If you want to grow your student base in 2013, now is the best time to take action as many people will be looking for a guitar teacher in January. Some people will have received their first guitar as a Christmas present and some people will decide to learn as their 'New Years Resolution'. This short guide will show you how you can find these people and offer them lessons.
Attracting students online
If you don’t already have a website promoting your tuition service then you need to get one. A large percentage of people will solely use the Internet to find a guitar tutor so if you don’t have an online presence they will not find you. BWS-01 What a website can do for you will explain why it’s so important to have your own site. Having your own site allows you to control your message to students.
As a Live and Teach Guitar Member you can set up your own website for free. Even if you don't know anything about setting up websites we're happy to set it up for you. Once your site is up and running, people will start to find you. But without the website the chances are those same people will find your competitor's websites instead.
To attract new students in 2013, you can place a large message on the home page stating:
“New openings available for 2013, please contact me here to book in a time before all openings are taken.”
A simple message like this one creates a sense of urgency and gives the prospective student an incentive to take action now.
If you would like your own custom website to attract new students like the picture above, you can have one free as part of membership. Find out more here.
Make the most of Social Media
As well as having your own website, you can also quickly attract new students by using Social Media such as Facebook and Twitter. Guides BMK-06 Using Facebook and BMK-07 Facebook Marketing Strategies will show you in depth how to use Facebook to find people looking for teachers and how to spread the word to people in your local area. All it takes is for somebody to think "Oh my friend wants to learn guitar, maybe I'll let them know about this person" and you have the opportunity to gain a new student.
Twitter is an extremely powerful tool you can put to use to find you new students. Regardless of where you live, there will be people in your area looking for a guitar teacher right now. Use our guide BMK-08 Using Twitter to find new students to find these people and take action. The chances are your competitors aren't using Twitter which leaves a massive opportunity for you. A simple search like the one below shows how powerful Twitter can be to find new people wanting to learn guitar. Use our guide to make the most of Twitter.
As you can see from the image above, there are always people thinking about learning guitar. So if you want to teach guitar in 2013 but aren't sure whether there are enough people in your local area, read through our guides and you'll be able to find plenty of students.
How to win students over
Once prospective students find and contact you, whether they decide to go with you or not is completely dependent on how you handle the situation. Will you be prepared to answer all their questions? Do you know your timetable back to front and can straight away suggest available times? Have you decided what rates to charge and can you handle any questions on discounts? How you handle these questions is paramount as this first contact will be the crucial first impression your potential student has of you. If you if and umm and sound like you aren’t prepared, they will assume you don’t know your stuff and move on to somebody else. On the other hand, if you have all answers ready you will sound professional and people are more likely to sign up on the spot.
There are a few guides available to help you win students in this first contact. BQA-01 FAQ from prospective students covers most of the questions you are likely to get and suggested answers. It’s highly recommended you read through this guide quite a few times to get a feel for the answers so when somebody contacts you, you will be prepared.
Use specials and discounts effectively
If you are just starting as a guitar tutor and haven’t decided on your rates yet, there are a few guides to help you set them and answer any questions related to rates and discounts. BPL-08 Setting your rates 1: Comparing the competition will guide you through setting your rates based on the competition in your area. BPL-09 Setting your rates 2: Prepaid lessons & discounts explains how to handle questions on prepaying lessons and whether you should offer discounts or not. It’s extremely important you read through the guide and follow the instructions as it will make a big difference to your income.
Be sure to read through BPL-02 Setting up your timetable and BPL-03 Properly managing your timetable to make sure you organize your timetable effectively to prevent any issues with clashing lesson times. Many potential issues are obvious until it’s too late, so read through the guide for more information.
Finally, you may want to decide whether you want to offer group lessons or only one-on-one lessons this year. Each have their own pros and cons so have a read through BPL-06 Group lessons and BPL-07 One-on-one lessons to fully understand the issues you need to consider.
Keep your new students happy to win them over for the long term
Once you manage to find a couple people willing to try you out, your goal changes. Now you need to keep them happy so they stay with you for the long term. Quite often new students will give up so your challenge is to keep them motivated. The best way to keep your student motivated is to provide them with relevant lesson materials and set achievable goals. If your student wants to learn Metal or Rock or Blues, make sure you provide them with plenty of material to work towards their specific goal. Talk to your new student about what they want to learn and set a plan in place with them on how you will help them achieve their goals.
The image below demonstrates how easy it is to tailor fit the resources to your students needs. Instead of teaching out of a book which limits your flexibility, our guitar lesson plans allow you to choose only the most relevant materials.
Check out our wide range of guitar lesson plans and create a curriculum relevant for each student.
Good luck in 2013 and we will guide you all the way
If this is your first year teaching then good luck and enjoy it! You have all the resources you need available at any time on this website so you should never feel worried or concerned. The guides listed above will explain in great detail actions to take to attract plenty of students. If you have already been teaching for a while then you should still read through all the guides as everybody can always improve their situation. There will be plenty of new guides and lesson materials in 2013 so keep an eye on the News Section. Good luck with your tuition service in 2013.
If you aren't yet a member to this site then you are missing out on all the resources listed above. These guides alone can make a significant difference to the income you earn from lessons and quality of the interactions with potential students. If you really want an advantage over your competition this year, then you should consider registering for membership to this site. The professional lesson materials and guides can make a big different to your tuition service. You can read more information on what you would have access to here.
