Teaching · For Tutors · Business

Twelve new families.
What did each one cost?

List where new clients came from, with the money and hours each channel took. The calculator shows the cost per client and which channel earns its keep.

Cost my channelsWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Tutoring business kit, $69 for 80 items.

The client acquisition cost calculator

The worked example is a tutor’s fall term with four channels. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Teaching · For Tutors$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
The cost to win one client for each channel and across all of them, the channels ranked cheapest first, the months a client takes to pay that back, and lifetime profit against cost. It prints as a one-page summary.
Who it is for
Independent tutors deciding where to spend marketing money and time, and tutoring center owners comparing a term’s channels.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Tutoring business kit ($69) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Tutors space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Pick a period, such as a term.
  2. List each channel families came through.
  3. Add the money and your hours for each.
  4. Count the new clients from each.
  5. Add monthly profit for payback.

Cost my channels

How the cost of a client is worked out

Money and time in, families out.

The worked example: fall termMoney spent$870four channelsPlus your hours$63021 h at $30Per client$125$1,500 ÷ 12Payback0.5 moat $250 a monthThe worked example: fall termMoney spent$870four channelsPlus your hours$63021 h at $30Per client$125$1,500 ÷ 12Payback0.5 moat $250 a month
A channel costs what you spend on it and the hours you put in; divide by the families it brought.

Count your hours

Free channels are not free: posting, writing a newsletter blurb or standing at a school event takes hours you could teach. Valuing those hours, even at a modest rate, keeps a busy free channel from looking better than a paid one that takes no time.

Compare with what a client is worth

The cost to win a client only means something next to the profit they bring. Payback in months shows how fast it comes back; lifetime profit divided by cost shows whether the channel is worth more. Many service businesses look for at least three times.

Sources

  1. U.S. Small Business Administration. Calculate your startup costs; Manage your finances; Break-even point (sba.gov).
  2. Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center and Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business (irs.gov).
  3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook: teachers, tutors and instructors, pay and work schedules (bls.gov/ooh).
  4. U.S. Small Business Administration. Marketing and sales: measure what your marketing brings in (sba.gov).

Arithmetic on your own figures. Your entries stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.