One of the biggest challenges that any studio faces is keeping a steady flow of traffic coming through the door from week to week. Sure, on paper the schedule is full; but when you factor in illness, vacations, and extracurricular activities, often that schedule ends up with gaping holes in it.
I’ve been dealing with this issue in my studio since it first opened…up until a few months ago, when I implemented an easy fix. It’s such a simple solution that I’m almost embarrassed I didn’t think of it sooner.
Almost all of my students’ parents (and many of my older students themselves) have a Facebook account, as I wrote about in my previous blog post. And like me, many of them log in on a daily basis. So instead of crossing my fingers that current students and those on my open waiting list will log in to their studio account and register for available lesson times, I make it a whole lot easier.
In every studio email I send, I include a link to my Facebook page in my signature and encourage all students to “like” the page in order to stay updated. Then once a day, if I have any openings in my schedule, I’ll simply post them on my studio’s Facebook page. I also include a link to the login page of my website so that someone can quickly and easily register upon seeing the post.
In my experience thus far, these openings get snatched up quickly. I have social media to thank in part for consistent studio income, where otherwise I might have missed out due to last minute cancellations. Do you employ a similar system?
Theresa
Thanks for the suggestion! Our school doesn’t have a wait list for music lessons so I can’t implement that suggestion, but I do like your recommendation to include a link to my studio’s facebook page in my email signature. I use facebook to make studio announcements and new blog posts about music education.