I'm so frustrated by the many changes of heart I've had regarding what fees I should charge now that my situation/circumstances have changed. I recently posted an entry about increasing my rates as I was mainly touring in London (and in order to be able to provide incalls in Chester when not touring, as my expenses have risen sharply.) Now, until I decided to mess around with my rates I felt I had them pretty much at the right level
- £150 an hour incall felt neither too high nor too low, and quite reasonable when you consider I provide most services without charging extras. My outcall rates were not so lenient at £200 for the first hour - this was deliberately to discourage outcalls as I don't, myself, drive. In fact my expenses to attend outcalls normally exceeded the extra £50 I requested. Basically the way things stood I was happy with my rates and spent no time thinking whether they needed adjusting.
Now I seem to be thinking of little else. For a start: until I've reached a level I'm happy with there seems little point altering my rates on all the directories with which I've a listing. Consequently I have different prices on different websites (even my own 2 personal sites disagree on how much I expect to receive and, if I don't know myself, how on earth are my undoubtedly confused clients?!)
Basically I decided £200 an hour for an incall would be suitable for London, and cover my extra expenses so I could still offer Chester incalls, even though I didn't honestly expect to get many. (When touring outside London I was intending to charge my old rates.) However since reading through various forums I feel this is too high and I'll be missing out on meeting some lovely gentlemen should I hold them at this level. But what should I charge, bearing in mind I really don't want to start charging extras? Perhaps I should have 2 sets of rates, 1 for London and 1 for elsewhere, and simply accept only incalls of 90 minutes or more - when I'm not touring - until I have an apartment to work out of again. But then... should I charge extras, keep rates high or simply stop doing certain services? The last thing I want is to be constantly thinking about squeezing more money out of a client or how I can extend the booking, I've worked in that way in the past and it did not go well with having orgasms!
Hi Chloe
ReplyDeleteI think you need to find a happy medium between the amount you charge to cover all expenses, attract/retain clients and make a profit.. to the other end where the amount you charge doesn't leave you feeling cheated and cheap. If it's not profitable enoughfor you to enjoy the fruits of your labour then what's the point?
You could also consider minimum booking durations for distant travel if that's something that could reduce expenses.
The other thing is that external factors out of your control such as recession, saturated market, people offering everything for next to nothing, demand in your area all have a major effect on what you can charge and get away with.
As long as you keep your website and AW updated with your fees and services I wouldn't worry about other profiles and directories.