Pricing Music Lessons
I was talking to a music school owner the other day. This guy had a relatively successful business with over 300 students. The owner struck me as a savvy businessperson. He shared with me that he was in a pretty competitive market and that he had a music school just two miles down the road. Two schools serving the same community certainly make for a competitive environment.
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Why Lower Prices Can Hurt Your School
The guy I was speaking with priced his lessons at $10 less a month than his competitors. I asked him why. He said he felt like his competitor had a couple of additional features that his school didn’t have. It had some sort of fancy software where teachers, parents, and the administrative portion of the music school could all communicate. He didn’t have a software platform like this. They also had access to a really nice park behind the school, which he didn’t have.
The question that consumers ask themselves is: “When it comes to music lessons for my child, what’s motivating me more? My desire to get a good deal or my desire to give my child what’s best?”
He also felt like he wanted to be able to appeal to more people by lowering his price. There’s certainly some validity to that strategy, but I don’t think that’s the best approach to have. The reason is you’re positioning yourself from an angle of being a lower-value option.
Pricing and Perception
Even though your pricing is more attractive, it’s still perceived as being of lower value in comparison to something else. He’s charging $149 a month, and his competitors charge $159 a month. People who are comparing prices are likely to perceive the competitor as being of greater value.
The question that consumers ask themselves is: “When it comes to music lessons for my child, what’s motivating me more? My desire to get a good deal or my desire to give my child what’s best?”
One of the best things you can do for your music school is to understand how to look at it from your customer’s perspective. What do they value? What do they care about? How do they define music lessons success?
Paint a Picture of Value
Most people, if they can afford it will go with with value. They would rather give their child what’s best and pay $10 more a month for it. It’s two Starbucks drinks that they can sacrifice if they really are struggling to pay that much.
Focus on Value Over Features
It’s true that his competitor did have two features—a green park and software that his music school doesn’t have—but these are two features that I don’t think people really care about when it comes to deciding which school to go to for music lessons.
Say a parent’s looking at both schools’ websites. Looking at the prices, the parent might not even wonder which one has a better digital experience. I’m sure parents appreciate his competitors’ platforms, but what parents value is the relationship their child will have with their teacher and how well the teacher is able to engage their child with music, whether the teacher can successfully motivate or inspire their child to practice. That’s what they care about. That’s number one on their list. I think this is just a good example of a music school not looking at their business from the customer’s perspective, but looking at it from the owners’ perspective.
Understand What Your Customers Want
One of the best things you can do for your music school is to understand how to look at it from your customer’s perspective. What do they value? What do they care about? How do they define music lessons success? Their definition of it might be different than your definition of it. Simply understanding what they hope to gain and get from music lessons might even impact how you approach your marketing, certainly your marketing message.
I talked with this gentleman a little bit about his pricing. I think it’s smart that he does not make it the same price as the competition because a savvy consumer shopping and checking out both music schools no longer has the price as a determining factor to consider at all. Both provide a similar service that teaches the same type of instruments. Both are traditional music schools, though not really the conservatory-style, strictly classical music schools.
You are in it to make a buck but you’re also in it to help transform kids lives, to help them develop a relationship with music. […] You deserve[to make a lot of money] if you’re able to help people and give them something that they want.”
I asked him, “What if you raise your rates to be a little bit higher than your competition? Now, by being raised at a higher price, you are now perceived as the greater value option for people.” He was open to thinking about that. It was certainly a challenging thought for him, and I reassured him and said, “All of us, we all struggle. We all lose sleep over the idea of raising our rates. We all worry about what are people gonna think of us. Are they going to think we’re greedy and we’re all about the money?
We’re not all about the money. We’re all about helping kids. Maybe they’ll think I’m just in this to make a buck. You are in it to make a buck but you’re also in it to help transform kids lives, to help them develop a relationship with music, and you’re also out there to make not just a buck but a lot of bucks. The most money you can possibly make. You deserve it if you’re able to help people and give them something that they want.”
Your Pricing Strategy Can Build Trust In Your Music School
Price is also a way to signal confidence. If you were to choose between two music schools where one charges $159 while the other charges $149, you’re going to assume the $159 school is more confident in what they have to offer and the one who’s more confident in their ability to make good on their brand promise. We offer music lessons that kids love, and we really believe in ourselves. We have a track record of being able to deliver, and our pricing reflects that.
Simply Revamp Your Music School Website
Something though that this guy overlooked is that his competitor had a much more effective website than he did. It was much cleaner. It was more in line with just how most websites on popular brands look like.
His website was just busier. It wasn’t terrible; it was just busy. Lots of information took a little bit more effort than his competitors in terms of navigation and ease of use. His competitors’ website had less menu items. It had really clear and pronounced call-to-action buttons and had good photography. They clearly didn’t go budget on the website, where the guy I was speaking to his website looked like he did go budget on it.
The difference in their websites was enough to justify his price being lower because his website was broadcasting a message. Let me say it this way. His competitor was broadcasting a message of confidence, and people are drawn to a business like that. They’re more likely to trust a business like that. I think what he needed to do was to gain a competitive advantage, and that could be by simply redesigning his website. I use the word simply because I think the keyword here is to simplify his website. He can bring in a professional and spend a few hundred dollar, not talking about thousands of dollars, but a few hundred dollars. He can tweak his message, get the language right, and get effective images that elicit emotions from the website visitors.
Optimize Your Music School Website with Images that Paint the Future
Don’t show a picture of the front of your building. Not the picture of a musical instrument. Don’t show a picture of what the website visitor is looking to buy. They’re looking to buy an experience that’s going to help their child feel good about themselves. Show a picture of a kid playing an instrument. Make sure their face is front and center and that they’re there’s an expression on their face that makes the parents say, “That’s what I want. I want to buy that. I want my child to experience that experience.”
By simply doing that, then you can justify raising your rates. Now, people would start making assumptions about a well-designed professional, contemporary-looking website. “Wow. I bet these guys aren’t cheap. At least they look really professional. They look like they know what they’re doing. Their pricing is probably going to reflect that.”
Send a Message of Confidence
Thinking that pricing your lessons just beneath your competitors is giving you a competitive edge may be if you lack confidence in your ability to deliver a quality music lesson experience. If that’s how you feel about your lessons, I would definitely keep your rates low. But if you know and you’re confident in what you want, your teaching staff deliver and your pricing should reflect it.
A Race to the Bottom Is no Race to Win
Perhaps you’re not so confident in your knowledge of business and operating a business. That lack of confidence as an entrepreneur or as a business person is often reflected in pricing. If you are insecure or if you lack confidence in this area, then raise your rates. This will force you to say, “I really need to run my business like a school that charges $170 a month for lessons. How would I expect that kind of school to operate? That’s $20 more than what I’m charging.” Now, that pressure is going to really motivate you to learn to grow and perform at a higher level. As Seth Godin likes to say, “Lowering your race is a race to the bottom. And that’s no race. Anyone wants to win.”
