How much would you charge for this? (Consulting/ training)

[coffeepulease]

Posted on entrepreneur board but not sure how much traffic it gets.

I know there is not one answer to this and there are a whole host of variables at play but I'm just looking for a ball park idea here.

I've recently started offering freelance workshops / consultation in an area I've been practising (employed) for 25 years. I have postgraduate qualifications, and various credits to my name which are fairly prestigious within the sector, and have done a few things like a keynote speech at an industry event, main interview in industry magazine.

I don't want to out myself as the specific area is quite niche but it's not a sector with huge amounts of money (eg corporate/ finance / law or anything). Think humanities / heritage type stuff.

I have been asked to visit an organisation and deliver a 1-day workshop with their staff of 15. The workshop is something I've already prepared (and deliver for individuals), so there's not that much extra planning.

What rough fee should I be asking for please? Bearing in mind when I run the workshop myself each individual will pay me a fee, so I make a decent amount. This organisation are asking me to go to them. It's a good connection so I don't want to quite too high a cost and put them off but at the same time don't want to feel resentful about the fee.

What rough amount could you expect to pay someone / charge for this type of thing? I would be travelling into London (2hrs).

Have you looked at similar costs from similar trainers?

I'd say at least £25-£30 per person, plus your travel costs—but I'm not sure if that's too cheap, to be honest!

Sorry yes, I've tried to search what others charge but consultants are very private about their fees and don't generally list them on their websites!

It really depends on what the course matter is I'm afraid 😬 If it's something like First Aid, I think I paid £150 a person for a full day course! But obviously that comes with accreditation etc.

Without further info I would do your usual individual fee x15 I think.

I would charge at least £80 per person plus expenses

Possibly £500 day rate + travel expenses.

Make you have appropriate professional indemnity insurance.

I was a training and management consultant until I retired early 2 years ago. The industry norm then was £1500-£1700 per day inclusive of all expenses. This covered 12-15 participants. If you’re new and building up your business you may want to charge a bit lower than this but certainly not less than £1200 or you just won’t be taken seriously.

My estimations are very cheap! I think you should pose as a client and get some rates 😁

So you already deliver this training but usually you organise it and then what, individuals pay you (or their organisation does) on a per person basis? Do you have costs when you usually deliver this training - eg a venue or something?

Because basically, I'd be charging a similar per person fee that you'd charge if you were doing it yourself. If you usually pay a venue fee or other fees like marketing or advertising or food, then definitely go ahead and discount the fee to reflect that (but don't forget to include any cost of travel or accomodation for you in the fee you charge). Also, if you usually deliver the training to a group of 5 people, then sure, again, feel free to discount slightly so that you're not suddenly getting 3x the amount you usually would which might feel like a bit of a piss take.

So, for example, if you usually charge £200 per person for 7 people = £1400. If your costs are usually £400 you come out with £1000.

In this case, you're delivering to a team of 15, and your costs are say £200 - train tickets, food etc. So you could charge them something like £1500. They'd still be getting an extraordinarily good price and you'd be making a nice amount.

Edited to add: I've obviously made up all these numbers. But I would agree with other people that overall, to train 15 people in London for a whole day, you should not be earning less than £1500 and could easily go as high as £3000. It feels like just one day, but it's not. You've got 4 hours or travelling to take into account, possibly an overnight. That sort of intensity is really tiring so I guarantee you won't be firing on all cylinders the next day. You WILL have to do some prep, even if it's only a few hours... so really, at the very least, you're looking at full 2 days for this, maybe more like 3 days of your time.

I can't edit again but just to add - some of these suggestions are crazy. I appreciate your industry might not be hugely well paid. But £25-£30 per person? Assuming you're delivering 8 hours of training, that's like less than £4/hour per person. Childminders charge more than that and they're one of the most underpaid professions out there.

So I would charge approx £200-300 per person if I was doing it myself (depending on the workshop. The company said that they didn't have the budget to send everyone along but would I come to them.

Yes I would normally gave venue cost and insurance but not many other costs.

And how many people would you usually have in a session?

I think if this is a client you like and want to build a relationship with, I think it's fine to give them a discount in the context of it being cheaper for them than sending their 15 people to you. But it's not okay to give them a discount in that you would be earning significantly less than you would if you did a normal session.

So to give you an example in my own world, I routinely do a training session for 2 people on a half day basis and the cost is £1200 - I do this session at a client's venue so my costs are just my time, effort and experience.

I will occassionally do a slightly different version. So, for example, currently a client wants me to adapt what I do so that there's less practical and more general discussion and include 3 people. we'll still do it in 3.5 hours so I will charge the same.

A different client asked me to create a slightly different version which involved quite a lot of effort, and then also to include 3 people. I charged them £2000 for that session - but they also got 2x 1 hour follow ups in the form of virtual workshops for them to use as they were working to implement the traiing. The idea being that we had talked about x, now they needed to do x, so that workshop with me would help them put the theory into practice.

I was thinking more like £2000/3000. Remember they are not just paying you for a day’s work, they are paying for you expertise that has taken years to acquire.

Ok so they want 15 people but you know they don’t have the budget for £3k. I would go with £1500 plus expenses.

Thank you. Ok so I think this would be too much. I don't want to out myself but it's in the context of museums so not a corporate budget.

How many hours of your time will it be taking in terms of preparation, delivery and travel?

£1500 plus vat plus expenses. Ballpark

Planning a couple of hours to refine what I've got. Travel 2 hours each way.

So it’s equivalent to roughly two full days work?

I would say between £1000-£1500 for 15 people assuming no other big expenses.

Whatever price you decide on, I would itemise the invoice higher and add a discount. Eg
15 people @ £200 = £3000
Single client group 50% discount = -£1500.
Client site delivery = £200
Total £1700

So you don't set expectations that whatever you charge this time per person is your standard rate

1 you don't base your prices on what they can pay, but on what you're worth

2 you haven't said how many people would usually be in a session usually. I think that is what makes the biggest difference. If you would usually earn £1000 for a session, you should earn at least the same, if not more. If you usually only train one person at a time and you get £300, then sure, you could charge £750 and still be making a profit.

Same - left a year ago but our day rate for workshops was £1600

A friend of mine does all-day workshops in a niche field and charges £80pp, with space for 12 people.

To be fair I was the only one suggesting this and said I had no idea, the wiser folk showed up 😆

£1000 is the minimum of expect to pay any sort of corporate trainer.