Thread: Raising Your Prices

I have to admit, I dream about raising my prices even more than I fantasize about hot UPS boys bringing me treasures from Istanbul

Lately, I've been on the fence about raising my own prices. I'm posting this thread to explore ALL sides of the issue. The pro's, the con's, the how-to's, and any helpful case studies of what's worked and what hasn't worked. For those who have raised their prices, did this affect the number of people who booked you? Did this change your prospects' behavior (for better or for worse) during the booking process?

Yesterday, I caught up with one of my old mentors and she told me that she charges a $300 minimum for her private gigs. (The average going rate in CT is $250, though a lot of people have been charging less). Her reasoning? She invests more than half of her earnings toward costumes, workshops and other business expenses. Plus, the cost of living seems to be on the rise wherever you go. Especially here in Fairfield County.

Penny for everyone's thoughts?

We raise our performance prices when Ruric feels "it's time." Price increases don't affect the number of people who book performances OR the number of arguments with folks who want a lower price.

Most of workable calls are from folks who want Ruric or Ruric and Samovar, not just a generic belly dancer (s) (whatever the public might perceive that to be); when folks 'just want a belly dancer' our prices often discourage them.

We don't work with agencies or an agent, and we don't post our prices on the website; I suspect these two factors also pre-screen the customers for us.

As we discussed previously, I think a good way to go about it is to work with the other dancers in the area That might make it easier to raise the prices while hopefully dealing with less undercutting...

I will be raising my prices at the beginning of the year

Maura - not working with an agent definitely helps. At least in my area and my own experience, agents will nickel-and-dime you worse than the most difficult customer! Maybe I just haven't found the right one. I find that having my prices on my website has already pre-screened a lot of the price shoppers. Any time I get calls of that nature, they usually come from Gigmasters, or the person got a hold of my card without first checking out my website.

Sahari - Yes, I agree! You might want to introduce yourself to Careesah now that she's back. Maybe she can come with us next time we go out. She's awesome and we had a very, very interesting conversation about the State of the Belly Dance Union yesterday

I raised my prices about 6 months ago. It didn't affect anyone's behavior or the amount of gigs. I just posted the new prices on my website and that was that. (Except, for a few months, I'd get calls for gigs and forget my new prices! If you raise them, try to remember them!)

I don't think prospective clients really do much research on belly dancer prices in terms of historical data - no one has ever said, "Hey, your prices were lower 6 months ago."

And I have very few gigs where the client shops around - they call me, hear the price, say ok, and I send them a contract. I post my rates on my website, and I find that helps too - people don't call if they think it is too much. I leave wiggle room in my prices to haggle if needed, but probaby only haggle for about 20% of my gigs.

I know you'll like this Satin - one thing I have found is that people do tend to call me and book me based on my website's appearance. Some comments I often get are "your website was so professional," or "your website looked great," or "your photo gallery was so impressive."

My website isn't the greatest, and I coded it myself based on a free template, but it is clean and professional. Especially now that wordpress can be used for websites so easily and so well, there's no excuse for dancers (even the most technophobic) to not have a basic, clean website.

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Sahari - Yes, I agree! You might want to introduce yourself to Careesah now that she's back. Maybe she can come with us next time we go out. She's awesome and we had a very, very interesting conversation about the State of the Belly Dance Union yesterday

Yes, I'm looking forward to meeting her sometime would love to hear about the State of BD Union!

I'll be meeting with some dancers on Saturday, so I let you know how it goes and maybe make that meeting happen ..g.:

Fatima, you're right. Most of my gigs are "one-off" appearances, so it's doubtful that anybody will notice an increase.

How much did you raise your prices by?

And yes, I hate to say it, but having a sparkly unicorn (err, I mean, website) has definitely given me a nice edge. My site was designed on WordPress and I love it. It's easier than updating a blog! And I think it's key to convey an appropriate mix of glamour, professionalism and personality, no matter how you design your site

I'm raising my prices in January. I am on the low-end of local going rates, so I am raising them to be in the middle of the going rates. I sent out an announcement with my December newsletter.

Andalee's December Newsletter

"Planning a holiday party? Why not spice it up with a professional belly dance performer! I am now booking performances for the holiday season. Reserve your date before things get too hectic. You'll also want to book now because my rates are going up as of January 1, 2010. Even if your event is after the new year, you can still book at the current rate. Don't say I didn't warn you!

I currently offer the following packages for private events..."

Here in the DC area when we were working together towards catching up with inflation, cost of living increases etc after a 15 year price freeze we seemed to work up party prices at about $25 increments.
That's about what I do for my own personal prices as well. When someone wants a particular dancer- if they've seen here before, or she was a reference, they often won't go for the blue light special dancer. Your price is your price and they'll pay it even if you're $100 more than all the others.

I think the length of time performing and working the circuit has something to do with your prices. The dancers on the higher end of the pay scale seem to be well known in an area or working constantly in clubs and restaurants. When your name gets out there as someone with talent and poise people are willing to pay more. The exposure of a restaurant or club gig allows networking with clients and also gives them the ability to see your abilities.

Much of my pricing has to do with the other dancers I book jobs through. Thank goodness they've been around longer then I have because I get the benefit of their years of experience, booking jobs at higher prices (I charge the same as the referring dancer, or they set the price at their pay scale) without too much hassle.

Glad to see that others are raising their prices in 2010. This makes me feel so much better about the possibility of doing the same!

Samira hit the nail on the head. Minimum wage actually just went up in CT due to the increased cost of living. I do think our own rates should reflect what's going on in the world at large. Not to mention, I've been informally researching what other "variety" entertainers charge. Most are getting at least $350, at least upon face value. Now, I'm not sure if we're comparing apples to apples, but I'd love to chat with some other entertainers about what goes into their pricing and see if we can learn anything from it.

Originally Posted by _Tanya_

Much of my pricing has to do with the other dancers I book jobs through. Thank goodness they've been around longer then I have because I get the benefit of their years of experience, booking jobs at higher prices (I charge the same as the referring dancer, or they set the price at their pay scale) without too much hassle.

That's a good point too, Tanya - I pass on more gigs than I take, and when I do, the dancer I refer them to charges them my rate. I think I'm in the mid to upper range of prices, but haven't passed on a gig yet where my price was lower than another dancer's.

Satin, I raised my prices pretty modestly - about $25 for bellygrams, but I increased my prices for weddings and full shows by about $50 since I felt I was either undercharging or it wasn't worth enough for me to do otherwise.

I raised my prices a large chunk two years ago when I made dance my full time occupation. I was on the low to middle end of the going rates for my first couple years performing, but I felt that my dancing, education and performance skills had gotten to the point where I could charge on the higher end of the scale. As others have pointed out, most of my gigs are one-offs so the clients had no way of knowing that they were paying more than if they had booked me the week before. I saw no discernible drop off in bookings due to the price increase.

Because it was such a large increase the year before, and also because it coincided with a big dry spell in bookings for me, I decided to keep my prices the same for 2009. Instead, I increased my price for teaching private lessons to reflect the investment of having built a nice home studio to teach them in.

That said, I'm increasing my prices about 15% for 2010 since it's been a while since my last rate bump.

I am currently in the mid range for prices here in LA. I am going to raise them after Christmas. That has nothing to do with the date and everything to do with my son coming home and costing me the money I plan on spending on a Gigmasters ad.

{{{HUGS}}}}