We continue our guide to being a RED Instructor with some useful advice for whilst you are teaching pupils.
Keep learning interesting and fun.
Fun and learning go together
Learning to drive is a serious matter. After all we are teaching our pupils how to drive safely for the remainder of their lives and they need to be aware of the consequences of their actions, not only to themselves but also how this will affect others. However, it is important that the whole lesson does not need to be devoted to ‘serious’ learning. Most people are more receptive to learning when they are enjoying themselves, so ensure that you share a joke or two with your pupils and have some fun, whilst learning.
Keep them motivated
It is likely that most Leaner’s will take approximately 6 months to 1 year to learn to drive. During this time, there may be many factors within their personal life that effect their ability or desire to continue learning to drive. Some of these ‘outside’ factors will be beyond your control, however by always being positive and having achievable goals to work towards, will help maintain the focus of your pupil.
Always complete a progress record card at the end of each lesson. This will give the pupil, and anyone they choose to share this information with, the ability to reflect on how things are progressing. You can also record their next appointment on the card, thus avoiding any confusion over time/date of next lesson.
Block book lessons
Agree the target date with your pupil, then agree the course of lessons that are required for preparation – book these into your diary. Remember, however that this is not set in stone and either party can alter/change the time frame if necessary, given sufficient notice.
From a business success view, block booking lessons will help you be able to manage your diary & time more efficiently. You will be able to see what hours/lessons you have planned and where best to ‘fit in’ other lessons or new pupils – this is particularly important if the area within which you teach is quite large. Pupils who have ‘regular’ lesson times are also less likely to forget, and this therefore helps reduce cancellations, and even if one lesson is cancelled there is always another planned.
Look after your pupil base
If you are following the advice from above, you will already be managing your pupil base quite well, although it doesn’t pay to become too complacent and there will always be the occasional pupil that can’t book ahead, and you may not be able to get hold of for a week or two. Try calling them at different times of the day and perhaps send them a text advising “that you are going to be in their area soon and wondered if they would like to book another lesson”.
Keep a basic record of how each pupil is progressing and what their next target is, along with the number of hours each pupil has taken/booked. An excel spreadsheet is a very simple way of doing this and will help you easily identify any pupils that haven’t had recent/regular lessons.
Manage your business
You need to know what your business plan is. At a very basic level this would require you to know what costs (franchise, fuel etc) need to be covered each week and what you require to earn, over and above this, to provide for your personal requirements. Once you know this figure, this can be transferred into the number of lessons that you need each week.
Eg.
Business costs = £250
Living costs = £450
Total = £700 (divided by hourly rate £25 = 28 hours)
It is always good to have a couple of extra hours booked in; this allows for any non-chargeable cancellations or alternatively if you have a couple of pupils that you know are wanting extra lessons, these could be fitted in at short notice to fill any cancelled lessons. Once you have your required quota of lessons booked, start to forward book any further lessons into the next week and beyond. Don’t be greedy but plan for the future.
Reducing cancellations
Some cancellations are inevitable but the frequency with which these happen and the effect this has on your business can be managed. Don’t be too soft – every cancellation reduces your profit and so you should have a strict (and plain) cancellation policy. Make a point of explaining what is written in the terms & conditions on the pupil progress card during the pupils first lesson and emphasise the reason why you may have to charge.
Block bookings with payment upfront are good way of helping reduce the effect of cancellations. Given that you already hold the pupils money there will not be any problems in receiving payment for the cancelled lesson and often the pupil will suddenly be available when they realise that it is going to cost them.
Building up a credit is a useful way of helping pupils to plan and budget for costs such as Theory / Practical Tests but also provides a way of you ensuring that the cost of any cancellation can be covered. Instead of giving your pupils a pound or two change every lesson, get some coin bags from your local bank, put the pupils name on it and save the change up for them.
Recommendations
If your pupils are happy with the teaching and service that you provide them, it is possible that they will share this with their friends and family. This positive feedback can lead to future bookings and new pupils.
You can encourage referrals by asking existing customers to hand out some business cards. Tell them to put their name on the back and tell their friend to bring the card with them to their 1st lesson – production of the card informs you who has managed to get you a referral and you could offer an incentive, perhaps a 10% reduction for the new customer. However, relying on the goodwill of your pupils to recommend you won’t always produce the results you may hope for. Providing them with an incentive to recommend you will increase the likelihood of this happening. Offering a free lesson or perhaps a £10 cash reward or voucher will increase these chances significantly.
We conclude our series on being a RED instructor with part 3, what do you do once a pupil has passed their practical test.
