I need business advice.

[99&beyond]

My DD's catching coach has always been flexible with us. He has had to cancel several last minute on us, but I try not to do that to him since I know he could always put someone else in our spot if we gave him enough notice.

I think the others here have given you good advice, I hope you find something to work for you.

 

[alabama_lowlife]

We've always paid by the month. Our lessons would be at a set night and time, most recently, every Thursday at 6. If we don't show up one week, we just missed that lesson. In cases where we knew well ahead of time that we couldn't make it at our normal time we'd try to reschedule. I've never just not showed up, but I always try to be considerate to others. Our last 2 pitching coaches have actually coached 2 girls at once, side by side. I'm not particularly fond of this arrangement.

 

[starsnuffer]

Damn, Amy. You're awesome and I wish I could find a PC as good for $20, that's very very cheap. HS kids around here charge more for pitching lessons. Not sure what the economy in your area is like, but there's a pretty big demand for softball out there, no?

-W

 

[Lozza]

Amy you definitely need a cancellation policy. Anything less than 24 hours and the lesson needs to be paid for. Now clearly you have discretion there (for example a player rings up and has to cancel because of a death in the family as opposed to deciding to go out of town) but it needs to be there. My gym made me pay for a PT lesson when I called at six am for a eight pm appointment as I'd been throwing up since 10pm the night before.

 

[bobbyb]

Damn, Amy. You're awesome and I wish I could find a PC as good for $20, that's very very cheap. HS kids around here charge more for pitching lessons. Not sure what the economy in your area is like, but there's a pretty big demand for softball out there, no?

-W

Posters! Please refrain from encouraging charging a reasonable price for services rendered. Our little town facility charges 50.00/hour for lessons. When our group of Hillbillies move to Arizona…we will appreciate the lower fee. So Thank you Amy… for being so cheap!

Also…let us not encourage payment for cancelled appointments. There will be a lot of things we will want to see and do….when we get down there… and we really don’t want to have the responsibility of notifying Amy…when we will not be at practice. After all…I am sure…Amy has all the time in the world and her schedule can be flexible for us. Its our schedule and time that will be a problem and Amy can work around it.

One more thing. If your going to encourage something…encourage Amy to have a full refund policy if we didn’t think we got what we should of. If little suzy isn’t throwing 60 by 12 yrs old…shouldn’t we get a refund? If little Billy isn’t hitting home runs in baseball by 9 yrs old…shouldn’t of she taught him that? I mean come on! Its my 20 bucks and my time.

Please keep these recommendations reasonable!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Bobby, I am reconsidering my offer of my extra room, to you and your DD. I just realized that my husband (Bob) and you, are too similar and one of you is all I can handle, right now. Another midwest Bob, would just be too much. ;0

 

[bobbyb]

Bahaaa...SURE...Blame it on the Bobs of the midwest! Sounds just like my wife!

 

[BrianMonk]

Why not just let people know that cancelling can cause quite a bit of inconvenience and should be kept to a minimum. If it becomes a problem, you’ll charge the fee up front prior to scheduling.

Otherwise, If I was always held to (XX) hours notice or I had to pay, I’d also expect that if the instructor cancelled within (XX) hours, I’d get a free lesson the next time. It goes both ways.

 

[redhotcoach]

HOLY SMOKES AMY! We have about 6 facilities in our midwest city of maybe 400k. The closest one to me is $65 per 30 min lesson or $225 for 4 lesson package. Glad my dd gave up on pitching!

Individual Lessons
Private Lessons: $65.00 per 30 Minute Lesson
4 Lesson Package: $225.00
8 Lesson Package: $350.00

 

[RookKev]

Amy, is competition fierce for students in your area? Surely you are aware of how much below the market you are. Generally around a buck a minute is what I've seen. Is it a choice to be so low? At that rate, I would never risk missing a practice for fear of becoming a dropped client. Finding a coach that is willing to study and visit forums like this is not easy, I think you are selling yourself short, and I'm sitting here hoping it's a conscious decision...not an insecurity thing.

Another thing I cant believe is that you catch your students. I'd understand doing it for your own purposes, wanting to have control of glove location and appearance, but as a parent, I can't believe they aren't jumping in the cages and taking the pitches. It frees you up to actually watch the mechanics completely. I would recommend you start requiring this, especially if you don't raise your rate. Perhaps you can start by offering your students to bring their own catchers, or suffer a ten dollar catcher charge. Express you will be doing this for the next six months, and if they don't bring the catcher, hire one with the money, say like $10 / hour, so you make five more bucks a half hour. At the same time tell them that starting in January, the price will be $30 for 1/2 hour lesson... Or whatever combo you choose in the pricing.