Family Discounts
Found in: Fees Rates & Cost, Studio Management
Kathy T. California
I have a husband and wife who want to do lessons together. They will obviously get a break on materials, but I am trying to decide whether or not to give them a break on lesson fees as well. Do you offer a family discount?
I can tell this may be a touchy subject with them though. I just finished an FIS for just the two of them. She kept saying that she was considering private lessons, but then I realized that she meant private lessons for both of them together. I told her that would be considered a shared lesson. But after she left it occurred to me that she probably left thinking that I would teach both of them for one lesson fee. And now that I think of it I didn’t say “per person” when I was doing the FIS. Live and learn I guess. They didn’t enroll on the spot, but I believe that they will.
Anyway, I am curious what you do for spouses, siblings, etc. as far as lesson fees.
Nicole O.
I offer a discount for family members. The first one pays full price and the second, third, fourth and so on:) are $20 less per month. And…they do not need to be in the same class to take advantage of the discount. Many teachers do NOT offer any discount and this is fine too. It’s really up to you and what you’re comfortable with.
Mark M. New York
There will be many here who say not to offer such a discount, that your time is your time, a person getting the lesson is a person getting the lesson. There is certain logic to that, of course.
I, though, firmly believe in loyalty incentives. Countless companies both large and small have benefitted greatly from loyalty incentives — everything from frequent flier mileage programs to punch cards every time you get a coffee or sandwich so that every 10th one is free, and everything in between. A lot of space is given to describing these programs’ benefits in the literature on “co- opetition,” i.e., the blending of cooperation and competition to produce better results than either does on their own.
I offer a 10% discount to all family members after the first paid member. At the moment, I have four families with two people each — three families with sibs, one with a father/daughter. This represents nearly half my entire student base. As my numbers grow I doubt that % will be kept up, but it clearly demonstrates the value of family discounts. Not only do they help you get more students directly, but by giving a break to clients who are that loyal, you build even more good faith with them, and they are that much more likely to feel positive about their relationship with you and to communicate that to
others.
Unmani AU
I started a couple last week – offered my family discount of $2 per student and was clear at the FIS that they would be having a shared lesson. All fine.
They are pretty funny to teach. Noticed when asked the ‘how was practice this week?’ she answered for him. Couples can get into this stuff – so I made a mental note to talk about
personal responsibility if it happens again! (Nicely of course)
Robin Keehn, Washington
We do not discount any lessons for siblings or couples. We have several families who pay full tuition for three or more students. Once, we had a homeschooling family of four who we did discount but I wouldn’t necessarily offer that again.
They DO get a discount because they only need to purchase one set of materials. If it is parent and a child, we tell them that as the coach, the parent has the opportunity to learn along with their child so it COULD be a 2-for-1 if they took the opportunity.