A family asking about a trial lesson is close to deciding. They want to know you can help, and when they can start.
Speed and a clear next step matter more than a polished pitch. An enquiry lost to silence is the easiest one to prevent.
Reply while they are looking
Families often ask more than one centre at once. A quick reply, with a real time on offer, gives you the best chance of the trial.
Decide who replies to new enquiries, and who covers when that person is away. Aim to reply the same day.
Ask only useful questions
A short form gets finished. Ask what you need to place the student:
- Year level and subject.
- What they want help with.
- Days and times that suit.
- How to reach a parent.
- How they heard about you.
Leave everything else for the call.
Track each enquiry by stage
Keep each enquiry at one clear stage: new, contacted, trial booked, enrolled or declined. An enquiry with no next step is an enquiry going cold.
Look at the list each day. Check for requests nobody has contacted yet, and trials that ran with no follow-up call.
Make the trial count
- Confirm the date, time, tutor and what to bring.
- Tell the tutor about the student before the lesson.
- Call the family soon after the trial, while it is fresh.
- Offer a specific class with a place in it, not a general invitation.
Learn where families come from
Ask each family how they heard about you, and keep the answer with the enquiry.
At the end of a term, count enquiries and enrolments by source. A channel that brings many enquiries but few enrolments may need a different message, not more spend.
Common mistakes
- One person holds every enquiry. When they are away, the list stops.
- Notes in someone’s inbox. The next person to call has no idea what was said.
- No record of the source. Without it you cannot tell which channels bring families in.
- Following up once. A family who did not answer the first call may answer the second.
Trials in Atrium
- Put a trial form on your website. Spam is filtered out before it reaches your list.
- Owners and managers get an email as soon as a request arrives, with the family’s answers, ready to call back.
- Each request moves through stages, from contacted to booked to enrolled, so you see where it is up to.
- Book the trial lesson, then turn the trial into an enrolment in one step.
- Requests record how the family heard about you.
- Email templates cover the booking and the trial-day reminder. Emails to families start off until you switch them on.