At the beginning of the year before our schedules get too crazy, we Bridal Alterations Specialists should ponder and refine our pricing for the year.
Pricing is hard when you are starting out. I am still refining my pricing and I’ve been doing this for well over 30 years. The dresses are manufactured differently now. So the time and skill set has really increased over the years. How do you know what to charge? I do my pricing differently than most and pricing can vary so much from location to location.
I give my bride a total price at the first fitting and stick with it unless the bride changes her order. After I tell her the total, I confidently say ”I take Venmo, cash, check or card, but I love Venmo best. How would you like to pay today?” And then I quit talking. The ball is back in their court. I get paid in full 90% of the time. I get a deposit if they tell me they can’t pay it all in full today. There are pros and cons to doing things this way.
Pro: getting paid upfront for your work.
Con: you are super committed to your pricing. I tend to build some cushion into my pricing because of this. But I think the bride likes knowing upfront what this job is going to cost her.
I think this keeps things easy. I don’t overthink or stress about pricing. Sometimes I under estimate the price of doing a dress, but most of the time I over estimate the cost of doing a dress. At my age and with my experience, you would think I’d have it all figured out. But there are so many variables that I have no control over. I might have a hyper picky bride, or a bride who’s body fluctuates or whose body is so unique that it ends up taking a lot of time to get the fit right. I might have lace that is basically welded onto the netting with tight stitching. All these things can throw my pricing out the window.
So what does simple minded Dee Dee do? I don’t worry about it. I just accept that usually I make really good money on a dress, and sometimes I’m making peanuts. I learn from that bad, and try to price things better the next time. Then I move on and don’t worry about it. It seems to balance out just fine in the end. What more can I do?
In my next mindset Monday I will go into a bit of the detail of how I price things. Until then, have a great day, and relax.
Love,
