Raise your hand if you’re in the midst of scheduling your piano studio for the fall? Actually, maybe I should say raise your carpal-tunnel ridden, wine-glass clutching, shaking-with-shot-nerves hand…
For most piano teachers this time of year is one we’d prefer to skip over. While our non-piano teaching friends are frolicking in the local swimming hole, we’re doing anything but frolicking (although it is like being in a hole…)
But help is on its way as we’re bringing you our Top 7 Strategies for Piano Studio Scheduling. After years of scheduling a 7 room, multi-teacher studio, my hands are free from shot nerves… and I’m rarely found clutching a wine glass in despair. So, here’s your chance to learn from my mistakes and benefit from my triumphs.
7 Success Secrets For Piano Lesson Scheduling
1. Plan out your “Best Case Scenario”. In a perfect world, what would the ideal schedule look like for you. Get organized by using a spreadsheet or online calendar and figure out a color-coding system. Lay out your days, your times and your students in a way that would make you jump with glee. Then… decide how flexible you are willing to be when it comes to breaking free from this utopia. Shade in areas where you would teach if you had to (or decide on the “take it or leave it” approach and block out your time exactly). Slot each of your students into a space when you believe they would likely be happy to come. Try to leave empty spaces in places that you think newly registering students would find attractive.
2. Fill your most difficult spaces first. My Friday night, late evening and very early afternoon spaces are the first to be filled. After that, I can work my way inwards into the “prime real estate” that I know almost anyone will be able take. Students who are flexible, who have been okay with these times in the past, who are new to my studio, or who are desperate to “just have a spot” are the ones that I place in these timeslots. Have a good knowledge of your local school dismissal times and dole out early afternoon spaces accordingly to maximize your teaching time.
3. Learn how to “sell” time slots. If you email your students, your format should look a little something like this:
Salutation:
Paragraph that is chatty – discuss your own summer, mention something you remember they themselves were doing, a mention of how you’re looking forward to seeing their child again. (this is SO important as you set the tone for the entire exchange here… it really does make a difference).
State the time you have available for their child and why you are offering it to them specifically. I use sentences such as “I was able to coordinate both of your children’s lessons for you so you’re only having to come to the studio once per week – thought that would make your life much simpler this year!” or “I know that Jamie prefers to have some downtime after school, so I’ve saved the 5:15 space for your family”. Simply stating the time gives them the opportunity to find what’s wrong with it. Giving them your reasoning on why it’s the best time for them shows that you’ve put some thought into the time you are offering and helps them to see 1) that yes, that time is actually a good idea and 2) that you have their best interests at heart – that this isn’t a random process.
Give a time frame to reply by to convey urgency. You are in demand! There’s no time for dilly dallying. Say something like “As you know this is a busy time of year for me, and as my openings are few and far between I’d really appreciate you letting me know before the weekend… (and here’s the important part) that this works for you. (Don’t say “if”… say “that”.) “If” leaves an opening for a back and forth that could go on for weeks!
Sign off with a friendly “Thanks so much!” or “See you soon!”.
4. Avoid giving a wide array of choices – this gives the perception that you’ve got a ton of space to choose from, when really you’ve trying your best to make this Tetris Puzzle fit in the best way it can. Go with your “ideal world” and offer accordingly. Make changes as needed but just offer one time slot in the beginning.
5. Give priority to multi-sibling families. Families are busy these days and convenience can play an important role when parents are choosing extracurricular activities. While I would never want someone to sign their children in piano lessons for the sole sake of convenience, it goes a long way if you try your hardest to provide sibling-friendly time slots when scheduling. And, the best way to organize sibling-friendly time slots is when you are first starting your scheduling and your calendar is more flexible.
6. Learn to say “sorry!”. If you run into a very inflexible family whose extracurricular activities read like the London train schedule then learn to say “Sorry it didn’t work out! If anything changes let me know.” More often than not they’ll find a way to make it work. Avoid disrupting other families (or your own family!) to cater to just one student. If they’re a committed student they’ll likely make the needed changes. If they don’t, it’s quite possible that they would cause a few scheduling problems for you during the year anyway.
7. Send only what’s needed. Schedule first, send start-up information later. Avoid cluttering the process with studio policies, welcome newsletters etc. This can all be sent once your studio is completely scheduled. Too many distractions slows down the process (and wouldn’t you rather be at the beach?)
With a systematic and sales-minded approach, scheduling a piano studio can be less of a headache. And while my system is not 100% foolproof… I am currently at the tail-end of booking in 328 students… and I’m headed to the beach! Hope you can all join me 🙂
These are all great tips, but what I do is even simpler–everyone keeps their same time slot unless they ask to switch. If the time they want isn’t available, they go on the waiting list and stick with a temporary lesson slot until a more ideal one becomes available. New students pick from the slots that are open, or go on the waiting list. Simple.
This is my first year teaching in my own studio, but that is pretty much how I plan on handling it. I just lost a potential student because his single mom’s work schedule didn’t work with any of my open time slots, but that’s really not surprising given that they live 45minutes away.
That sounds amazing! Luckily, most of my piano students are going into the same slots, and I was able to manage the couple of changes that needed to be made without too many disruptions. I’m sure that’s because I run a small private studio. But as you mentioned the 328 students, I would love to hear your tips (maybe in a podcast?) about how to make the switch from a one-person private studio to a multi-room, multi-teacher studio. I have more requests than I can keep up with and turn away about 5 families a day. I would love to know how to go about starting a piano school and hire other teachers!
I would totally love to hear about switching from one-person to multi-teacher as well.
That’s so funny! I was just think about that the other day. With around 50 students now, I am at capacity for hours and for what my cul-de-sac and yard and basement can take with student “traffic”. I would love to hear how you transition from a home studio to an actual music school and how you handle students who want only you to be their teacher! 😉
I have done just that. Went from a one teacher operation to multi teacher studio for about two plus years now. Scheduling is pretty much the same as I have done – everyone keeps their time unless a change is requested. I keep people from requesting me by saying that my roster is full (it is!) and that I am a mom of three and just don’t have anymore time. You need to also make sure your teachers are good at what they do and you guys are on the same page. If anyone is interested, feel free to contact me at http://www.nataliahuangstudio.com.
Thanks for the pointers. I also have group theory classes that I’m scheduling: (ideally piano student one at 3, piano student two at 3:30, theory class with students one, two, three and four at 4-5, piano student three at 4 and piano student four at 4:30) any suggestions on scheduling this situation or any other group lessons?
Ditto what Leia said. I’ve been round and round trying to figure out how to branch out without “sinking the ship” with instrument and real estate expenses.
I keep my students in the same spot unless they request a change. Students are often surprised to discover that I don’t have any other openings and that changing lesson times will mean that another family has to agree to swap. We pin down a desired range of new lesson times, then email all those families in a group email, asking if any of them would prefer to swap with so and so. It usually works out. Every now and then I come across a family who is very inflexible. They have to make a choice then, to accept the lesson times I can come up with or to discontinue lessons. It helps to make it perfectly clear to them that the lesson time they desire belongs to another family. I do sometimes think they believe that scheduling is fully under my control, which of course isn’t true. A schedule is a collaborative effort typically requiring everyone to compromise.
I keep students in their same spot unless a shift is needed to accommodate others’ schedules. The more days you teach allows for more flexibility. You can usually find a place for everyone even if you have to request someone move to help out another family. It also helps if you have a good number of home schooling families.
I finally got tired of working either split shifts our insanely long days and just stopped offering morning lessons for this coming year. That meant a complete rearrange of students. I’m order to have a fixed daily routine in my life, have set time for rehearsals for all of the accompanying I do, and to still be able to attend my own kids’ school activities, etc. , my schedule is now 1:30-6:00. My homeschoolers are complaining, but I figure they will get used to it. (My erratic schedule was being to affect my health). I want so badly to say “No exceptions”. But I have one sweet 9-yr-old girl, who has been taking frim me for four years, who has asked for am exception. Her mom works and can’t get her to lessons until 6… pushing my evening to 6:45, and creating a situation where I either have to miss school events or cancel her lesson frequently. What would you do? (She is a very committed, hard working student, by the way).
What works really well for me is to have everyone give me their top 3 choices for lesson times within a certain time frame and then I take all that information and juggle it around until I get everyone in. I’ve always been able to make everyone in my studio of about 30 at least relatively happy and it minimizes the back and forth exchanges.
Yes, that’s what I’ve been doing for years too! It works out quite well with minimal schedulling challenges. Having that range gives me the flexibility. For those who can only do one time (and they are minimal-*phew*) I slot them first.
I’ve been doing this for years, too. I send out an email one week before school starts, gather the info and plug ’em in. Has worked wonderfully.
I do the same, I send out a blank grid to everyone and parents shade in times when they’re not available for lessons and tend to write ‘preference’ on a few slots too. Then I get everyone’s form in front of me and schedule everyone at once. There are rarely any back and forth questions to parents.