Episode Transcription

14: First Impressions Count

Hello, lovely lady. Welcome to Classroom To Business, the podcast designed specifically for teachers working to become successful businesswomen and creating financial freedom and lifestyle flexibility. I'm Kirsty Gibbs. Business coach and mentor for educators and teachers just like you, who are ready to step away from the classroom and create something more.

The Classroom to Business Podcast is committed to helping you grow your business, break down those barriers to success, and replace your teaching salary without having to work more hours. It's time for you to find freedom and start being your own boss so you can once again enjoy what you do and wake up each morning loving life.

Welcome to a brand new episode of Classroom to Business. Today's episode might ruffle a few feathers because what I'm going to say kind of goes against the grain a little bit, and that is, that looks matter. Now, I'm not saying. How you look specifically, but I'm more talking about the very first impression that your parents, your potential enrolled students will get when they start working with you.

Whether you like it or not, people judge on looks. And I'm not saying that this is right, I'm just saying that's what happens. So the very first impression that you put forward in your space really matters. And I mean, when we think about it, there's no reason why we can't put our best foot forward.

There's no reason why we can't take pride in delivering. Space that is welcoming and professional, a space that attracts people and wants them to come back. So if that line of that first impression counts is bothering you, then I challenge you to listen to the rest of this podcast, and hopefully by the end you can see why it's actually such an important thing for you to consider those first impressions.

Now, often the first impression that people will have of you and your business. Is your website or your social media? Sometimes it might be what other people have said about you and that's fantastic. That's, you know, that's word of mouth and that's great. But when they actually start looking for you themselves, the first thing that they're going to often see is your social media and your website.

So you wanna consider those things, you know, are you turning. Um, in line with your branding, are you turning up in a way that your audience can see a bit of an insight as to who you are and what services you offer and why you are a good fit for them? Is your website professional now? I'm not gonna go into your website too much today, but I did wanna touch on it because it is often the first place that people.

Go to to find out more information about you. So if your website isn't working, if there are links that are broken, if there are pages where there's just gobbly or too much information, or it's overwhelming, that's not a great first impression. The next point of contact, I guess, that we have with our potential new customers is our inquiry.

Now, again, I'm not going into this too much because that's a whole other podcast, but I just want you to consider the things like, what would you want if you were the parent? So put yourself in the shoes of that parent calling you. And actually, this is quite fun. I, I did a little, um, role play scenario with one of my members the other day and for a slightly different topic, but it was such a good way.

Pulling yourself out of the position that you are in as the business owner and looking at things through that scope and thinking, what exactly does my parent or my client want or need? So I challenge you to do that. Look at it from the parent's perspective. What are they wanting out of that phone call?

Okay. Are they wanting maybe clarity, professionalism, someone who is taking the time. Someone who is connecting to them, someone who is showing them that you are, that they actually care, right? And these are all of the things that we can actually deliver in that inquiry call. And like I said, I'll do a whole podcast on that.

But if you do need some more help with your inquiry calls, I've got a free, um, a freebie that you can download, a checklist and some questions. I'll pop it in the link in the show notes. But after that, Once we actually bring them into the center, it might be for the very first session. It might be for a trial, it might be for an assessment, whatever it is that you've decided that you are offering in your business, this is key.

Okay? So again, think about it as a parent, as a. What would you want out of these sessions? Now all of you're going to think something slightly different, and that's okay because we're all marketing to different people. So for example, as a mom, I want to walk into a space that's safe. I want to walk into a place that's clean.

I want to walk into a place that's professional where I can see that my children won't be distract.

So when I walk into a place where I'm going to potentially leave my kids, especially because they're a bit younger, I want to know that they're safe. I, I don't want to be leaving them in a, a place that looks like they might get hurt, or a place where it looks like people, you know, kids are running around going crazy.

I want. A little bit of order. Okay. I'm not saying that I want it super sterile or anything like that, but I want there to be calmness. I want there to be clear, you know, adults supervising and in control. I want it to be clean. I don't want it, I don't need it to be hospital clean, but I want it to look like somebody's taking pride and, and my kid's not going to come away with, you know, gross bugs or germs or whatever.

So the, I'm just one parent. What do your parents value? What is it that you value as the business owner? Because that's also really, really important because that is part of you, part of your branding. So when we are thinking about the space that we are creating and that first impression, I want you to consider what people will actually see with their eyes.

When they first arrive and are welcomed into your space because what they see will then impact their thoughts and their feelings. And this doesn't matter if it's in your home, if it's in an office space that you are renting or if it's in a fully fit out center that you've leased. This first impression can really make a difference in how that parent and even that student feels, and whether or not they're going to.

So some of the things to consider for that very first experience in order to leave a positive, lasting, um, impression. One that makes them want to return, one that they are likely to tell their friends about and one that they're happy and confident to leave their child at. These are some of the things I want you to consider.

The first thing is, like I mentioned, the look okay. Is it tidy and clean, or is it dirty and cluttered? Think about your space right now that you are working out of, or the space that you're trying to create. Do you need to have shelves with a thousand things on there, or can you take some of those things off?

Do you need some more natural light? Okay. Do you need to get some more lighting? Is it a little bit dark in there? And obviously this is a, not something that the parents will notice when they walk in, but it's also not great for the kids. Does it look welcoming for the students of the age that you work with?

So if you are working with young children, is that obvious when I walk in, is the furniture age appropriate? You don't want to be having little people chair. In a space where you are trying to work with teenagers or high school students, for starters, it just doesn't fit. It's not a great, you know, idea for their body.

But also when those teenagers walk in and they see that, they think, oh, this is baby-ish. I don't know if this is where I want to be. So it's thinking beyond just is something clean and tidy, but does it actually match who you are trying to work with? Does it match your branding, your vibe, the, the furniture that you are using?

Have you got it set up in a way that it's using the space well, the colors, the color scheme in the space, are you matching it with your branding? The next thing is the smell. This might sound a little random, but some people can be quite sensitive to smell. Just something to note. If there are certain smells that you've noticed in there that are a bit off, then it might be worth investigating ways that you can deal with those smells.

This sound okay. Is it too noisy that parents are put off thinking, well, hang on a minute. This is meant to be a place where my child is learning and it is so noisy in here. Maybe there's like parents chatting and on their phone in the waiting area, or maybe there are siblings running around like crazy, making distracting noise.

Those, that sort of noise can actually be quite off-put. Especially if this is the first time somebody's walked into a space. You know, just go back to when your kids were really little and you first walked into one of those play indoor play centers, it's full on, right? That's not the experience you necessarily want your families.

To experience when they first walk into a learning environment. However, if it's noisy, as in kids at work, noise, um, you know, groups happening, engaged learning, lots of grilly rich conversations. That's a whole different ballgame, and that's not what I'm talking about. The noise I'm talking about is that unwanted, distracting noise that we know isn't going to be beneficial for children, especially those who are coming to you because they're struggling.

It's not gonna be beneficial to their learning or their progress. And parents know this. We also want to consider things like the very first time we greet them. Have a bit of a think and maybe brainstorm, what is that process when a parent and a new student enters your building, your office space, your home for the very first time?

Who greets them? What then happens? What information do they need to be given? So, you know, an example might be when a new parent and a child arrives, I always make sure as the owner of the business, I'm the one there to greet them, so I have it in my diary to make sure that I'm available. If there's a new student, I'm always available to greet them, introduce myself, make sure I greet the parent and the student with a big smile, a hello.

Then I actually walk them around the center. If I have a center or I bring them into the space, show them around. Talk them a little bit more about what we do and also discuss with them what's going to happen in this first session, whether it's trial, assessment, first lesson, whatever. And I also let the parent know where they can wait this.

Is a really, really key piece of information because if you want your parents in on the session, you need to establish that with them to make sure that they are there and you obviously need to be really clear on what level of engagement, what level of engagement you want them to have in the session.

Are you just wanting them to sit back and watch, or are you wanting them to sit right next to you and and get involved? Or if you don't have your parents in the session, you need to make that clear as. This is gonna avoid any awkwardness down the track, but it's helping to set those boundaries and it's making the parent feel comfortable because they now know what's expected.

You also want to make sure you've communicated with the parent what time the session finishes. Now that's not necessarily stuff about, you know, the first impressions in terms of what we see, but it's the whole. Things more of a holistic approach to that first impression, that first encounter with you and your business face-to-face.

So what I really want you to, what I want you to do now is get a pen and a piece of paper and jot down what you currently do. So how is it that you greet your families all the way through to. Saying goodbye to them after that trial session. And I want you to consider every step of the way what they're seeing, what they're hearing.

Again, I've thrown in the smelling one, but that's just a random one to consider if you do have some strong, funky smells going on in your place. Um, and then say what you can add to your current process and if there's anything that you need to change. Then that is your first meet and greet or welcoming or new student process.

And what you've done there is you've created a process that whether it's you or a manager that you bring on or somebody else who does it while you are away, they can follow that process and those same high standards of service are being delivered. In that process, I recommend to you have expectations set out in terms of, um, you know, what the space.

What you want it to look like. So for example, if you've got a student turning up for a trial at three 30 and most of your staff are teaching in schools or, or don't get there until just before, you wanna make sure the air conditioning is turned on, that the windows are open. If you don't have air conditioning that the fans are on, that the curtains are open, that all of those things are turned on before that parent and that student gets there.

So, That's a really think about it at quite a deep level. Come back to it a couple of times and see what else you can add in there to make that very first impression as positive and successful as possible. Because these parents are very, very, very warm leads. They have made an inquiry. They have come to you, they've booked him for a trial.

It's almost yours to lose, right? I am assuming that you offer great services already, so we're not, we're not touching on that right now, but the actual experience that they have with you outside of the lesson can make or break your conversion from a very, very warm lead to an enrolled student. So take some time, go through that process, create a five star customer service, put it into action.

And if you've loved this episode and you've actually gone and done this, send me a dm. I would love to hear from you. I'd love to hear how this particular episode has helped you to build better customer service and create amazing first impressions with your families.