Session rates are getting out of hand

[Johnhwasser]

good point, was thinking about that with respect to holidays. If covid magically disappears next year, everything will be double price. Hotels, flights etc. Sessions as well. It will be a revenge of 2020.

[Juvi]

Originally Posted by Fritz [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

I agree with most of you that the London-ladies do this special low price-offer now to grab every session they can before the lockdown. But it is "as sure as the Amen in church" that we will get this punishment back twice, triple, quadruple with the fee-increasement whenever the corona-crisis will be finished. The 14 of the 21 submissionsroom-ladies have already given us an example with their fee-increasement since the beginning of the Corona-crisis.

They made an increase now, but they haven´t done it for a long time before.
So while I cannot exclude a further raise after Corona, I don´t think you can be that sure that they will raise them again.

Oh and just in case you doubt it I clearly hope that there will be no raise.

[London_Wrestler]

Originally Posted by mark.johnson21 [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

Makes sense. Without enough regular clients, offering a discount to attract new ones makes a lot of sense. Better to make some money than none.

That's confirmation bias if ever I saw it.

Added after 10 minutes:

Originally Posted by gutpunch [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

I have said all along that a more reasonable rate will bring them more money.

No, that does not follow.

Lowering the rate will probably bring them more sessions at the lower rate (supply and demand).

However you cannot say that it will bring more money overall.

If a provider lowers their rate by, say, 10% and gets, say, 5% more sessions, they will have less money than before.

Originally Posted by gutpunch [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

The session wrestlers can raise their rates and get 100 percent of nothing, or they can become more affordable and get a better percentage of something.

Sorry but this statement makes no sense.

[mark.johnson21]

Originally Posted by London_Wrestler [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

That's confirmation bias if ever I saw it.

That's living in denial, if ever I saw it.

Originally Posted by London_Wrestler [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

If a provider lowers their rate by, say, 10% and gets, say, 5% more sessions, they will have less money than before.

Yeah, and if they lower their rate by 10% and get 40% more sessions, they will have more money than before.

It can go either way. It's no guarantee that lowering the rate will definitely result in enough clients to make it worthwhile. And it's no guarantee that it won't, either. It's a gamble. One most businesses and independent contractors take when things are slow or clients keep bailing.

[London_Wrestler]

Originally Posted by mark.johnson21 [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

That's living in denial, if ever I saw it.

Explain...

Originally Posted by mark.johnson21 [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

It's no guarantee that lowering the rate will definitely result in enough clients to make it worthwhile. And it's no guarantee that it won't, either. It's a gamble. One most businesses and independent contractors take when things are slow or clients keep bailing.

Agreed - but the narrative in that 'camp' all along is "lower the rate and you will get loads more money" - which is totally false.

[mark.johnson21]

That is definitely not totally false. The whole reason any business offers sales or gives discounts on a regular basis is specifically to make more money than they would have had they kept whatever they're selling at full price.

The question that nobody can answer is where the sweet spot is for maximizing profit. Is it 10% off? 25%?

Really the only way to find out is to poll as many clients as possible. Here's one I just came up with which almost certainly needs work, but at least could give a general idea where clients stand:

1) How many sessions do you book per year on average?
-- 0-1
-- 1-2
-- 2-3
-- 3-4
-- 4-5
-- 5-6
-- 6+

2) Why specifically do you not book more sessions per year?
-- Too expensive for the experience
-- Session wrestler of choice is unavailable
-- Session wrestlers don't tour my city / I live too far away
-- Afraid wife/girlfriend will catch me
-- Personally too nervous
-- Not really that into sessions

3) If a session wrestler you wanted to see was to lower her hourly rate by $50/hr, would that be enough of a discount to make you book more sessions per year with her?
-- Yes
-- Maybe
-- No

4) If a session wrestler you wanted to see was to lower her hourly rate by $100/hr, would that be enough of a discount to make you book more sessions with her?
-- Yes
-- Maybe
-- No

5) What is the lowest price per hour you would consider too expensive for a session, even if it was with a session wrestler you very much wanted to see?
-- $100
-- $150
-- $200
-- $250
-- $300
-- $350
-- $400
-- $450
-- $500
-- $600+

6) If rates were currently $200/hr across the board, how many times per year would you likely book sessions?
-- 0-1
-- 1-2
-- 2-3
-- 3-4
-- 4-5
-- 5-6
-- 6+

7) If rates were currently $300/hr across the board, how many times per year would you likely book a session?
-- 0-1
-- 1-2
-- 2-3
-- 3-4
-- 4-5
-- 5-6
-- 6+

8) If rates were currently $400/hr across the board, how many times per year would you likely book a session?
-- 0-1
-- 1-2
-- 2-3
-- 3-4
-- 4-5
-- 5-6
-- 6+

9) If rates were currently $500/hr across the board, how many times per year would likely book a session?
-- 0-1
-- 1-2
-- 2-3
-- 3-4
-- 4-5
-- 5-6
-- 6

.....

Be interesting to see from this what most clients want to pay for it and compare it to how many sessions a year they would book given what the price is. From there we could potentially see if more sessions at a lower rate would likely produce greater net profits or not.

[London_Wrestler]

Originally Posted by mark.johnson21 [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

That is definitely not totally false. The whole reason any business offers sales or gives discounts on a regular basis is specifically to make more money than they would have had they kept whatever they're selling at full price.

The question that nobody can answer is where the sweet spot is for maximizing profit. Is it 10% off? 25%?

It is false to make the sweeping generalisation "if only the girls would lower their rates, they would make much more money" ... which is what the 'camp' has been saying.

[uxiel]

You'll need to make those buckets larger if you want useful data, not that too many would answer anyway. 2020 aside, I'm sure there are plenty who session once a month or even more. I would either use exponential numbers (powers of 2 or Fibonacci) or different time units (1-2x a day/week/month/quarter/year) if you want a more actionable survey.

Obviously you'd get more data on a forum like this from people who are vocal, not the portion of people who just do sessions and move on with their life. You'd be missing out on a good chunk of the market.

[mark.johnson21]

Originally Posted by uxiel [Only Registered Users Can See LinksClick Here To Register]

You'll need to make those buckets larger if you want useful data, not that too many would answer anyway. 2020 aside, I'm sure there are plenty who session once a month or even more. I would either use exponential numbers (powers of 2 or Fibonacci) or different time units (1-2x a day/week/month/quarter/year) if you want a more actionable survey.

Obviously you'd get more data on a forum like this from people who are vocal, not the portion of people who just do sessions and move on with their life. You'd be missing out on a good chunk of the market.

That very well might be true, but couldn't hurt to make a poll on misterpoll.com and see. All of us are talking like we have a good idea of what most people would want, but that really isn't the case on either side.

I'm gonna be gone for the next few days but I might try that when I get back unless someone else wants to. If we only get 15 people answering it or some small number like that, well... yeah, not enough of a sample size. On the other hand, if we get a few hundred...

[Fritz]