[Jonny Black]

Cheers guys for the good advice. My instinct was to just stand my ground as it’s quite annoying when students just think they can cancel an agreement on a whim however I think it could be quite stressful as she seems the type who may take a legal route and I had nothing concrete in my Terms and conditions about it. I’ve decided to change the terms now so in future I’ll charge a 25% cancelation fee which seems fair. Best to be covered from all angles I think.

[Jonny Black]

This is something that has always puzzled me. For years I’ve tried different responses and wording to maximise the chances of getting a follow up reply from the prospective student. It’s almost become an exercise in phycology! My advice would be to follow up quite quickly but not instantly as that looks like you’re a bit too available. Keep it fairly short and business like but also warm and friendly. I have found ending with wording like ‘if you would like to book an initial session and see how it goes then let me know and we can get something booked in’. Also, ‘let me know your availability and when you would like to start and we can get something in the diary’. I always ask them to let me know if they have any questions or queries regarding the lesson context and another thing I’ve found to increase the chances of getting the student to book is to ask them if they are interested in singing and learning any particular styles. This normally gets a conversation going which helps. My final bit of advice is just to be really perceptive regarding their initial message and maybe pick out an aspect of what they say they are looking to do and make sure you address that in your response – this shows you are really taking an interest in them. Oh, and if I don’t hear from them after say 3 or 4 days then I send another message along the lines of ‘I just wanted to check you received my initial message and to let you know that I would be able to set up lessons with you if you are still interested’. This can really work. Sometimes, as you say, I just don’t hear anything back and it makes no sense but I suppose they just were not that serious in the first place. The wording of responses though can definitely make a difference so good luck!!