{"id":19197,"date":"2016-03-21T16:38:44","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T16:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=19197"},"modified":"2023-04-08T15:35:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T14:35:56","slug":"evening-and-weekend-lessons-are-they-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diaryofanadi.co.uk\/?p=19197","title":{"rendered":"Evening and Weekend Lessons – Are They Special?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Note that this is quite an old post, and the figures given are not correct in 2023).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw a comment recently on one of the forums where a newly-qualified ADI was asking if anyone had \u201cconsidered\u201d working after 4pm and weekends, since these apparently counted as \u201cunsociable hours\u201d and so a premium price could therefore be charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I immediately thought of the way Scott Adams depicted the \u201cnew guy\u201d in a Dilbert strip some years ago. All arms akimbo and gushing with enthusiasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mentioned in my recent update about becoming an ADI<\/a> that to succeed in this business you have to start out with a wide open diary and a flexible approach. If you started as an independent right away, you\u2019ll find it hard enough to charge even normal hourly rates, so the last thing you need to be doing is deterring people with \u201cpremium prices\u201d before you\u2019ve even got enough income to cover your bills. Working evenings and weekends \u2013 at least until you are established, which can take years \u2013 is pretty much mandatory if you expect to stay in business very long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you\u2019re established, of course, you can do whatever you bloody well want. If you want to put people off booking certain times, then by all means up your prices for those times \u2013 but just remember that anyone landing on your website home page who is confronted with an intimidating price structure that looks like it could be part of a Mensa test probably isn\u2019t going to stick around long (nor are they likely to be impressed if they get their calculators out and realise what you\u2019re doing). If you\u2019re a newbie who sees it as a good way of making extra money to offset having too little work \u2013 no one else will have thought of it before you, naturally – just switch off your moral compass and go right ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who do it to deter pupils from booking certain times really need to think before they begin telling newbies, who are looking to earn extra pennies, that it\u2019s all right to do it. The two reasons are poles apart. A newly qualified ADI is more likely to end up having to cut<\/strong> his prices than he is to be charging premium rates. You need to be a premium-performing ADI with a premium reputation before you can even entertain charging premium prices. Most pupils know if they\u2019re getting a good service or not, and newbies need to accept that they will not be performing like someone with many years\u2019 experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charging more for lessons at times you<\/strong> don\u2019t want to do is fine (I suppose, and as long as you\u2019re still prepared to do them if someone falls for it). But charging more for weekends and evenings just to try and make money is \u2013 in my opinion \u2013 stupid. There\u2019s no law against it, of course. It\u2019s just\u2026 well, stupid. You\u2019ll never be able to quantify it, but one thing you can be sure of is that charging premium prices for what you imagine are \u201cpremium times\u201d is never going to get you any extra<\/strong> work. You simply have to face the fact that no one shopping around for lessons is dumb enough to be positively attracted to an instructor with a complicated price structure who charges them more for evening or weekend lessons. On the other hand, simple logic dictates that many pupils will be repelled by high or confusing prices so it\u2019s almost certainly going to lose<\/strong> you work though – as I say – you won\u2019t be able to quantify it and will probably go around promoting the idea instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally, I asked one of my pupils \u2013 making clear it was hypothetical, and explaining to her what I\u2019d read \u2013 if she would be prepared to pay \u00a35 extra for her occasional evening or weekend sessions. She initially surprised me by saying it wouldn\u2019t really matter to her, but after a pause she added that she would have to think about it if her friends were paying less. There\u2019s the rub: do you really want to introduce that sort of uncertainty to what is already an uncertain business to be in?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evenings and weekends are the most popular lesson times on average. The last thing I\u2019d be wanting to do is piss off potential customers of those slots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, I\u2019ve worked as late as 11pm and 12am \u2013 both times for the purposes of completing night driving modules on Pass Plus courses taken in summer. I often take on pupils who can only do 8-10pm due to work, and when my diary is full many of the others are happy to do late evening lessons too. I prefer to start at 10am, but again when my diary is full many will happily book 8-9am lessons. I do explain at some stage that I am not naturally a morning person and that I hate getting up early, but I also make it clear that I am prepared to do it if that\u2019s best for them, so I make no serious effort to prevent pupils booking these lessons or, indeed, 8.10am tests (which means picking them up at 6.30am). I tell them that they\u2019re paying me<\/strong> for a service, and it\u2019s what they<\/strong> want (within reason) that matters \u2013 not what I<\/strong> want. I\u2019m smart enough to make sure that 9.30-10pm finishes dovetail with later starts the following day. Most days, I start at 10am and finish at 7-8pm. I charge the same prices\u2026 and I have a full diary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m well established, but even so I cannot just hike the price for my existing pupils whenever I feel like it. I make it a point never to increase how much a pupil pays during the time they\u2019re with me (it\u2019s one of my selling points). My price has increased in stages by about \u00a33 an hour since I became an ADI (2023 update: <\/strong>my prices are now about \u00a310 higher than when I started out), but I am also acutely aware of the dividing line beyond which the price is too high for my area, and which would \u2013 logically \u2013 impact my work load. I have definitely lost enquiries as a result of the price I charge over the years and putting them up further has to be managed very carefully or just shelved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do some instructors tell me to charge a premium price for evening lessons?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s quite possible that this job isn\u2019t their main source of income, and losing work through being unavailable doesn\u2019t matter to them as long as they have work when they<\/strong> want it. You, on the other hand, are probably quite new, desperate to get work, and are looking for ways of maximising your income. Putting your prices up \u2013 for any reason – in your situation is a very risky strategy, and the people advising you ought to understand this, though many don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also the fairly remote possibility that someone is telling you to do it because they know it will perhaps harm your career. It\u2019s a horrible thought, but there really are people out there who are like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it wrong to charge more for evenings and weekends?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not illegal. The morality of it is debatable and my personal view is that weekend and evening lessons are no different to weekday ones. The only time I would ever charge premium prices for any lesson \u2013 and I\u2019ve been asked about it a few times \u2013 is if someone wanted to book me on the days I take off over Christmas. I\u2019ve made it clear that it would be triple-time, which has successfully prevented anyone from taking up the offer, but which would also make it worth my while if they ever did (we all have our price).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Won\u2019t I make more money if I charge more for weekends and evenings?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If people were prepared to pay, yes. However, most of them will not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look, there is no way that I am ever going to persuade you using mere words that people won\u2019t <\/strong>pay, and that it would almost certainly end up being detrimental to your business, so why don\u2019t you just go ahead and try it and see what happens. When someone skims through your website and is immediately put off by what they see, at least the rest of us will benefit even if you don\u2019t!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just remember that putting your prices up for any reason<\/strong> is almost certainly not going to bring in extra work. At best \u2013 and if you\u2019re very, very lucky – you simply won\u2019t lose any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if I just want to put people off booking evenings and weekends?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can think of far more effective ways of not working evenings and weekends. Just saying \u201cI don\u2019t do evening or weekend lessons\u201d is one that springs instantly to mind. Other than that, it\u2019s not quite as morally questionable as just trying to make money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n