Guitar teacher policies and why they are important

When students don't pay or you need to chase them for money or they missed lessons and don't pay for those lessons or are constantly changing times  its costing not just you but the rest of your students. When your policies are too soft something has to pay. You either end up compensating via a loss in income or you work more hours (less income per hour) or you need to raise your prices which means other students are paying more than they should. The end result for many teachers is frustration or in some case they simply stop teaching altogether. The worst result of all is to continue working long hours for what amounts to a junior shop assistant's wages. 

Your policies should be fair and clear for everyone. Policies should be adhere to except in the following 3 cases.

1. Teacher is at fault. If you have made a mistake of any kind you need to be flexible. E.g. If you told a student the wrong time then you need to replace that lesson at no cost.

2. First timers. I believe in giving students the benefit of the doubt. Always explain your policies from the outset but the first time they overlook one of your policies its best to be flexible but make it clear that next time the policy will be enforced.

3. Genuine excuse. There are times when people have a genuine excuse. Perhaps they were in a serious car accident, they suddenly fell ill etc. In these cases take into consideration their track record. If they are someone who seems to have a lot of very genuine excuses it might be time to insist on payment.

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3. If you have any questions please contact me via the email below.
6. Contact: My email address is g4guitar1@gmail.com

How guitar student expectations affect teacher success

Expectations are almost always the problem when a student/parent is dissatisfied or any customer for that matter is dissatisfied. McDonalds do well not because their food is such high quality for the price but because whenever anyone goes there the food and service are basically what they expect. Your first and probably most important role as a teacher is to set and meet expectations.

Prevention v cure

Prevention as they say is the best cure. A student will become dissatisfied if their progress seems too slow. Their progress really depends on practice and the quality of their practice but their expectations may very well come from somewhere else. If their level's of practice (therefore progress) and expectations don't match they will soon lose motivation. To avoid this happening teachers need to make it clear to students that practice equals progress and that it takes at least 2 years of 30 minutes a day to reach a reasonable level of proficiency. An hour a day if you want to be good. Keep pushing this message because it is one that students need to hear often. 

Honesty is the best policy

When a student becomes disillusioned in other words despite your best efforts their progress didn't meet their expectations I usually suggest the following. You need to make a plan to get them back on track. Set out your practice expectations and a timeline based on the goal. E.g. Senior Level 1. Once you have done this ask them if they are willing to put in the time required. Our role as teachers is basically to make students (and parents) accountable. If students are not keeping up their end of the bargain you need to address it straight away. Teachers often fall into the habit of saying it's okay when it's not okay just so as not to upset their student but this is basically just avoiding the issue. When a student is not meeting your requirements you are in a sense misleading them if you don't address it. I have heard many comments over the years from students who said their previous teacher wasn't so strict on practice. The reason they left that teacher was due to lack of progress and their lack of progress was due to a lack of practice. Do your student a favour and be honest with them.

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3. If you have any questions please contact me via the email below.
6. Contact: My email address is g4guitar1@gmail.com.

How to find guitar students

1.       Why is it that some guitar teachers are fully booked often with a waiting list while most guitar teachers struggle to find enough students to make ends meet. Are some teachers just better than others? While I think some teachers are definitely better in terms of results for their students this factor alone does not explain why a small percentage of teachers have more students than they can possibly handle.
3. Finding guitar students can often seem like an elusive business but the secret to success is not in your teaching skills so much as in your marketing skills. Your teaching skills are important for keeping the students you have but those skills won’t bring students to you in the first place. Imagine a new restaurant opens in a small unknown alley way where no one ever goes. That restaurant can have fantastic food but if no one knows about it the word will not spread. For the restaurant to succeed and bring in customers it needs three things. 1. Exposure 2. Appeal. 3. Credibility.
5. Exposure - People need to know you exist. To know you exist requires some kind of exposure. In the case of guitar teaching you might have a studio on a busy street or you might do a local letterbox flyer drop or advertise on the internet and so on. 
7. Appeal - Once people see your ad it must appeal to them in someway. The attention of most people in today’s world is very short. If your ad doesn’t appeal to them in 3 to 5 seconds they will move on to something else. Google found that the average person spends only 10 seconds on a list of search results before returning to a new search if something doesn’t appeal to them. That means they are scanning the listings and literally spending only a few seconds on each ad.
9. Credibility - Once people know you exist and your ad appeals to them their first question is “Are you credible?” Your credibility will make all the difference. If they have no real way of establishing your credibility they are likely to check other options. Credibility in most cases is more important than price. In fact if you are cheap that gives them even more reason to believe you are not credible.
13. So how do you implement all three effectively? 
15. Exposure is pretty simple. You need to do as much as you can to put yourself in front of your potential students. These days there are two levels to exposure. Online and offline. If you are not easy to find online you will miss a lot of potential students. Establishing an online presence as I learned take hundreds and hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars. You basically need to put up a lot of rich content that search engines like Google will think is valuable and than back it up with paid marketing. Offline is all about local marketing. As a local guitar teacher your students are most likely to come from within a 5km radius. The further out you go the less likely they are to enrol with you. It’s purely a matter of convenience. Any exposure you can get within in that area will be good. Letterbox flyers, school newsletters, a stall at a local fete are good examples of offline marketing.  
17. Appeal is a matter of effective marketing and presentation. There are certain rules to marketing which will give your ads the greatest appeal. Knowing what to include in your ads and what to leave out will make all the difference. For years I tested different kinds of letterbox flyers and had poor to lets say acceptable results. Through educating myself on the rules of marketing and then lots of testing I eventually worked out a winning flyer that got consistent results. With this flyer I was able to build 5 guitar schools with around 500 students in just 2 years. The flyer had just the right amount of appeal.
19. Credibility is a little more difficult and it starts with your website. A credible website again needs to possess certain characteristics. For example having some kind of system of teaching will help students to feel that you have a method or strategy to your teaching. They want to know you know what you are doing. Testimonials of course are always good. Seeing what other people have to say about your teaching helps to build credibility. Having a blog with well written articles will make a big difference because prospective students can get an idea about who you are and what you believe in. If your blogs seem credible so will you. These are just a few examples. 
21. Our first aim as a network is effective marketing. While there is no one perfect way to market your business our years of experience and dedication to the marketing of guitar lessons gives us a very powerful advantage. In nearly every case when guitar teachers join the our network they will have 30+ students within 6 to 12 months. Here is a summary of how we achieve that result.
23. Marketing - Firstly we include you on our website so students can find you. This gives you the exposure. Our website is designed to be appealing while also giving you credibility. As a member you need to live up to that reputation of course. We also give you custom made flyers as PDF’s which you can print and then deliver to people’s letterboxes in your area. They are designed to be low cost and highly effective. On top of all that we have email templates you can use to ensure the best results. It’s a complete marketing package.
25. Enrolling/Sales - There is no point in getting lots of inquiries if they are not turning into paying students. We will teach you what to say and how to deal with every step of the enrolment process to ensure you are enrolling at least 80% of all inquiries. This is a critical area that when done right will ensure your student numbers constantly grow.
27. Keeping students/Effective teaching strategies - Knowing what to teach and how to teach it will make all the difference to the longevity of your students. For some teachers they already have a good teaching strategy but there is always room for improvement especially if your average student is not with you for a minimum of 2 years.
29. Referrals - Lastly we will teach you how to get referrals. Your students should eventually become your best source of new students. The reason I was able to get to 500 students in 2 years was a combination of all the above factors but about 30% of those students came from referrals and as you grow that percentage increases.
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    3. If you have any questions please contact me via the email below.
    6. Contact: My email address is g4guitar1@gmail.com.

Teaching guitar to young children

If you have no experience teaching young children  your first experience might leave you believing they are too young. This is actually the best age to start because there are many benefits to learning early that older students miss out on. The perception that guitar is for the more mature child is basically an urban myth. You only have to look at classical music and you will see that most teachers begin lessons on instruments like violin and piano as young as 2 years old.

Let children be children

Starting early requires a completely different approach. It is important not to put adult expectations on to young children. The early years are about building awareness of music concepts, having fun and allowing them to explore. Children are naturally curious about music and if you can turn every lesson into play time you will be successful. For ideas on making music fun watch Sesame Street, Play School or The Wiggles.

Your first lesson

Your first experience will likely feel awkward so it is best to simply be aware of this fact and  treat it as an opportunity to expand your skills as a teacher. Be very careful not to misunderstand a child who is hypoactive or unable to sit still as being too young. You just have to learn how to focus that energy towards learning guitar which I will explain below. 

Normalise  

Young children will respond in a variety of ways from extreme shyness to hyperactive to cheeky and occasionally even a tantrum. Every behaviour is just their way of dealing with a new and unfamiliar environment. It is critical to assure parents that because the situation is new young children will act out in various ways. I always assure parents that it is quite normal and it will take a few weeks for them to settle into the new environment. You might for example have a young child who keeps moving the guitar around and just won't sit still long enough to learn. The wrong approach is to try and force them whereas if you ask them to play a game and copy you they are more likely to do it. Keep everything short unless they are really responding and enjoying the exercise. Parents will understand as long as you explain what you are doing. 

Parents - Parents are the key to success with young children. The biggest mistake inexperienced guitar teachers make is trying to teach young children without parent involvement. Every parent is different but for you as a teacher the goal is the same. You need them to be involved because without someone at home helping your student with their practice you are unlikely to make much progress from week to week. It is critical to give the parent an idea of what to expect. Explain that with young children its all about small steps and building foundations and all that matters in the first few lessons is that they the parent understand what needs to happen at home. 

The shy child - If you have a shy child ask the parent what songs they know. E.g. Twinkle twinkle and then play it for them. Ask them to sing it with you. By starting with familiar tunes they will open up and you might eve get a smile. Don't push too hard and try not to put them in the spot light. Just keep performing for them and then explaining to the parent what you would like them to do at home. The child will trust you more if you are friendly and not too pushy. Try to give them some very easy simple things to remember like the finger numbers or clapping 1,2,3,4. By making it  easy they are more likely to return the following week eager to show you they know the answers.

The restless child - Some children just can't sit still for more than 60 seconds. That's okay. Just go with it at first and keep trying to extend their sitting time. You could even turn it into a game by timing how long they can sit without moving. Talk about what they like at first to get their attention. It might be a favourite cartoon, story, their friends at daycare/school etc. Its all about building trust. When you show an interest in what they like they will more likely respond to your requests. A basic rule to gain a young child's attention is to move their attention towards something rather than away. E.g. Instead of saying "Stop getting up from your chair" try "Let's play the sitting game". In this case you are moving them towards sitting.

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3. If you have any questions please contact me via the email below.
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Guitar teaching challenges

Not all students will be happy and motivated at every lesson. At times you will strike a student who challenges you for one reason or another and it seems like nothing can be done but let me give you some hope. When you feel frustrated it is almost always because a student is not meeting your expectations in one way or another. In fact this applies to anyone in your life. Those who fail to meet your standards will soon become an irritation if you allow it. You therefore have two choices. 

1. Change your standards or 

2. Make it clear what you require of your students. 

In most cases as a teacher we know what is required for a student to succeed. Students who are not meeting our standards probably won't progress and knowing that is what often frustrates us as teachers. We try to be polite, diplomatic, subtle but nothing we do works. So here is what I suggest.

Firstly don't try and please your student if it means compromising their progress. Being honest about what you expect shows how much you care.  You are not doing them any favours by being nice. Everyone wants to be good at something but far too often they make excuses in their lives as to why they can't fully commit and they try to sell those excuses to you. Its the same story they have been selling to themselves for years. Being half committed to their goals is a recipe for failure.

Teach your students the valuable life lesson of commitment. If you have students who are not committed it will reflect on you. In fact your students are a reflection of you. If your students (and their parents) are not focused and committed to the program then you need to raise the issue with them. If you are not sure how to handle the situation then talk to me first. You want to ensure all your students are on board so teaching is a pleasurable and totally rewarding experience. If students miss lessons too often or are late or unprepared then raise the issue with them and let them know its NOT ACCEPTABLE. 

You tried everything

Recently one teacher came to me saying that one particular student was really testing him and it was putting him off his whole day and he did not know how to deal with the situation. Here are my comments.

There are those rare students who despite your best efforts are just not going to change and stopping their lessons may be required but this should not be done lightly and always the last resort after you have tried everything. Always seek help and advice before taking this step but once you feel you have done your best you need a strategy that will minimise any damage so here is what I suggest. 

The aim is to end on good terms and have nothing but good intentions. That is you want what is best for the student and if the relationship between you and your student is not going well suggesting an alternative may be the answer. I would suggest you recommend another teacher but make sure you check with the teacher first and make sure that teacher understands the situation. Explain to the student that the new teacher will be better suited to their interests and never suggest that it was personal. No one likes to be personally rejected.

If by chance they do leave on bad terms then remain professional at all times. Everyone carries baggage and sometimes your best efforts will not make any difference. Just be polite and wish them all the best and leave it at that.

Challenging children 

Here are some points to consider;

• Children naturally seek out adult boundaries. It's part of learning.

• Children are learning your rules so be clear but patient.

• Some children will test you until they are clear about your rules.

• Be firm but fair, consistent and clear in what you expect.

• Set your rules early and follow through. Better to start strict and soften as you go.

• Do not humiliate or embarrass a child. Just be clear about your rules.

• If they act up tell them you will be speaking to their parents if they don't settle.

• Time out is an effective response to unacceptable behaviour but it should be used as a last resort. 

When you are not sure how to deal with a situation please ask. You will usually find the same issues will keep coming at you until you learn how to deal with them. You have to look at what they are doing and how you are responding and try different strategies until you find what works. Once you do you will eliminate that same problem in the future. The main problem with adults is they see everything from an adult point of view. We forget how children see the world. Children are rarely the problem. Adults are the key to a child’s behaviour. Children respond to their environment.

1. G4 GUITAR Teacher Network
   
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3. If you have any questions please contact me via the email below.
6. Contact: My email address is g4guitar1@gmail.com.