How Much Should Therapists Charge?

One of the biggest decisions when setting up a new practice is deciding how much you should charge. Setting therapy fees isn’t simply a matter of picking a number. It involves balancing your experience, the local market, business costs, and the value of the service you provide. In this article, we’ll look at different ways of setting your fees, debunk some common pricing myths, and explore the factors that can help you decide what’s right for you and your clients.

Debunking Pricing Myths

‘I have to charge less because I’m only just qualified.’

There are several problems with this one. Not least that since the advent of the voluntary regulations you are likely to be as well trained as others already working in the industry, if not better. 

• It’s true that specialists may charge a premium because of their years of experience and extra training. But that doesn’t mean that you should charge so little that your fledgling business can’t get off the ground. 
• After all the time, money, and effort you invested to get qualified, you deserve to be paid the going rate. 
• Exactly when will be you be experienced enough to put up your prices in line with everyone else? 

‘I have to charge less because I work from home.‘

While your overheads are certainly less working from home than from a hired office, your service is just as good. And the help that people get is just the same. You are also putting in the same time doing CPD, supervision, admin, and preparation, as those working away from home.

You don’t need to feel guilty that your business makes a profit.

‘I’ll get more clients if I charge less.’

This could well be true. However, I remember putting my prices up (with some trepidation) when I had been qualified a couple of years. I found I was busier than ever: sometimes a higher price is perceived as indicating quality. The other side of this is that cheap therapy attracts clients who shop by price, They tend to be the least motivated people who are reluctant to invest in a decent service. Are they really the clients you want? 

Of course, early in your career, you might decide that getting more clients to broaden your experience is worth it. If so, I’d advise deciding on a specific time limit or a number of clients to offer cheap therapy. After that, you start to charge a living wage.

Make it clear this is a limited offer, perhaps by putting both prices and the deadline on your website. If you’re unsure whether to list prices publicly, have a look at my blog on Should Your Publish Your Prices?

‘Potential clients won’t be able to afford me.’

While it’s true that some people will find it difficult, that doesn’t mean you should charge less for everyone.

I’d recommend volunteering for a charity or hospice. Or having a specified number of sessions each week offered at a sliding scale for those in genuine need. If you have more applicants than places, run a waiting list. I look at whether you should reduce prices at times of general crisis in another blog.

How to Set your Therapy Fees

In some ways, opening a shop is easier than opening a therapy business. Yes, you have to buy space and stock, but when you’re selling a service, whose direct costs are often more about time and effort than items on a shelf, it doesn’t always feel easy to set a monetary value on things. Despite this, there are a few approaches you can take.

Pricing Structure

This one is pretty much down to personal preference, but you could:

• Charge a flat fee per session.
• Charge a flat fee per block of sessions.
• Offer clients a choice between paying as they go or in advance. Traditionally those paying in advance would expect some benefit. For example, £70 if you pay per session, £190 if you pay in advance for 3 sessions. If you give clients this choice ensure that, if everyone paid the lowest rate, you would still make a profit. Consider the higher rates as a bonus.
• Design programmes for various presenting issues, which are charged by the programme.

How to set your therapy prices

• Price matching 

Hypnotherapists are like takeaways, we tend to congregate where the work is! So don’t let the fact that there are other therapists in your area put you off. Look at what the others in your area are charging for similar work. At the beginning of your practice, set your prices around 2/3 of the way up the scale. Not the lowest, which tends to attract the least motivated clients. And not the highest, which tends to attract the fewest clients when you want to build your experience. 

• Cost-based pricing

Work out your overheads and add on the amount you’d like to earn. Divide that by the number of client hours you can offer, and you have your price. 

Here’s an example, using nice easy numbers, rather than realistic ones.

• Your total expenses over the year. Assume insurance, advertising, professional memberships, CPD, supervision, travel, website, etc amounts to an average of £105 per week.
• Your room hire is £10 per hour. You can see ten clients a week, but you’re unlikely to be fully booked every week. Assume this will average £70 per week.
• Your costs are therefore £175 per week.
• Assume you see an average of 7 clients per week. That means each of them has to pay you £25 to cover your expenses.
• On top of that, you’d like to have a wage. Let’s say you want to earn at least £210 per week. Divided by 7 clients, that means each of them has to pay you an additional £30.
• Your fee would therefore be £25 + £30 = £55.

If you want to avoid the maths, there’s a handy price calculator on launch-startup.co.uk

• Value-based pricing

If you have a specialism, that may help you put a ‘what my service is worth to my client’ figure on your therapy. For example, helping a businessman overcome a fear of flying allows him to fly abroad and get new business worth £10K. That’s what it’s worth to him to have his phobia dealt with.

He would not benefit if he had to pay all of that to you, but10% is a place to start. Putting a figure on many therapy issues is harder than this, of course. But you could do some market research, and ask people what it would be worth to them to get their problem sorted. 

A few extra tips on pricing your therapy

Local and personal factors

In an area with high unemployment and low income, you may not be able to charge as much as if you are in an affluent area. If you have a specialism, is it of interest to those who might be on a limited income? For example, cancer patients who are likely to be on benefits? If so, then take that into account.

Of course, there is nothing to stop you from working from in more than one place. I worked both from home and from an office (on different days) when I saw clients full time. You can move at least part of your practice online, or to somewhere you are likely to find clients who can afford what you want to charge. 

And before anyone heckles – yes, some people will travel to find the right therapist. So you may be able to attract affluent clients wherever you are. But a large number pick by geography. Many online directories encourage this by listing therapists in ‘distance from you’ order when searched. It is often best to assume that most of your clients will be local until you learn otherwise. 

Review your prices regularly

Check your prices at least every 12-18 months, because: 

• It keeps you in line with inflation.
• It avoids a huge jump when you suddenly realise that your expenses have gone up annually, but your fee has been the same for the last decade!
• If you are busy, put your prices up. You will get fewer clients but the same income.
• If you are not busy, consider a promotion. It’s often better to add additional value for the same price than to drop your prices. Have a look at my blog on upselling for ideas.

Extend your services 

Introduce some services that don’t depend on selling your time by the hour, which has a natural limit. Look at my blog on passive income for ideas.

Be open and confident in discussing your prices 

If you sound hesitant or apologetic the client will more than likely move on. See the discussion on the difference between price and value in our article on whether or not to publish your prices for more about managing this.

In conclusion, although pretty much every therapist on the planet started their journey to help people. But this isn’t inconsistent with running a viable and profitable business. Therapists need to pay for food, lighting, holidays, and the mortgage, just like everyone else. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing this by running a flourishing and successful therapy practice. 

As we said above, if you want to bring financially disadvantaged groups into your practice you should absolutely do so. But you also need other clients who can pay a reasonable rate to allow you to run a successful business. If you go out of business, you won’t be helping anyone. 

So – repeat after me…

It’s OK for therapists to make a profit….

It’s OK for therapists to make a profit….

Disclaimer
The information and ideas shared on this blog are based on the author’s professional experience, research, and training. They are intended for educational purposes and to support reflection and professional development. Therapists should always apply their own professional judgment and consider the needs of individual clients when using any techniques or suggestions discussed here.
While every effort is made to ensure the information is accurate and helpful, no responsibility can be accepted for any loss, damage, or difficulties arising from the use or misuse of material contained in these articles.