New Program... charge how much?

[Holliesc3]

So we are adding a morning martial arts themed fitness program, which will consist of classes two days a week with lots of kickboxing bag and pad work, ab work, strength training and conditioning. No belt progression, geared to the stay at home moms including parents of current students.

We have had a tremendous response to the idea, but our problem is we don't know what to charge.

We are in a small, tourist driven town (one elementary school.) The Gold's Gym here charges $45 a month with a year contract ($70 month to month) for full access to the gym and all of their classes.

A sister school of ours in a much larger city is charging $75 a month the same type of program, but I think that would be too high of a price here.

Any thoughts anyone?

[pittbullJudoka]

Most places charge about the same as their normal classes for these types of classes but I wouldn't since it's only a ma like workout with not much actual istruction as far as regular ma class. To give you a fair guess on cost I would need to know the regular dues at your dojo for a regualr ma class.

[monkeygirl]

There are two major factors in price-setting:

1. Costs, and

2. Consumer demand.

I assume that having morning classes will cause you to have the dojo open at hours during which it would normally be closed. This means that you'll be paying for energy and whatever you pay your instructors, but pretty much nothing else in addition to your normal business costs. If you're already in the clear financially, it wouldn't hurt you at all to figure out the "cost per person" (the cost of opening the dojo for a few extra hours divided by a low estimate of students) and charge $10-$15 over that. That's a pretty clear profit and I'm assuming you'll be able to keep your prices low enough to attract a fair number of students.

However, here's where the consumer demand portion comes in. Say that you decide to charge $30 a month, and at that price everyone in town can and wants to come to your class. A, not everyone has time for that and B, your dojo probably isn't big enough. Raising the price increases your profits and lowers the number of people you have to turn away. So you want to keep charging higher until you have a full classroom and you're not turning anyone away for space reasons.

Good luck!

[bushido_man96]

MonkeyGirl has some good suggestions there. In a smaller town, running around $30 - $40 per month per person would be good, I think.

[Zanshin]

Why not try a “pay as you train system”.

Charge say $5.00 per session and see whether that covers your overheads!

I would be reluctant to start charging people on a monthly basis until you have established what you are trying to do.

All the best in your endevours.

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

yea i agree with Zanshin, we do the same thing, with the same program, at night for an hour and a half and we charge 5 per person, so not everyone feels obligated to go everyday of the month and people can just pop in on their own time.

[ninjanurse]

We are in the process of developing an adjunct cardio program at our school and plan on charging $40/month or $8 per class as a drop in. No contracts at my school...so far so good!

[bushido_man96]

The only problem that I have seen with the "drop in" payors is that they don't seem as obligated to show up, and the class dwindles to nothing quickly. If you charge a fee for a month, then those who pay the fee are more likely to feel inclined to show up more often.

[Zanshin]

The only problem that I have seen with the "drop in" payors is that they don't seem as obligated to show up, and the class dwindles to nothing quickly. If you charge a fee for a month, then those who pay the fee are more likely to feel inclined to show up more often.

I understand what you are saying, but my answer to that would be that the content of the lessons should be enough to make people want to come back.

[ninjanurse]

True...content should keep them coming back. I also agree that the drop in fee is a risk but it is priced to make people see the value of paying monthly...and accommodates those already in an existing program at the school. We will see how it plays out.