Pricing
The saying “you pay for what you get” may be true in some cases but not with us!
As the owner of ITSM Assist, and the ITIL? instructor/trainer, I take pride in delivering well-structured and extremely credible ITIL certification courses, and as a company, our vision is to make such training affordable for everyone. Today, I believe we have reached a point where we can realise this vision!
When it comes to courses designed to assist company organisations improve their business activities, or help people improve their career potential, such as ITIL, one common barrier however is Price. Accredited training organisations (ATOs) promote the benefits of adopting such best practice principles and methodologies but then in the same breath introduce Price as a barrier.
It is evident that service consumers in terms of company organisations, would achieve far greater business impact if they were able to make provision for their employees to undertake such training in numbers rather than just a select few. Achieving maximum impact requires impacting organisational culture (as a whole), not just a few individuals, some who have little or no interest, others who have zero power or influence, or those who are just simply outnumbered.
It is also evident that we would see more service consumers in terms of self-funding individuals, self-start and develop their own careers if such a commitment did not strip them of their personal savings.
Personally, I have never favoured adopting pricing models based on the ‘going/market rate,’ i.e., let’s charge what everyone else seems to charge, or what everyone appears to be getting away with? There is nothing strategic or tactical about that. To me, this approach has an air of arrogance, i.e., this is what the service consumer is accustomed to paying regardless of whether they can afford it or not.
Pre COVID, I would have said the large ATOs were not necessarily adopting heavy profit margins but more so carrying heavy overheads. However, post COVID, in view that the trend has shifted to online delivery, I do not see significant price reductions so maybe they are indeed capitalising on making heavy profit margins?
My preferred approach is quite simple, cost plus,’ which in our case becomes a unique selling point (USP). In view that our costs/overheads are minimal gives us a competitive advantage. That said, we have now gone one step beyond, by introducing a Membership Subscription scheme which enables both company organisations and self-funding individuals to undertake ITIL certification training at a price reduction of massive significance.
Sometimes it takes some disruption to change market trend!
Since our inception, we, ITSM Assist, have to-date established ourselves as an impressive and extremely credible ATO and whilst we have always adopted a cost-plus approach as our USP, now we have achieved the recognition as a formidable ATO in the market, we are now positioned to take this one step beyond!
For example, when I see average market prices such as:
I am thinking what do the students receive in exchange for these prices. As a minimum (as in our case), I would like to think:
Now all that said, whilst our normal pricing has always been significantly less due to our competitive advantage, let me compare with our newly introduced Member Subscription:
As a Membership Subscriber just 2 x Upper-level courses instantly saves money compared with our own normal (internal) pricing model, and of course massive savings when compared with some of the market averages we see.
In fact, you can view/download our full pricing model here.
If competing ATOs see service consumers responding positively to this then brilliant, they will then have to either revisit their own pricing model or rethink their USPs. As for those competing ATOs who adopt the 'going/market rate', well, let us hope they use our pricing model as the going/market rate!
And, whilst I genuinely respect such competition, and accept that some indeed promote and justify some great USPs through their tactical efficiencies, and/or smart methodologies, these competitors cannot use the term "you pay for what you get," because from a student’s perspective value is realised in the classroom, and we match any ITIL? trainer of worth in the classroom, so the argument trainer vs trainer goes straight out the window, e.g., it’s going to have to be more than just that!
?As highlighted, you can view/download our pricing model here
You can learn more about our “Membership Subscription” here
Trevor Wilson
Email: [email protected]
ITIL? 4 Trainer (Master Certified) - ITSM Assist Limited
2 年Thank you Hannah