Our clients often ask us, “How should I price the CE courses that I provide to the professionals in the industry our organization serves?” Understanding our answer is typically the easy part. Executing upon our answer seems to be more of a challenge. This blog posting is the second part of a two-post series and is intended to help you to establish the proper price for your content.
Last week we discussed cost-plus versus value-based pricing, and how scarcity can affect demand (you can read the entire post here. We ended last week’s blog with the question, “What makes a course scare and in high demand?”
Surprisingly, this question is easy to answer. If your course content and delivery is in high demand and is only available from you, then it’s valuable. Fortunately, the demand of a course is driven by the professional’s need to acquire the required credits to maintain certification and licensure. So demand will always be a constant for your courses. So let’s focus on scarcity.
How do we assess scarcity, i.e., how do you ensure the course content and delivery are available only from your organization?
We suggest you focus on these two key areas:
- The Speaker – If your speaker has scarce knowledge of a particular topic which is in high demand, then the course will be valuable.
- The Delivery Method – Your members value convenience. If your members have a preference for the course’s delivery method, i.e., online live event, replay, podcast or on-demand, then provide the course in that delivery method. It’s important to note that members may value podcasts over online live events (given their specific situations) so perform the required research on what delivery methods are valued highest by your members.
Assess your course’s scarcity-relative-to-demand. If it’s scarce AND it’s in demand, then you can price it higher than cost-plus. In fact, you can price it as high as you’d like because they won’t be able to find it elsewhere for a lower price. Be reasonable though. Don’t upset your members by pricing it too high. We suggest you err on the lower-end of the high-price range to ensure you maintain a happy member-base.
Before we wrap up this blog post, there’s one more thing I’d like to discuss. Since CE credits will always be in demand, you have to continually assess scarcity. If something is not scarce, i.e., the credits can be acquired from many organizations, then the lowest price will win. Let’s go back to our scenario with the glass of water in the desert. Sure, the glass of water is in demand. But if there were five sellers all selling water, then the lowest price will win. In these cases, it’s best to focus on lowering your costs to produce and deliver the course so that you have a low and competitive price point.
For tips on how to lower production costs, contact our Professional Services team at [email protected].
