4 Tips to Find More Students

Author: admin

7 Apr

Place an ad online. In Salt Lake City, www.ksl.com is an online news website that also has free classifieds. When I was starting out, all of my students came from my online ad. See if your city has a free classifieds online. You can also try www.craigslist.com.
We all know that “word of mouth” is the best advertiser. But if “word of mouth” is taking a little too long for your liking, give it a kick in the pants! Last summer, I wanted to beef up my studio, so I offered one free month to anybody who referred my studio to somebody who signed up for lessons. I signed up 5 new students that summer. I felt that the loss of income for one month was worth it because it really wasn’t loss of income: Even though one parent wasn’t paying, another was. My monthly income was the same that month than it would have been without a new student. But the bonus was that the next month, there was an extra student. No doubt you have one or two eager parents who would jump on a discount or similar incentive you can offer!
Lure students to your studio. I know that sounds creepy, but hear me out. Students in my studio participate in an incentive program in which they earn an ice cream party. When the day of their ice cream party comes, they are allowed to bring a friend to their lesson. At the lesson, the student and friend eat ice cream loaded with candy, play simple piano games that even a child with no music experience can learn, and the student performs for the friend. My original purpose of the ice cream party was for motivation and a chance for my student to “show off” to a friend. The added bonus has been new students! I have acquired two new students from these parties, with two more interested. Maybe you could host a casual recital just for students where each student brings a friend. Or allow your top practicer of each month or quarter to bring a friend to one lesson for music games.
Tell everyone you know that you are a piano teacher. Tell people at church, parents of your kids, neighbors, repair people who come to your house, your piano tuner, the school bus driver, your spouse’s co-workers…you get the idea. They may not want a piano teacher when you tell them, but they will meet somebody who does. And who do you think they will recommend? That’s right: YOU!

Things I have tried that have NOT been effective-

Fliers. I posted fliers EVERYWHERE I could think of, and only got one student from it. That student didn’t always pay, so it wasn’t even a good deal! (That was my first student- before I knew how to have a backbone. But that’s another story completely.)
Business cards. I’ve handed out business cards to all my friends in hopes that the cards would circulate around. I keep business cards with me at all times. But I have not ever found an opportunity to give away a business card (other than to my suckers for friends). Maybe I’m just not talkative enough, though! Do you use business cards?
A poster in my window. It was ugly, and now I even have leftover tape on the window that I’m too lazy to figure out how to scrape off. I posted a bright pink flier in my front window on Halloween one year, hoping that one or two sugar crazed kids would see it and beg for lessons. Nobody bit. I kept it up for months afterwards, hoping that a parent walking a dog by my house would come up and ask questions. Again, nobody bit.

What has been successful for you in getting new students? What has been unsuccessful?

Filed under: Business

6 Responses for "4 Tips to Find More Students"

Leigh April 7th, 2009 at 12:27 pm 1
I’d say I get the most new students by referral from my current students. I, too, offer a referral incentive – one month tuition at 1/2 price.

A close second would be my Yellow Pages listing. It’s free with my business account. When I dropped the land line, I arranged to have all calls forwarded to my cell phone, so my listing is still there with my old phone number. It’s only $20 a month, so I don’t lose the calls I would’ve when I changed my number.

I have found newspaper advertising to be a waste of money. However, I just recently put my ad on a homeschool resource directory online. It was only $100 a year, and I’ve gotten a couple calls, but no commitments yet. I want to increase my studio, without adding a 5th day, so I figure I’ll go after the homeschoolers, because they can come earlier in the day.

I am aquainted with a couple elementary school music teachers, and have gotten a couple students through them.

I LOVE your idea of bringing a friend to the lesson! I’m going to mull that one over, and see how I can make it work for me! We do invite the family and friends to come in and listen to Christmas duets at the last lesson before the holiday break, but it’s usually just the parents and sibs.

Leigh (Michigan)
Shannon April 14th, 2009 at 11:35 am 2
craigslist has worked well. Leaving business cards at various locations not so well. Referrals from parents and other piano teachers works sometimes. Going to different drop in play times gets my name heard. Also to go with referrals, I also refer back students as I really only teach elementary level. Good students from other teachers will make that teacher when full refer beginners back.

not such good advertisements…. sidewalk chalk, but it didn’t cost me much either

For the tape use goo gone. Works to take tape off anything.. and stickers off clothes after they’ve been washed.
Meri Dolevski-Lewis April 14th, 2009 at 4:46 pm 3
I’ve found that having people see me perform helps quite a bit–I have gotten a number of students just because they saw me perform.

Ads in high-end grocery stores have worked well, especially when you get it professionally designed and printed on good paper, with tear off sections. My husband has gotten quite a few serious students from these ads.

Classified ads in areas where there are a lot of well off people.

Ads in a classical/jazz magazine here work pretty well, I usually at least recoup the cost of the ad.

Working with the schools helps too, my husband is a music teacher at a private school, and I have gotten some private students from there. Although before then I was volunteering at the schools by helping the players with their music and technique.

Craigslist, however, doesn’t seem to work too well for me, I get a lot of price checkers, and in fact have only gotten one really good student from there.
Mindy April 14th, 2009 at 10:11 pm 4
Not having read the other comments, here are a few (some off the wall) things that have worked for me to get the ball rolling.
1. Posted a flier at the dry-cleaners. The customers usually have a bit of time waiting.
2. Accompanied my child’s elementary choir concert (for free, but I got two students out of the deal)
3. My name associated with a publishing company, somebody found me by googling “piano teacher, city, state” and my name popped up as teaching that method.
4. Give you name to the local school music departments and then expect many of your students to end up playing percussion since piano is usually a weed out requirement

If you are new to the area, give yourself time to get your name in the mix and then be absolutely prepared to give a professional presentation of who you are, what you do, and what you expect. This can set you above many teachers who may be just as great, but lack that put togetherness that give the customer a sure feeling of dealing with a good competent professional.
Laura April 16th, 2009 at 8:00 pm 5
When you tell everyone you meet that you are a piano teacher, have those business cards ready to whip out! I hand them out to everyone – even service people who come to my house like the pest control, the cable guy, the air conditioner repairman, etc. I give them to bank tellers, dry cleaning clerks, leave them in beauty salons and waiting rooms of all kinds. I don’t really expect that the card itself is going to draw people to my studio – that mostly comes from me chatting up whoever I’m pitching myself to, but the card gives them my website and phone number so that they can contact me later. And, it helps to create name recognition.

Sometimes, your advertising efforts may not result in a student, but they do help to create name recognition. You want people to think of your business when they decide that they need to find a piano teacher. I’ve read somewhere that it can take as many as 10 exposures to your business name for someone to remember it.

Newspaper ads haven’t helped me much. But what does help, even if it’s only to create name recognition for your business, is to get the newspaper to do a feature on you or to print a picture of your students doing something newsworthy. Last Christmas, my students played carols at the local retirement home, and I submitted a picture with a caption about the event that included, “For more information about Lowe Piano Studio, visit (website URL).” This was totally free advertising.
Reno Lovison August 5th, 2009 at 5:28 pm 6
Piano teachers should consider that they are service providers who provide the service of piano instruction. Laura is in tune with my message which is essentially pass out business cards to EVERYONE. You never know who might be interested or who they might refer you to but it is a fact that potential students need to know how to contact you and for this a business card is invaluable. I have a free 20 minute audio seminar called Piano Teaching Business Fundamentals that you might want to listen to. I’d be anxious to get your feedback. http://www.pianoteachertraining.com