Simpedia

Robin Keehn, Washington, & Kevin M., California

Dear Teachers,

As many of you may know, there are new marketing opportunities that we can engage in that cost us nothing, are without risk, and give us potentially significant exposure as an organization. I am specifically talking about Groupon and Living Social, the new concept in marketing. For those you who are unfamiliar with the way these programs work, for no charge, these companies will write an ad for you and run a special “deal” online for you over 24 hours. The “deal” is usually offering a product or service for at least 50% off the normal price. People find out about the deal by being signed up for daily emails. They simply “buy” the deal online, pay with a credit card and it’s done. You get half of what money that Living Social or Groupon collect. They gain by collecting the money and you benefit by collecting money and by getting exposure in your market.

Simply Music is in the process of setting up “deals” with about 30 teachers throughout the US with the company, Living Social. The “deal” offers a Simply Music workshop that includes workshop materials and four lessons. These deals will be happening around the country soon in the “Family Edition” of Living Social. Teachers signed up to be in on the deal in January.

Several of us have already run deals through these two companies or through smaller, local companies and we want to share with you what you can expect from callers and how you can be prepared to talk to people. We also want to tell you about converting those workshop students into regular, enrolled students.

What to Expect:

First, when your deal happens, you will be getting phone calls. You will not get a list of people who bought your deal. People will be calling you! It is most important that you are prepared to talk with people. This is their first impression of you so you must be clear, concise and prepared! Get to know the person you are speaking to. Ask them if they’ve had lessons before. Ask them what their musical background it and what their experience was. Ask what prompted them to purchase this deal? What do they expect to get from the four week workshop? What are their goals? Are they interested in continuing lessons after the four weeks? You might want to encourage them to look at your website and at the Simply Music website.
Ask them to download the Curriculum Overview and bring it to class along with their Living Social receipt.

You might consider having information on your website if you have one. Have a place that lists class times and where they can fill out a form where they submit their contact information. That will give you access to students and you can make some follow up calls.

Next, tell them what to expect. Let them know that at the first class you will be telling them about this remarkable Australian-developed piano and keyboard program and how it works as well as teaching them a song. They can plan to learn a song during each of the four weeks. Let them know that they will have an opportunity to enroll at their fourth lesson and that you will be offering them a special discount at that time. Be sure to tell them that these are GROUP lessons. Tell them a little about how they work (approximate group sizes, benefits of learning in a group). Also talk about the COACH IN THE LESSON. Be sure to tell them if you have this requirement. They may ask why so be prepared with a brief statement about the coach needing to be present to support their student both in the lesson and at home with the SHM. This phone call should last about 5 minutes so be prepared–have a script in front of you and keep it with you incase you get calls on your cell phone!

It is really important that you consider this an opportunity to build your studio. It is a business opportunity and it gives you exposure and the ability to get the message out about Simply Music. If you do not actively pursue people and tell them about Simply Music (how great it is, what genres of music they will learn, about the accompaniment program, about comp and improv) they will leave with just a taste and that will be it. People need to be informed and this is your chance, every week, to talk about Simply Music. People need to see the possibilities and envision what it would mean for them if they chose to continue.

Remember, this is not about how much money you can make–rather it is about an opportunity to build studio numbers and promote Simply Music. It is a fantastic free ad with 50% of the proceeds going to YOU regardless of how many people actually show up to take advantage of the deal they bought. It gives you a chance to hone your teaching skills and become familiar with teaching groups if you are a new teacher.

Let’s talk about the lessons. Your first lesson should include a shortened version of the Free Intro Session–maybe demo fewer songs and give less examples of how we are musical. You will change the demo from Ode to Joy to Nightstorm and teach that as their first song! If you cannot fit in all of Nightstorm, have them learn the tailpiece at home with the DVD. In that first session you should also plan to talk about how lessons work, what to expect, how to use the DVD…

The second week is Jackson Blues which borrows the LH from Nightstorm so it is quite natural for students to learn that in one session.

The third week is Amazing Grace which is very easy to teach since we know playing chords from Jackson Blues. During the third week it is very important that you talk about the fourth lesson. Be sure to tell them that you are going to be offering a special incentive for those who wish to continue in lessons. Ask them to come prepared with their credit card or checkbook.

The fourth week you will be teaching Ode To Joy and then sum up what you have learned. You could invite them each to play their favorite song and have a bit of a mini-recital. You can talk about all of the components of the program that they will be learning as enrolled students (comp & improv, accompaniments, blues improv, etc). You could demo Alma Mater Blues, Fur Elise and some of the songs people really love. At this point, offer them an incentive to continue. One idea is to discount their Level 1 materials. They already have learned four of the ten songs so you could charge them half the normal cost of Level 1. Yes, that means that you will have to cover that cost but in the space of a lesson, you will have recouped that money. It is a small price to pay to retain a student and it builds good will. There may be a different discount that you would be more comfortable offering. It is completely up to you. Do not be shy and miss this opportunity to enroll students. People want to be told what they should do! Tell them what a great gift having music as a lifelong companion is. Speak from the heart and enroll them!

We will put this email up on the FAQs library so that it is easily available to you when you need it. Please let us know if you have any questions!