Belated Happy New Year

I want to wish every one of you a Happy and Prosperous 2015! The holidays are over and things have (hopefully) calmed down in your life. You may be hunkered down under inches or feet of snow or listening to the rain on the roof during this winter time.

January was hectic and it has blasted past.  So many things happening at one time and now, I finally have a few moments to work on the blog. Actually, I have been working on this blog post in my brain for the last few weeks – now I finally get to see it in print!

With any business, the goal is to be prosperous and earn a few (or more than a few) $$, which is called “profit”. And, no, profit is NOT a bad word! Unfortunately, I know way too many machine quilters who are NOT making $$ and there is NO profit for them.

Since this is the (almost) beginning of a new year, let’s talk about the one thing many professional quilters don’t like to do and that is RAISE YOUR PRICES!

By raising your prices, you will bring in more $$ – which could mean a profit for you!

I would recommend reading, or re-reading, my blog posts about the Cost of Quilting – Part 1, and the Cost of Quilting – Part 2. (click on the highlighted text to view these posts)

Raising your prices is a fairly simple process – choose how much you want to raise them – then do it!

Let’s assume you decide you want to raise your prices a half a cent per square inch (.05 cpi) on all your levels of pricing.  Choose a date – I would recommend February 1 – and every new quilt that comes into your business gets the new price(s). This is easy, but how come it is so hard for some quilters to do this?

Let’s talk about some issues some professional quilters have about raising prices.

Many professional quilters think that their customers won’t “like” them if they raise their prices. You are running a business, not a popularity contest! Yes, I know, you have to keep your customers happy, but they have to understand that you ARE a business and that businesses, from time to time, raise their prices. Restaurants raise their prices, clothing stores raise their prices, quilt shops raise their prices, grocery stores raise their prices and on and on. Why not you?

Many professional quilters feel that they have to advertise their price changes in advance. That would be nice, but it is not necessary. I don’t advocate changing prices on quilts that are already in your possession waiting to be quilted, but new quilts coming into your quilting line up, those quilts can have higher prices on them. Most stores don’t say “We are going to raise our prices next week.” They just do it!

If you need to, blame your price changes on someone else. You can say, especially during this time of year when you have to get your “stuff” ready for taxes, “I have talked with my CPA / tax adviser and they say that I need to raise my prices.” You don’t need to elaborate any more than that. If a customer persists, you can always say “it’s way to complicated to get into right now.” In other words, mind your own business!

Many professional quilters feel that if they raise their prices they will loose customers. There is always this possibility, but in reality, you will probably NOT loose any customers. If you did loose a customer or two, don’t worry about it. They were probably not your best customers and they were the ones who brought you crummy quilts and were difficult to work with. Trust me, you don’t need them!

Here is my true story – Way back when, after quilting a few years, I decided to raise my prices. My prices were in the lower mid range in my area at that time. I was worried about losing customers, but raised my prices anyway. I did lose a few customers but my regular customers stayed with me and were supportive about the new prices. When I raised my prices, I began to get better pieced quilts and better customers who appreciated the work that I did for them.

Many professional quilters think that if they raise their prices they will become the most expensive quilter in their area and will loose business.  If you do become the most expensive quilter in your area, so what! You go girl! There are people(customers) who think that expensive means good! Many customers who you think may complain about your prices are actually bragging about their ability to pay your prices.

Customer “I just paid Jane Doe (quilter) over $500 (maybe more) to quilt my quilt.” Is this customer complaining about the price (this was a custom quilting job) or that she can pay it!”

Think about things in your own life. Have you every purchased something at an expensive store and (somewhat bragging) told your friends about it?

Speaking about being an “expensive” quilter in your area – where is it written that you MUST get all your business ONLY from your area? Think of ways to get business from other geographic areas. (I’ll write about this in the future. )

How about raising your prices without raising your prices? Let’s assume you have several levels of pricing – super simple all over patterns, free hand or pantos, at your lowest level, then two mid level prices, then (high) custom pricing.

Eliminate your lowest level of (super simple) pricing. You will still do that kind of work, but charge it at your next higher fee.  Yes, you can keep this level for the poor, elderly lady who is on a limited income, but I would be VERY selective of who I gave this price to. Think of combining the two mid level prices into one, higher price. This way, you HAVE raised your prices by not charging the lower fees.

What other ways can you bring income into your business?

If you don’t charge for thread, begin charging for thread. You will be amazed at how much you can make on thread charges. See my blog post about this by Clicking Here 

Learn how to put binding on the quilt and offer it as a service if you don’t do so already. Not all bindings have to be hand stitched. Learn how to use your home sewing machine to apply binding and you will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is and how much $$ you can make doing this.

For information about an online class on how to apply binding with a home sewing machine Click Here

Carry some wide baking fabrics for your customers to purchase. Purchase the backing fabric at wholesale and sell it at retail prices. Yes, there is a little bit of investment in the fabric, but there is potential for more profit!

Specialize in a style of quilting. You can become the Feather Queen, the Sashiko Princess, the Template Goddess, etc. A specialized style of quilting makes your skills more valuable and you can charge more for ALL your quilting skills. If you are good at one thing, you MUST be good at everything! And of course you are!

I hope I have “kicked you in the butt” to raise your prices. YOU are a skilled crafts(wo)man! It has taken time to learn how to do what you do! Reflect this in your pricing and begin making a profit in 2015!