I received a call the other night from a father wanting to start his son taking lessons with me. He was referred to me by a good client and lives right near this client. I travel to this clients house for lessons on Saturdays. This boy's father asked me if I would give them a $5.00 discount for each lesson using the close
distance between the two houses as a reason for this discount.

I said, "What am I supposed to tell the other client if I'm giving you a discount and not them.To be fair, I would need to discount the other client as well. The more I thought about it, the more I thought this would not be a good idea.

What is kind of surprising is how little people seem to value
me driving to their house, and what they're willing to pay for this extra service. I'm charging an extra $10.00 per lesson if I drive to their home.

What are your thoughts on this situation?

Thanks,

Tom

Your response was right on and I wouldn't give it a second thought. Your rate is your rate and your extra driving charge applies to everyone. To keep everyone at an even playing field makes your business affairs less stressful.

I had somebody call the other night who had been referred from another client over a year ago. My other client is a college student who only takes lessons in the summer. I told the new caller I wasn't taking new students right now because I'm too busy and he said, "so when 'Jack' calls you for lessons this summer will you be telling him the same thing?" I was floored by this obnoxious comment.

Pepople never cease to amaze me.

Tell them, "No," Tom.

Don't imagine this attitude is going to grow any better the longer you get to know this beauty.

The same goes for your second caller.

My idea (as a student) of a situation where you might offer a modest discount is one where you actually save overhead and money, such as if a student books and pays in advance by the quarter.

I pay by this arrangement--- but it is also more convenient for me, and I do not like to ask my teacher for a discount for his professional work.

There are some people who are smart negotiators, and if they proffered something like this (with a good attitude about it) it would not be offensive. If it's favorable to you, why not? Say, a trimester method, where the contract helps you fill up those slower summer months.

But creeps--- no, no, and no. Throw them out and sic the dog on them.

You could say, "OK, then I'll teach him at 10% less quality. Does that sound fair?" :P

You were right on with your reply. If you charge less, then they will view you as less.

"Jack" is already my client.

This lovely new prospect also had the gall to call my home phone at 9:30 pm. Who does that?

Nice.

+100 to all comments made above. I used to have a teacher who came to my house each Tuesday evening. My husband and I cooked dinner for her, gave her a generous glass(es on some evenings)of wine and paid her $40.00 for two 1/2 hour lessons (one piano for a 5 year old, one saxophone for an 11 year old). I loved that she came to the house, appreciated that it was her source of income, and treated her with the respect she deserved in terms of her pay. I cannot for the life of me imagine trying to squeeze 5 dollars out of a music lesson. Over the course of time, we actually paid her 10 dollars more (on our own, not by request) because she did such a wonderful job with our children.
Unfortunately, she doesn't teach any longer. My son and I have lessons with another teacher (18 dollars a lesson in a studio), but I would pay much more for the quality instruction we are receiving. The person who asked for a discount should be ashamed of himself/herself!

Thanks everyone for your comments.

GlassLove-I noticed you are Michigan.
So am I. I'm in Southfield. I wish more
students treated their teachers like you do.

Tom

Wow. Why would you even say something like that? I don't think you can get any more passive-aggressive than that. The only thing I can think of is that he felt you were personally snubbing him, but really, everyone has their own limit. Consider yourself lucky for avoiding that disaster waiting to happen!

Which is exactly why I don't answer my phone that late! I rarely answer it, actually...I love voice mail. Filters out the people I don't want to talk to until I'm ready to deal with them .

Run, run, RUN away from this nut and never look back. The fact that in his very first conversation with you he asked for a discount tells you what you have to look forward to, should you teach his kid.

Just explain your rate is your teaching rate - and you charge the same for every lesson. Some people live by the thought of "might as well ask!" treat it as a "good try" type of shot in the dark and hopefully the discussion will end.

I strongly agree with Dumdumdiddle. I had a parent who spent quite a bit of my time thinking up reasons why I should charge her less. She wanted referral discounts. She wanted credit for lessons where she didn't show up. She fussed about my late fee. She didn't take no for an answer, and would ask the same thing 3 or 4 times in one conversation. It was very draining. I don't like the money/business aspect of teaching - I'm not good at it, and I resent people who push. Life is too short. Just let them know you don't think you're the right teacher for them. That's what I ended up doing.

I do wonder what a big deal saving $5 a lesson would be? Woudl they really notice the savings, or conversely, would they really feel it paying full price? If things are so tight that they cannot manage another $5 more per lesson, then perhaps this is not the right time for them financially to start lessons.

I think this person had it in his mind that he wasn't going to pay
full price for anything.

I had a similar parent a few years back. I may have even referenced it here, can't remember. Anyway, I finally got to the point where I said to the parent that it was obvious that they must not be satisfied with my teaching because they were always complaining about my fee. "Oh, no, we're very satisfied," replied the parent, but I continued that they must not be and that I would help them find another teacher who charged less. Well, to make a long story short, the parent cut way back on the bitch'n and moan'n, but when I visited their home recently, it all became clear. They are living way beyond their means and are probably having trouble making monthly payments on credit cards, mortgages, etc. Just to give you a clue, they had one of the $15,000 Costco grill sets on their patio. That's ten years of lessons with me. It speaks loud and clear about their priorities.

This is a problem I cannot solve for them, nor should I be the instrument of their financial salvation. My skills and labor have value, and if I provide it to them, I should expect and demand proper remuneration. Ditto for you.


Marketing and selling your product does require a bit of creativeness. So here's something you might try. "Actually, I was planning a $5/lesson increase in driving fee in the fall. But if you sign up now, I'll keep you at the current rate for the coming year." This will seem like an irresistible bargain to these types, you'll get exactly what you started out with, and they'll feel they'll feel great about paying your regular fees.

And there's a bonus here for you as well. You can increase your driving fee to $15 the following year without and recrimination!

Do you want to deal with bargainers, though? From my end as a freelancer, I am continually responding to potential clients whom I will work for and with for a short period of time of a few days or a week or two. As a rule of thumb, the person who haggles and wants a bargain in the beginning is also difficult to work with all round. He is less likely to cooperate in doing things that would help me give him better service, because usually these individuals are also controlling (without having the knowledge of the profession to know what the priorities and procedures actually are.) They will quibble about unimportant and even wrong details, want to spend a fair bit of time going through your work with you and finally pay with an air of resentment, all the while trying to make you feel small. It is tiring and unpleasant from beginning to end. If it is the same in teaching, I can imagine that it can leave a teacher drained.

A person who is genuinely poor usually also has some pride and doesn't want to show that poverty, and also appreciates good service because they do not take things for granted. They also seem to have "thank you" as part of their vocabulary. Is it the same in teaching?

This resonates with my experience as well. I recently had two inquiries for voice lessons. One was as referral from a colleague who had taught her for a few lessons but was too busy to continue. This would be for summer lessons only since she goes away for boarding school (she's a senior).

After talking with the mother, I found out that she wants to major in musical theatre in college and planned to audition for all the big name schools, about 13 in all. This raised flag #1 with me, if their daughter was so serious about this, why was she starting lessons as a senior in high school (having had only a handful of lessons from my friend, and taking 'free' lessons from their choir teacher)? Also, flag #2 was why was she planning on auditioning for 13 schools? I let her know that they should really narrow down their schools to 3-4 at most, varying in competitiveness so that she's not going nuts trying to prepare repertoire that would suit all of them. This was telling me that perhaps the parents perhaps had a higher view of their daughter's skills than was warranted, but perhaps weren't willing to pay for cultivate it.

Still, I was willing to teach her. When I told her my price, which is at a premium since we would be meeting twice a week in hopes of getting her ready for auditions in a matter of 2 months, she quickly asked if she had to pay that amount upfront. I said yes, that all summer tuition is paid in advance. She then asked if I accepted credit cards, and I said, yes, through Paypal and explained that she would not need a Paypal account to use that service, and any fees associated would be paid by me. She didn't like the idea of using Paypal, but then decided to schedule all the lessons.

I expected to get a call from her within a couple of days canceling, and sure enough, that is exactly what happened. She cited price as an issue. Mind you, compared to what professionals pay for lessons in larger metropolitan areas, my fee is a pittance. They're in for a big shock when they realize how much they will need to hand over for their daughter's career. I did not point this out, however. I stood my ground because I sensed that this client could very easily be a hassle, and if they were unwilling to pay what the lessons are worth, then if they did pay they would want to get extra out of me for nothing, or would always have unrealistic expectations of me.

Compare that student to another one I had met while singing in a community theater project. Since he would only be taking summer lessons, I told him he would not qualify for the scholarship as that was intended for students who planned on sticking with lessons throughout the year. Since it was someone I knew, though, I let him know he could pay for lessons on a weekly basis. I usually don't do this, but it's short term enough (4 weeks at twice a week), and it was someone that I feel will not give me a hard time.

I consider that first student as a bullet dodged. After a while you just get a feel for people, and if the relationship starts out with you trying to convince someone you're worth the price you're asking, it usually does not last and causes a lot more problems along the way. That is why having your cost set high enough is important. You shouldn't be exorbitant, and it should be in relation to your skills, experience, and end product. If it's too low, however, you will open yourself up to the bargain shoppers, who like John pointed out, would rather spend money on a grill than lessons.

To the OP, do not feel bad for sticking with your price. Usually the student is not worth the compromise. And what's $5? One less Latte each week.

Not particularly, but the economic realities are that in any business, you will have a certain percentage of, shall we say, more difficult clients/customers.

Every teacher is going to have to decide how much to charge and what they are willing to accept in the way of grief.

I don't know if you could get away with this, but it's kind of fun to think about it. How about complainer's premium? You could approach it something like this: "I'm finding it necessary to raise your student's lesson fee. The reason is that you're demanding more of my time each week than your tuition covers. In order not to short-change your student, I will have to add $25/mo (or what ever) to cover this extra effort on my part.

You could even add it to your fee schedule, along with the late fees, bounced check fees, etc.

Lol...
recital fee
materials fee
PITA fee
...
:lol:

With few exceptions, it is always the rich people who try to nickel and dime me.

How do you think they got to be rich?