Let’s say the hardest thing first: if you raise your fees, it’s possible you may lose some clients. And I hear the fear over losing anyone. However, if you raise your fees by ten percent or less, it is likely that you’ll lose very little business. (And it’s also likely that if someone leaves over a small fee hike, they were likely going to leave soon anyways.) Still, it’s possible.

Yes, you could lose some clients if you raise your fees – even if you raise them by a small amount. AND this could be an appropriate and good thing. You’ll make more money (and have more time!) working with fewer clients who pay you a higher fee than if you work with everyone who pays you a lower fee. Think of it this way: You must make room for higher-paying clients by letting go of some lower-paying clients at the bottom.

I once presented a rate-setting seminar to a group of therapists, and the possibility of losing clients due to a rate hike was the hardest part for them. Some of them had worked with the same clients for many years without ever raising their fees. They felt that they owed it to their clients to not raise their rates. But this is simply unreasonable. You must raise your fees by about 5% each year simply to keep pace with inflation. Where does it say that we should put our client’s needs in front of our needs and our family’s needs? Where is it written that we should sacrifice ourselves on behalf of our clients? Low fee clients exact a price paid for by our increasing deprivation.

Your lower paying clients will decide on their own if they can afford you, but no professional, including therapists and other healing professionals, should promise her clients that she will never raise her rates. Remember, if nothing else, you have to raise your rates to keep from falling behind.

Our relationships with our clients are very powerful. We may sometimes become very wrapped up and enmeshed with them. We can honor and care deeply for them, but if you don’t take care of yourself financially, the quality of your work will suffer. It makes little sense to deprive yourself in order to help others. Low fees contribute to the syndrome of the wounded healer.

Of course raising fees is difficult. It feels very emotional. But we owe it to our clients to raise our rates fairly and regularly. If you are doing great work and your clients are getting results, they will rarely leave you over a 10 percent rate hike. But sometimes it happens. Time to breathe deeply.

TIME TO EARN MORE?

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