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Sell hour packages, not just session packages
Knows how to design a package measured in hours or units of work (not visits) for services that don't always take the same amount of time, and decides how to log each draw against the balance without arguing with the customer.
You sell packages because they keep customers coming back and get you paid upfront, but your jobs don't all take the same time: one tune-up takes you twenty minutes, another takes two hours. If you price the package by visit, two visits cost the same even though one ate up six times more of your time, and you end up losing money on the long one, or feeling awkward charging extra for whatever runs past the package.
This course changes what the package counts: instead of tracking visits, it tracks hours or completed jobs. Start by deciding what you measure, work out what to do with a short notice call (for individual clients, you deduct the actual time and charge the trip separately) and what happens when a job runs past the hour, separate materials and travel from the hours you sold, and finish with the message you send the client when you close out each job so the deduction makes sense without an argument.
This is for anyone who charges for jobs of varying length (repairs, therapy sessions, classes, consulting) and wants to sell packages without losing money on the long job. It's not for you if you already charge the same amount per session every time, in that case, the classic session-based package is enough.
- Choosing between measuring the package in hours or in completed jobs, based on how you work
- Logging the full balance the day the package is paid for, in your calendar or a spreadsheet, not when the customer starts using it
- Set a rounding rule that doesn't change depending on who handles the appointment, and that, for individual clients, deducts only the time actually worked
- Separating materials and travel time from the hours sold, and sending the customer, at the end of each job, the hours used and the balance left
It helps to have already sold a session package, even on paper, so you know what you're going to change.
The 6 lessons
In the order it makes the most sense to read them.
- 1
If every job takes a different amount of time, the package shouldn't be counted by visits
You'll decide to stop selling session packages for work that doesn't always take the same amount of time, and start selling a balance measured in hours instead.
6 min - 2
The package balance is measured in hours or completed jobs, never in visits, and gets logged in full at the time of sale
You'll come away knowing how to choose between an hours package and a completed-jobs package, and how to log the full balance in your spreadsheet the day you get paid for the package, not when the customer starts using it.
6 min - 3
The minimum you charge even if the job takes ten minutes
Once you've got that down, you know what to do with a short service call: with individual customers, you knock the actual time off their package and charge the trip fee separately, and a flat minimum per call is something you only agree to with businesses or professionals.
7 min - 4
Running over time: what you deduct from the balance
Set a time block and a rounding rule that stays the same no matter who handles the appointment, and that, with individual clients, never rounds up the time worked, so what you deduct from the package is clear just by looking at what you write down.
7 min - 5
Materials and travel don't come out of the package hours
By the end, you decide what part of a visit gets deducted from the hours balance and what gets charged separately, so the package doesn't get drained by costs that aren't your time.
6 min - 6
What you show the customer after each job so they don't argue about the discount
After this lesson, you'll have the template for the message you send yourself, by WhatsApp or email, when you close out each job, with the time deducted and the balance left, so the client sees it without having to ask.
5 min