Not sure if this is the right forum, but here goes. I work for a new buxiban, and they’re aren’t alot of students yet. Any suggestions on how to drum up business? I really like the school and my boss, so I don’t want the school to go under, although I don’t think it’s in any immediate danger of doing so. I’m pretty positive my boss and her family have pretty deep pockets. It would be nice to have more students too. Teaching small classes of young children is tough.
Maybe some of the 3 or 4 people who post on here that own schools would like to donate some of their students to you.
You know, just to be friendly like.
:roflmao:
Here’s what I’ve learned: teach like your job depended on it, go the extra mile for the parents, make sure your tuition is in line with your competition, and wait for good word of mouth. Everything else is relatively unimportant. 
Dress skimpily. Works for me.
Those aren’t potential students.
They’re Brazilian wax technicians.
They get paid by follicle density.
They look at you, they see early retirement.
Yes. Forget ALL the gimmicks.
It’s the relationship that counts. We know … we typically keep students in our program for 3 ~ 4 years. Forget the phone calls (except when necessary), forget the telephone teaching (waste of time), forget the gifts, free bags, … Focus on the priorities:
- building relationships with parents + kids…
- know what you are talking about…
- get results from your kids and share them with everyone…
- be patient…
There are many mediocre teachers, average schools and lazy students… if you want to stand out, you have to excel! Otherwise, your school will be an also ran in your market area. And also-rans don’t handle recessions very well. We’ve been around our area for nearly 9 years, and we’ve seen new and established competitors come and go almost as quickly, even chain schools. So …
To succeed, the bosses need to plan in multiple years or have the patience to ride out the initial two or three year period where you build student numbers and reputation. Both of these will be key. You cannot go from 0-1000 students in 12 months and not have quality issues, high student turnover, and a continual need to recruit… Oh, and make sure teachers stay for more than 2 years, otherwise you’ll just end up treading water. Teachers stay: students stay. That’s all there is to the succeed.
Most bosses in the ESL business do not have that much patience.
Kenneth