When I was benched by Tropical Storm Irene recently, I asked you, the brilliant readers, for questions you wanted answered. Barry asked,
How much of a discount is common for packages?
Well, that can vary greatly according to the practitioner, original pricing and region.
I sell a package of 5 massages that takes $5, or about 7% off the regular price. Once a year I run a special that offers a package of 10 for $10, or about 14% off the regular price.
How did I come to those numbers? I know many people advertise 10% or more off, but I prefer to keep the actual prices ending in 5′s and 0′s. It’s just easier for me to remember. Also, I personally made the decision that I don’t want to accept less than $60 for a massage, so my package pricing will never allow the cost of an individual massage to dip below that.
I’ve done some researching (aka, skulking around the interwebs) and I see packages that hover between 5% to 20% off the regular rates.
This is such an individual decision, I hesitate to give too much direction. Just be very clear with yourself what your bottom line is, look around at the rates in your area, and never, ever offer a price that makes you feel yucky, or resentful about ‘practically giving away’ a massage.
If your business offers packages, tell us about them in the comments below!
Possibly Related Posts:
- How to shut off the faucet
- Communication for Millenials. And everyone else, too.
- Office Space, a renter’s checklist
- Reaching my full clientele, in a nutshell.
- Twitter. Do this, don’t do that. A list.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I think that any reasonable percentage off is bound to be recovered in unused massages. Not that that is what any MT would wish for, it is just a reality of the business that some gift certificates and package massages go unused.
Gift certificates are a whole other ballgame, so I’ll stick to the package discussion here.
I have NEVER had a massage package go unused or unfinished, for 2 reasons.
1. I only encourage regular clients to buy them. The bulk of my clients come very regularly and see massage as part of their normal wellness care, like going to the gym and brushing their teeth. The package is not just a financial savings, but it’s much more convenient for a client to not deal with payment at each visit.
2. In most situations I will give a refund or adjust the offer to get it used. Example: I had a elderly client become ill and not able to receive massage just after he bought a package. I wondered why he hadn’t been in and after a few months called his daughter and got the story. I gave her 2 options, I could refund him for the package, or I could make an exception to the ‘nontransferable’ policy. She opted for the latter, and I sent her gift certificates for the remainder of the package. He father gave them away at Christmas, and I got some new people in the door and one became a very regular client. Oh, and when he recovered from his illness, he bought another package and used it all up.
My point is this: I WANT the packages used, because it leads to more packages being bought. I made way more money than if I had just let it go. And the goodwill from offering a refund? Priceless.
I don’t sell packages so probably should have withheld comment. But MT friends close to me have and have told me portions go unused. I read your blog enough to know you have a high degree of follow up and communication with clients. If I eventually offer packages I will take your advice on follow-up.
NEVER withhold comment here. We’re here to learn. And snack.
I think it’s easy to see the unused packages and get caught up in the ‘free money!’ excitement. It takes some practice to look at the long-term pros and cons of having that money sitting on your books, less return of clients, etc.
Crap. I need to write a part 2 to this piece. You people really don’t want me to sleep ever, huh?
I prefer even numbers myself and offer packages between 4 to 12 at $65 each and 14+ at $60 each. I just recently lowered the $65 package minimum from 6 to 4 to fit economic times better and sales picked up. I also encourage people to pay for the smaller packages with a check . If they charge it and don’t pay their account off every month, they lose the discount over time and I also don’t take a hit on credit card fees. Personally I think it’s important to allow the money from packages to be left alone if at all possible and to ‘draw’ them out as the sessions are redeemed. Not always possible, but it helps me with weekly and monthly budgeting.
I appreciate your comments at the end, there may be nothing more demoralizing than ‘sellers remorse’!
Our massage is $60. When people pay up front ($300) for 5, they’ll get six. Cost to them, $50 each. Yes, it’s a break, but I’m still making money on it, it’s very popular, especially among elderly folks on fixed incomes, and we sell the heck out of them.
I used to sell packages of 3 at a discount, paid for ahead of time, until I realized I was actually discouraging the behavior I wanted — which was regularly scheduled appointments. People who had to count pennies would use the first two quickly and then hang on to the third “until they really needed it.” Now I give fifteen bucks off each ($90) session if the person schedules six on some regular cycle, even if the cycle is as sparse as every six months — & they don’t have to pay for the appointments up front; they just have to schedule them. (It means I have to trust them to carry it out, of course, but I’ve been stiffed by clients exactly twice in five years — it’s so rare it’s not even worth taking it into account.)
Dale, I love love love how you manage to make the package concept work for you. Love it. You are the King of Adaptation.
We sell packages in a variety of ways. And we call them “Plans” not packages ever since the Anthony Wiener scandal made “package” seem dirty
(this is only partly true only one of the reasons). Our “Jumpstart” plan takes $10 off each massage, and is 5 massages over 8 weeks. The “Individual” Plan takes $5 off each massage and is 6 massages over a 3 month period. The “Family” plan is available to couples and families and takes off $5, is 12 massages over 6 months, and provides the client and family with a reduced rate for a remainder of the 6 month period. And I’m currently pushing a Marathon training program for our Honolulu marathon that essentially takes off $10/hour of massage.
For us, cash clients are not the main focus, as we are geared toward securing medical referrals on an insurance basis. However, we sell enough of these plans to supplement our income to make up for the dry spells in prescriptions. When Rx’s are slow coming in, we bump up the marketing for these plans and it helps outs a lot.
I just sorted out all of my pricing and I’m not super comfortable with it. BUT…I’m a new business owner and so I’m giving myself a minute to get used to the part where I pick the price and all that jazz. I’m doing a buy 3 get 1 free thing…basically 25% off a package of 4. Local LMT’s I respect give me two very different types of advice: 1) Do whatever it takes to get new people in the door right now, or 2) Don’t under price (and devalue) your work. Personally, I don’t want to work for less than $1/minute, but I haven’t figured out if that’s realistic right now.
How do you fine folks keep track of your packages, plans etc.?
Possibly for another time, I would LOVE to know how everyone lets their clients know about their cancellation policy and how they enforce it? Thanks a bunch!
Rachel, for quite some time I offered a buy 5, get 1 free package. It worked for years. ANd then I changed it. Now I offer 10% off a package of 5. They have 5 months to use it in. I also allow it to be shared amount family members. I keep track of it in their file, on my calendar when I schedule and in a income/services tracking spreadsheet.