Should You List Your Rates On Your Private Practice Website? [Episode 26]

Hello there, and welcome back to the Mountain Practice Journeys podcast! I’m your host, Cindy Norton. Here in Episode 26 I’m going to answer the question “Should you list your rates on your private practice website?”

Let’s get started.

Have you been wanting to start your private practice, but you can’t seem to take that first step? Maybe you’re afraid of failure or lack confidence, or maybe the idea of running your own practice is overwhelming. I’m Cindy Norton, owner of Mountain Practice Journeys and I help therapists and counselors to love the business side of private practice. I’ll share with you practical skills and advice along with a healthy dose of inspiration so that you can be on your way to the practice of your dreams. Put on your hiking boots, and let’s get going.

If you haven’t yet listened to Episode 25, I urge you to do that. In that episode I chat with Jane Carter about how to get unstuck in your decision making in private practice.

Now let’s get on to today’s episode.

Should you list your rates on your private practice website?

I’m going to start this episode off by saying that I have a very strong opinion as to what the answer to this question should be.

But that does not mean that my answer is the right one. I totally respect the decisions of those who have chosen differently, as they have determined that this way is best for their practice.

And I urge you to continue making decisions for your practice based on your intuition and what you believe to be the best for you regardless of what anyone else says, including me.

With that being said, my answer is that I absolutely believe that you should be listing your fees on your website. I list mine everywhere.

First I’m going to talk about why listing your fees on your website is a great idea. Transparency with your fees and services is very important.

Providing potential clients with all the information they need to make an informed decision about your services builds trust and it shows that you have nothing to hide.

Personally, as a potential client of any type of service, I will always visit the website of the provider to find out more information and look to see the cost of services.

I will never think about purchasing anything that doesn’t have a price listed. Many of you are like me. When I see something without a price, I automatically assume that I can’t afford it. And I also wonder the reasoning of why someone wouldn’t be willing to put a price on their services - or at least let you know what the price is up front.

I’ll talk more about my personal experiences that led me to feel so strongly about always listing fees in a moment, but for now let's talk about how you can ethically leave your fees off of your website.

I do believe that there is an ethical way to go about not listing your fees on your website - and a not so ethical one. It all has to do with the reasoning behind why you are deciding not to list your fees.

If you would like to chat with the client, educate them about therapy and the process, chat about what they can afford, and find a rate that works for you both AND you are totally happy to refer out to trusted colleagues if your rate is not sustainable for the client - these are all completely ethical reasons for not having your rate listed on your website. You seem to truly be concerned about the welfare of the client, you are interested in building a genuine connection, and you are truly following through with what is in the best interest of the client.

However, if your main purpose is to get the client on the phone, build a connection with them first (so that it’s harder for them to say no to you), convince them that you can’t put a price on mental health, and not be too keen on offering referrals, then you’re acting unethically.

If you think you need to do a high-pressure sales call to get clients to book with you, you’re doing it all wrong. In the therapy field, even a low-pressure sales call feels icky to me.

I prefer to let my potential clients find out all about me, my approach, my schedule, and my fees from my website. And once they decide that they would like to work with me after having all the information they need to make a truly informed decision, we can then have a chat to make sure it’s a good fit and they feel comfortable working with me.

You may wonder why I have such a strong opinion about this. Well, here’s my story. As someone who is a recovering people-pleaser, it was extremely difficult for me to say no to people in the past.

I have so many memories of being talked into buying something that I really couldn’t afford just because this person was good at selling things. I’m sure you all can relate with the buyer’s remorse feeling.

Our therapy clients should never feel buyer’s remorse in this way, or feel as though they were talked into services that they really can’t afford.

Even though in my experiences the salesperson was just doing their job, many times I truly felt taken advantage of. I believe that we have a responsibility as the sellers of any product or service to ensure that our potential clients are informed, educated, and free from pressure to make a purchase.

I want you to let my experiences sink in so that you can really think about whether or not you are (possibly unintentionally) doing this to your potential clients. As a potential client it feels really shitty and makes you look slimy.

So we’ve talked about why you should list your rates on your website, how you can ethically leave your rates off of your website if you decide to do so, and the unethical areas to steer clear of when not sharing your rates upfront.

I hope my thoughts in this episode, and throughout this podcast, have been helpful in supporting you to make the best decisions for your practice.

During each episode I’ll be giving you one small take away, action step, or mindset shift. I call these acorns. Listen to episode 0 to get the scoop on what the acorns are all about.

The acorn from this episode is that you can always change your mind with many of the decisions you are making in your practice. Don’t become paralyzed by your decisions. Sure, take some time to consider your options, then make a decision. You can change from private pay to insurance, you can list your rates on your website and then remove them, you can change your niche. If you’d like to hear more insights about making decisions well in your practice, go back and listen to my interview with Jane Carter in Episode 25.

As I outlined in episode 0, I’ll be alternating between a fun fact and ‘what I’m digging’ segment with each new episode.

The fun fact for this episode is that I love to knit and crochet. I learned many years ago and I love to make blankets, hats, and scarves. I personally enjoy crocheting more because it’s a bit easier.

Thank you so much for joining me today on your private practice journey.

For episode 27 I’m going to chat with Maegan Megginson about how to make it as an introvert & highly sensitive therapist in private practice.

In the meantime, join me over on instagram @mountainpracticejourneys

There’s no way you can know how much it means to me that you choose to join me here as I share all things related to private practice. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a step. For more information about this episode, please visit the show notes page at mountainpracticejourneys.com/podcast I truly appreciate you Trailblazers. Your mountain is within reach. Journey on.