Module 5 workshop: a three-tier price sheet

What you will be able to do

• Calculate an hourly contribution floor and test each package against it
• Assemble a three-tier price sheet with add-ons, an off-peak rate and a terms block
• Check the sheet for all-in pricing, HST wording and consistency before publishing

Everything in this module comes together on one page. A three-tier price sheet is the document you send after a first call, attach to proposals, publish on your website and hand to anyone who quotes on your behalf. By the end of this workshop you will have a working draft for your own business, built and checked step by step, with Lantern & Lane’s wedding sheet as the model.

Read the transcript

Module 5 workshop: a three-tier price sheet.

Everything in this module comes together on one page.

A three-tier price sheet is the document you send after a first call, attach to proposals, publish on your website and hand to anyone who quotes on your behalf.

What you need before you start.

Set aside two hours and gather these numbers.

Most of them come from earlier lessons in this module.

Step 1: Find your hourly floor.

Packages differ in size, so the cleanest way to check them against your floor is by the hour.

Divide what you must recover each year by the hours you can actually sell.

Step 2: Build the middle tier, then the other two.

Start with the package you most want to sell.

Write its name, a one-line description of who it is for, its inclusions with numbers, and a draft price.

Step 3: Check every tier against the floor.

For each tier, estimate the hours it really takes, including meetings, emails, site visits and the event itself.

Subtract direct costs from the price and divide by the hours.

Step 4: Add the options and the off-peak line.

Below the tiers, list three to five add-ons with prices, and one off-peak rate if your calendar has empty dates.

Lantern and Lane's sheet adds:

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

What you need before you start

Set aside two hours and gather these numbers. Most of them come from earlier lessons in this module.

• Your annual overhead and the owner pay you need, from your cost-plus sheet
• Your realistic capacity, in events or in working hours per year
• The direct costs of one booking for each service you sell
• Your market ladder: what comparable businesses charge and what they include
• Last season’s bookings by package, if you have them
• Every fee you currently charge on top of your advertised prices

Step 1: Find your hourly floor

Packages differ in size, so the cleanest way to check them against your floor is by the hour. Divide what you must recover each year by the hours you can actually sell.

Priya and Marco need to recover $156,000 a year: $36,000 of overhead and $120,000 of owner pay. Between them they estimate 2,400 hours a year of client work, after admin, marketing and holidays. Their floor is $156,000 divided by 2,400, or $65 of contribution for every hour a package takes. Any tier that earns less than that per hour loses money once everything is counted.

Step 2: Build the middle tier, then the other two

Start with the package you most want to sell. Write its name, a one-line description of who it is for, its inclusions with numbers, and a draft price. Then build the top tier, which adds more of what clients value, and the entry tier, which is smaller and clearly limited. Use plain names that say what each tier is.

Lantern & Lane sells to two kinds of couples, so they make a decision here. Their positioning leads with two-tradition weddings, and their standard three tiers serve everyone else. Rather than a five-column sheet, they publish three tiers and present the Two-Tradition Weekend as their signature package, on its own panel above the table.

Step 3: Check every tier against the floor

For each tier, estimate the hours it really takes, including meetings, emails, site visits and the event itself. Subtract direct costs from the price and divide by the hours.

Every package clears the $65 floor, but only just. That tells Priya and Marco two things. Their prices are sound, and any discount at all takes a package below the floor. It also tells them to watch hours closely: if Full Planning creeps to 115 hours, it drops to $59 an hour. They add a line to each tier stating the number of planning meetings, which protects the hours as much as the price.

Other vendors run the same check with their own units. A magician counts travel, set-up and the show itself. A caterer counts kitchen hours as well as service hours. A rental company counts loading, delivery, set-up and pick-up, and often finds that small orders far from the warehouse fall below the floor. Those are the orders that need a minimum or a delivery zone.

Step 4: Add the options and the off-peak line

Below the tiers, list three to five add-ons with prices, and one off-peak rate if your calendar has empty dates. Lantern & Lane’s sheet adds:

• Rehearsal dinner coordination: $1,200
• Additional event day for Partial or Full Planning: $1,600
• Welcome bag assembly and delivery to one hotel: $450
• Friday and Sunday weddings, and any wedding from November to April: Day-of Coordination at $1,600

Each add-on also clears the hourly floor. The off-peak Day-of rate is $300 lower, so they cap it at 20 hours of work and state that in the inclusions.

Step 5: Write the terms block

A price sheet without terms invites misunderstanding. Add a short block at the foot of the page. Lantern & Lane’s reads:

• All prices include every mandatory fee. We add only HST at 13 percent.
• Prices cover weddings within the City of Toronto and Peel Region. Travel elsewhere is quoted before you book.
• Payments: 30 percent at signing, 40 percent 90 days before, 30 percent 14 days before.
• Your date is held for seven days after you receive a proposal.
• Full terms, including changes and cancellation, are in our planning agreement.
• Prices valid for weddings booked before December 31.

Step 6: Test it, publish it, track it

1. The one-minute test. Give the sheet to someone who does not work in events. Ask which tier they would choose for a friend’s wedding and why. If they cannot tell the tiers apart in a minute, rewrite the descriptions.
2. The all-in test. For each price, ask whether a client could book it for exactly that amount plus HST. If not, fix it.
3. The consistency test. Check that the same prices, names and HST wording appear on your website, listing platforms, proposal template and invoice template.
4. Publish on your website as a page or a downloadable PDF, and update every listing the same day.
5. Track how many clients choose each tier and each add-on. After one season, recalculate your average booking value and hours per tier, and adjust.

Your price sheet template

Copy this outline into your design tool or word processor and fill it in.

• Header: business name, service, season, and one line on who you serve
• Signature package (optional): name, who it is for, inclusions, price
• Three tiers: for each, name, one-line description, five to eight inclusions with numbers, price plus HST
• Add-ons: three to five, each with a price
• Off-peak rate: days and months, price, any limits
• Terms block: all-in statement, service area, payment schedule, date hold, validity date
• Contact: how to book the next step

A compliance check for your price sheet

Before you publish, run your sheet against the Canadian and Ontario rules covered in this module. Each item takes a minute.

• Attainable prices. Since June 23, 2022, the Competition Act has treated drip pricing as a false or misleading representation. Every price on the sheet must include every fixed mandatory fee. Only charges imposed by law, such as HST, may be added on top.
• HST wording. Ontario’s HST rate is 13 percent. The CRA lets registrants tell customers that the total includes GST/HST, show the amount separately, or show the rate. Show the combined 13 percent, not federal and provincial parts. Use the same wording everywhere. The CRA’s guide for GST/HST registrants sets this out.
• Small suppliers. If your worldwide taxable supplies are $30,000 or less in any single calendar quarter and over the last four consecutive quarters, you are a small supplier and need not register. If you are not registered, do not show HST. If you exceed $30,000 in a single quarter, you stop being a small supplier immediately and must register within 29 days. Note on your sheet’s file when you expect to cross the line, so you can reprice before it happens.
• Reference prices. If the sheet shows a “was” price or a percentage off, the regular price must meet the Competition Bureau’s ordinary selling price tests. A separate off-peak rate avoids the issue.
• Per-guest and per-hour prices. Under Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act, 2002, you cannot bill a consumer more than 10 percent above an estimate without their written agreement. Where a price depends on numbers, state the rate and the date final numbers are due.
• Disclaimers. Clause 1 of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards says asterisked or footnoted information must not contradict more prominent parts of the message. Your terms block can explain, but it cannot take back what the headline price promised.

The Competition Bureau’s page on drip pricing is worth reading once a year. This is general information, not legal advice; ask a lawyer if your pricing has unusual fees or conditions.

GTA practice notes

When to publish. Wedding couples in the GTA shop most heavily after the holiday engagement season and around the winter and early spring bridal shows. Finish next season’s sheet by early January, so it is ready for the busiest weeks of comparison. Corporate sheets are best refreshed in late summer, when holiday parties and fall conferences are being budgeted.

Service area. The GTA covers several regions, and a 40-kilometre trip can take twenty minutes or two hours depending on the day. Name the area your prices cover, such as the City of Toronto and Peel Region, and say how travel beyond it is priced. Vendors based in Halton, Durham or York can do the same around their own base.

Several markets, several sheets. If you serve clearly different buyers, such as couples and corporate clients, give each its own sheet with its own three tiers. Show HST as a separate line for corporate clients, who usually recover it, and consider showing the HST-inclusive total for couples, who feel the full amount.

Listings. The Knot, WeddingWire and Zola often display a starting price or price band. Use the price of your entry tier, exactly as it appears on your sheet, and update every platform on the day your sheet changes. An old price left on one platform is still advertising.

Rising costs. Insurance, software and fuel tend to rise every year. Put your validity date on the sheet and rebuild the numbers from Step 1 each fall, so your floor never quietly moves above your prices.

Worksheet

Download the worksheet and complete it for your own business, using Lantern & Lane as the model where it helps. Keep it with your marketing plan. It takes about 15 minutes.

Download the worksheet (PDF)