Pricing isn’t the easiest thing in the world. It’s not just a matter of cutting prices and watching demand soar – besides covering expenses and generating a profit, your prices send market signals about the quality of your offerings.
I’ve gotten a few comments recently about the prices for my MBA admissions consulting services. Prospective students have asked me why I’m far less expensive than most of the agencies they’ve been researching. They wonder if this means I’m “not as good as those guys.”
Weird how trying to do the right thing can hurt you sometimes!
Here’s how I arrived at my pricing. First, I simply don’t feel comfortable with the rates that many of the nationally-known admissions agencies charge. I just do not think it’s right to ask students for $5.5k or more for 3 schools. That’s too much.
Second, I don’t view my client relationships as something to be monetized as much as possible. Students pay me what I consider a just fee for my experience, skills and advice and are in turn motivated to work even harder on their applications. But they aren’t paying me so much as to be desperate to “get their money’s worth” or to be uncomfortable about the investment they’re making.
Finally, there’s a big reason those nationally known agencies charge nearly double what I do: they’re basically marketing shops. They are nationally known precisely because they spend more on marketing: advertising, search engine optimization, hiring bloggers, attending admissions shows and so on. In turn, they hire admissions consultants (to do the actual work) with whom they split their fees. So they need to charge double what I do to cover their costs.
As far as quality, I feel confident that I offer an exceptional service. I work intensively with every student, giving them insights throughout the process that help them do more than just apply effectively to business schools. I try to give them communications, writing, narrative building and logical thinking skills that will be with them their entire careers. And I’ve been doing this with a strong record of success for far longer (since 2002) than many of these agencies have been around!
