Simpedia

Cheri S., Utah

I keep students at the group rate if it’s not their choice to go private. If their group mates quit, that’s not their responsibility. But if they need to go private because they’re not keeping up with their class, that’s a different matter. And that’s something we’d be talking about well before shifting to private.

I also have individual tuition arrangements sometimes for other reasons, and no one else knows or needs to know.

Patti P., Hawaii

When I don’t have any other group for them and they need to continue at the group rate for budgetary reasons, I give them a short lesson vs a full half hour.

Laurie Richards, Nebraska

I usually give up a few months at the group rate, but I let them know that I either need to find a group for them to join or change to the private rate. I rarely do privates, and ONLY if there are extenuating circumstances. Then I offer 2 choices: a much higher private rate for weekly lessons, or the group rate for biweekly lessons.

Colleen R., Washington

I extend the lower rate until I have a suitable combo. My students do not know one another’s rates generally. I have a set rate for private and group, but I also discount siblings and subsidize a couple families who could not study otherwise.

It’s not their business and I am never overly concerned about the single who didn’t create the problem. It usually works out and good will has always been my main marketing strategy. That I can work 2-1/2 days, enjoy my grandchildren and help elderly parents while making a fantastic income and maintaining a waiting list is every day a marvel to me.

Heidi M., Canada

My first group of three broke up when one quit and the other two had different speeds of progress. Neither could afford the private rate and I could not continue them together. So now they both do private lessons every other week. It is still cheaper for them than the weekly private rate, and they are (so far) both doing very well, in fact better than they were in the group. But I also have two other groups of two each, where the group dynamic is better for them than the private situation. So I do like doing groups when possible if the fit is right.

Rochelle G., California

I think it is all relative. It depends on the size of your studio and if you have potential students to merge together or not. Depends on how big the size of groups are that you start with. I like to start with the group of four or five, and then if I lose a couple I still have a group left. Sometimes it’s more work to merge private students than to just keep them private. We each have to decide our own answers to some of these questions.

I’m considering when a group comes apart and I don’t have another immediate group to charge the group rate for six months and then if we can’t find a new group, the private rate will be something more than a group rate but something less than my actual private rate.So far I have must let them stay at that group rate because I’m a softy. Perhaps too soft for a business sense. But I don’t accept new private students at anything other than the private lesson rate. And the only time I usually accept new private students is when I have a new adult that I really want, or I just plain need another bit of income per month. For me I don’t get a lot of adult groups.

The art of managing groups is a constant learning process, I have found. For my part, the past few months I have focused on paying more attention to where my students are each at, in terms of mental and emotional status, and constantly vocalizing my expectations on both the role of the student and the role of the coach. I’m trying to strike a balance of meeting them where they are and holding them up to the expectations of my studio.