# Choosing a price stance > Premium, mid or economy; launch high and step down, or enter low: choose where to sit on purpose, for Klasna and for Dana's practice. - Course: [Pricing: Set, Package and Raise Your Prices](https://productovi.com/courses/pricing.md) - Module: What do buyers compare us with? - Lesson 7/32, ~22 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/pricing/choosing-a-stance ## A stance nobody chose **Alex Tutor:** Back at Klasna. The value map showed where offers sit. Today, where Klasna and Dana should sit, and why. **Nazar:** Honestly, nobody ever chose Klasna's position. We started near other schools, added a bit each year, and ended up in the middle. **Alex Tutor:** That's a stance by drift. A **price stance** is a choice: **premium**, priced above the main alternatives with a benefit buyers can see; **mid**, priced close to them; or **economy**, priced below with a simpler offer. > **Exercise:** A school that started near other schools' prices, added a bit each year and ended up in the middle has chosen a mid price stance. **Sofia:** And each one needs something different from the business? **Alex Tutor:** Yes. Premium needs proof of the extra benefit and accepts fewer buyers. Economy needs a lower cost to serve, not just a lower price. Mid needs a clear reason to choose you at a similar price. > **Exercise:** Match each stance with what it needs to work. ## Why economy is hard for Klasna **Leo:** Why not go economy and grab the market? Cut one-to-one English to 480 and outsell everyone. **Hanna:** Because every one-to-one lesson needs a tutor hour, and the floor for English is 430.77. At 480 each lesson leaves 48. Selling more doesn't make the next lesson cheaper. **Alex Tutor:** That's the test for entering low, called **penetration pricing**: it pays only if volume brings costs down, teaches you something valuable, or makes the product better for everyone. Tutoring hours don't get cheaper with scale. **Sofia:** So an economy Klasna would need a different offer, like small groups, not a cheaper one-to-one lesson. > **Exercise:** Leo, Klasna's CEO, wants to cut one-to-one English to 480 a lesson to win share. Each lesson costs 420 (tutor 390, video and AI 30) plus a 2.5% payment fee, so the floor is 430.77. Why is that a weak penetration move for Klasna? **Alex Tutor:** How much more would Klasna need to sell at 480? > **Exercise:** An English lesson at 650 leaves 213.75 of contribution; at 480 it leaves 48. How many lessons at 480 would Klasna need to sell to earn the same contribution as **100** lessons at 650? Round up to whole lessons. **Alex Tutor:** So when does entering low actually pay? > **Exercise:** In which situation is entering low (penetration pricing) most likely to pay off? ## Launch high or enter low **Nazar:** NMT Sprint is new. Do we launch at the top of the corridor or near the bottom to get going? **Alex Tutor:** Two classic launch paths. **Skimming**: start high for the buyers who value it most, then step down openly to reach more. **Penetration**: start low to win volume fast. **Hanna:** In spring our maths tutors are fully booked. We can't serve unlimited sprints anyway. **Alex Tutor:** Limited capacity, costs that don't fall with volume, parents who value the mocks highly: all three point to the upper part of the corridor. Lowering later is easier than raising. > **Exercise:** NMT Sprint has limited tutor capacity in spring, costs that don't fall with volume, and parents who value the mock exams highly. Which launch fits? ## Skimming, honestly **Leo:** And if we step down in April, the March families paid more. Do we tell them? **Alex Tutor:** Skimming is honest when the steps are public and real: an early-enrolment price with a date, not a secret discount for people who complain. Never hide what others paid or invent a "was" price. **Nazar:** And if we cut mid-sprint, the March families could get the difference as an extra mock or a credit. **Alex Tutor:** Good instinct. Trust is part of the price; you'll spend it carefully later in the course. > **Exercise:** Honest skimming means starting high and quietly giving lower prices to buyers who complain. ## Dana's stance **Dana:** My turn. Klasna sits in the middle for families. Where should my practice sit? **Alex Tutor:** Start from your constraints. Your capacity is your own evenings. Your effective rate is 289 an hour, well under Klasna's 470. Your map put you below the market line for adults who want evening slots and work topics. **Sofia:** So an economy stance would fill her few evenings with lessons that pay even less per hour. **Dana:** And I don't compete with Klasna for teens anyway: my learners are adults who need English for work. > **Exercise:** Which facts argue **against** an economy stance for Dana's practice? Choose all that apply. ## Your turn: Dana's stance in one paragraph **Dana:** Write it down for me, short enough to keep on my desk. I'll decide on the actual rate later. **Alex Tutor:** Say whom she serves, against which alternative, where she sits and why. No number yet: changing the rate is its own module. **Sofia:** And the line about Klasna's learners? **Alex Tutor:** Keep it. It's part of her stance: her learners come from outside Klasna. > **Exercise:** Write Dana's price stance in 2–4 sentences: whom she serves, against which alternative, where she sits (premium, mid or economy) and why, given her constraints. What you know: Dana teaches English to adults privately in her own evenings and weekends; her learners need English for work and come from outside Klasna; her costs per lesson don't fall with volume; her effective hourly rate is 289 against 470 an hour at Klasna; on her learners' value map (evening slots and work topics weigh most) she sits well below the market line. > **Key ideas** > > - A **price stance** (premium, mid, economy) is a choice; drifting into the middle is not a stance. > - Premium needs visible extra benefit; economy needs a lower cost to serve, not just a lower price; mid needs a reason to choose you. > - **Penetration pricing** pays only when volume lowers costs, builds a network or teaches you something valuable. One-to-one hours don't get cheaper with scale. > - **Skimming** fits scarce capacity and eager early buyers; do it with public, dated steps, never hidden deals or invented "was" prices. > - For a solo practice, capacity is the owner's hours: an economy stance fills scarce hours with low pay. **Alex Tutor:** Next: this module's case. Klasna's euro prices, and what families abroad really compare them with. - Previous lesson: [A value map: benefit against price](https://productovi.com/courses/pricing/a-value-map.md) - Next lesson: [Case: Klasna's euro prices for diaspora families](https://productovi.com/courses/pricing/euro-prices-case.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.