My rent is to be increased.....advice pls

[hippy-chick]

Just had an email from one of the places I rent from, I've been their 2 years and its the first increase, so shouldn't grumble, but must admit to feeling a little petulant about it (I only read the email 5 minutes ago).

It means that I would need to increase each treatment by £1.25 which doesn't sound like much, but I was just about to get a credit/debit card machine and was going to increase the treatments to cover that.

I will of course increase the treatment prices, but how is the best way to go about it?

 

[~Freckles~]

I would increase the treatments by the amount necessary to cover the rent increase and investing in a card machine.

Put a notice up to let clients know, give them as much notice as possible.

It is a hard thing to do but be brave and bite the bullet!

The lady that runs my little girls toddler group has just put the prices up for each session and she was apologising to everyone today. Personally I think she had the wrong attitude as she left herself wide open for criticism, and bless her, she got in a right state by the end of the morning.

She gave everyone notice weeks ago so we all knew it was coming, if she had just said 'good morning, its now xx amount, would you like tea or coffee' everyone would have just paid up quietly and got on with it....she invited people to complain by saying sorry and trying to give explanations.

If your notice gives your reasoning then that should be enough.

xx

 

[diddle]

Is the rent increase negotiable?? Always best to barter on these things. Then yes put your prices up just give people notice, also could you put product prices up slightly so that treatment prices didn't have to jump too high? xx

 

[collin]

I would review the terms of your tennancy and see what it says about rent reviews.

Also everything (most of the time ) is negociable...especialy with todays credit crunch position we find ourselves in.
If your landlord is entitled to increase the rent I would seriously go back to them and say..

"opps..oh dear I dont think my customers will stand a price increase for my services as its VERY competitive out there what with the credit crunch...this may unfortunately make me have to look for somewhere cheaper so as to survive this"

see the reaction back as no landlord wishes to loose any tenant right now..hopefully this will open the door for negociation..so get stuck in.
Maybe negotiate a sliding scale of increased rental etc.

There are many options to play with when negotiating these kinds of things....but just try and remember that you are really the one in the driving seat as the landlord ,what with interest rates etc as they are,really doesnt want to be going upsetting you now does he..he needs your rent...so get negotiating.
HTH

 

[beautynails]

Definatly try to negotiate the rent increase.
I'd probably try absorbing some of the cost of the card machine, rather then going for a big price increase and hope that the convienience of a card machine would lead to an increase in retail sales.

 

[hippy-chick]

thanks everyone, I appreciate your comments.
going to have a think about this one.

 

[Blue Rose]

Hi Ann,

I have a price increase each year without fail, even in a so-called gloomy environment.

What I do is print up a notice saying that on x date there will be an increase in treatment prices. They usually have about 5-6 weeks notice which covers the cycle of most of our regulars. I then keep the sign up for about 3-4 weeks afterwards aswell.

For many years I just put my prices up by a small amount, & then not all of them, but nowadays, as I've toughened up, everything goes up by 10% (or thereabouts, all my prices end in 00, 25, 50 or 75).

I never apologise for the increase. I have bills to pay as well. I think that if you're regular & consistent in changing your prices (ie yearly) & pre-warn your clients they will get to expect it. As we get told many a time, everything else goes up in price so it's only natural that therapy prices go up too.

 

[hippy-chick]

thanks Sarah,
I wasn't going to apologise as I think thats the wrong way to go.

I'm just a bit confused with myself as I don't know whether to proceed with the card machine or not.

 

[TheBeautyWithin]

I would bite the bullet and up your prices. I find having a card machine encourages my clients to spend more... it is so much more convenient!

Good Luck

x