Are you about to launch your WunderKeys program? If you are the first to do so in your community you’ll want to make a great first impression. Keep these 7 pointers in mind as you prepare to begin teaching WunderKeys.
1. Hand deliver your advertising materials
Call me picky, but if I am spending money to print postcards, I want to make sure those postcards are going to reach their target. Put them in the mail and you can never be sure when, and if, they will successfully reach their destination. This is a good opportunity to network with businesses in your area who cater to a similar audience. Face-to-face meetings are often much more effective.
2. Send out advertising early in the week, but not on Mondays
Sending out advertising on a Friday is akin to chucking it in the trash… the weekend is just too darn distracting. Thursday isn’t much better, as it won’t be noticed until Friday leaving no time for contact during the regular business week.
While we’re nixing days, forget about Monday as well… the start of the week is a hectic time for any family and your piano postcards will surely be ignored.
Now Tuesday… that’s a great day to advertise. Families are settled into routines, and there is plenty of time left in the week to digest the advertising and make a phone call.
3. Prepare a phone script
When your phone rings (and it will ring!) be sure to have an eloquent description of the program ready to roll off your tongue that highlights the many benefits preschoolers will receive. Print off the parent information from the website so you have it handy and be very familiar with all of the program information and the books themselves.
4. Start Soon!
Be ready to sign-up students by having a choice of available time slots, and begin these new lessons soon. Avoid letting a long period of time pass between sign-up and start-up. Your new little clients are excited about their lessons and waiting is so very hard when you are 4!
5. On the first day, leave nothing to chance
Prepare yourself for everything and anything that may happen on that first day. What will you do if the lesson goes by too quickly? What will you do if you run out of time? What will you do with a shy child? What will you do with a wild child? What compliment will you pay the child at the end of the lesson? Have you left enough time for a 3-5 minute conversation with a parent following each first lesson?
6. Prepare a Parting Gift
At our music school, all WunderKeys students go home with a finger puppet after the first lesson. The finger puppets make the preschoolers feel like they’ve made a new friend. They are sent home with a constant reminder of the loveable characters that will hopefully lead them on a lifetime of piano adventures. The finger puppets will also inspire preschoolers to share with their parents all of the fun things they learned on their first day of piano lessons.
7. Follow up and Follow up again
Don’t wait for your trial session to end before getting in touch with parents. Check in with your students’ parents after the second lesson and offer them the opportunity to take advantage of a choice in time slots at that point. Many parents will know after just two lessons whether or not WunderKeys is the right fit for their child and they’ll be eager to secure a spot that works within their family’s schedule. Touch base again after the final lesson to give them the opportunity to register with you as a continuing student at your studio.
