Pricing
Raising your prices: how to tell past customers without losing them
By Holden Marsh, Editorial Director6 min read
Four signs your price is too low
Your calendar is booked far out, but you still say yes to almost everything.
You win almost every bid you send.
You check a finished job against the estimate and find that the profit is thinner than planned.
Your material and labor costs went up since you last changed your price.
Any one of these can start the conversation. Together, they make the decision plain. Your old price is no longer doing its job.
New customers are the easy part. They never saw the old price. Put the new price on every estimate from a set date.
The hard part is the customer who has hired you before. That customer remembers what you charged. Sometimes they remember the old number better than you do.
Pick one date and protect every old agreement
Choose the date when the new prices begin. Then use that date everywhere.
Everything signed before the date keeps its price. Estimates already sent stay good until the expiration date written on them. Do not change the price on a signed contract. Do not change it on a job already in progress.
This gives you a clean line. Your team knows which price applies. Your customer knows what they agreed to. You do not have to make a new decision every time someone calls.
The call that tests a price increase is almost never a stranger. It is the past customer who says, “same as last time.”
In their head, “same” means the same job and the same price. If you have not told them the price changed, the call starts with a let-down. If you told them weeks ago, the call is just a booking.
Tell repeat customers before they ask for the old price
Send a short message before the start date. Use a text, an email, or a line on the next estimate.
Say three things:
“Prices change on the first of next month. Costs have gone up, and this change lets us keep doing the job right. Thank you for being a repeat customer.”
That is enough. You do not need a long apology. You do not need to explain every material bill, payroll cost, or decision behind the change.
The customer needs the new price, the date, and one plain reason. Give them those facts before they call.
Give your best repeat customers a short heads-up window too. Tell them anything they book before the change date gets the current price. That is a thank-you, not a discount. It can also fill the calendar before the new price starts.
Put the message in the job file. Record which customers received it and when. If a customer calls later, you can see what they were told.
A quiet invoice increase creates the wrong fight
Do not raise the price quietly on an invoice.
A customer who sees a bigger number with no warning feels tricked, even if the new price is fair. The surprise is what loses the customer, not the price.
This applies to every place the old price appears. Change your estimate templates, the website if prices are listed there, price sheets in the truck, and what the office tells callers on the same day.
Update the answers your phone receptionist gives too. One old price hiding in one place can cause the worst call. A customer may hear the old range from one source, schedule the work, and then see the new number later.
The date must mean the same thing in your office, on your website, in your truck, and on the phone.
Say the new price once when a past customer pushes back
A past customer may say the old price is what they paid before. They may ask you to keep it that way.
Say the new price once. Give the one-sentence reason. Stay calm. Do not argue. Do not cave on the spot.
If the budget is the problem, offer a smaller scope instead of cutting the price. Do part of the job now and part later. A plumber might handle the urgent portion first. A painter might split the work into separate phases. A remodeler might complete one area before starting the next.
The scope changes. The price for the work does not become an argument.
If the customer leaves, let them leave politely. A customer who only stays at the old price was not a profitable customer.
That does not mean you should be rude or dismissive. Thank them for the past work. Leave the door open. Do not promise the old price will return.
Raise prices on a habit, not after years of silence
Do not wait until costs have climbed for years and then make one big jump.
Raise prices in steps and on a habit. Review them once a year in the same month. A regular small change is easier to explain than a big change after a long silence.
The habit also removes some of the emotion. You are not reacting to one difficult month. You are reviewing the price as part of running the shop.
Set the review month. Check whether you are booked far out, winning almost every bid, seeing thinner profit than planned, or paying more for material and labor. Then set the next change date and update your customer message.
Bella can give callers the new range after you change it
Nail the Call’s receptionist is Bella, an AI receptionist. She answers every call 24/7. She can give the price range you set, and she will never quote a number you did not approve.
Your price ranges are part of setup. You can change her answers any time. On the day your new prices start, update her range once. Every caller hears the new range from then on.
On the Growth plan, Bella has full repeat-caller memory. A repeat customer does not have to explain who they are again, and the job details land in the text summary you get after every call.
Bella does not set your prices, negotiate, send the heads-up message to past customers, or decide discounts. You make those decisions.
Starter is $95 per month. Growth is $295 per month. Pro is $495 per month. Each plan is flat, with no per-call limits, no per-minute meter, and no overage fees. Call (628) 895-9788.
Put the price change on this checklist
- Pick one date when the new prices start.
- Keep the old price on signed contracts, active jobs, and estimates until their written expiration date.
- Send repeat customers a short heads-up before the date.
- Offer your best repeat customers the current price if they book before the change date.
- Update templates, website prices, truck price sheets, office instructions, and phone answers on the same day.
- Record who received the message and when in the job file.
- Update Bella’s approved price range on the start date if you use Nail the Call.
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