losing clients due to a pool service price increase, you have to consider your profit goals.
Without raising your pool service rates, you risk more than losing a few unprofitable clients… You risk working for ZERO profit on your jobs (or worse).
Even though there's no general rule of thumb, you should consistently track your goals and ensure you're meeting them. If costs go up and you're beginning to stray from your goals, then consider raising pool service prices.
As always, speak with your trusted financial advisor or accountant before you finalize any of these financial decisions for your pool service business.
Use these simple five steps to help you raise pool service prices without losing your best clients today.
Finding your break even point is the first step in determining the profitability of your pool service clients.
In order to find your break even point, you’ll need to crunch a few numbers. When finding your break even point, add up all of your operational costs…
These are just a few of the operational costs you need to add up. Make sure you include ALL of your operational costs to find your break even point.
By establishing your operational costs, you’ll know the minimum amount that you need to charge for a pool service to be profitable.
By the way, did you know you can easily find numbers like these (and more!) in Service Autopilot? Sign up for a free tour to see how the best pool service software can help you grow on autopilot.
Use these numbers to find the clients who either don’t meet your break even point, or they don’t earn you enough profit.
Next, you’ll take your break even point and profit goals into consideration as you determine how much you need to raise their prices.
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Based on the break even point you calculated in the previous step, you need to raise pool service prices on ALL of your unprofitable and minimally profitable clients.
Also, don’t be afraid to raise pool services prices on someone you’ve recently quoted or taken on as a client.
It’s important that you raise prices on all unprofitable or minimally profitable clients that aren’t helping you reach your goals.
For example, let’s say you take on a new client and have quoted them for a set amount each week.
However, as you start serving their pool, you realize they have obstacles or other factors causing extra work or more time needed than you expected.
In order to reach your goals, don’t be afraid to increase their pool service rate.
After all, the worst case scenario is you lose a few unprofitable or minimally profitable clients who were hindering you from reaching your goals anyways.
While it’s important not to be afraid of losing unprofitable and minimally profitable clients, you should always try to keep them and convert them into profitable clients before firing them.
For this reason, timing is everything, and it’s vital that you know when to raise pool service prices.
Since the pool service industry is largely seasonal, it’s important you don’t raise prices during the selling season.
In addition, when you raise pool service prices during the selling season, you risk losing your clients to your competitors.
Keep in mind, you competitors are already trying to steal your clients during the selling season with:
In turn, you’ll want to raise pool service prices during the…
When you increase your pool service rates during these times, your high-quality pool service work is fresh on your clients’ minds.
As a result, your clients will be less likely to leave you due to a price increase. After all, since they have a recent memory of your great work, they know you’re the best choice.
Plus, by raising your pool prices during these times, your competitors are in the midst of their busy season, and they’re less likely to have the time to poach your clients.
Before you roll out a pool service price increase onto ALL of your clients, you want to test this increase on your least profitable clients first.
This way, if you lose clients as you work out all of the kinks in your process, you won’t be losing any profitable clients.
For this reason, test your price increase on a select few unprofitable clients first. Depending on how many unprofitable clients you have, 3, 5, or even 10 should work.
However, if possible, avoid raising pool service prices on any neighboring homes of profitable clients.
After all, neighbors talk, and you don’t want neighboring clients talking to your profitable clients about price increases.
As you roll out your pool service price increase on your small test group, listen to their feedback. In turn, you can perfect your process to help you deal with a larger, more profitable group.
Take advantage of what you learn with your small test group to help you navigate any push-back you get from your larger group.
By using these findings, you’ll have the chance to do things like:
Plus, instead of risking the loss of a larger, profitable client base, you only risk losing a small test group of unprofitable clients.
Bottom Line: Listen to your small test group of clients, and use their responses to help you generate ideas for your pool service price increase process. Don’t be afraid to use their feedback to make adjustments to better customize things, like pool service packages, in order to better accommodate your clients.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to let your clients know why their pool service rates are increasing. In fact, you need to SELL them on it.
In other words, you need to re-sell to your clients, and remind them why you’re the best choice for pool services.
When you do it right, a price pool service price increase letter has the power to help you increase your retention rates.
In order to write the perfect pool service price increase letter, you need to explain to your clients why their rates are being raised. In addition, you’ll need to assure them the rate increase is to ensure their continued high-quality pool services.
The best price increase letter will:
In summary, be sure to let them know in your letter the specifics of why their prices are increasing. Plus, tell them how much their pool service prices will be raised as well as when to expect it on their invoice.
Also, don’t forget to add the personal touch of signing your pool service price increase letter. As the pool service business owner, this personal touch is crucial in softening the blow to your clients.
Finally, remind your clients why you’re still the best choice for pool services. Then, tell them how they can contact you for questions or concerns.
Remember, as you write your letter, you should consider your client’s perspective. Focus on their questions and concerns.
Now, you have all of the information you need to raise your pool service prices to stay profitable and conquer your goals.
Use the steps and advice in this article to help reach your profit goals.
With this pool service price increase, you can convert your unprofitable clients into profitable ones, fire your worst clients, and continue generating a profit on your best clients.
Related: Pool Service Marketing: 13 Effective Expert Strategies
Originally published July 1, 2021 10:36 AM
Tags: Business Operation, Featured Post
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