Adding more Students is not the only way to grow your Business. “Why? Isn’t that how you make more money?” you may ask… Many times, that is true. But not always. Having more Students doesn’t automatically mean a nice cushy bottom line. But it certainly means that you need to work more or hire help, or have bigger classes with less personal attention. In addition, it costs you 7 times more to acquire a new Customer rather than keep an existing one. Why not focus on your existing Students to increase your bottom line and grow your Business? There are 3 ways you can achieve that: #1: Keep them longer - increase their lifetime value. I work in commercial real estate and we lease office buildings to big companies like Facebook and Amazon. We work for years with them, providing market information and industry forecast before we close a leasing deal. So, nurturing the relationship and keeping us on the top of their mind is is very important. Or they will drop us and choose someone else. A very costly outcome. It is not different with your Students. You need to make them feel they are on top of your mind so you will be on top of their mind too. How can you do that? 1. Call them every 3 months, ask them how they are doing, how you can help them even more or if they have suggestions for your classes. 2. Send random snail mail (not e-mail) when you read something that might interest them. For instance, if you read an article about how to improve distance learning, print that article and send them with a handwritten note: “I thought of you when I read this”. Or frame a picturefrom their first class with you and send it to them. It might sound like a lot of work but think about how much money and effort it would take to replace them if they left. #2. Cross-sell - offer them additional activities. They already love you and trust you with the classes they take. Offering them more options will help them and they will be thankful for it. You might say, “I am not going to push more activities on my Students. I am not a salesperson. “ Think about Amazon. When you are logged in as a customer and looking to buy something, they suggest similar options, or a bundle that other people bought for the same item. Is that annoying? No. They do the thinking for you and helping you out as a friend. And if you decide to go with the additional items, they make an extra sale. It is not different with your Students. They can always use a suggestion where you can help them make their life easier. You are suggesting additional activities and they have the choice to buy or not. But of you don’t suggest anything, you will miss a sale. Here are 3 ideas for you:
How you can deliver this? Add these suggestions when someone is booking an activity with you either through website, e-mail, phone or social media. Or send targeted e-mails to your list suggesting the extra activities. #3 Raise your Prices – and work less. Of course, this is a delicate subject but sometimes it is the right way to grow your business. Don’t just double your prices and hope for the best. Before you do anything, understand what is the value that brings Customers to you (it might be different from what you have in mind, so you might need to ask them first), what message you need to reinforce that value to make sure they are ready to pay the increased price. Here are 3 situations when you should increase your prices:
You might lose some Students but those are there for the lowest price and would jump ship the minute someone cheaper came along. So before you rush out to get more Students to bring in more money, take a look at the ones you already have. How can you make sure that: 1. they stay longer, so you can increase their lifetime value, 2. they sign-up for every activity that can benefit them, 3. they pay prices that provides you with a sustainable business? Take the steps above and increase your bottom line without adding a singe new Student.
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Hi, I am JuliaI help Independent Art Teachers with actionable Marketing steps to continuously grow their Business.
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