A big welcome to our new subscribers and customers.  Hopefully your week is going well. Short weeks also keep me confused and I never know exactly what day it is. It has also been crazy cold here this week. We were spoiled I guess with our 60 degree temps, and now it has returned to a little below normal. I spoke to one of our friends in Arizona and they had three nights below 30 (in a row) and everyone’s pipes were freezing. Today we’re going to talk about keeping your business from failing. Preventing it from failing will also help it grow.
This is the last week in our design package discount. We have a couple of spots left, if you are interested please let us know.
No matter which payment option you choose we’ll:
- Help you choose and buy a domain name. This is an additional cost. We’ll assist you in purchasing the domain name.
- We’ll set up hosting for your site. All the packages include a year of web hosting.
- We’ll create the site using wordpress. We’ll talk about the five pages you’ll want to make sure you have on your blog. You’ll need to write those five pages of content.
- You’ll choose a template you want to use. We’ll put the template on the site and use the five pages of content.
- We’ll help you create a media plan and send you a list of places / people you’ll want to friend for your facebook business page. We’ll help you create a facebook business page, a Google Plus page and a Pinterest Page.
Costs –
If you’ve bought any of our courses – $250.00.
If you haven’t bought any of our courses – $500.
We can break it down into two payments.
To get started send us a note. info@cleverapple.com
Keys to Business Failure –
I watched an interesting video yesterday and I feel it is very important for any person with a business (yes even your tutor business). Please watch the video at the url below (it’s only ten minutes long, but it is important). After you watch the video we’ll tell you how it applies to your tutor business.
http://www.paullemberg.com/keys-to-business-failure-part-2/
1. Too few transactions.
Usually this comes from too few leads. When he talks about channels, which is just different methods of advertising. You should have some online advertising and some offline. So how do you keep track of what is working. I like to make different offers for each of the different methods of advertising. You’ll want to make sure you’re keeping track of things. So for an example let’s say I tutor math.
Offline I –
Hand out business cards – these offer a free tutor session. The card tells them to mention the offer when they contact us.
Brochures – if I’m handing out brochures at a specific event – near the contact information I put a number. “Make sure to mention coupon 7 and you’ll get 2 weeks of summer tutoring free.†The number tells me what event I was at, the Summer tutoring tells me what method it was.
Bulletin Board – 10 % off during your Spring Tutoring Sessions.
Online offers go to specific pages for each different ad. These pages also have distinct offers.
Tracking your advertising helps you decide what is working (or not).
You have the leads, but don’t have the conversions. Test things. Change prices / services / packages / offer different packages. Some examples: 1 tutor session. Weekly tutor sessions. Twice weekly sessions. Twice weekly with weekend support… you get the idea.
Do your products fit your market? You’re selling solutions.
You may have too small of a niche. If you’re tutoring market is Spelling help for 2nd graders then your market is too small. I like to start big and narrow things down as I build the business.
2. Margins too low.
3 components of margins.
Pricing –
Cost of goods. What does it cost to deliver the goods? The price you’re charging doesn’t cover the COG. Make sure you take into account all of the costs. This would include gas money (if you travel to the student’s homes), employee costs if you have employees.
Cost of sales. How much does it cost you to get a new customer?
Are your margins to low?
This issue is getting crazy so we’ll conclude this article in the next issue.
In Case you missed it –
Customer service tips – http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/customerservice/a/custservrules.htm
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Links you can use –
Google presentations now available offline = http://googledrive.blogspot.com/2013/01/create-edit-and-present-with-google.html
You can find all of our past articles here –
http://www.cleverapple.com/blog/
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Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Clever-Apple-Tutoring-Business-Help/186004714761452?ref=hl
Google Plus – https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/116061877501493070518/116061877501493070518/posts
We love answering questions, so if you have any you can email us (just reply to this email), you can comment us on Facebook, Plus or on our blog.
Hope you have a wonderful day.
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