Saturday, February 3, 2018

How to Price Your Wine and Paint Classes


I had a question that I thought might help you when you are approaching local venues to pitch your class.

It's good to go in prepared, not only with your sample work, but also with a plan of how you can work together to price the classe so both you and the venue you want to teach in, will benefit.


Here is a question that Dominique asked about pricing that I thought would be helpful to anyone getting ready to approach a new place:




Q: I am starting to reach out to local wineries and wine shops to pitch them on my class. How should I price my services knowing that they will incur costs by providing their wine?
I would like to create tiered pricing packages for them...do you have any idea where I should start? I would like to make $45 per person, because I am an experienced teacher, and I will be providing all of the supplies.
 
 

A:  It sounds like you are off to a good start with contacting potential locations to teach. You are correct to assume that the venue wants to get something out of the class as well.
The way I approach this is to figure out how much total I need to make from the class, to cover expenses: materials, supplies, travel and my pay. I then determine a per person rate from this total.

Then I look at what the going rate is for these types of classes-in this area it's $30-$45 per person. I want to make sure my price is in line with other classes in the area.

I know that most venues want to make at least $5.00 per person and possibly more, depending on what they will provide. Some places charge a room fee, but others will take a per person rate.

I work with a restaurant where we negotiated a rate of $10 per person and they provide appetizers, pizza and a drink from the bar.

You will have to be flexible on your per person rate and work with the venue to come up with a price that works for you both, but know what YOU need going into the negotiation. You will also want to establish a minimum number of students to make sure you cover costs and make it worth your time.

You also want to ask the venue if they will do any promotion or advertising of the class as well. Some may let you put up a sign or post it on their social media page.

To create pricing tiers here are some possible options:

  • Venue gets $5.00 per person and provides a drink and space (also talk up that people will likely order more drinks and food once they are there)
  • Venue gets $10 per person and provides one drink and food (appetizers, lunch, etc...)
  • Venue charges you the standard room rental fee is for the room (typically $50-$100) and guests buy their own food and drink from the menu or bar.
$45 is likely going to be the top price that people will pay, so you will want to be flexible and work within that as the total price charged per person for a 2-3 hour class.

Hope this helps and good luck!

*Don't forget to start creating your own mailing list of students from each event you hold. I'll send out a post on fun ways to do that soon!

ps: I'm making something special for you to answer all of your wine and paint/social art making questions. It's in the works and I can't wait to share it!