 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: caro
Date: 2000-02-17 14:21
Here is a question for all you teachers out there....
How do you go about raising your rates? I have not been able to raise my rates for about 10 years. (Really.) I moved from a major city to a more rural area, and was able to charge more in the city. Out here, I am afraid I will not be able to get students, and may even lose ones I have, if I raise them. I have been teaching for 20 years, and my rates are no different now than what the grad students in the city and suburbs are charging!!!!! Help!
Caro
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-02-17 15:08
You're describing fears of what *might* happen. How do you know? IMHO, you should try raising your rates to what you consider appropriate, given your years of experience. Set yourself apart from the graduate students and show confidence about yourself -- confidence that your experience means value for the dollar. If you sell your work too cheaply, customers may wonder what's wrong with you! People don't always assume that low rates are a bargain. Particularly in the arts, many people will assume that someone who charges bottom-of-the-barrel rates offers bottom-of-the-barrel quality. You many actually find it easier to attract students if you charge rates that reflect your professionalism.
For the students you already have, why not give them a grace period. Tell them you're raising your rates, but you will continue to give continuing students the old rate for one year. Then raise it in increments over, say, six months (depending on how much you're raising it).
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Author: Mario
Date: 2000-02-17 15:24
Positioning, segmenting, targeting, communicating value, delivering valuable benefits, building a brand... This is marketing.
Let me go in order:
Positioning: Are you perceived as: 1 - An accomplished clarinetists, preferably wih an active performer career?
2 - A superb pedagog, capable of imparting your exceptional knowledge to "apprentices"?. The more you can answer yes to these questions, the more you can position yourself in the high-end of the market.
Segmenting: Are you offering your services to a category of potential students/apprentices that will respond well to your capabilities? You can be the greatest performer/pedagog in the world, but you might be going after the beginner's segment with no chance of getting up-market fees. So,select an audience for your desired positioning that is bound to respond well to it.
Targeting: Assume that you have a high-end potential positioning; assume that you know that there are groups of people out there that are attracted by your kind of positioning. How do they know you exist? Target them, promote yourself in the right place, repeat your message constantly.
Communicating value: Assume that you are targeting well. You know who you want to sell to. You know how to reach them. Are you sure you communicate your value properly? Are you using the right value proposition? Is it credible?
Delivering on the benefits: OK; now you found a few apprentices and you are coaching them. Do they report satisfaction with the process and the learning? Is there credibility in your positioning? Can they be testimonial of how great a relationships with you is? Can they be used as a reference?
Building a brand: As you execute these things very well, your reputation (your brand equity) will grow. High-end coaches in any field can be very selective of the students they take (actually, this selectiveness in itself is part of the brand equity), have more students than they can handle, can charge a high fee.
At the end of the day, many things have to be done right before fees be increased. I would say, start a step one and make sure you are perceived as an excellent clarinetist, then work the rest of the process.
Just as an example of what I mean. I am a serious amateur player. I have reasonible financial resources. I am short of time. I want to be coached by somebody who is unquestionably an accomplished player and pedagog. I want this somebody to understand the constraints of my lifestyle and age, and help me focused on the areas of most important improvements. I want a long-term relationships with a mature coach. I pay $75.00 per hour for this service, in two hour sessions once a month. This teacher of mine only take care of advanced students, many of them amateurs like me. This is the process in action. I am very satisfied. I tried other routes before (for instance, using lecturers from local music schools with essentially no presence as performers) with no satisfaction.
Last question to Caro: You indicate that you cannot get moe than graduate students. Can you really do a better job than them? Graduate students are excellent musicians. They are young and eger. Kids love them (old enough to be a big brother/sisters; not old enough to be like mom/dad), etc.
Marketing, marketing, marketing...
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Author: Fred
Date: 2000-02-17 16:38
There are some purely economic pressures going on here as well. Supply and demand still works. The question is . . . how much demand is there for what you supply, and what pricing will that demand support? By moving to a more rural area, you may have taken a financial step backwards. In my part of the country, most everyone from school teachers, police, doctors, lawyers, etc earn less in rural areas than their equally qualified counterparts in the larger cities. If the students or their families don't have the disposable income to support larger rates, then to them it isn't worth the money. It may not be a reflection on you at all, but your rates have to be "reasonable" compared to their own compensation and what they pay for other services. Good Luck, and enjoy the rural life. It may be worth the price hit you are taking.
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Author: caro
Date: 2000-02-18 17:44
Fred, I think you nailed it on the head. It is *solely* the economic factor that I have to consider.
It is not a question of "marketing", how good of a musician or teacher I am, or what I think of myself. I have a large studio (over 30 students) and a good rep, and I'm pretty damn good, LOL. It's just that farmers and blue collar workers make up the majority of the people who live out here. They don't have the money to pay the rates I would charge in the city, or even a half hour east of here.
I know that if I raise them I will lose students. Parents (not the kids) do not always understand the value of what they are paying for. The arts are subjective, it's not like buying groceries or merchandise. They will just go to the local music store and pay someone there (they charge less than I do now), or not take them at all. What we do may be an art, but they see it as just another expense for their kids.
I wish I could increase the number of hours in the day that are after school, LOL. Not having a raise in 10 years hurts financially, when expenses keep going up. Part of the problem of teaching privately is that most of the time you can only teach after school, no one wants a lesson after 8 p.m., no one wants a lesson on Friday night, and since sports are on Saturday, that's pretty much out, too. So the time slots get filled, and the max gets reached, and it can't go up. :/
Thanks for all the ideas --
Caro
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-02-18 18:34
caro wrote:
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wI know that if I raise them I will lose students. Parents (not the kids) do not always understand the value of what they are paying for.
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That's exactly the same no matter what business you're in. We (my company) raised our rates 20% this year. I lost about 10% of our customer base - they were price sensitive, not quality sensitive. So - we're ahead by about 10%.
We raised rates knowingly - we did something called a "sensitivity analysis" and estimated pretty well what would happen when we raised the rates. We're now looking for more quality conscious customers than "low bidders" - we don't do well being the low bidder.
If you went back to the city you could bill more - but you'd have the same time constraints, more competition, and higher costs. It'd be essentially the same thing financially I'll bet.
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Author: BAC
Date: 2000-02-18 20:37
The other side of the coin:
I would think that most parents would not tolerate a price hike for their kids, UNLESS the kid got to a stage were they would benefit from the better instructor.
For example, I would not pay Richard Stolzman to teach me at a higher rate than what I am paying now. I need to reach a certain level where his instruction would benefit me.
You may be the best teacher around, but from a practical standpoint: are your skills at teaching a kid how to finger the instrument so much better than the other guy to be worth the delta in cost?
Can you prove you're a better teacher by showing that your students stay interested, progress faster and have a better quality to their music to justify the price increase?
This is nothing you want to hear, but it is a different perspective.
You may be the best teacher around, but from a practical standpoint: are your skills at teaching a kid how to finger the instrument so much better than the other guy to be worth the delta in cost? Can you prove your a better teacher by showing that your students progress faster and have a better quality to their music to justifiy the price increase?
This is nothing you want to hear, but it is a different prespective.
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Author: caro
Date: 2000-02-19 17:55
LOL BAC, I think that Richard Stolzman probably charges $150-200 a lesson, so you'd have to reach a certain level before teaching you would benefit *him*!!! LOL
No, I as a parent would not pay a Kviezel (sp?) or a Morales to teach a beginner or an intermediate student. However, that's pretty much common sense. That doesn't have anything to do with paying reasonable rates for reasonable services. And I wasn't asking whether I was worth it, or anything like that. Because I know I am.
But when Joe Blow Average at the music store down the street is $5 cheaper than you, parents who don't know any better *will just go there because of the cheaper expense. It's a case of educating the parents, I think.
So - how DO you go about raising them in the most efficient way??? What do you tell people?
Caro
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-02-19 21:06
caro wrote:
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LOL BAC, I think that Richard Stolzman probably charges $150-200 a lesson, so you'd have to reach a certain level before teaching you would benefit *him*!!! LOL
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You might as well just attend Manhattan SofMus & study with him formally :^)
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Author: Judy
Date: 2000-02-19 23:05
Over the years I have paid out plenty of money to music teachers. I have never changed teachers because of a raise in rates. Music teachers, like everyone else, are entitled to raises. You may lose a few students. If the parents don't understand, these are precisely the students you need to lose. You can always make a special arrangement for the one or two students who really cannot afford the extra $5 or $10.
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Author: BAC
Date: 2000-02-20 17:55
Mark Charette wrote:
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You might as well just attend Manhattan SofMus & study with him formally :^)
Mark, and just how much do you think he charges?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-02-20 18:30
BAC wrote:
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Mark Charette wrote:
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You might as well just attend Manhattan SofMus & study with him formally :^)
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Mark, and just how much do you think he charges?
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I don't know, but Manhattans' tuition isn't that bad considering your teachers: Alan L. Kay, David Krakauer, Ricardo Morales, Charles Neidich, and Charles Russo. I think it was about 20K/yr.
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Author: Allen Cole
Date: 2000-02-22 11:43
I started off in 1992 charging $12 a half hour, and in 1999 had gotten it up to $15 a half hour. I simply try not to increase the price too much at one time.
I charge by the semester, so semester prices went up $15 about every two years. There are two organized outfits which cater to secondary school students in this area, and their tuition amounts to $17-18 per lesson. Also on a semester basis. Musicians in the local Symphony are charging $18-20.
Most of my parents didn't balk at increases. They were small, and probably sub-inflationary. But, I do a lot of freebies and other things for the kids, and no one can think that I'm trying to squeeze them.
Location is ESSENTIAL. I teach in the suburbs which are least accessible to the city. There are plenty of customers because they don't want to cope with the drive in. My business has steadily increased in this area, but these are upper (very upper) middle class neighborhoods. $15 a lesson means $60 a month, and that's what I think you have to consider. A lot of folks can't spare it.
To me, the bottom line is that most folks understand your need to make a living. But with lessons, as with working bands, you have to have an clientele that's affluent enough to afford you.
Allen Cole
allencole@richmond.com
http://members.tripod.com/allencole
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Author: James Marioneaux
Date: 2000-02-23 14:14
Have you considered doing something like grandfathering the old students by charging them a modest increase then any new students have to come in at the full new price. I don't know how that would work, but it might be something to think about. You can send a letter to the current students parents explaining that you are going up, but since this student has been with you, you will only go up 1/2 the increase.
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