How to Finally Charge What You're Worth: Dietitian Pricing Strategies That Work
===
Libby: [00:00:00] If you're looking to grow your business as a registered dietitian, you've come to the right place. If you're not sure what to do or what steps to take next so that you can create flexibility and freedom in your life, then you're gonna learn a lot from tuning into our podcast here at Dietitian Boss.
I'm Libby Rothchild, the founder of Dietitian Boss, a fellow registered dietitian and business owner, and in our podcast, I share. The highs and the lows, and I talk all about how to grow your business, get it started, and I interview our clients. To date, we've had over 200 interviews from clients who share their journey on our podcast, dietitian Boss.
Hello, dietitian bosses and welcome to today's podcast episode. I'm Libby Rothchild, your host, and today we're tackling a challenge that so many of our clients and members in our community face, and that's charging what you're worth as a registered dietitian. I wanna ask you, does setting your prices make you feel [00:01:00] anxious?
And do you wonder if clients will actually pay what you're asking? Now in today's conversation, we're gonna bust through the fears, misconceptions, and doubts all about pricing. Now, this isn't the first time we've talked about this topic, but it comes up so often that I wanted to bring it up again. In today's episode, we're gonna cover how to determine your value, set your rates, and confidently communicate your worth to your clients.
If you're ready to master pricing and more, our monthly membership is where you can dive into strategies to help you grow your practice and your income, even if you're still working a clinical job. So let's go ahead and get started with today's tips. Now, the first theme I wanna discuss includes the psychology behind pricing.
So pricing. You might not know this, but pricing does reflect your value, and it's more than just a number. Pricing is a reflection of the value that you provide as a [00:02:00] dietitian. Now, clients often equate higher prices with higher quality. It's just human psychology, and so if you undervalue yourself, it can send the wrong message that your services aren't really worth much.
For example, think about a luxury brand. Think about maybe a hotel or even maybe a fashion brand. For example, like Louis Vuitton. And the bag from Louis Vuitton isn't just a bag, it's an experience and it's a statement. And the same goes for your services. You're not just selling a meal plan. You're offering a transformation and expertise, and that's absolutely worth a lot for your potential clients.
So before you set your prices and before you think you should just compare your prices to the next dietitian who might also be undervaluing themselves. I want you to define the unique value that you bring to clients. Get out a pen and paper and really think about what's unique about what you are bringing to the table.
For example, do you specialize in something [00:03:00] specific like food freedom or managing diabetes? You wanna highlight the expertise and outcome that clients get from working with you specifically, and maybe you're not exactly sure or there's a lot of outcomes and you can't quite narrow down the main theme.
I want you to ask yourself, what problem do you solve better than anyone else, and what's the reason that people would pay you? Why are they paying you and giving you their time and energy? Next, I want you to research, and I want you to think about setting your rates. It is important to know the market.
So by researching what other dietitians in your niche charge, that can help as a baseline. You can check online profiles even better, you can check the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Salary compensation guide. That's available if you're academy member. And you can also check out like indeed and different job platforms to show what the average salary rates are.
I really like the Academy of Nutrition and dietetic salary calculator. I recommend everybody does that [00:04:00] because it's a good way for you to get a baseline as well. And that is where I would start. I wouldn't start by looking at other dietitians because that can be very subjective. Since as a whole community, we tend to undervalue ourselves.
I would look at industry standards and then go from there. I want you to then factor in your experience in specialization. So if you have a very particular specialization like diabetes, you are unique as a clinician and that can help you stand out and it could be that you focus on prenatal or kidney health, and that can command higher rates than a generalist who offers a wide variety of different topics.
Now when you think about how to calculate your rates, I want you to consider the time and effort required for your services include the prep time as well, The software that you use, and that's why we run into profit margin because you wanna make sure that you're able to cover your expenses. Also, marketing. It might not be an actual dollar amount or it is a dollar amount, but you also might be thinking about the time that you are putting into [00:05:00] marketing and professional development, right?
We all have to pay fees to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, as well as our liability insurance, et cetera. So I want you to think about what costs would at least cover your overhead. And aim for at least a 30% profit margin. It's normal as your business grows, that your profit margin might dip again, that can depend on a model.
It's an episode for another day, but I want you to not just think about a number, but think about how it factors into your overhead costs as a dietitian, which can absolutely change if you start offering digital products and hiring other dietitians. That's where the finances can take even more strategy because there might be different profit margins for different offers that you have, especially if you're hiring clinicians under you.
But if we're talking about a solo practitioner, and what you are charging for hourly sessions or workshops, et cetera, and want you to think about it, minimum covering your overhead costs. Now we do have a calculator to help you, a budget tool inside of our membership, the library that can [00:06:00] help you factor in what your overhead costs are, so you know what to anticipate for the year and break that down per month, and you can get access to that template and many more with our support over at dietitianboss.com.
When you join the library as an actionable tip, I want you to create a pricing formula. For example, total time spent on the service, including prep session and follow up times your hourly rate. So that's gonna be higher than just offering an hourly rate. And then I want you to add a profit margin, for example.
30% finally adjust based on any market research that you've done. I want you to ensure that your price is fair and sustainable. So oftentimes dietitians charge lower at first, which is understandable. I even recommend that as I have a price progression model inside of our library that you have access to when you join.
I recommend starting a little lower too, but what I also recommend is have to spend a lot of time with our clients on is sharing that after a certain amount of sales. You do wanna increase, it's okay to start a little bit [00:07:00] lower, but then you don't wanna forget to increase your price with time and demand.
And that's really where dietitians struggle is not charging enough over time. Now, the next topic I wanna talk about is overcoming some pricing anxiety, right? Because you might be feeling even this conversation might make you anxious. You've been putting it off, you don't wanna talk about it.
So some common fears in how to address them include. What if no one will pay for my rates? Now remember, the right client will see the value in your service, and you don't need everyone to say yes, only the clients who are a good fit. So that means that out of 10 potential people who will pay, maybe only half will pay.
That's okay. 'cause you want a good fit in your business. Now the second fear is, what if I get negative feedback? Pricing pushback is completely normal. In fact, if you're not getting any pushback, that means you are very much priced, too low. It's normal. It's normal for there to be pushback instead of lowering your rates, I want you to focus on communicating the value that you provide.
And that means you're focusing on your experience, expertise, [00:08:00] transformation, and your niche, right? Your area of specialty. Then I want you to reframe your mindset. That's something we all do in business here at Dietitian Boss. We think about pricing as a boundary, right? It shows respect for your time and your expertise.
And a helpful affirmation can include, I am providing life changing services, and the right clients will invest in themselves through my expertise. So I want you to role play a conversation with a colleague or a mentor, right? This is an actionable tip. I want you to practice responding to common objections like that's expensive with confidence.
For example, I understand your concerns, right? Here's what's included and how it'll help you achieve your goals. I want you to structure your price for success so choosing a pricing model is important. So there's an hourly rate and that's good for beginners who wanna keep it simple. I definitely recommend an hourly rate at first, but it is harder to scale an hourly rate.
But it's somewhere to start. Packaged pricing is really what I [00:09:00] recommend, but most of us have to work up to packaged pricing, and it's better for offering value. For example, a three month coaching package for cash pay includes sessions, meal plans, and email support. A membership model is even more advanced because it's going to require that you have knowledge of building leveraged income and it's ideal for ongoing support.
That's what we have at the library if you wanna check it out and see how we've set that up with success. And you have access to a community and exclusive content, and usually some extent of group sessions, although not every membership has access to group sessions, but ours does. We have monthly live calls that I lead.
Now when you communicate your pricing, you wanna be transparent and clearly list what's included in your services. So for example, this package includes three one hour sessions, a personalized meal plan, and unlimited email support. I wanna showcase the benefits and highlight how your services solve your current lead, your potential client's problems, and how it can make their lives better.
This will [00:10:00] require confidence in you, believing in yourself and in what you sell. As an action tip here, I want you to start with packages. Now they offer flexibility and allow you to bundle your services for higher perceived value. So you can have one session in a meal plan or standard. You could do three sessions in weekly check-ins or premium.
You would have six sessions and personalized resources. Now, technically a package would be a unit of time, so three or six months, and a bundle would be if you're including a few sessions at a time. Now, if this makes you feel too uncomfortable and you're unwilling to start for several hundred dollars, you can start with the hourly rate.
But after you sell three to five hourly sessions, I want you to start bumping up and only selling packages, right? I want you to go from hourly rate to packages after you've sold five hourly sessions. That's gonna help you have something to work towards. Now, if you want access to my specific price progression template, that is available inside the library at [00:11:00] dietitianboss.com.
So I encourage you to join our membership not only for access to templates and resources, but also access to your peers where we have monthly live calls to work through your issues about pricing and growing your own business. I want to talk about upselling and retaining clients, which is another really important area in dietetics.
You might know that long-term relationships are really important when it comes to sustaining your business growth. What does that mean? You wanna upsell your clients if you can during your check-ins. For example, after a client completes one of your three session packages, if you're selling a three session package, you can suggest transitioning them into a six month coaching program.
And you also wanna focus on client outcomes. So share progress and discuss how continued support can help them achieve even more than they already have. I want you to incentivize loyalty, offer discounts for long-term commitments, or bundle options for clients who sign up for multiple packages.
So as an action step here, I want you to track your client's [00:12:00] progress and use it as a selling point. For instance, if they've already reduced their A1C level significantly, then let's continue working together to maintain and improve these results. It's okay to focus on just one or two up upsell opportunities at a time while you refine your process, right?
So this is a skill. And you're gonna have to learn it with time, but I want you to know that is important for you as you grow your business to focus on retention and long-term relationships. Now, I definitely want to make sure before we wrap up today, that I talk about avoiding common pricing mistakes because pitfalls to watch out for are important to know before we dive into this sales mindset.
One of the biggest mistakes is underpricing to attract more clients. This often backfires and it leaves you burnt out, which is the opposite of what we advocate here at Dietitian Boss. We want you to feel like you have a flexible, meaningful business that gives you freedom and so you don't wanna burn out.
So that's why pricing is so important. Getting the right pricing. And the second mistake is not [00:13:00] reviewing and adjusting your rates. So remember, we've got inflation experience and market changes, and that should inform your pricing. Even if you charge hourly now for a low amount after you've sold five hours worth of your time, or five sessions you want to increase to then selling packages.
You do not want to forever stay in low rates. Third mistake would be failing to enforce payment policies. For example, not requiring upfront payments can lead to financial stress. So you do want your clients to pay you before the session starts, or ideally when you have that sales conversation is when you would ask for payment in order to secure the spot for you, Mary this would be due today.
I can take payment over the phone, right? That's an example of how you wanna carry out pricing and making that pricing mistake by collecting payment after service can lead to a lot of issues. People forget they might not take you seriously. And then again you might not be attracting the right types of clients if you're not enforcing your pricing policies.
So I want you to review your [00:14:00] prices quarterly and ask yourself, are my rates sustainable for my overhead, sustainable for inflation, sustainable for my business needs? Are they adjusted with experience and market demand? Do I need to introduce new packages or services? And then this will ensure that you stay competitive and profitable.
So charging what you're worth is a journey. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes some time. It does start with understanding and valuing your time, setting sustainable rates, and confidently communicating them to your clients. It's one thing to set the rate is another thing to be confident about your rate.
Remember, pricing is reflection of the transformation that you provide. It's not just about the dollars and cents. Thank you so much for joining me today, and if you are ready to master your pricing and grow your income, I want you to join our monthly membership where you are going to learn expert strategies and have access to customized templates and have a supportive community, including myself, to help you thrive and grow with where you are at in your business.
If you [00:15:00] enjoy today's episode, I want you to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your fellow dietitian colleagues.
Looking for support to grow your dietitian business or even get started, I invite you to join the library, our monthly affordable membership that shows you exactly what to do every step of the way so that you can create the business of your dreams. Not sure if it's the right time. The membership gives you an option to.
Go at your own pace. We have modules, a roadmap to show you exactly what to do and monthly live calls, as well as new content that we release every single month based on requests inside of the library. We have four stages of business, so whether you come in getting started or you wanna enter the membership and grow or scale your business, we have the appropriate resources for you and our team, including myself, available to answer your questions.
Head on over to dietitianboss.Com and check out the library today. We'd love to see you there.
