GPL price change impact calculator
A price increase on the General Price List (GPL) adds earnings on every family who stays and costs earnings on every family who goes elsewhere. This calculator nets the two and shows what the change could mean for value at a multiple you choose to test.
GPL price change impact
Tests what a General Price List increase or cut does to revenue, earnings, and value after the calls you expect to gain or lose. Defaults are illustrative placeholders.
Excluding cash advances you pass through.
Use a negative number to test a price cut.
Use a negative number for calls gained from a price cut.
Revenue minus the merchandise and other costs that leave with a call, at current prices.
Educational estimate only. Not an appraisal, valuation opinion, or loan approval.
How to use the GPL price change impact calculator
- Enter your baseline. Enter annual calls and average revenue per call.
- Set the price change. Enter the price change you are testing; use a negative number for a cut.
- Estimate the call response. Enter the share of calls you expect to lose and the contribution margin on that lost revenue.
- Test the value effect. Enter an earnings multiple to test, then read the change in revenue, earnings, and implied value.
What the calculator does
It applies your price change to average revenue per call for the calls you keep and removes the share of calls you expect to lose. The change in earnings has two parts: the price increase on retained calls, which falls to earnings because the cost of serving those families does not change, minus the contribution lost on calls that leave, measured at current prices. The net change in earnings times your multiple gives an implied change in value. For a price increase, the calculator also shows the break-even share of calls you could lose before earnings fall.
How to choose the inputs
Use average revenue per call without cash advances, since those are passed through at cost. Contribution margin is revenue minus the costs that leave with a call: merchandise such as caskets and urns, outside services, and any per-case labor. Overhead such as the building, vehicles, and salaried staff stays whether or not the family comes, so it does not belong in that cost. Calls lost is a judgment. Base it on how your prices compare with nearby firms, which pricing your GPL before you sell shows how to check. If you are testing a change to only some items, such as professional services or one package, enter the weighted effect on average revenue per call rather than the list change itself.
How buyers, sellers, and lenders use the result
Sellers thinking about a price increase before going to market should know that buyers look for recent increases and ask whether call volume held afterward. A price rise without at least a year of results behind it may get less credit than the calculator suggests. Buyers use the same math to judge pricing headroom after closing, and lenders want any increase to show up in trailing results rather than projections. Running a modest and an aggressive increase side by side shows how much the answer depends on the calls-lost guess. Every price list must still comply with the FTC Funeral Rule; our General Price List definition covers what it must contain.
What it leaves out
Families do not respond to price alone. Reputation, location, and relationships matter, and a change in package design can move revenue more than a list price change. The model treats lost calls as an immediate step and ignores guaranteed preneed contracts already written at older prices. Online price comparison may make families more price-aware over time; price transparency and funeral home value covers that trend. The multiple is a test input, not a market figure, and every default is a placeholder. To see how mix interacts with pricing, use the cremation mix-shift calculator.
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
Will raising my GPL prices increase what my funeral home is worth?
Only if earnings rise and stay up. Buyers value trailing results, so an increase needs time to show that call volume held. A large increase right before a sale can look like window dressing and may draw questions about whether families will keep coming at the new prices.
How many calls can I lose before a price increase stops paying off?
With a price increase p and a contribution margin c, earnings break even when the share of calls lost equals p divided by p plus c. With a 5% increase and a 60% margin, that is about 7.7% of calls. The calculator shows this figure for your own inputs.
What is contribution margin on a funeral call?
It is the revenue from a call minus the costs that only exist because of that call, such as caskets, urns, outside services, and per-case labor. Fixed costs like the building, vehicles, and salaried staff are left out, because they stay the same whether or not a given family chooses your firm.
Does the FTC Funeral Rule limit how I set prices?
The Funeral Rule governs how prices are disclosed, not how high they are. It requires itemized price lists, including the General Price List, and sets rules on telephone price inquiries and record keeping. The federal rule does not currently require posting prices online, though some states add their own disclosure rules.