Pricing a training course seems like the easy part, but it can take longer than expected. To get the balance of generating healthy sales and attracting attendees, you’ve got to get it right, so take your time. With so many things to think about, it’s no surprise that you’ve resorted to Googling how to price a training course. We’ll give our top tips to go by so you can create a course that works for you and your customers.
To work out your expected profit margin (and make sure that you actually make a profit!), you need to understand the costs that go into running your training course. This includes tangible costs like travel and venue hire as well as value costs like qualifications and reputation.
A lot of tangible costs relate to your time. As every second ticks by, you should be charging - it’s still a cost involved when running a course!
Examples of tangible costs include:
Some costs aren’t as clear cut as travel and printing costs. You also need to consider how you add value to your clients - the reasons why your course is better than others. This will relate to your personal skills and attributes that make you the expert in a field.
Some examples of value costs are your:
If you have become established in your field, and you’ve made investments to get to that position, it’s fair to charge a premium for your training course. Your background means that you can add more value to a company taking your training course. This value can’t be found anywhere.
Create a document containing all of your costs and calculate how much is spent on running one training course. Depending on the package you offer, this cost may relate to per attendee or group. You then need to make sure that the fee you’re charging is above these total costs.
It can be hard to figure out how much to charge for your training course when you’re starting out. Setting fees will come naturally with experience, so don’t be afraid to adjust them over time. Some of the top things to take into account are:
If you’re being flooded with enquiries and can’t fit everyone in, it’s clear your services are in demand. This means you can charge a higher price, and people will be willing to pay. You have to gauge your audience though. Go too premium and your target clients may not be able to afford your training course. Take a look at other training providers in the market to get a feel for what you can charge. As long as you demonstrate your added value, it’s still possible to set your prices above competitors’.
Once you’ve worked out your costs and how much profit you’d like to make per course, the rest is pretty straightforward.
Decide on how much you’d like to earn per hour, taking into account the factors we’ve already discussed. Around the £75 mark is quite common, so we’ll base it on this.
Then multiply this hourly rate by the number of hours it takes to complete the training course. If this was a one day course lasting 6 hours you would do 75 x 6 = £450.
After this careful consideration, you should now have landed on a fee for your training course. You’ve researched the market and assessed your expertise, so the rate you advertise will be fair. Now it’s time for your audience to understand that! When you promote your training course to companies, address common concerns such as doubts that the course will deliver results.
To give clients confidence, you should provide testimonials and results from previous course attendees on your website and social media. It’s also great to start a blog where you can share your industry knowledge and reinforce your credibility. Finally, check in on course attendees after completion to see if they are applying what they learned. This extra level of service will encourage companies to use your services again when training a new cohort of employees.
As your training courses become more popular, managing customer queries, bookings and payments can be overwhelming. That’s before you’ve started drafting follow up emails and sent certificates! All of this admin can take away from the fun of designing and delivering training courses.
BookingLive is the solution you need. Our course booking system allows customers to browse your training courses, add extras like refreshments to their booking, choose a day and time that suits them, then pay - all in one place! Better still, the system allows you to take bookings 24/7 so you’re not restricted to office hours. This stops phone call enquiries disturbing your training courses so you can focus on what you do best. One of the many features of the system is that it can generate and distribute certificates to course attendees - that’s another job taken care of!
Every business is different, and you’ll want your booking system to suit your exact needs. With over 3,000 integrations, BookingLive allows you to customise pretty much anything! One of our top picks is BookingLive’s integration with Mailchimp - it’s ideal for automating personalised emails upon course completion. Keep attendees subscribed to your mailing list for the chance to promote other courses and materials. Sounds great, right?
If you’d like to learn more about how BookingLive can help you take your training course business to the next level, get in touch. Or you can book a demo with our expert team today.
Costs to cover in the price of your training course
To work out your expected profit margin (and make sure that you actually make a profit!), you need to understand the costs that go into running your training course. This includes tangible costs like travel and venue hire as well as value costs like qualifications and reputation.
Tangible costs
A lot of tangible costs relate to your time. As every second ticks by, you should be charging - it’s still a cost involved when running a course!
Examples of tangible costs include:
- Time getting to know the company you will be training/ the needs of attendees - If you create custom training courses, you’ll need to research what it is that your audience wants to learn.
- Time creating the course schedule, setting up the training room, delivering the course, packing materials away after the session.
- Sourcing course materials - This can relate to printing costs, time spent designing a presentation etc.
- Rehearsing the presentation - To make sure that you fit everything into the time slot, it’s helpful to run through a practice training session. This will also make you more confident in delivering the course and improves your attendee experience.
- Venue fee - Depending on the client, you may need to hire a space to run the course.
- Refreshments/catering - If your training course lasts all day, it’s a nice added extra to provide refreshments - a lot of companies expect it these days.
- Travel time and cost
- Official certificates and documents about the outcomes of the workshop
- Fees from external parties - This only applies if you employ external providers for elements of your course.
Value costs
Some costs aren’t as clear cut as travel and printing costs. You also need to consider how you add value to your clients - the reasons why your course is better than others. This will relate to your personal skills and attributes that make you the expert in a field.
Some examples of value costs are your:
- Years of experience
- Skills
- Qualifications
- Subject knowledge
- Teaching skills
- Reputation
If you have become established in your field, and you’ve made investments to get to that position, it’s fair to charge a premium for your training course. Your background means that you can add more value to a company taking your training course. This value can’t be found anywhere.
Create a document containing all of your costs and calculate how much is spent on running one training course. Depending on the package you offer, this cost may relate to per attendee or group. You then need to make sure that the fee you’re charging is above these total costs.
So, how much should I charge?
It can be hard to figure out how much to charge for your training course when you’re starting out. Setting fees will come naturally with experience, so don’t be afraid to adjust them over time. Some of the top things to take into account are:
- Investments - both financial and your time
- Fees to accrediting bodies - do you need to renew any licences?
- Experience level
- Your availability - do you need to create a waiting list?
- Competitors’ rates
- Client’s budgets
If you’re being flooded with enquiries and can’t fit everyone in, it’s clear your services are in demand. This means you can charge a higher price, and people will be willing to pay. You have to gauge your audience though. Go too premium and your target clients may not be able to afford your training course. Take a look at other training providers in the market to get a feel for what you can charge. As long as you demonstrate your added value, it’s still possible to set your prices above competitors’.
Example of how to calculate your training course fee
Once you’ve worked out your costs and how much profit you’d like to make per course, the rest is pretty straightforward.
Decide on how much you’d like to earn per hour, taking into account the factors we’ve already discussed. Around the £75 mark is quite common, so we’ll base it on this.
Then multiply this hourly rate by the number of hours it takes to complete the training course. If this was a one day course lasting 6 hours you would do 75 x 6 = £450.
How to justify your fee and demonstrate your value
After this careful consideration, you should now have landed on a fee for your training course. You’ve researched the market and assessed your expertise, so the rate you advertise will be fair. Now it’s time for your audience to understand that! When you promote your training course to companies, address common concerns such as doubts that the course will deliver results.
To give clients confidence, you should provide testimonials and results from previous course attendees on your website and social media. It’s also great to start a blog where you can share your industry knowledge and reinforce your credibility. Finally, check in on course attendees after completion to see if they are applying what they learned. This extra level of service will encourage companies to use your services again when training a new cohort of employees.
Take training course bookings with BookingLive
As your training courses become more popular, managing customer queries, bookings and payments can be overwhelming. That’s before you’ve started drafting follow up emails and sent certificates! All of this admin can take away from the fun of designing and delivering training courses.
BookingLive is the solution you need. Our course booking system allows customers to browse your training courses, add extras like refreshments to their booking, choose a day and time that suits them, then pay - all in one place! Better still, the system allows you to take bookings 24/7 so you’re not restricted to office hours. This stops phone call enquiries disturbing your training courses so you can focus on what you do best. One of the many features of the system is that it can generate and distribute certificates to course attendees - that’s another job taken care of!
Every business is different, and you’ll want your booking system to suit your exact needs. With over 3,000 integrations, BookingLive allows you to customise pretty much anything! One of our top picks is BookingLive’s integration with Mailchimp - it’s ideal for automating personalised emails upon course completion. Keep attendees subscribed to your mailing list for the chance to promote other courses and materials. Sounds great, right?
If you’d like to learn more about how BookingLive can help you take your training course business to the next level, get in touch. Or you can book a demo with our expert team today.