Simply Music Information Packets- Discussing Rates
Found in: About Business
Alice W. Australia
I am still slowly building up my piano business but have had several speculative calls or emails from people asking how much I charge? How often, etc. I find myself having a lengthy conversation with these people either via email or on the phone and none of these have resulted in an enrolment and therefore seem like a non-too-good use of my time in some regards. These people are often unwilling to come to an FIS and/or I am not holing one in the near future. My husband suggested I created some sort of information pack, summarizing the content of the FIS and of course with links to the simply music website. The only problem with this is that I would have to state my fees and some people may just skim straight to that information without reading all the important stuff.
Can anyone please advise on how they handle the speculative calls that come in between FISs and has anyone else created an information pack as such?
Cheri S. Utah
I have two questions for you. Are you fully committed to the Simply Music concepts, so that your passion and excitement come across when you talk about it? And are you using the “Talking to People” conversations provided in the teacher training materials? You can find Neil’s discussion about “Talking to People” here, (after entering your name and password) as well as a printable outline of the key conversations.
I’m new last as of last fall, so I’ve had lots of phone conversations in the last few months and I bring the print-up of “Talking to People” to the phone with me every time. I follow it pretty carefully, using language that’s natural to me, of course. I’ve found it incredibly effective, almost always resulting in people anxious to come over and learn more. I don’t wait for a pre-scheduled group FIS. I just invite that family over to learn more about Simply Music. When they come to my house, I spend a few minutes getting to know each other and then go through all the FIS conversations with them.
In my opinion, talking in person with someone who is enthusiastic about the program would be much more effective than reading an information packet. As you pointed out, in a live conversation you control the content, discussing fees in the context of building excitement about a wonderful, unique program. There may be many situations where a packet would also come in handy, but I doubt it would replace that personal approach.