How Group Programs Change the Rate Increase Calculation

A practice that offers only individual work has one rate to manage. A practice that offers individual work alongside group programs has a rate structure — and rate increases need to be thought through in the context of that structure, not in isolation.

The Access Ladder Logic

Group programs and individual work sit at different points on an access ladder. The group format offers more clients access to the practitioner at a lower per-person rate — enabled by the efficiencies of group delivery. Individual work offers a client the practitioner’s full attention and customization, which warrants a higher rate.

The relationship between the two rates matters. If the group program is priced at 80% of the individual rate, the access ladder doesn’t function as a ladder — it’s more like a choice between two similar options, and most clients will choose the lower one. If the group is priced at 30-40% of the individual rate, the distinction is clear and the client can make a genuine evaluation about what level of access serves their specific situation.

What nobody explains about group and individual rates is that the gap between them needs to be maintained as individual rates increase. If the individual rate goes up without a corresponding review of the group rate, the ladder’s proportions change.

How Group Rates Interact With Individual Rate Increases

When the individual rate increases, the group rate either: stays the same (which changes the ratio and may make the group program feel more attractive relative to individual work), increases proportionally (which maintains the ratio), or increases separately based on its own value calculation.

None of these options is universally correct. The right choice depends on what the practitioner wants the access ladder to look like and whether the group program’s value has developed independently of the individual work’s development.

A group program that has become more refined, more outcome-specific, and more clearly positioned for its particular audience may warrant its own rate increase independent of the individual rate. A group program that is primarily a lower-cost entry point into the practitioner’s work may be better kept at a level that maintains the differentiation from individual work.

What This Means for Rate Increases

Why the rate structure matters is that clients making decisions between group and individual offerings are doing so partly based on the perceived differentiation. A clear, honest gap between the two formats — in access, in outcome, in rate — makes the decision easier and more grounded.

Calculating rates for different formats starts with the specific cost-to-deliver and value of each format. A group program’s rate is not simply “individual rate divided by group size” — it reflects the specific work required to facilitate a group effectively, the specific outcomes the group format produces, and the specific kind of access it offers.

How to manage the rate structure during a rate increase involves reviewing both rates — not just the individual rate — and making deliberate decisions about the ratio between them.

The Abundance GPS Skool community supports practitioners in developing coherent pricing structures that serve clients at different investment levels. Join us here.