I told her I would be moving on, she's not pleased at all with my decision. She says a few of her clients have told her the same thing. I've tried explaining to her she would be better off keeping all or most of her regulars; she'll have less drama, very few safety issues, zero LE problems. She's not listening.

Gee whiz, I would think this would be simple Marketing 101.

If she isn't listening to you and isn't working to keep you then that tells a story in itself...and it isn't that she's stupid or bad at business.

......not as lucrative as before. She will do what she needs to do, I'll do what I need to do. She probably won't be in this business for too much longer.

Generally if you are a "regular" the provider will grandfather the rates.  It's her business & her call.  If the rate increase is more than you are willing to pay, then you move on.  

What you suggest is correct, repeat clients are a known comodity...  already screened & she pretty much knows they are gentlemen...  but it is her business to run.  Some ladies don't mind hearing your opinion, but others don't want to hear it.  I presume she mentioned it to you, giving you the right to respond...  Let it go at that.

I have had providers raise rates & quickly lower them again.  I never asked but assume it hurt their business.  Her call.

I was grandfathered with an extreemly low rate (below market...  was her intro special when she started).  After a year, I bumped my donation up to the regular price.  I just felt I was taking advantage of her & she is worth the same as any other lady I see.  
skb

There is nothing to be gained by you two arguing about the subject.

She'll make a decision, you'll make a decision and each of you will live with that decision until and unless one of you decides your original decision was made in error.

The market will decide if she is worth the extra money, and you will decide how much (if any) you will miss her and her services.

From your side it sounds like she is making a horrible decision, but we have only heard your side of the issue.

If she gets same message enough times and without sufficient influx of new clientele, you can expect email with grandfathering offer.

If her new biz will make up for loss of old, she made smart move.


It is all very very individual. I had to deal with similar dilemma last week and decided that new 2 h minimum would apply to new clients only, but additional fee to offset cost of incall if one is requested will apply to both old and new patrons.

Lina

There are many good reasons to grandfather a good existing client but some providers just don't see it that way.  There's no point in debating it with her. If you are not the only one leaving it should be clear to her what the ramifications are of her increase.  Just move on.  There will be another bus coming along shortly...

She'll be calling later in the New Year only to find no one around.

Dear MistressJessica:
Although, you may want to raise your rates so that you are not comparable to backpage girls, keep in mind that you would be marketing yourself to a smaller segment of the hobbying public. Because you do not verify everyone, you would have a good idea of how much you can get predicated on what the potential hobbyist has paid other providers before. However, keep in mind with you competition which would be contingent on what part of the country you live in would be making some adjustments in order to sustain current levels of business if not to increase them. With that said you can take a test and see considering that you are a low volume provider if you will sustain current levels of activity for say a quarter. However if the volume at that time is not commensurate with your previous patronage then you can have a slight increase in your rate. This is a critical economic analysis because in the law of supply and demand there are many providers and fewer potential and suitable hobbyist that would meet you standards with respect to verification. With that said still offer the 250 for those who would see you anywhere from every two to six weeks with all new applicant paying the slightly modified fee. This is vital because you wouldn't want to be in the position at large that Alex Rodriguez was when Scott Boras asked for an outrageous number that no one wanted to pay. Henceforth, he did not have a buyer for his services. Thus you never want to put yourself in a predicament to where you outprice yourself in the market but make sure that you are having a competitive rate. Considering what times are now, you should be more like the government in creating a climate where it should be more convenient to hobby as opposed to less convenient. Also you have to remember for various reasons as well your pool of potential suitors is probably smaller than at anytime during the course of your hobbying career. Also run certain programs like if they donate to your favorite charity that you would give them ex amount off. Also for you preferred customers you might want to do a barter and exchange for other things you might need as well. Henceforth you are learning that there are other ways to meet your goals as a person and a businesswoman. Finally, what is it that I do or offer as a businesswoman and a provider that make me unique and standout as a person. Keep in mind the local market,because in a lot of areas your primary customer could be your blue collar worker instead of your white collar worker. In that case your decision to raise rates would have more detrimental implications in the short and long run and you could be cutting off your nose despite your face.

Many times ladies will keep rates grandfathered in on the DL.  If not, then perhaps you may want to choose someone else.  

Of course it depends on the rate, what the increase is, do you think it is worth it or, maybe she doesn't want to see you anymore.

With the economy the way it is, I have heard a number of rates hold or even drop their rates.

In terms of marketing and business -- for all you know there might be a guy happily paying her $4000/minute and has endowed her with a $20M trust fund.

You've expressed yourself, she decided that your continued patronage wasn't worth keeping -- which sucks, but it is what it is -- now move along and perhaps find a lady who more greatly appreciates your patronage.

Ok, So your ATF is raising her rates. Did you ask her WHy? Did you ask her if she would see you for the same price? Did you ask her why or why not? Marketing 101 says I can't have my rates at 250 for the 2 years when every girl on BP has the same rate and I consider myself to be of a higher caliber then the average girl. Also, the cost of living etc, etc, does goes up.. I suspect if she wanted to keep you as a faithful client she would grandfather you in. Unless you require more effort for whatever her reason is. You can still see a dozen ladies for whatever rate you choose it to be. so stop your complaining and deal with it or accept that you need to pay more for the quality that you want..

I have a max and min. I don't see anyone below the min or over the max.

My rule, live with it!

I typically adjust my rates/time minimums every 6 - 12 months as well. The transition, as you and the lady are learning, is not always easy. Usually I grandfather established clients at the previous rate for the next 6 - 12 months, but there always comes a time when it no longer makes financial sense to me for the grandfathering to continue. I always (well, *almost* always ) miss their company if they decide to move on, but if the relationship becomes something that strongly benefits one of us at the expense of the other, it's best that it not continue.

... honestly, it's not like "providers" are in short supply. that's part of the fun of the lifestyle for me, being able to see a lot of women and enjoying each different experience.

when confronted with rate increases by a fav, if I'm grandfathered, I stay and thank the lady with continued biz. If  I can't afford the new rate I move on.  If I can afford the new rate I stay. Pretty simple.

If my operating costs increase, I increase my prices. If my competition raises their prices, I do the same. In any aspect of business, pricing is driven not only by what the market can bear, but by what similar enterprises are charging. I am not a believer in increasing quantity of clientele - this almost always results in decreased quality of work. It was stated in this thread that there are no shortage of ladies - judging by the number of respondants on this board, there is no shortage of guys, either. Less clients + higher price = more efficiently run business. And, despite the relationships developed in this lifestyle (which are admittedly deeper than those in my business), the bottom line is - it's a business. If I have to choose between 30 OK customers paying $X and 20 good customers paying $X + 1, I will always go with the latter. If there's a lady I'd like to see who is out of my price range, I go about it the good ol' American way - I charge MY customers more and save my pennies! Business in America - ain't it great?

I've had this happen to me as well, recently...I, too, have a maximum range, beyond which I have to move on.  But, I do like seeing this particular ATF, and so, I've economized when she visits -- I guess quantity for quality is my rule of thumb.

So, if she's coming to town, my volume that week or month may be lower, so that I can accomodate her visit within my budget.  It's called discretionary income for a reason, and my preference is to spend my money with my ATF.  But, if truly out of your budget, then you must move on or minimize your visits to that "bonus" time of year.

I agree it sucks that some ATF's don't grandfather, but what's even worse is a session where the chemistry just isn't there.

...who said she wasn't happy with his decision to discontinue.  If she really felt that way she'd have offered to grandfather him.  Happens all the time and he probably should have suggested it.  There's a disconnect here.  Either she's not wise enough to have offered it, or she cares less about him than she says...or he thinks.  Can't think of any other explanation.

Reagan, I missed that one!  But, jeez, if you're going to call out everyone who abuses English on this site you'll have to change professions!  Me, I just ignore it.
Yours Truly,
Conan The Gramarian

She should give you good rates as a regular.

Uhhhh....

What type of business do you work in?  Are you more concerned with being sweet to everyone at your job or your bottom line?  

A provider should be both sweet and business oriented to be successful.  But if we bend over backwards to try to accomodate everyone, we wind up getting taken advantage of.  

We love our regulars!  We really do!  But... eventually the grandfathering period ends.  At that time, you can replace us with a new provider, if you like, and you will be replaced by a new client.

was even beneath his low standards. lol

Like many of us, it's too painful for me to try to make sense of a two hundred word block of text, so I don't even bother trying. As RR so aptly put it, "paragraph breaks are your friend" lol

I am quite certain that any provider who raises her rates realizes that doing so will cause her to lose some percentage of her current clients. She has no way of predicting which ones with absolute certainty, but she knows she will lose *some* clients. In fact, maybe she needs more time for herself or something, and that is her actual intention.

The thing that struck me about the OP in this case was that the provider reportedly *complained* that he had decided not to see her at the new rate.

A provider takes a calculated risk because she never knows which clients she will lose. Hopefully, she will gain other clients at the new rate and all will be fine for her. But she never knows if the client she loses will be the one who fixed her leaky faucets and stuff, if you know what I mean.

Because providers place such strong emphasis on not negotiating, I do not believe it is up to the hobbyist to say "Am I grandfathered?" That act, in and of itself, is the initiation of a negotiation. It is on the provider completely to *proactively* inform anyone who is grandfathered that they are.  And they should be informed before she changes her rates.

As far as I am concerned, if a provider raises her rates for me, that is a material change in the terms of whatever arrangements we may have, and she has no right to complain if I decide not to see her under the new terms. Presumably other guys will see her under the new terms and she'll be happy with that. But she certainly has no right to be upset at my refusal to see her under a set of terms she changed unilaterally.

So what struck me was his description of the provider giving him crap. She has a right to change her rates -- and when she does so, she knows she will lose some clients. She can't then come back and complain about that result.

Know what I mean?

Otherwise I may slip over the line into the crucified tax bracket.

Also, comparing yourself to a genuine salaried employee is disingenuous as it usually implies a set work schedule and new professional goals and responsibilities from your supervisor.  They are just not the same.

Any girl out there charging $300 an hour but can't live comfortably, even in DC or NYC, seriously needs to find a way to reduce their operating expenses as even a low volume provider could be making $12,000 a month with weekends off.

Meanwhile girls on BP who are charging $250/hr have a full dance card.  Perhaps they charge 20% less than you, but get 50-100% more business.  Meanwhile you could be charging the same $250 and providing BETTER VALUE [gasp] than your competition.

Any woman who complains about how slow business is while raising rates can't be very good at math.  These usually are the same girls that charge $400 for an hour and $700 for 90 minutes (for the same service level) with no idea how stupid this comes off.

I have no problem really with a woman raising her rates.  What kind of pisses me off is the provider's reaction, as if she is entitled to his money and loyalty no matter what she decides to charge and takes umbrage to his decision not to agree to her new rate.  It is a two-way street.

I had to get the calculator out for this one.  Seems like your math implies that the lady is banging 2 a day, Monday through Friday.  I'm not saying that she couldn't but it seems that leaves little time for other things.  For one thing, assuming that weekends off really means off, she's also got to screen, primp and market herself so that her dance card is always full 2 deep.  I suppose that she can make up for having a period by seeing 3 or 4 for a couple days.  We're also assuming that nobody cancels or no-shows.  Don't get me wrong, I've heard stories of ladies knocking down $20k in a week but it's usually from some high roller as opposed to a constant line of dudes looking to pin cushion her.