Pricing models and packages

Day-of, partial, full-service and consulting packages that sell in the GTA, with price ranges and what each includes.

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Pricing models and packages.

Day-of, partial, full-service and consulting packages that sell in the GTA, with price ranges and what each includes.

Four packages that sell in the GTA.

Clients do not buy hours; they buy a level of worry removed.

Your packages should describe that level plainly, and each should have a clear start, a clear end and a clear list of what is not included.

Pricing for profit.

Start from hours, not from what competitors charge.

Estimate the hours each package takes, add a margin for the unexpected, and multiply by the hourly rate you need.

Flat fee, percentage or hourly.

Flat fees are the easiest to sell and the easiest to lose money on if scope creeps; protect them with a clear scope and a change fee.

Percentage-of-budget fees (often expressed as a share of total spend) scale with the event but give the client a reason to suspect you of upselling.

Writing the package page.

Each package gets its own page or section on your site with the same five parts: who it is for in one sentence; what is included, as a list of outcomes rather than tasks; what is not included; the starting price ("from 1,500 dollars"); and one example event with a link to its portfolio page.

Clients who cannot afford you leave without taking a call, and clients who can arrive already expecting the number.

Worked example: the Harbour Gala.

The planner priced the gala as full service for a non-profit.

Her hours estimate: discovery and proposal 8; venue search and contract 10; budget and sponsorship structure 8; vendor selection and contracts 14; design, floor plan and program 12; run of show and briefings 8; site visits 6; event day 14; close, survey, report and case study 12.

That is the lesson. The worksheet and the quiz are just below this video.

What you will be able to do

• Design three packages
• Price each for profit
• Write package pages

Four packages that sell in the GTA

Clients do not buy hours; they buy a level of worry removed. Your packages should describe that level plainly, and each should have a clear start, a clear end and a clear list of what is not included. In the GTA, four packages cover almost every enquiry.

Corporate and non-profit clients usually buy full service under a flat fee or a fee plus a percentage, and they compare you to an agency, not to a wedding planner. Price accordingly.

Pricing for profit

Start from hours, not from what competitors charge. Estimate the hours each package takes, add a margin for the unexpected, and multiply by the hourly rate you need. Your rate must cover more than your time: insurance, software, phone, travel, marketing, the unpaid hours of sales calls and proposals, and the weeks without events. A common starting point is to divide the income you need by the number of hours you can realistically bill in a year, which is far fewer than the hours you work.

1. List every task in the package and estimate its hours honestly, including the event day and the close.
2. Add 20% for meetings that run long, extra calls and revisions; in our experience every event takes longer than planned.
3. Multiply by your target hourly rate.
4. Round to a clean number and compare with the market range; if you are well below, you are underpricing your time, and if well above, cut scope, not rate.
5. Decide what is excluded and write it down: extra site visits, rehearsals, additional event days, travel outside the GTA.

Flat fee, percentage or hourly

Flat fees are the easiest to sell and the easiest to lose money on if scope creeps; protect them with a clear scope and a change fee. Percentage-of-budget fees (often expressed as a share of total spend) scale with the event but give the client a reason to suspect you of upselling. Hourly suits consulting and nothing else, because clients hate open-ended invoices for events. Most planners settle on flat fees for packages, an hourly rate for changes outside scope, and a minimum fee below which they do not take work.

Writing the package page

Each package gets its own page or section on your site with the same five parts: who it is for in one sentence; what is included, as a list of outcomes rather than tasks; what is not included; the starting price (“from $1,500”); and one example event with a link to its portfolio page. Publish starting prices. Clients who cannot afford you leave without taking a call, and clients who can arrive already expecting the number. Link the page to the proposal template so that every enquiry turns into a proposal with the same structure.

Worked example: the Harbour Gala

The planner priced the gala as full service for a non-profit. Her hours estimate: discovery and proposal 8; venue search and contract 10; budget and sponsorship structure 8; vendor selection and contracts 14; design, floor plan and program 12; run of show and briefings 8; site visits 6; event day 14; close, survey, report and project write-up 12. Total 92 hours, plus 20% for the unexpected, 110. At her target rate of about $45 an hour for non-profit work, that is roughly $4,950. She quoted a flat $4,500 plus HST because the foundation was a returning referral source and the project write-up had marketing value to her, and she wrote the discount into the proposal as a line so that it was visible and would not become next year’s base price.

Her scope excluded the silent auction catalogue and any second event day. When the committee asked in September for help with the auction catalogue, she quoted it as a change at her hourly rate: eight hours, approved by email. The flat fee stayed intact.

Common mistakes

• Pricing by copying a competitor whose costs you do not know.
• Forgetting the event day and the close in the hours estimate.
• Hiding prices, so every enquiry becomes a free consultation.
• Discounting silently. Show the discount as a line so it does not become the new normal.
• No written exclusions, so the flat fee absorbs every extra request.

Worksheet

Download the worksheet, complete it for your own event (or the running gala example), and keep it in your course binder. It takes about 10 minutes.

Download the worksheet (PDF)