I would suspect that people who are paying the bare minimum were the ones who have signed up with you early with your company? Your prices changed and increased as the company grew and you learn what you should be charging. I have clients exactly like that, I look at their invoices and laugh about how I used to charge for my calls, when I was more desperate for work and giving ridiculous pricing. You know what though? Those are the clients that got me where I am today, paid the bills, kept gas in my truck and believed in me. I am more than happy to honor their prices and thank them every visit for giving me a chance. My apprentice jokes sometimes and calls the core customers, my first 25-20 customers, my "Family Calls" where now I am running more like a businessman and not as much as a dreamer, he calls them "Friend Calls".
Moving forward, I learned from each one of them, another unintentional gift they gave me. Now I know what to charge, what to say, how to price, what to look out for... Each client is a chance to learn and grow for the next one one.
It's definitely some of the OG clients who have the lowest prices, and because they've been with us for so long it's hard to raise their price (even though I've been getting better at doing annual price increase 😅)
Those early customers really do matter. They trusted us before we had the reviews, systems, team, and reputation we have now. I have a lot of appreciation for the people who gave us a shot early.
For me, the distinction is whether the old price or lower-level service still works operationally today. If it’s a pleasant customer, still profitable, and doesn’t hurt the route, I can understand honoring that relationship.
Where it gets harder is when the account starts creating capacity issues, employee strain, or an expectation we can’t keep delivering at scale.
