methods

.
It is hard to give an opinion without knowing more about your situation.  Are you an individual or a school?  Are you trained in any methods now?  What are your feelings about how people learn a foreign or second language?  Why are you in this business?

Those who teach well with a sole, specific method are those who are committed to and enthusiastic about it, who believe strongly in its efficacy,and who can communicate that feeling to students.  Other teachers use methods that they fall into through experiment, circumstances, or chance.

My personal belief is that, because each student is individual in the mix of his reason for learning, his time commitment to and focus on the task, and his learning style, no one system can possibly be an infallible vade mecum for language learning.  Much more important is the instructor's own ability to relate to students, lower the  barriers to learning, and supply their needs (mostly language input) most efficiently.

No system has a convincing record of teaching English faster or better than any other; the most they can show is that some students do well using it-- and they can all show that.

Certain things are now known:  grammar translation and rote drilling are not efficient; passive listening is not efficient. (I am talking here of learning to speak a language for general communicative purposes, of course-- I presume that that is your goal also.)  I myself unashamedly use bits and pieces of all sorts of techniques on a very ad hoc basis-- the immediate needs of the student sitting in front of me-- and I rework and adapt them constantly.  With experience, the ability to customize your service and thus be free of reliance on a single method presents a wider opportunity to improve your teaching and advance your students' acquisition of the language.

Thanks for the wise words from both of you - lots to think about.  To explain more, we are looking to start a school.  We don't have any experience with particular methods but the idea we had was actually related a bit to what Pellisier wrote, we were thinking of methods in that it would provide a kind of stable structure (and image) for the school.  Of course we would try to find great teachers like yourself, Micawber, but the worry would be about finding an entire staff of teachers such as this....something in my experience that is difficult.  I'm fairly familiar with schools which end up hiring someone due to a lack of qualified teachers, etc...  I thought a method might help temper that flux between good/experienced teachers and new/eagar, yet inexperienced teachers. 

My worry is, in fact, that there are sometimes negative stereo-types of method-courses.  I've been reading up about many of them and there is definitely no lack of literature!  Unfortunately it all varies from one extreme to the other.  Some claim they are perfect (self-proclaimed usually), others claim that on-one can learn with a method. 

 You also asked why I'm in this business.  I can't deny that we're hoping this school will be profitable - but we also believe that the best way to ensure this is to provide a service which students recognize as effective, fast, enjoyable, etc...  We are not interested in just getting as many students in the door as possible and counting on new students the next year.  In our opinion the key is having students who are so satisfied with the results that not only do they continue to come to us but they also tell everyone they know.  Maybe too idealistic?  I'd like to think it isn't.