Think about this  How many people call to inquire about lessons but don’t come in or sign up right away?  It is great to get the info from every phone call and be able to call them to follow up.  Sometimes they decided they didn’t want music lessons, or they found someone else they liked.  There is a few that are interested, but too busy to call back, or haven’t thought about it.  Your phone call reminds them.

I want to get my money’s worth when I advertise and I want to do everything I can to get every person that calls to sign up.  So my problem was I would have all of these little papers everywhere, forget to enter them into the computer and not know how long ago they called.  Or someone else would answer the phone and not know what information to get from the caller.  My solution was to create a customer call card.  I have these in a folder next to the phones.  When someone calls, get all the info in a simple form, then enter it into the computer when you have time.  Anybody else who answers the phone would know exatly what I wanted to get from the caller.

For my customer call cards,  I just created something simple on Microsoft Publisher.  I didn’t need it to look professional I just wanted a form that I could scribble information onto.  You can create a form however you want or with what information you need to get.

Most important:  Their name, and also when they called. Next date and time of day so you know when they maybe available.  After that is city which is important to me.  Then insturment.  For me that is important because I have several teachers with different instruments so I need to know what instrument they want.  How did they hear about me?  That is extremely important to track my marketing efforts.  Lastly I created a call back box when should I call them?  I don’t want to seem too eager or be annoying.  So people that seem very interested I call in two weeks or less  People that are on the fence?  I give them a little more time.  Sometimes – like the other day – I get a call from someone looking to start after a sport ends.  I make sure that I know when that is and call them back then.

I hope this helps you to organize your business a little.  Call those people back!  They are obviously interested or they wouldn’t have taken the time to call in the first place.

For the northern half of the country, once school starts and families get back into their routines, this is when we as music teachers get busy. So how do we tap into this music-teacher-searching frenzy? That is what this article is about.

Many of our old students do come back, and some of their friends sign up for lessons as well. Some people have seen our studios as well of course, but we want more!  A lot of music teachers are musicians and have that mentality, but we also have to think like CEOs.  Many teachers say that there are plenty of students out there, and they will eventually call.  That is like wanting lobster for dinner, getting dressed up and sitting on the beach waiting for one to crawl onto your plate!  There are plenty in the water.

First, all businesses have a budget or set aside some money for advertising and marketing. Think about big business — they spend millions each month in advertising, even if the business is doing poorly. (Think General Motors).  They know a good marketing plan will make them more money.  August and September are two of the most important months — do as much as you can afford. 

The phone book is a great source, but most people don’t use it correctly.  People pay to put just their name and phone number in the Yellow Pages. That is a waste of money! If there are other studios with bigger ads, why would someone call a little name and phone number?  Imagine if your furnace goes out and you don’t have a company in mind you know that can fix it. Are you going to call the little name with just an address, or are you going to call a larger ad that says “serving the area for 30 years”?  My point: don’t waste money. Buy the biggest ad that you can afford.  Here’s another tip: In larger counties, AT&T will breakdown the Yellow Pages into areas. This makes it more affordable, AND you only need to be in your area’s phone book anyway!

I have also had a lot of success with direct mail. You can buy mailing lists for anyone in any area.  Say you pick a zip code and want families that make over a certain amount of money and have kids ages 6 to 16, you can buy their names and addresses.  I use infousa.com. Buy a bulk mailing permit from the post office as well — with that, any mailing over 250 currently reduces your cost from $.42 to $.216. 

The key is frequency. Some people will call right away, but it may take 4 or 5 mailings for others to call.

You may also want to check out advertising in coupon books that get mailed out every month.  Offer a free lesson — people go crazy for it.  I find that daily newspapers are OK only if you can afford to put it in every day for August, September, and October or every Saturday or Sunday for 3 months. Otherwise, it can be a waste of money.

These are just some ways of advertising and marketing that have worked for me. They can be expensive, but if you run your studio like a business, it’s all worth it.

The adult beginner often takes lessons because it is something they always wanted to do and now they have the time and/or money to do it. But as music teachers, do we treat them the same as we would an eight year old student? No. Adults, having a fully developed mind, can get concepts quicker than a child. They are not out to learn everything there is to learn on the instrument either. I often find that piano teachers especially have one way of teaching. It doesn’t matter if they are 8 or 68, they teach the same to everyone. That doesn’t work with an adult beginner. It has been said that with video games, computers and TV, children are looking for instant gratification now more than in the past, and to some degree that is probably true. But I find that the adult beginner requires instant gratification much more than children do. I have had adults come back the second week and want to quit because it is too difficult. Most of the time, adult beginners don’t take lessons as long as kids do either.

So how do we teach the adult beginner? Start out the first lesson just talking to the student. Find out why they want to play the instrument, what they want to learn or their goals. Adults will often have a reason or something specific they want to be able to do, whereas children will just say “cuz it looks fun.” Find out what music the adult student likes, what artists they enjoy. Make them be as specific as possible. Then, teach them a few easy chords to their favorite song, or the melody, or how to play a blues or something simple like Happy Birthday or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, just to get them going. Do not start teaching them out of the beginning book be creative. At some point, you will have to teach them more traditional concepts, but don’t make it the focal point of your lessons. Many adults still work, have kids and business trips, and they may not always have the time to practice. They don’t all respond well to constant criticism about their practicing, so keep that to a minimum as well if you want them to be in it for the long haul.

Adults are not looking to make a career out of music; they just want to have fun. They will not generally stick with their teachers as long as children do and require instant gratification. So while you have them, teach them to play things they like. Then they too will be able to enjoy making music.