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Kerry H.

Hi everyone. Does anyone have any questions about Building a studio?

Kerry H. (USA) …I have the opportunity to do two children’s fairs in September

Cathy H. (USA)
All day events, that would require a display etc.

Cathy H. (USA)
Have you had any results or see any reason why that wouldn’t be a good thing to do?

Kerry H. (USA)
I think it sounds like a great idea. I have never done a children’s fair, but have done several Homeschool Conferences.

Cathy H. (USA)
Great. Ok one thing I wanted you to know…

Kerry H. (USA)
You would need to consider it an experiment, not knowing how it might turn out….

Cathy H. (USA)
Is that it’s free, so it’s hard to turn down.

Kerry H. (USA)
If it is successful, it would be great to do it again, and if it’s not then you know for next time.

Cathy H. (USA)
But NBC is sponsoring it so I was a little concerned.

Kerry H. (USA)
Yes, if it’s free, then it’s a good opportunity.

Kerry H. (USA)
Why were you concerned about that?

Cathy H. (USA)
Well, I’m not sure how much media attention there will be…

Cathy H. (USA)
I’m not interested in pursuing that and I know they can be pushy.

Cathy H. (USA)
But having said that, I don’t have all the details yet either.

Kerry H. (USA)
Well, it would be a good idea to find out how many people they are anticipating and ask the organizers what you can expect.

Cathy H. (USA)
True, I have a conference with them tomorrow.

Kerry H. (USA)
Once you find out, you could contact me and we could talk about it, if you like.

Cathy H. (USA)
That would be great thanks.

Debbie V. (USA)
If you could bring a couple young students with you, they will attract a lot of people to your booth! My kids attracted a lot at a homeschool fair.

Cathy H. (USA)
I thought about that, plus I have Kindermusik to show as well.

Cathy H. (USA)
Thanks Debbie.

Kerry H. (USA)
So, let me ask everyone some questions….

Kerry H. (USA)
I’d like an answer from everyone, so that I know where you’re at….

Cathy H. (USA)
Okay.

Kerry H. (USA)
How many students do you have currently and how many would you like to have?

Cathy H. (USA)
25 current 80+.

Karen (USA)
Had five, now two, want 30.

Debbie V. (USA)
I have three currently and would like 50+. I’m just getting started.

Jenny D. (USA)
I am just getting started so I only have one right now. Would like to have 40.

Karen (USA)
Javier has one and would like 30+.

Kerry H. (USA)
OK, great.

Kerry H. (USA)
There are so many things that you can do, I’m sure we will only get to scratch the surface tonight, but it will be a start….

Kerry H. (USA)
So I hope you don’t mind if I just begin to ramble on with some suggestions.

Debbie V. (USA)
THAT WOULD BE GREAT!

Karen (USA)
Go for it! By the way, how many students do you have currently Kerry?

Kerry H. (USA)
Currently, I have around 50, but in my 14.5 years of piano teaching have mostly averaged around 70 students per week and have had as many as 90…..

Karen (USA)
Wow, impressive.

Cathy H. (USA)
Oh the paperwork!

Kerry H. (USA) Currently, my numbers are around 50 because I work alongside of Neil in the office the rest of the time.

Cathy H. (USA)
And you teach all private, no groups right Kerry?

Kerry H. (USA)
No, Cathy, I have one group of seven students, but I taught groups in Australia for years.

Cathy H. (USA)
Oh ok! That’s what I want to do – groups.

Debbie V. (USA)
Me too!

Kerry H. (USA)
I have found that the most effective thing….

Kerry H. (USA)
Is first of all to make up my mind that I’m going to start a project of “build my numbers”….

Kerry H. (USA)
So, the first step is to take on the project and put everything into it….

Kerry H. (USA)
You have to make it a priority…..

Kerry H. (USA)
and then you want to do as many things as possible….

Kerry H. (USA)
in other words, don’t put all your eggs in one basket…..

Kerry H. (USA)
research shows that most people have to see an advertisement many times before they act upon it.

Kerry H. (USA)
I have had the most success however, with advertising in local newspapers, and there are particular things about that that I want to
say….

Kerry H. (USA)
Firstly, I discovered that it really works to use a photograph….

Kerry H. (USA)
I found I got almost no response to ads that contained no photograph, compared to an enormous result with photograph….

Cathy H. (USA)
What do you mean by enormous (so I can compare).

Kerry H. (USA)
Well, that varied, I don’t have statistics off the top of my head, and it varied depending on the time of year, but I always got way
more students than it cost to place the ad, even without taking into the consideration…..

Cathy H. (USA)
Ok thanks.

Kerry H. (USA)
That some of those students stayed for a couple of years.

Karen. (USA)
Are you talking about a photograph supplied by SM or your own?

Kerry H. (USA)
Karen, in those days, Simply Music wasn’t supplying anything as it didn’t have the resources, and I’m even talking pre Simply Music days, so I supplied my own.

Karen (USA)
But what if you don’t have the cash layout to spend $2,000 on an ad?

Cathy H. (USA)
All of the marketing reps I’ve talked to have said to use a picture.

Cathy H. (USA)
Why $2000 Karen?

Kerry H. (USA)
If you are new to an area, a good idea is to approach the local newspaper and ask them to write you a story…

Karen (USA)
I heard that both Neil and Kevin say it cost them between $2,000 and $3,000 to run ads in the Sacramento Bee…

Kerry H. (USA)
In a case where the ads are very expensive, you may want to approach other teachers in your area and see if they would like to do some joint advertising….

Cathy H. (USA)
My ads have cost $130.00 each. They are Neil’s ads. Maybe they meant several weeks in a row?

Karen (USA)
$130 in Sac Bee?

Karen (USA)
With pic?

Cathy H. (USA)
No no, I’m in the Bay Area. Everything is expensive here. Yes with a pic.

Kerry H. (USA)
In fact, I am going to be arranging meetings in the near future for teachers who want to discuss some ideas like joint advertising and other mutually supportive things.

Cathy H. (USA)
That’s a great idea Kerry.

Karen (USA)
Yes it is.

Cathy H. (USA)
I should contact Bernadette in San Jose when she’s finished training.

Kerry H. (USA)
When I first started teaching, I had 11 students in my first week that I had inherited….

Kerry H. (USA)
and I approached my community newspaper and asked them to write a story and to include a photograph and my telephone
number….

Kerry H. (USA)
they did, and the ad appeared in my third week of teaching…

Kerry H. (USA)
within one week of the ad appearing, I had 32 students….

Cathy H. (USA)
Our community comes out with “Back to School Edition” in September and I will be in it. Hope it works that well for me!

Kerry H. (USA)
and within two weeks, I had 40 students and a waiting list!

Cathy H. (USA)
No kidding, that’s great.

Karen (USA)
Great!…. what about the fact that both Neil and Kevin have had write-ups in the local paper here already? Do you think they would be willing to do it again…?

Kerry H. (USA)
Karen, possibly not with the Sacramento Bee, but you can only try? What about some other local paper?

Kerry H. (USA)
The other thing I found, was that it made a difference where the ad was placed….

Kerry H. (USA)
And in fact, I used to pay a surcharge to have my ad placed in the first four pages of the newspaper, because the results were so much better than when they appeared on page 16, for example.

Cathy H. (USA)
You mean they told you it was better?

Kerry H. (USA)
Cathy, No…I found out by trial and error….I spent $1,000’s on advertising, in fact….

Karen (USA)
We have thought about a couple that are local to our area….

Cathy H. (USA)
Oh ok, I see.

Karen (USA)
How about the back page of a newspaper?

Kerry H. (USA)
I used to advertise every few weeks in the early days, because I was running five-week workshops and weekend workshops.

Kerry H. (USA)
I didn’t try the back page, but I did try small classified ads under the music section, and I think I may have only gotten one response….ever!!

Karen (USA)
I believe it.

Kerry H. (USA)
The other thing that I found to be productive, was to put business cards in local businesses, for example….

Kerry H. (USA)
I had a local Patisserie, which sold lunches, cakes and pastries, and they let me put some business cards in there. What I did was….

Kerry H. (USA)
buy some of those small business card holders, tape one of my cards to the back of it, so that when the cards were all gone, the last card was taped there. That achieved two things….

Kerry H. (USA)
1) when there were no cards left, there was at least one card where people could write down my details, and

Kerry H. (USA)
2) it stopped the holder from getting removed.

Kerry H. (USA)
I also used to carry my business cards with me everywhere, and still do, and when I get into conversation about what I do for a
living….

Kerry H. (USA)
I never just say I’m a piano teacher, I always say….

Kerry H. (USA)
I teach a revolutionary method of learning to play piano and keyboard that’s fast and simple. It almost always generates a conversation and often a student….

Kerry H. (USA)
and that is when I get asked if I have a card.

Kerry H. (USA)
The other thing that I have done, is a blitz with my existing students….

Kerry H. (USA)
and I ask each student the following question at the end of their lesson….

Kerry H. (USA)
If I were to give you one of my business cards, do you know someone that may be interested in lessons? This achieves the following….

Kerry H. (USA)
1) it prompts the student to actually think of someone they know that might be interested, and 2) by having the card, it helps to have them actually act on it.

Kerry H. (USA)
You can also put up flyers in all kinds of places, such as….

Kerry H. (USA)
schools, pre schools/kindergartens, community/service clubs….

Cathy H. (USA)
careful on that one…believe it or not we have a city ordinance that prevents that from happening.

Kerry H. (USA)
other businesses that have notice boards….

Kerry H. (USA)
what do you mean?

Cathy H. (USA)
You cannot post flyers anywhere in this town or in the schools, You’ll be fined.

Kerry H. (USA)
I would always get permission, in fact it’s a perfect opportunity to have a conversation with them about it….

Karen (USA)
I have a question… were all your ads based around a “free introductory session” where you have a setup conversation as a group, at a particular time and place similar to what Neil did on the video… or just one-on-one privately?

Kerry H. (USA)
I approached a number of schools in my area and spoke with them about the program and then asked them if I could put a small ad in their school newsletter….

Cathy H. (USA)
I know…it’s just that most people think it’s ok to just go do it. In Pleasanton, the Planning Dept. is in charge and it’s not allowed, ridiculous, but the police have fined people for garage sale signs.

Kerry H. (USA)
Some of them charged me, some didn’t, but it did generate some students.

Kerry H. (USA)
Karen, my ads were mostly based around having the free intro sessions, because….

Kerry H. (USA)
I found that that was the most effective use of my time, and the most effective way of enrolling people.

Cathy H. (USA)
I just ran a direct mail card last Friday and have another one coming out tomorrow for an Introductory Session on August 3rd.

Cathy H. (USA)
So far I have 20 families coming to the session!! This has been the best advertising for me so far.

Kerry H. (USA)
Great job, Cathy.

Karen (USA)
What is a direct mail card?

Kerry H. (USA)
I have always found that if I do a campaign and do as many things as possible, it has a multiplier effect.

Cathy H. (USA)
Karen, do you get Penny Saver?

Karen (USA)
Yes.

Cathy H. (USA)
Have you ever seen those 1/3 to 1/2 size ads that sit on top?

Cathy H. (USA)
It will say Penny Saver on the back.

Cathy H. (USA)
That’s a direct mail card, a separate ad that’s placed in your mailbox by the post office

Karen (USA)
I haven’t paid any attention…always goes in the garbage… oops!

Cathy H. (USA)
Some Karen, yes, and I was concerned about that too, but the one I have tomorrow is going to 43,000 people. Last week it only went to 18,000.

Karen (USA)
May I ask about how much it cost for the direct mailing?

Cathy H. (USA)
Sure … the 18,000 one cost $750, the 43,000 one costs $1200.

Cathy H. (USA)
Expensive, but if I get the enrollment it will be worth it, and I’ve been spending about $400 to $500 per month in the paper.

Cathy H. (USA)
This was also through Pleasanton Weekly, not Penny Saver, I’m not sure what their rates are.

Kerry H. (USA)
One other thing that I wanted to mention that is particularly important to remember, is this….

Kerry H. (USA)
often teachers who are starting out, are concerned that they don’t have the money to pay for advertising. But it’s important to remember that if you can find a way of getting the money….

Kerry H. (USA)
you only need to generate enough students to pay for the cost of the ad itself….and if their enrollment fee pays for the advertising, but they stay for 2 years or even 1 year, then it has been a fantastic investment!

Cathy H. (USA)
I can also say that a really nice tri-fold mailer (color and all) to about 5,000 people in my area costs about $4000.00 (postage and all). The neighboring city here has no problem with flyer distribution to residents. If you have kids, you could have them their buddies (or hire them!), to hit the pavement and deliver the fliers.

Jenny D. (USA)
Kerry, this has been great. Thanks for the ideas!

Karen (USA)
Thanks very much…

Debbie V. (USA)
Yes, It has helped me with ideas. Thanks!

Kerry H. (USA)
You’re most welcome. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email me. I’m going to love you and leave you all. I wish you all the best with growing your studios and as I said, if I can support you in any way, please let me know.