Job Discussion Forums

[ecocks]

Anyone care to contribute what is the going rate for private (one/two-on-one) language lessons with a native speaker? Assume a business english focus, travel to the customer's office and a senior manager/director student. Feel free to elaborate on the considerations in your pricing.

[Richfilth]

Depends on the time, number of hours, the city you're in, and the size of the company paying. If it's a lot of hours a week, closer to 100zl, but with travelling and only one session a week, 120zl.

If you've got lots of experience in the business field (can discuss intimate financial expressions, host diplomat-level negotiations and are au fait with current business jargon) and it's an international organisation, 150zl for 60 minutes is not unheard of, and can be even higher if you can provide a receipt for tax purposes (and if you've got the minerals to ask for that much)

[phantombedwetter]

ecocks,
I tend to go for the lower end in these situations, around 60 zl for 60 mins.
I look at this type of teaching as a 'loss leader' that can lead to more profitable contracts later on. I have many examples of this.

One such example was the director of a large foreign bank who I personally taught for peanuts and now have a contract for all employees in Poland and is worth about 10,000 a month.

Build relationships and don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

[dynow]

phantombedwetter wrote: "I tend to go for the lower end in these situations, around 60 zl for 60 mins. "

i can't imagine putting together a lesson plan for a senior manager, traveling to their office, teaching for 60 minutes, then the travel time back to your flat/language school, and charging 60 zl. if you took an avg. of 1 hour lesson prep., 30 minutes travel time each way, 60 minutes teaching, that's 3 hours work, which comes out to 20 zl/hour of your time. why bother.

Phantombedwetter wrote: "Build relationships and don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg."

for the most part, this is poor advice, because most of the "geese" you will run into will certainly not be golden. running around Poland going from private office to private office for peanuts in the hopes that one day you'll find the goose with the golden egg is a great way to make very little money and sell yourself short.

ecocks,

if you are a native speaker and have some decent experience, and can conduct a good 60 minute lesson, not to mention have to travel to these people......100zl. period. if they say no, ok. so be it. hire a non-native for 50-70 zlotych who will have very little understanding of idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs, various figures of speech, constantly leave off articles, have no concept of any English speaking cultures.........oh, and not to mention, they will be mimicking a non-native's accent.

non-natives charge about 60 zl. per hour to teach college students. you are a native, looking to teach people with money. do the math, my friend.

[Mike_2007]

Hi ecocks,

1. Make a moody e-mail address and mail a number of the schools and institutes offering the same service. Get an idea of what they're charging for the same service.

2. Only take students who are either close to home or close to an existing customer so you cut down on wasted travel time (see dynow's post). I usually calculate the prep time and travel time against the paid teaching time and aim for it to come out as at least 66% of the time billed. If it's less than that I either turn the job down or set the hourly rate a little higher to make it worth my while.

3. Contacts are important and as PBWetter says, a good job done with a corporate client can sometimes lead to either a contract with his/her company (excellent work if you can get it) or your contact details being passed on to his/her similarly rich mates. I haven't advertised for about two years.

4. In some cultures there is the philosophy that something has to be expensive to be good. When I taught in Turkey this was true. When I doubled my price I got twice as many inquiries. Here in Romania it's not really the case, although I could see it getting that way in the future.

Good luck!
Mike

[cezarek]

A good in-company language school would charge between 80 and 100 pln for 45 minutes. Some (who employ non-EU people for cash) can go lower than that. Much higher and the contract lasts until they're undercut. If you're doing it as self-employed (and can issue an invoice) you should be able to get between 75 and 90 for 45 mins. If there's travelling time, and you make it clear how busy you are, you should be able to get a good rate. If you're doing it 'privately' (without being registered as self-employed) the rate plummets like a stone.

And it is true. Don't kill the golden goose - relationships are everything here - and Poles don't always respect things that are cheap, so concentrate on goodwill and quality.

[Kymro]

[dynow]

[Kymro]

Where exactly are you, Dynow?

[ecocks]

Thanks for all the good informaton. Pricing was my first objective and several of you provided good backup detail as well. I'm in Ukraine and trying to gauge the differences between the markets. I have contact with several Polish teachers and have been trying to understand their viewpoint(s) on the corporate market. This has helped (still is helping actually) and I remain interested in the comments regarding marketing, demand and expectations. Thanks guys (and gals!).

[dynow]

Wroclaw.

[Kymro]

I'd say the kind of prices being quoted here are way too high.

But good luck to you if you can get the money.

[ecocks]

I was looking for comparative information and these comments are (mostly) on par with Kyiv and the larger cities we have here. Of course, if we consider much smaller towns the prices drop. Are you thinking that the prices mentioned are too high for Warsaw and Krakow?

[Kymro]

I'd say I have a good idea what I was talking about as I have a run a language school here for a number of years.

However, I only really know how much people generally charge where I live, (Szczecin).

I'm sure the prices are far higher in Warsaw.

I'd say that large organisations usually ask for quotes from a number of language service providers, and accept the lowest one.

And generally speaking, they will only ask for quotes from organisations that are (in their opinion) well established.

It's difficult to say what others quote. I only know what I would quote, and if my offer was accepted.

If you want to know the price where you live, why not ask someone you know with a company to make enquiries. But remember the 'asking' price will not always be the 'getting' price. Some companies will try to knock you down.

[phantombedwetter]

ecocks,
I think there needs to be a distinction made between, looking for a bit of extra cash and nurturing further business.
You come across to me as someone who would like to do things on their own a little bit which is why I made the post above.

To reiterate;
1. Treat the first meeting as the sales process, ie sell yourself, your knowledge, experience, produce references (written and e copy). Don't charge any money for this and get him/her to like you and 'respect' (For want of a better word) your knowledge and professionalism.

2. Charge a realistic price, but at the lower end of the market. This will depend where you are, Warsaw maybe 100zl per 60 mins but for me, in Krakow, 60 per 60.

3. Think of the teaching as advertising for yourself and your school. You may not benefit much yourself at the beginning, but you will. There is no better advertising than being in the heart of a company and doing a good job. This is worth 10,000 leaflets and months in the local paper in a prime spot.

Alternatively, you could make comments like this...