Why Create Packages?
In many service-based industries, it is common to charge a customer by the hour. All you have to do is come up with your base price, and multiply it by the number of hours the project takes for a client. Easy.
Here’s What Happens When You Charge By The Hour 
First, what seems “easy” for you now has your client doing math in his/her head. First they have to figure out how much to spend on you, then divide that by your hourly rate, and then they tell you how many hours they would like. If their project is not completely done, they’re not happy about it but they made the decision on how much to spend.
You’re not happy because you could have done more if the client hadn’t limited the number of hours. So, the client dictates how much you make but neither of you are happy.
While the project is happening, they’re looking over your shoulder, “how long is that going to take? How much longer, do you think?” This is going to seriously impede the dazzling result you had wanted to provide them.
The biggest reason that charging by the hour will work against you, is that now they can shop up and down the internet to see whose hourly rate is cheapest. If you’re not prepared to undercut the whole nation, then you’ll lose out on prospects who are focused on hourly rates. If you charge $40 and the person in the next town charges $38 – they’ll get the business. Ridiculous? Yes! So let’s avoid that.
Why Packages Work
The beauty of packages is that clients still get to choose how big an expense they’re agreeing to, but now they’re not calculating and timing everything. They don’t need to ask if you’ll have time to do this or that because your package tells them what exactly you’ll do and what you won’t do. As I advise my clients, “make it easy for them to buy”.
Create 2 or 3 varieties of a package, list what each version includes and what the one flat price is for that package. Now they can choose between the $250 package and the $400 package rather than attempting quadratic equations to guestimate the final cost of your work.
Remember to make it crystal clear what your package does NOT include. State it in a service agreement, and then go over it verbally anyway. Have them sign a statement that they understand what they agreed to. You build a package once, and put it on repeat. Set it and forget it. If they ask for this or that little tweak, consider if you are willing to swap out A for B at no extra cost (if they’re equitable); or add C for a small charge.
There’s always that person who wants something bespoke, completely built and customized from scratch. Cool. I hope they’re sitting down when you tell them what that costs.
Packages Identify Your Ideal Client
An added bonus is that if someone sees your carefully crafted package and starts pulling it apart and reworking it, it’s up to you to say, “no, that’s not what I offer.” You can offer to quote a (much) higher price for a custom package, or if they’re trying to get away with paying you next to nothing, you can simply say, “thanks for considering my company. I hope you find what you’re looking for with another provider.”
When a prospect takes your packages and wants to slash them down to fit what they want to pay, that is disrespectful and a warning sign of worse behavior to come – so say goodbye and wish them well.
If you don’t know how/where to start building a package, you can just take it slow and say, “what if I offered a package for ‘x’ amount of money? What would I be able to do for that price?”
Or start from the other direction – “here’s a list of items most clients ask me for: if I add them all up, what’s a price that takes it all into account and ensures I’m making a profit?”
Either way, dive in and see what you can make happen. Helping a client create packages around value pricing is just one of the projects we work on together. If going it alone seems frustrating and daunting, set up a free consult with me so we can discuss your challenges.