If you’ve been signed up with Taylor Robinson Music for a while but you haven’t been getting very many students, there are a lot of potential factors as to why that could be. How many students you get is heavily dependant on your location, seasonality, and the market in your particular area. However, there are a few ways that you can be proactive and increase your chances of getting more students:
1. Cast a wide net
Availability
It’s hard to match a student with an instructor who only has a few small time slots available. Adjust your schedule to reflect ALL of your availability and try to open up as many times as possible for students. Even times that you think don’t have a chance of filling up (like early morning or late evening times) are good to keep open for students with unconventional schedules.
Instruments taught
List ALL of the instruments and subjects that you can teach, even if you can only teach them at a beginner level. The most popular instruments we teach are voice, guitar, and piano. If you can teach introductory lessons in one or more of those instruments, make sure to add that to your profile!
Age Groups Taught
Some instructors prefer to only work with adults or only work with children. TRMC offers lessons for both age groups. If you open up availability for both, you are likely to get twice as many students. It’s okay if you don’t have a lot of experience working with a particular age group. Definitely don’t do anything you aren’t comfortable with, but don’t be scared to try new things.
2. Be communicative with the office
Update your profile/calendar
Before we send a new student your way, Lesson Coordinators match students up with instructors based on things like age, availability, experience, personal style, and goals. Since we get all of this info from your Instructor Profile, It is very important to keep your profile and calendar up-to-date. This will make it easier to talk you up to students, therefore making it more likely for us to choose you over other instructors.
Don’t leave us hangin’!
When we have a new student for you, you’ll get several calls, emails, and texts instructors with the student’s details. If we don’t hear back from you within 48 hours, we will start looking for another instructor to take the student on. Just as it is our responsibility to take care of our instructors, we also need to take care of our students and get them in touch with their teacher as quickly and efficiently as possible. If we’ve historically had a difficult time getting in touch with you, the office is less likely to send new students your way.
3. Hang on to your current students
Your retention rate is a HUGE factor in attaining more students. Students repurchasing additional lessons with you is the most telling indicator that they are satisfied with you as an instructor and with TRMC as a whole. When a student comes around who matches up with more than one instructor, the instructor with the highest retention rate is going to get the student. There will, of course, be some students who decide to discontinue for reasons beyond the instructor’s control, but this happens to everyone.
4. Beef up your profile
Say cheese!
Having a clear, appropriate, and professional looking photo on your profile makes a good first impression on potential students and parents who are browsing the website. Try to avoid group photos or pictures that are blurry, out-of-date, or taken from too far away.
Ask students to leave reviews
If your students are enjoying their lessons, have them leave a review on your profile. Parents love hearing feedback from other parents and it makes them more confident in their choice.
Spell check
Before publishing your profile, paste what you’ve written into a word document or an online spellchecker. Proper grammar and spelling is important for selling yourself as an instructor.
Sign the background check authorization
If you haven’t authorized us to run your background check and supplied the necessary information, you’ll be a lot less likely to get students, especially kids. Once your background check has been run, you’ll get the “TRMC Certified” badge on your profile.
While we can never guarantee students, we’re always happy to help get you as many students as possible. If you have questions, give the instructor support line a call at (800) 827-6521 ext. 12 or email us at instructorsupport@taylorrobinsonmusic.com.