The student support specialist should know what to do when students ask about private lessons – price, schedule, location, duration, and instructor, etc. - and help them book a session/package. Connect them with the instructor and make sure the session went well afterwards.
Context:
We offer private salsa/bachata lessons and the inquiries typically come from:
Engaged couple wanting to learn a salsa/bachata choreography for their wedding dance
Someone from another state/country who’s visiting the area and wants to get busy/social
A student enrolled to our group program, missed a couple of classes and wants to catch up
A student who’s joining the group program mid-season and wants to catchup before jumping into class
A very shy student who wants to learn in their own pace before joining the group programs
It is very likely that the remote assistant will be assigned up to 3 academies, so be very careful when introducing yourself to the student and the instructor. Make sure you tell them you’re from {NameOfCity} Salsa and Bachata Dance Academy. Example you’re assigned to support students for our academy in Las Vegas, you should say you’re from Las Vegas Salsa and Bachata Dance Academy.
Tools and Permissions:
For this task, you’ll need the access to the following:
Google Calendar of each instructor and academy programs (give your Gmail address to Louise/manager so she can share it with you). Make sure to have the “make changes and manage sharing” access to all the calendars. You’ll have multiple calendars: one per instructor.
A Google Voice account for SMS messaging
Access to financeview@moversandshakers.com email
The PDF/JPG file of our private lessons info sheet. This will be shared to your Dropbox account.
Steps
1. When you receive an SMS message from a lead or a student asking about private lessons, first thing that the remote assistant should do is to look at the calendar of the instructor and check which dates he/she is available.
2. Inform the lead about the earliest time and day we can schedule them for a session. Afterwards, send them the info card sheet so they have all the needed details.
3. Open your Google Calendar and make sure you’re seeing all calendars shared with the instructors. Find a date/time that works for both the student and the particular instructor.
4. Next, update the shared Google calendar with the assigned instructor in the following format:
As shown in the screenshots above, the name of student is written as Event Title. When they’re new private lesson students, the remote assistant should include a context in the title so we can help the instructor prepare for the session.
Notice that the calendar is different for every instructor – this is important. We share the calendar with them as well. Sessions are 45 minutes long. Sometimes, students will book a double session, so this means a private lesson that’s 1 hour and 30 minutes long.
When the student isn’t paid yet but they said they’ll be booking the date, you may write their name on the calendar with “?” at the beginning of the event title. This indicates that the session isn’t confirmed yet. Once the student pays, don’t forget to remove the “?” so other instructors know they shouldn’t book for that time anymore.
5. When the student confirms availability for the session and everything’s set, ask them “To lock in the session on our calendar, do you prefer Venmo or Zelle?”
If they ask for our account to any of those apps, check the payment page of our academy website and reply to them with the correct payment info. You will be able to verify that the payment went through when you check financeview@moversandshakers.com.
6. Once their payment is verified, create an SMS group chat with the student and the instructor. Follow this SMS message template:
Hi {NameOfStudent}! Louise here with Movers and Shakers Salsa and Bachata Dance Academy. I created this group chat with your instructor, {NameOfInstructor}, for faster communications.
You're confirmed for a private lesson on Thursday (tomorrow), 3/30, at 7pm.
Location: Park your car near 1296 Holmby Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90024 (there's plenty of free street parking).
Be sure to come to this address, not the address on Google :)
When you arrive, please don't knock on the door. Just message here and {NameOfInstructor} will come out and show you where you'll be.
Enjoy!
7. Make sure the instructor replies to the group chat, too. If several hours or a day has passed and they still haven’t acknowledged the group chat, you may follow up the instructor and ask nicely if they can reply to the group chat you made for their session on {DateOfLesson}.
8. Right after {TimeOfLesson}, the remote assistant will text the student and ask how to session went. The goal is to make sure they had a great time and offer them our packages or another session.
Ideally, the instructor will schedule the next session with them and put that in the calendar, or encourage them to do the group programs if they see fit. Nonetheless, the remote assistant will check on the student to see how they felt about the session.
Scenarios:
Other times, the student will ask to reschedule at the last minute or cancel the session. If they sent the request within 24 hours before their session time, we will be counting the session whether it occurred or not. Update the calendar and the group chat so the instructors also know.
Some students would like to book a private lesson for more than two people. When this happens, we tell them that the standard pricing of $125 is good for max 2 people, and it’ll be an $20 per additional person.
Tips:
When a lead for private lessons calls and schedules a session through you, confirm their soonest available time. Use the power of suggestions and double binding to get a commitment from them. Example on how to do it: "We can get you in as early as ______. Do you prefer afternoons or evenings?" "Oh great. Is _________ at 7pm good?"
New students always pay for their first session upfront. So when you’re done with finding a day and time, transition to something like: "The private lesson is booked after we receive the payment for the first session. Then we can do the package and handle the rest of the payment afterwards." If they ask the price, that’s the only time to give them a number. Say: "Sessions range from $125 down to as low as $97, depending on the number of sessions."
If booking was done through the phone, text them right away after the call, and before putting in the calendar.
We don't send them an invoice after every unpaid session.
When on the phone, never use the 'avail' word. It’s not often used in the US. Also, avoid the fillers BUT, LIKE, YEAH, and YOU KNOW when on the phone.
"Let me know" should essentially always be avoided. It's too passive. Direct questions get responses. Bad Ex. “Let me know if that time works for you.” Good Ex “Does that time work for you?”
If you feel like the prospect is hesitating or says “I’ll get back to you” when talking about private lessons, you can say “I’m pulling up my calendar right now, we can schedule you as early as <DAY>.” Check the shared Google calendar and confirm with the instructor right.
Make sure to schedule instructors back-to-back so they can be efficient with travel and time. Also, you can book it back-to-back before our group programs if they’re also teaching.