Thread: Mother daughter discount?

Ladies and Gents,

What do you do for a mother/daughter discount? I charge $80 for a 6 week session of 1.5 hour classes. The drop in rate is $15.

One of my students called and wants to bring her daughter and I would like to offer her some sort of discount with the economy and all.

So if you do a family discount what is it?

Thanks!

I cannot fathom asking for such a discount but I guess nothing should surprise me now. I would not consider a Mother Daughter situation any different than any other 2 people other than they could possibly realize savings by car-pooling. Same time, space, effort and energy on the part of the teacher so the same price makes sense to me. Interesting post, I imagine Bhuz-ers will offer a plethora of feedback.

I personally wouldn't get involved in this, because there are so many issues with determining what is eligible. Do minor children get a different rate than adult children? Why can't sisters, cousins, or in-laws get a discount? What happens if the mother stops coming to class, but the daughter continues? Won't the daughter want to keep her current tuition rate?

I would rather offer students a one-time "finder's fee" for bringing in a new student who registers for a certain amount of classes. That way, you reward the people who talk you up in the community and promote you, regardless of whether the new students they bring in are relatives or friends.

I worked at a yoga studio where, if two friends/relatives signed up at the same time, one of them would get something small like $5 off the registration fee.

Most people who take my beginning classes come with one or two other friends or family members - it's actually pretty uncommon for a lone person to show up the first night of class. Because of this, I'd personally not offer a discount, because every 2nd or 3rd person would be getting one.

Most instructors around here offer one, usually the same as their multi-class discount.

Originally Posted by zorba

Most instructors around here offer one, usually the same as their multi-class discount.

The studio where my oldest took ballet offered multi-family-member discounts, like Zorba mentioned, as well as multi-class discounts.

To receive a family discount, each person had to be residing in the same household. Since it is the family that gets the discount, if there are no longer multiple family members taking classes at the same time, then the family discount, by definition, no longer exists and, by extension, neither does the family discount.

You know, a discount doesn't have to start with the second person/class; you can require three or more persons/classes before a discount kicks in . . .

Deborah

I actually do a friends & family discount of 10% if they regster & pay for the same thing at the same time. I have found that, in my current area, this does encourage more people to come to classes with friends, some of whom would not have come otherwise. If this were not the case, if it meant I would just be giving deeper discounts to students who would come anyway, I would probably discontinue the discount.

Also note, I do not combine discounts- my all access pass does not get an additional 10% off, nor does my full semester discount rate (I do 6 week sessions for $80, full 12 week semester for $150)

Ok..I have a personal agenda for doing this, but daughters between the ages of 10 and 16 (accompanied by thier mothers) are free..yep...free.

No - for all the reasons above. But I'm happy for families (or friends) to share a discount card.

(And no free classes - at $10 it is still cheaper than hiring a babysitter)

2 things to ensure when offering a discount:

1) Is it easy to apply? You need to make the rules very clear and be able to determine eligibility very easily.

2) Does it encourage behaviour that enhances your business? Eg: early registration to improve cash flow; complete term enrollment; additional people attending. You can often achieve this by setting conditions for receiving the discount.

I've tried a number of specialised discounts, such as sign-up-with-a-friend, and I now limit them to occasional special offers to reduce the burden of admin and explaining. Instead, I offer an Early Bird discount which can be applied to everyone.

So my response to this one would be, "We don't offer a specific mother/daughter discount, but we do have an Early Bird discount, which can apply to you both. To get that, you just need to pay for the full term by xyz date."

We have in the past offered 50% discount to children under 18 who are old enough to dance who come to beginner's class with a parent who is paying full price. Why? Because.

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

I've tried a number of specialised discounts, such as sign-up-with-a-friend, and I now limit them to occasional special offers to reduce the burden of admin and explaining. Instead, I offer an Early Bird discount which can be applied to everyone.

I'm assuming that when you say "Early Bird discount," you mean "register some number of days/weeks/months" in advance. Actually, I'd like to see dance teachers start offering "Early Bird discounts" to students that mean "I'll reward you for getting your butt to class early enough that you can change out of your coat/street clothes/shoes, say hello to your friends, and put on your hip scarf before the lesson is supposed to start so that WE CAN BEGIN ON TIME!"

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

I'm assuming that when you say "Early Bird discount," you mean "register some number of days/weeks/months" in advance. Actually, I'd like to see dance teachers start offering "Early Bird discounts" to students that mean "I'll reward you for getting your butt to class early enough that you can change out of your coat/street clothes/shoes, say hello to your friends, and put on your hip scarf before the lesson is supposed to start so that WE CAN BEGIN ON TIME!"

Ha ha ha. I achieve that by starting my warmup on time irrespective of whether there's one person there or many. And I finish right on the dot, leave the room and usher the next class in. In this way, lateness to class has never been a problem for me :-)

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

Ha ha ha. I achieve that by starting my warmup on time irrespective of whether there's one person there or many. And I finish right on the dot, leave the room and usher the next class in. In this way, lateness to class has never been a problem for me :-)

I start and stop at the announced time too. Waiting to start until latecomers are settled is probably one of worst things to do lol!