The sample letter set: Brightside.

From: Dana Whitfield To: (draft I never sent) Subject: price letter?? Okay here's everything. I run Brightside Home Cleaning in Maplewood — it's me and one helper, Rosa, two days a week. 38 regular clients, most are biweekly. The standard biweekly clean is $140 and has been since February 2023. Deep cleans are $220. I'm going to $160 and $250 starting January 5. I have to — supplies are up about a third since then, my liability insurance renewal came in $400 higher, and I'm driving further now that half of Maplewood's parking is permit-only, which sounds dumb but it adds 40 minutes some days. The problem is the letter. Last time I raised prices (2023) I texted everyone some long apologetic thing I rewrote nine times and I still lost one client over HOW it came out, not the number — she said it felt like I was blaming her. I don't want to apologize for three paragraphs. I don't want to explain my insurance to people. I just want to say it clean and not lose the good ones. Most clients book by text, that's just how it works, so I need a text version — short. Some of the older clients I email, and Mrs. Albright still wants paper with her invoice, so a real letter too. And something I can pin in the front of the binder Rosa carries, and maybe a line for the Facebook page so new inquiries see the right price. One more thing — I have four clients who've been with me since the first year, all retired, all on fixed incomes. June and Walter Pell, Mrs. Albright, Dorothy K., and the Changs. I want to hold them at $150 until July 1, then they come up to $160 like everyone else. I don't know how to say that without it getting around and everyone asking for the same deal, so maybe that's a separate note just for them? People will push back. Lauren always negotiates everything. What do I say when someone says "can you just keep me where I am" or threatens to try the franchise place? I know some will. I'd rather have the words ready than make them up at a door. Sign it just Dana. Don't say anything about Rosa's pay, that's nobody's business. And don't make up numbers — the 30% on supplies is roughly right but don't put a percent sign on anything I didn't give you. — Dana

THE LETTER Dear [client's first name], From January 5, the price of your biweekly clean will be $160, and a deep clean will be $250. This is the first change since February 2023. Costs have moved in those three years — supplies most of all — and the new price is what lets me keep doing the job the way you're used to: same team, same standards, same schedule. You don't need to do anything. Your booking carries on exactly as it is, at the new price from your first visit after January 5. Thank you for having us in your home. It means more than you know to clean for the same families year after year. Dana Brightside Home Cleaning THE EMAIL Subject: Your clean from January 5 — one change Hi [first name], A quick note so nothing surprises you: from January 5, your biweekly clean will be $160 (deep cleans $250). It's the first change since February 2023, and it keeps everything else exactly as it is — same team, same standards, same schedule. Nothing is needed from you; the new price simply applies from your first visit after January 5. If you'd like to talk it through, reply here or call me. Thank you for staying with us — Dana, Brightside Home Cleaning THE TEXT MESSAGE Hi [first name], it's Dana from Brightside. From Jan 5 your biweekly clean will be $160 (first change since 2023). Everything else stays the same — same team, same schedule. Nothing needed from you; just wanted you to hear it from me first. Happy to talk any time. Send it two to three weeks before January 5, in the same thread you book in, on a weekday morning — not alongside a booking confirmation, so the two don't read as one message. THE COUNTER NOTICE AND THE SOCIAL POST For the binder and the invoice footer: From January 5, 2027: biweekly clean $160, deep clean $250. First price change since February 2023. Questions? Ask Dana. For the Facebook page: A small update for the new year: from January 5, our biweekly clean is $160 and a deep clean is $250 — the first change since early 2023. Same team, same standards, and we still treat every home like it's the only one on the schedule. New clients welcome; message us for a slot. THE REPLIES Why the increase. “Supplies alone are up by about a third since 2023, and this is the first change in three years. The new price is what keeps the same team on your home.” Say it once, plainly; don't itemise your costs — the letter already gave the reason. Can you keep me at the old price. “I can't — the new price is the price, and it's the same for everyone. What I can promise is that it won't move again soon: the last one held for three years.” I might look at the franchise place. “I understand — you should be happy with what you pay. If you do look around, compare like for like: same two people every visit, and me on the phone when something's not right. The door's open if you come back.” No discount follows this sentence; a price defended once is a price. The longtime-client note (send only to the four). “You've been with me since the first year, so your price stays at $150 until July 1 — after that it matches everyone else's at $160. That's just between us; I wanted to thank you for eight years of trust in some way that's real.”

1. “Apologize” appears nowhere Dana's 2023 text lost a client over tone, not price. The letter states the change, gives one plain reason, and thanks — no three-paragraph apology, no blame in either direction. 2. The insurance number stays out Dana gave the $400 renewal but said she doesn't want to explain her insurance to clients. The letter says “costs have moved” and names supplies only, the one cost she's happy to say aloud. 3. No percent signs Dana asked for no percentages she didn't give. “Up by about a third” appears once, in the replies, as her own rough words — never as “30%”. 4. “Nothing is needed from you” does the reassuring The fear in a price letter is hassle. One line kills it: the booking carries on, the price changes itself. 5. The grandfather note is its own piece Dana worried the $150 holdover would get around. It's written as a private note to the four named clients only, with its end date (July 1) stated so it doesn't become permanent by silence. 6. The parking and travel time stay out Real, but it reads as complaining about the town the clients live in. Supplies carry the reason alone. 7. Rosa's pay is nowhere As asked. No piece mentions staff costs.

1. January 5 is a Tuesday. Should clients whose first visit falls the week before (Dec 29–Jan 2) be told their visit is at the old price? The letter assumes yes — “from your first visit after January 5”. 2. Is the deep-clean change ($220 → $250) going to ALL clients, including the four held at $150 for biweekly? The set assumes yes — the holdover covers the biweekly price only. 3. Do the Pells, Mrs. Albright, Dorothy K. and the Changs each get the longtime note by their usual channel (paper for Mrs. Albright)? The set assumes yes. 4. The Facebook post names the new prices. Post it the same week the letters go out, or after? The set assumes the same week — a client who sees the post before her letter hears it from a stranger. 5. “Same team” appears three times. If Rosa's days ever change, those lines should soften to “same standards” — flag for later, no change now. 6. New-client price from today, or from January 5? The set assumes new inquiries are quoted $160 now — raising a stranger's quote needs no letter.