7 Responses

1. Pricing
   John

   I think you will have to be flexible on your prices and be prepared to work on a daily rate that can range from £200 up to possibly £750 depending on the client and the regularity of the work. The client’s ability to pay is key and whether you want to do the work or not.

   Sandra Beale

2. Arian Associates Ltd
   Depends on whether you want to operate as a ‘one hit’ or ‘build a client base’ type of business as to what you decide to charge.

   We operate a policy of looking at the client/prospective client, and like the comment below try to assess the abillity to pay. Try to take into consideration the budgetary constraints of the organisation you are dealing with and be ready to negotiate over price. Large corporates normally have more in the pot than SME’s. Research your competition in the area you intend to seek work and base your costs on what they charge as a baseline. That is what I was advised to do when Arian Associates first started and I have to say it turned out to be pretty good advice.

3. varying fees

   The subject of the course/workshop, and kudos of the trainer would also play a part in charging, I would think, John.

4. What it’s worth…
   Now this isn’t my usual facetious style of answer I’m completely serious.

   You should charge what it’s worth.

   The hard part is calculating this but essentially how much is the training worth to the client in terms of – will it save them money, if so how much and over how long and then base your fee as a percentage of this.

   Or is it increased quality of service/product and therefore fewer returns/complaints put a value to these and then charge a percentage.

   And so on…that way you never rip the client off but you’ll get paid more in the long run than charging x pounds per day/hour/minute etc.

5. Hooray for Commerciality!
   Well done Nik!

   Thinking only about charging for your time tends to commoditise you and means you are likely to compete with others only in terms of cost. Whereas the value of your services to the client is critical to creating a differentiator in a very crowded market.

   You should also think about your channels to market. Large corporate buyers of training have existing preferred suppliers and procurement policies that can be very difficult to break into. SME’s, on the other hand, are often more free to choose new suppliers. However there are thousands of them you would need to get your message in front of and, sadly, many stick with existing suppliers anyway because changing suppliers is seen as a risk.

   An alternative is to work as an associate with a larger business which, judging by your subject title, you are already considering. Bear in mind they are (usually) doing all the marketing and putting the time into building the relationship with the client. They will also have made the judgement about both ‘what the client can pay’ and ‘what is the value of the training’. What you are left with is sometimes a fixed percentage of the fee paid by the client or, increasingly, a flat daily rate that reflects your commodity value to them in a crowded market.

   Whether you are to be an independent or an associate (or a bit of both) the basic business plan marketing rules apply:

   – be very clear about what you are best at, and how this has added value to those you have already trained
   – be equally clear about the market you intend to serve, defining it by industries you have experience in, by size, by geography
   – understand who your competitors are in that market, what they charge and how they operate
   – idenfity why potential clients will buy from you rather than your competitors.

   Good luck!

   Tim Douglas
   http://www.commercialhr.com

6. Lots of information about
   You can also find information about what freelance trainers charge from trainer advertising websites like trainerbase and trainingpages.

   One thing i used to advise my professional consultant clients when I was an accountant was to work out your required minimum annual income (that’s got to include entertainment, holidays, pension/savings as well as the essential stuff) divide by the number of days per year you honestly expect top charge out (try 80-100 in your first year) and treat that as a minimum you should aim for.

   Note that you can charge a premium price for specialist topics – I get a lot more for my finance workshop than I do for “teambuilding skills for first-line managers”!

   Dave

7. Fees
   John
   There are some good answers here. But, as you will have determined, the only real answer is: ‘it depends’.
   I both sell and buy T&D services. Sometimes this is small scale, sometimes via a tender, sometimes for very specialist T&D.
   The price for freelancers varies from about £200 a day for basic or mainstream training, sometimes less for the volutary sector. Working as ‘a pair of hands’ on a pre-designed middle management training for a middle size orgainsation an average might be around £400 – though the upper and lower limits do vary enormously.
   If you have designed a bespoke programme for a client, are delivering it solo and the client regards it as having some status, then anything upward of £650 a day is more typical.
   If you have a real specialism, have published or have a reputation, then you might not want to go below £1000 a day.
   There are many factors that determine the price including the current market conditions, the sector you are working in, the going rate offered by other freelancers and smaller training companies, the value you put on your time and expertise, the type and volume of work on offer, and how much you want a particular piece of work.
   Whatever price you go for, if you lose the work you will kick yourself for pricing too high. And if you win it you will kick yourself for not asking for more!
   My best advice is to come up with three figures: the highest realistic figure you feel you can get away with; the typical day rate figure you aim to average on; and the minimum rate you will work for. After that, you just need to decide what to quote each client in each particular circumstance.
   Hope this helps.
   Graham