Are You Charging Enough Per Session? Setting Session Rates In Private Practice
My guess is no… Many of us struggle with setting our session rates in private practice. We go about it with very little understanding of what should really go into it. First we google all the other private practices around us and then set our rates a touch lower than everyone else in hopes of attracting clients.
You know what… It doesn't really work that way.
Each private practice is slightly different and they shouldn’t all look the same or charge the same rates. There is so much that goes into setting session rates we are barely touching the surface on it here.
At base level setting session rates need to be done according to your numbers for your private practice. Setting session rates should not be based on your five minute google search of other private practices and what they are setting session rates to be. What someone else is charging should not influence what you charge. I know this sounds crazy, but it is true. Guess what, they probably set their session rate the same way. They may have no understanding if what they are charging is even appropriate for their private practice, let alone your private practice.
Setting session rates is one of the big questions we get all the time from clients that work with us. I get it, it’s really important. Our clients tend to be shocked when we tell them that we have a lot of work to do before we can get to that number. We need to understand all the financials of their private practice, and then talk a little bit about vision and goals for their future before we even attempt setting session rates.
We never recommend a private practice owner look at other practices around them to see what they should charge per session. We take the time to build a strong foundation on your numbers and your goals for setting session rates. Once we understand all of this we can set a session rate for your private practice.
Once we do that together, you will walk away with an understanding of that number and what goes into it. You will also understand how decisions you make will affect this number as well along with what goes into adjusting it over time.
Other factors that go into setting session rates include what communities do you serve? Where is your practice located? What is your marketing strategy (This is a big one!).
Setting your session rate in private practice is so much bigger than just pulling a number out of thin air. There should be data that backs this up. That data has to be analyzed in order to set a session rate that will work for your private practice.