What Is the Right Way to Raise Rates When You Offer Packages?

Q: I sell packages rather than per-session rates — typically a 3-month or 6-session package. How do I handle a rate increase when the pricing structure is package-based? Do I raise the package price, change what’s included, or restructure?

The same principles that apply to a per-session rate increase apply to a package-based increase. The underlying question is what the per-session equivalent is and whether it reflects where the work is now.

Start there: what is the current per-session equivalent in your package? If you sell a 6-session package for $900, the per-session equivalent is $150. When you raise rates, you are deciding what the new per-session equivalent should be — $180, $200, or whatever number you have settled into through inner preparation. Then the new package price is simply the new per-session equivalent multiplied by the number of sessions included.

The principles of a rate increase in a package-based practice: the package structure does not change the foundation of the rate increase — it is still grounded in the outcomes the work produces, the practitioner’s inner settlement with the new number, and the communication to existing clients. The package is the delivery structure; the rate is what the work costs at the per-session level, and the package price is derived from that.

Three decisions to make:

First: the new per-session equivalent. This is the primary rate decision, arrived at the same way as any rate increase — through outcome review, sitting with the number, building inner settlement. The package price follows from this.

Second: whether the package structure itself changes. Sometimes a rate increase is also an opportunity to restructure the package — changing the number of sessions, adding or removing inclusions, changing the duration. This can be done alongside the rate increase or separately. If both are changing at the same time, make the communication clear about both.

Third: how to handle clients currently in packages at the old rate. Clients who have purchased and are currently completing a package at the old rate have made a commitment at that rate. Honoring the existing package commitment — completing the package they purchased at the price they agreed to — is generally the right call. The new rate applies to renewals and new purchases. This is not a complex exception; it is simply respecting an existing purchase agreement.

How to communicate a package price change: the communication for a package price increase follows the same structure as a per-session rate increase announcement: state the new package price, the effective date, a brief orientation sentence, and an invitation to act before the change takes effect if they want to lock in the current rate for one more package. That last element — the option to purchase one more package at the current rate before the effective date — can be a genuine offer rather than just an announcement, and many clients will take it. This is not a discounting strategy; it is a clean transition mechanism.

Outcome-based versus session-based pricing in packages: some packages are outcome-based rather than session-based — priced around achieving a specific transformation rather than around a fixed number of sessions. In this case, the rate increase may mean adjusting the package price in reference to the outcome value rather than the session count. The inner preparation is the same; the calculation differs.

Whether to honor existing package commitments at the old rate: clients currently in a package at the old rate should complete their purchased package at the price they agreed to. This is not a discount; it is a completion of an existing commitment. The new rate applies to what comes next.

How the preparation applies to package pricing: the inner preparation for a package rate increase is identical to the preparation for a per-session increase. The outcome review, the sitting-with-the-number process, the pre-decided exception policy — all apply. The only difference is that the announcement communicates a package price rather than a session rate.

Write the new package price, sit with it, and treat the preparation with the same seriousness as any rate increase decision.

The Abundance GPS Skool community helps practitioners think through every dimension of rate decisions — including how rate increases work within package-based pricing structures. Join us here.