Seeking Instructor Advice: Partnering with Ranges

Hi all!
I just passed my instructor certification course July 1-2 (USCCA, CCHDF). Still have to wait for a few administrative things, I think.

I’m wondering how people go about talking to ranges (to set up an agreement to bring my students there … not to become the range’s “official instructor” …? Do I go with an idea or a pitch for a breakdown on money ($xx.xx per student, $xx minimum (so if I have less than # students, they still get $$))?

Or do I just ask with no numbers prepared?

Thanks,
Tom

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Congratulations brother I hope to be there soon. :+1: :+1:

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Thank you!! It’s a great course!

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I would think as a range owner there are a lot more questions that would need to be answered other than how much you pay them

What is your liability insurance?
Are you a company or an individual?
How many students would you be training at once?
How many live fire lanes will you require?

Things like that.

Cheers,

Craig6

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I have found some ranges do not allow outside entities come in and train on their range. Use your professional letter head and write letters to the ranges explaining you want to work with them and what you can offer to them by using their range. See if you can work with them. I am in the same boat. There is a two year wait for membership at one range and the other outright said, NO! Any other ranges are a bit of a drive but, I have not approached them yet. They already have USCCA instructors there too.

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Thanks. I figured on most and have started on the liability insurance, looking for specific advice I didn’t already consider and know how to address, so that’s why I mentioned the $$ part. I’m not trying to be ungrateful, I do appreciate the reply, but do you have any specific advice regarding the money portion and if I should be pitching to them or if they will pitch to me?

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I didn’t mean to offend I was just considering what I would be thinking as a range owner.

On the $$$ part I would look at their price structure. Is it a flat fee for a certain amount of time? Is it an all day thing? Conceptually you will be bringing multiples in or a regular basis and they may be willing to cut you a discount of say 10 - 25% for the exposure you would bring them as well as potential membership’s ammo purchases etc. I would stick with fee per student to start off with and if your customer base grows you can re negotiate that way you are not on the hook for a larger fee if you have a customer that wants private lessons.

You are going to have to pitch to them unless you are starting off with just singles and you may be able to sneak under the radar for a little while to get yourself established. If and when it comes up then you an show them that you have a clientele already and negotiate from there. Some may want to charge you full price until you have proven yourself to the range owners. There is really no telling what a range owner may do until you open the topic, be prepared to be flexible.

Cheers,

Craig6

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Hey @iamteeg, congrats on the graduation and your certification. It is quite an accomplishment!

I own a range and what a bunch of the things folks have already said here are important. The most of which is the insurance.
As a range owner, I have folks sign the “You can’t sue me, and win paper” as I call it. Not withstanding that whole bucket of brass, If you came to me I’d probably ask, are you going to teach here at my place with a projector and classroom, or just use my range for qualifying? I’ve done both before. I charged a minimum, $50 plus $25 per student. If you wanted the classroom and the range for qual, it was $100 plus $35 per student.

I hope this helps.

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I wasn’t offended! I like those suggested topics, but I had also thought of them :slight_smile: if you think of any other considerations about anything I’d love to hear!

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@iamteeg - My instructor was Matt Jefferson and the way he broke it down for us
was this. Matt was a range officer and he recommended that we do the same, it
got the range he chose to have confidence in him as he would enforce their range
rules. He called the range the day before and let them know how many students he
was bringing. Buy 2 22 cal. semi-auto pistols load them and let the students get the
feel of shooting at the range. I saw how well it worked for him and I will do the same.
The nice part is now you can get certified through USCCA as a range officer. That
should make the owner of the range a little less hyper. Just my 2 cents. Mike :boom:

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Congrats to you! I agree with the opinions posted, and God speed to you!

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If the range will work with you they usually have a price structure in place already. The range we work with has 2 prices $10/student for range use only when we do a private instruction or $35/student if we use their classroom & range. We of course had to verify our credentials, include a insurance binder listing the range. By the way every range we have used or even talked with require a $2 million instructor insurance. We have finally done enough with them that they are starting to ask us to do some special classes for them. But it takes time to build trust so the sooner you can start the better.

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