If you make your living teaching piano to children, consider offering piano lessons to their parents too.
Listen to any marketing guru and they will all tell you the same message, “It’s a heck of a lot easier to market to your existing customers than it is to market to new customers.
What does this mean for those of us who teach piano lessons?
It means that you should look to your current piano students to find new piano students. Let’s see… who do your current students know that might be interested in piano lessons? Why… their parents of course.
Piano lessons are for parents too!
This day and age, parents are getting tired of living through their children. They want a piece of the pie! Parents are enrolling in piano lessons more frequently now than ever before. This is a great opportunity for your piano studio to cash in on a booming market.
Move beyond teaching piano to children only… the benefits are plenty…
Offering piano lessons to the parents of your students is a fantastic idea for many reasons.
1. You instantly acquire new piano students without breaking the bank
2. You will develop a better relationship with the parents of your students, creating a bond that will have a positive effect on your piano studio’s student retention rates
3. By taking piano lessons themselves, parents automatically become more invested in their children’s piano lessons
4. Adults are a riot to teach… and in a fairly lonely profession, the opportunity to bond with other adults, instead of teaching piano to children ALL DAY certainly can’t hurt
Why not give it a try? Offer a couple free trial lessons to the parents of your students and see if you can “hook them”. I would suggest beginning with chording method in combination with a piano teaching method book designed specifically for adults so parents can feel instantly successful before getting into the nitty-gritty of piano lessons.
Alex from Piano Lessons Orange County says
September 27, 2011 at 10:28 amnice tips, thinking like a marketer. Thank you
Andrea says
September 27, 2011 at 12:40 pmHi Alex,
Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for reading 🙂
Christine says
September 27, 2011 at 10:37 amWe have done this with a lot of success at our school too! There is a great method book out there that teaches the chording method to adults & seniors (and it is really simply for teachers to use). Contact Linda at playpianotoday@gmail.com for more info.
Andrea says
September 27, 2011 at 12:35 pmHi Christine,
Thanks for sharing the resource – sounds great! Another great book for adults (not beginners, but those who had piano lessons at some point in their life and gave them up but are wanting to re-start) is “Returning to the Piano” by Wendy Stevens (http://www.composecreate.com). It’s published through Hal Leonard and I have used it quite a bit and really like it.