TheStudentReferralStrategy

For an industry worth an estimated £6 billion, finding a tutor in the UK is notoriously difficult. Private tutoring is still somewhat of a hushed subject outside school gates and many parents find it difficult to make contact with tutors in their local area.

Despite this, personal referrals are still the lifeblood of the tuition industry and a tried and tested way of finding more students. Long before social media existed, tutors would tell their friends and family, in person, that they were looking for new students and you know what? It worked. And it still does.

Simply telling people that you’re looking for new students will help you drum up interest in your services in no time. Just because parents don’t outwardly talk about it, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t looking. Remember, if you don’t spread the word, no-one will.

ReachOutto Other Tutors

Although local competition can be high, it’s worthwhile reaching out to other tutors in your area who teach different subjects from you. One-to-one networking with other tutors can be a great way of establishing a referral system.

For example, you may be an English tutor who knows of a student looking for a maths tutor. You happen to have a maths tutor in your network and you pass their details to the student. And in the future, that maths tutor returns the favour.

TellYour ExistingStudents

Sometimes your best marketing resource is your existing students. Assuming you already have a small student base, tell them that you’re looking for new students and ask if they know anyone who needs your help. Likewise, tell your students’ parents and ask if anyone they know needs a tutor. By tapping into your existing resources, you can expand your student base quickly and easily before you’ve even spent a penny on marketing.

Killa Dozen Birdswith the OneStone

Even a suggestion of the word ‘public speaking’ is enough to make the most experienced teachers and tutors hide behind their laptops. And I understand. The thought can be scary. But that’s all it is - a thought. The reality of public speaking is often very different, especially when you consider where you’ll be speaking.

We’re not talking podiums and microphones here. We’re talking evening classes and local community groups. Five minutes at the end of your local writing group, is all you need to tell a dozen people that you’re looking for new students. Make sure you bring your business cards with you and leave some behind after your talk. By doing so, you’ll improve your marketing outreach significantly.

Actions – Word of Mouth Referrals

1. Speak face-to-face with ten of your friends or family and tell them that you’re looking for new students. Develop an elevator pitch that last no longer than 20 seconds. Then tell them to tell their friends.

2. Introduce yourself to other tutors in your local area. Tell them about your referral strategy.

3. If you have existing students, tell them that you’re looking to take on new people.

4. Arrange to speak for 5 minutes at a local group of at least 10 people and bring business cards with you.

What Does Your Branding Say About Your Tutoring Business?

Your brand is what people say about your business when you’re not in the room. The way you present yourself to students and parents can have a big impact on the type of customers you attract.

Think about your ideal student. What age are they? What level are they currently studying at? What school do they attend? Once you have a clear idea of what type of student you’d like to teach, you can create your brand to align with what they might look for in a tutor.

What’s in a Name?

Usually, the first thing that a student recognises about your business is its name. The simplest way to name your tutoring business is to use your name and place the word ‘tutoring’ or ‘tuition’ after it, e.g. ‘Jane Smith Tuition’. If you specialise in only one subject, you may want to add the subject into the name too, e.g. ‘Jane Smith Maths Tuition.’

However, there are a few downsides to trading under your own name as a tutor. The first being, that if you ever expand and decide to contract work to other tutors, your name and reputation is quite literally on the line. It may also confuse customers if someone other than Jane Smith turns up for lessons.

If you hope to run a tutoring business long-term, then a brandable name could be the best option. You can still use the word ‘tutoring’ or ‘tuition’ in the title, but you may want to consider something more holistic as the prefix, e.g. ‘London Maths Tutoring’, ‘Ace Tuition’, ‘Elite Tutoring’ etc.

You should also think about how you want to be perceived by students. Are you ‘Shiny Happy Tuition’, the happy-go-lucky tutoring business, or are you ‘Clayton-Wickes Education Consultants’, who specialise in tutoring for Oxbridge?

Your Business Logo

Anyone serious about running a tutoring business needs a logo, even if it’s only to display on business cards. If you’re good with graphic design, you could create one yourself using photoshop. Or, if your design skills only stretch as far as Microsoft Paint, you should consider paying a professional to create one for you.

The cost of logo design can vary widely. You can easily have a logo created for a few pounds on freelance platforms like Fiverr but the quality will likely vary too. If you’re after a professional, well thought-out logo that reflects your business and your students, then a professional graphic designer is the way to go.

There are also wonderful free or cheap logo design websites such as: looka.com; wix.com; logomaker.com; adobe.com; logo.com; canva.com and freelogodesign.org

Your Tone of Voice

Tone of voice is the ‘personality’ of a brand as communicated through writing. It guides the things you say, and how you say them. From the words on your business cards, to the email reports your send parents, the way that your business sounds, matters.

The easiest way to consider the tone of voice for your tutoring business is to ask ‘if our brand was a person, what kind of person would it be?’ Think about your brand’s personality and values and consider how they translate into language. For example, ‘Shiny Happy Tuition’ might be more colloquial and relaxed in how it communicates. Whereas ‘Clayton-Wickes Education Consultants’ will probably be more formal.

The more specific you can be in your word choice, the better you’ll be able to set yourself apart from the competition.

Business Cards

Business cards may be old school but they’re a tried and tested way of spreading the word about your tutoring business.

You can get 100 basic business cards made online for as little as £10 (excluding delivery and VAT) from most printing providers like VistaPrint, Helloprint, Solopress or local suppliers, which will set you on your way to having a mini advertisement of our services in your pocket.

The essential information your business cards should include are:

• Your business name

• Your contact details including email, telephone number and website

• The subjects you tutor

• Your Unique Selling Point (USP) a sentence or two about what makes you different

When it comes to designing business cards, simplicity is key. Make sure the font you choose is legible and your essential information is clear and not hidden behind distracting graphics or logos.

The great thing about business cards is that they’re portable. You can carry half a dozen at a time in your purse or wallet and they provide all the essential information about your tutoring services that a prospective parent would need to know.

You should give a business card to every prospect that you meet. Anyone who mentions that they know someone who may be looking for a tutor is a potential lead, so ask them to pass your business card on.

If you already have a student-base, your existing clients should be your first port of call for distribution. Give each of your students 2 or 3 of your business cards and ask them to pass them on to anyone they know who may be interested. Your existing students are often your best source of new work.

You should also consider attaching business cards to any flyers or leaflets that you display as they’re often an easier way for people to remember your details.

You can even use business cards as an alternative to flyers and leave a handful in public places where parents or students may be interested in your services. Ask yourself this: ‘Where are my customers likely to hang out?’

Once you’ve identified the places that your target audience are likely to be, you can start to think about where you might want to display your cards. Try local notice boards, shop windows, public libraries, community centres, town halls and local cafes. You can even ask local shops if you can leave a pile on their counter for customers to pick up. Better still, place a sign next to your cards with the word

‘free’ written on it – you’d be amazed at how many more people will take one just because they feel like they’re getting a freebie.

You could also consider posting your business cards through a few letterboxes in your area to test the water for interest.

For those of us who aren’t as forthcoming when it comes to self-promotion, remember the phrase ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’. Give your business cards out to everyone, including your friends and family, and give them out two at a time –remember, one for you, one for your friend.

Be sure to ask for a referral once you’ve given your card out. Tell someone: ‘if you know anyone who’s looking for a tutor tell them to give me a call’. You’ll usually find that their response is something like ‘well I don’t need a tutor myself, but I know someone who might be looking for one.’

And remember to follow up on your marketing. How many people did you give your business cards to last week? How many of those people will you see again soon or have contact details for? A simple text or email can be a great way of reminding people of your services, try asking if they managed to give your other card to anyone. The chances are that that they haven’t really given it a second thought since you met them initially, but now you’ve firmly planted the seed, your business card will be further toward the forefront of their mind.

Flyers and Leaflets

If you're willing to put the effort in, leafleting can be a great way to promote your business.

Distributing leaflets door to door is one of the most popular marketing strategies for new businesses on a tight budget. Although posting flyers requires a lot of physical effort, and doesn’t produce as many responses as more modern methods, it can be a great way of targeting your market by placing your information straight into their hands.

With a response rate of around 2%, leaflet distribution may not be the best option for everyone but if you’re up to the challenge (and the walking) it may well prove to be an untapped resource.

Defining its Purpose

Perhaps the most important aspect of leaflet distribution is the strategy itself. Every piece of marketing material you create should have a well thought out purpose and have a clear call to action to encourage people to pick up the phone and contact you. Your aim is to attract the attention of your audience, keep their interest, sell your product and then prompt them to take action.

It may be an idea to offer a promotion on your service in order to increase your campaign’s success, if people think they’re getting a good deal, they’ll be more likely to make initial enquiries.

Choosing the Size of Your Flyer

There are a variety of different options when it comes to deciding on what size of leaflet to use. The most common sizes are A4, A5, A6 and A7. Consider where you’ll be distributing your information. If you’re planning on handing out leaflets on the street, you may want to consider printing smaller sizes of A7 – handy for people to keep in their wallets or purses.

Designing Your Leaflet

The first thing to consider when designing your leaflet is which software to use. It’s probably best to stick to a package that you’re already fairly familiar with as it can take some time to master new design software. Whichever software you use, at the very least, you want to be able to print your final version and use texts and images in the design.

Some popular design and layout packages include Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, Publisher and InDesign. If you’re new to the idea of creating a flyer, it could be a good idea to base your design on a ready-made template (we’ve included a few with this eBook).

Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to design but considering the type of manual distribution you’ll be doing, it’s a good idea to keep your design simple and consistent. Begin by choosing the font you want. Be sure to choose something which is easy to read like Arial or Times New Roman. Create an intriguing headline for your flyer – something that will grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read on. Finally, make sure that your contact details are prominent on the advert.

Think About What You Want to Say

Sometimes it’s not necessarily what you say, it’s how you say it. Think about the tone of your advert. Do you want it to be professional, friendly, lighthearted? Keep in mind your target audience – the words you would use for targeting younger customers would differ from those you would use if you wanted to appeal to older customers.

Write in paragraphs and in small, digestible sentences. Make sure you highlight the benefits of your services – why is your service better than the rest? How are you able to solve their problem or meet their need? Have you had any previous customers? If so, ask them for a testimonial and put it on your flyer – this reassures customers that you’re reputable and already fairly established. Finally, try not to get too technical. Avoid using too many jargon words that might confuse your reader.

Get it Proofread

The last thing you want is to come home from a hard day’s marketing only to find that you’ve missed a digit from your contact telephone number, so make sure you double check your leaflet first or better still, have someone else read over it for you. Check for spelling mistakes and grammar errors and triple check that your contact details are correct.

Where to Distribute Your Flyers

Here are some places you might want to consider distributing your flyers:

• Through letterboxes, delivered by you or a group of friends

• Shared distribution alongside other leaflets.

• As part of a newspaper of magazine insert

• On the street, handed to people as they pass by (prepare yourself for a few rejections)

• Placed underneath car window wipers

• Left in public places like a library, for people to pick up Judging the Success of Your Leaflet Marketing

If you’re committed to this type of marketing strategy, you may want to experiment with different content and different headlines, or even different promotional offers. By identifying the types of leaflets and the local areas that produce the best results, you can begin to tailor your marketing more effectively.

The easiest way to monitor the success of your campaign is to ask people where they found your details when they contact you.

Actions – Use Our Tutoring Flyer Templates

We’ve included three flyer templates with this eBook, created in Word, so you can easily edit them to suit our needs. Each one offers a slightly different, so you may want to choose the one that provides the best representation of your business, or, use all three and see which one brings you the most success.

Registering with Tutoring Agencies

Although being self-employed and doing your own marketing gives you the potential to earn more in the long-term, registering with a tutoring agency can be a great way to guarantee yourself regular income - and they’ll do most of the marketing for you.

According to TES Connect, some tutoring agencies have as many as 10,000 tutors on their books. Although these are likely to be ‘virtual’ agencies like those mentioned in the ‘tutor directories’ section of the book, most physical agencies do have large numbers of tutors registered with them as well.

Tutoring agencies don’t just hire anyone. Most require tutors to have a university degree and an up to date DBS. However, some agencies do partner with umbrella bodies and recruitment agencies and can apply for DBS checks on tutors’ behalves, which is a big plus.

Working with an agency can help establish your credibility as a tutor, as their recruitment processes are usually thorough, which can help you stand out in the industry as being reliable and trustworthy.

It’s worth noting however, that tutoring agencies do charge commission on their services. They’ll either add a mark-up price on your hourly rate when quoting parents and students, or they’ll take a commission directly from your hourly rate, typically between 20–40%.

The Good Schools Guide and the Tutors Association have a list of recommended tutoring agencies that may be useful for tutors who are considering applying to one.

According to the Good Schools Guide's Tutoring Agency Review, the best tutoring agencies know their tutors personally and interview every one before recruiting them as part of their team. To take this point further, we’ve put together a list of the common traits that set the best tutoring agencies apart from others in the industry.

The Good Schools Guide offer honest reviews of tutoring agencies

How to Find a Good Tutoring Agency to Register With?

As echoed by The Good Schools Guide, a credible tutoring agency will meet every tutor face to face before recruiting them. Tutors should undergo an interview where they’re asked questions about their teaching methods, their experience and their approach to learning. Meeting tutors face to face, enables agencies to make more informed recruitment decisions. A thorough recruitment process, might look something like this:

1.Safety Check. Before offering a tutor a place, agencies should also request a disclosure certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), which will highlight any criminal convictions.

2.Verify Qualifications. Because there aren’t any recognised qualifications for private tutors in the UK, it’s important that agencies make the effort to check that candidates have given the correct information. Qualification checking services like Qualification Check can be useful for verifying such details.

‘QualificationCheck–ausefultoolfortutoringagenciestoverifyqualifications’

3.Follow up References. References are another aspect of the tutor recruitment process that shouldn’t be overlooked. Tutors should be able to provide agencies with full contact details of referees and agencies should contact each one to verify the tutor’s suitability.

4.Training. Even the best tutors may need to brush up on certain elements of their subject or teaching methods. The best tutoring agencies will offer training opportunities to tutors when they first take up their positions and throughout the year thereafter.

Student-Focused Learning

A good tutoring agency will put their students in the driving seat. By its nature, private tutoring requires a student-centred approach if students are to benefit from extra learning outside of the classroom.

In order for tutors to find the correct balance between student-focused learning a teacher-led learning, the following process may be useful:

1.Assess Each Student’s Ability. In order for a tutor to gauge a student’s current ability, they’ll need to identify the areas in which they need to improve. This can be done by setting students the task of completing practice exam papers, in-house assessments or simply by reading feedback given by classroom teachers on their work.

2.Agree on the Best Approach. Once tutors have identified where a student needs to improve, the next logical step is to look at how they can improve. It’s important that students are involved in this process so that they feel they’ll be benefiting from the most effective approach. At this stage, tutors may want to consider what resources, materials and technologies will be the most effective for the student’s learning.

3.Set Goals and Study Schedules. The best tutoring agencies will encourage their tutors to be organised and create clear action plans for each student. Plans should include a detailed breakdown of exactly what needs to be studied and within what timescale.

Industry Credibility

The best tutoring agencies gain credibility in their area through word of mouth. If you want to verify how good an agency is, it’s always a good idea to ask former students and their parents about their experiences. Searching for online reviews can also be a good way of determining an agency’s standing. Bear in mind however, that customers are more inclined to leave reviews if they’ve had a bad experience, so don't only rely on online review websites as your source. A credible tutoring agency should display the following qualities:

1.Strong Customer Service. The best agencies know that happy students and parents are the best form of marketing. A good agency will do everything they can to accommodate a student’s needs and will maintain regular contact with parents.

2.Quoted in the Media. Agencies that are regularly quoted in the media are generally considered industry authorities. It shows that their opinions are valued in the marketplace.

3.Industry Involvement. Many good tutoring agencies are involved in educational projects outside of their immediate business. Some are involved in organizing conferences; others act as educational consultants to schools.

A Proven Track Record

Any tutoring agency worth its salt will be able to demonstrate a proven track record when it comes to getting results. The best agencies are proud to display testimonials from students and parents on their websites and should be happy to provide you with relevant statistics on how many students achieved their personal goals, how many passed overall and how many received A grades.

They should also be able to provide you with contact details of previous students and parents (who have given consent) so you can verify any information.

Clear Communication Channels

A good tutoring agency will take the time to answer any questions you may have over the phone, by email or face to face. The best tutoring agencies encourage parent involvement and should keep them informed of their child’s progress through regular updates.

They should also be available to discuss any student concerns and provide direct access to tutors. A good agency will also keep their staff informed of new developments, industry news and internal changes.

Action – Know What Tutoring Agencies Are Out There

Whether you decide to tutor through an agency or directly with your own private students, it definitely pays to be aware of what options are out there. Who are the big tutoring agencies in your local area? How might you benefit from using their services?

Tutoring agencies are also a great resource of information about what’s happening in the industry at a national and local level.

Maintaining a good relationship with agencies in your area can benefit you in a number of ways, not simply for finding work. Why not reach out to tutoring companies in your area and introduce yourself?

Registeringwith Tutor Directories

Despite the number of tutors in the UK, many don’t market themselves through their own website. And tutor directories could be one of the reasons. There are so many tutoring platforms out there that it’s difficult for tutors with a limited knowledge of website design and digital marketing to compete with the larger platforms in terms of organic search results.

For many tutors, it’s a case of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them.’

The reason that there are so many tutor directories out there is that they work. Or, at least the best ones do. The ones that occupy the Google top spots are those that deliver results and keep on top of the search engine’s ever-changing algorithms.

Generally speaking, there are three types of online directory model within the tuition industry.

1. The ‘agency’ model – where tutors create a profile for free and the directory charges a commission on every lesson arranged through the site.

2. The ‘finder’s fee’ model – where tutors create a profile for free and the directory charges the parents a fee for releasing the tutor’s details.

3. The ‘Yellow Pages’ model – where the directory charges a yearly fee for tutors to create a profile and parents can contact the tutors for free. Any lessons arranged are done so privately and there are no commission fees.

The best type of directory to advertise on is entirely dependent on how well the directory performs in search engines. Figures suggest that the number one position in Google gets 33% of search traffic. That means that the most effective directories are those that appear on top for search terms related to your services.

Other than focusing on search results, you should also consider how easy directories are to navigate. If the website is poorly designed and difficult to use, then having a high search engine ranking doesn’t really matter. No-one will find you on the site anyway.

In most cases, private tutors tend to advertise on several different sites at the same time. Why not contact some tutors through these sites directly and ask how effective they find the platform?

Note: Although our Tutor Directory List isn’t exhaustive, all those included are reputable. They’ve been online for several years and are the most popular (because they’re the most effective) directories among tutors. There are many more completely free tutor directories out there but these aren’t listed because they tend not to be as effective.

Actions – Use Our Free Tutor Directory List (at the back of the guide)

1. Write down a list of the main keywords you think students and parents will use to find a tutor like you in your local area.

2. Search for each of these terms and write down all the directory websites that appear on the first page.

3. Use our free Tutor Directory List that comes with this guide to find out more about each directory, i.e. their business model, their costs and their overall effectiveness. Decide which ones will work best for you and register with them.

Top Tutor Directory Websites