Is Your Test Prep a Commodity?
Updated on May 31, 2023
Commodities have long existed as the cornerstone of economies large and small throughout time and across the world. In simple terms, a commodity is a raw material or good with a high degree of fungibility, meaning its value exists irrespective of who or what produced it. My gold bar is worth the same as your stack of gold coins. Cotton, cocoa, and frozen orange juice are all examples of commodities. And unfortunately for a lot of tutors out there, test prep has increasingly become a commodity. And, with the rollout of ACT® Academy, the trend is set to continue. How will your business react?
Commodities vs. Products
Unlike a commodity, a product has added value beyond that of a simple commodity. Attributes, such as branding, service, and quality improvements, transform commodities into significantly more valuable products.
Take coffee, for example. Suppose Steve and Larry each own a sack of identical coffee beans. Larry sells his beans in the same form as he bought them, unchanged, in bulk—as a commodity.
fig 1. Larry’s Coffee Beans
Jeff, on the other hand, transforms his coffee into a product by shipping the beans to Redondo Beach, where they're carefully roasted, brewed, and served in a cozy and thoughtfully designed coffeehouse— with free wi-fi.
fig. 2 - Catalina Coffee Shop
For a test-prep business, being seen as a commodity means getting herded into the race to the bottom of the local market. You're already competing against college kids using the same books that anyone can get on Amazon. Now, with the unveiling of the free ACT® Academy this spring, it's become critical that test-prep tutors honestly evaluate their offerings to identify what, if anything, differentiates your product from a commodity that customers could get from any other tutor.
Objectively speaking, are you delivering an exceptional test-prep experience? Or are you peddling test prep as a commodity?
Assess Your Content
The study material you provide your students is, in many respects, a commodity. The ACT® and SAT® are standardized tests that deliver predictable content in predictable ways. All test prep, at a base level, provides this type of content to students so that they can prepare for test day.
That said, not all test-prep content is created equal. If your curriculum relies on readily available online materials or worse, materials published by your competition (like Princeton Review or Kaplan), you are (or are dangerously close to being) a commodity. Not only are you offering identical content to your competitors, but you are also promoting them in the process.
Investing in a comprehensive, custom-branded, content solution like the offerings from Clear Choice Prep is a surefire way to offer a truly differentiated product rather than the same rehashed and reproduced practice problems as your commodity-pushing competitors. Your curriculum sports your logo and is tailored to the needs of your clients and your staff.
Evaluate Your Value-Add Services
High-value test prep is more than just content. One of the key differentiators between a commodity and a product is the addition of quality service.
While free test-prep options like the SAT’s® Khan Academy partnership or the ACT® Academy have the benefit of officially licensed content, they lack the guidance, expertise, and accountability checks that a more comprehensive test-prep program can provide.
The answers to some simple questions can provide a clear indication of where your company lies on the commodity versus product spectrum:
What is it that your test-prep company does that a student with an internet connection or off-the-shelf workbook couldn’t do themselves?
How does your test-prep program hold students, parents, and tutors accountable for student growth?
How does your test-prep program match students to the content they need to practice?
How does your test-prep program help students improve between tutoring sessions?
Do your test-prep curriculum, materials, and software empower tutors to be both more effective instructors and more transparent communicators?
If you can answer these questions with ease and articulate their importance to clients, you can make the case for being a product and not a simple commodity.
If any of these questions give you pause, then you're not maximizing your potential as a test-prep provider. What’s worse, there are likely competitors in your local market who are ( ... and commanding a higher price for their service because of it).
Don’t be content to be a commodity. Schedule a free consultation to see how the addition of Clear Choice Prep's 100% custom-branded content and software can catapult your business from the bargain basement of your local market … to the top!
In a world where both the ACT® and SAT® are offering free online study materials, Amazon will deliver test-prep workbooks to your door, and local markets are flooded with bargain-basement competition, what are you doing to stand out as a product worth paying a premium for?
fig. 3 - R.I.P. Catalina Coffee Shop
Editor's Note: A special shout out to Catalina Coffee Shop, which closed its doors this January, making it 100% the wrong example to use in this post. Regardless, we chose to use it—even at the risk of undermining the whole point of the post. Some things are more important.
We wanted to acknowledge what feels like the passing a dear friend. Much of the first edition of the Clear Choice SAT® Prep workbooks were written in the back of that coffee shop. So please, dear readers, support local businesses!