5 Systems That I Use in My Tutoring Business

Systems and processes are essential to every successful business.  Everything you do in and on your business, is a part of a system and it is important that we manage these systems and make them clear to other members of our team.

Creating, implementing and sharing systems within your team has many benefits.  It gives you back more of your time, allows you to confidently delegate to others, minimises confusion and mistakes, gives you the opportunity to replicate or scale up and adds more value and worth to your business.

Within a tutoring business, it is important to have systems, just like any other business.  So here are five systems that I use in my own tutoring business…

1. Onboarding System.  The steps you take to go from a lead (interested parent) to a conversion (enrolled student).  

We cover things like: if the parent contacts us via email, how do we respond, what time frame do we need to respond in, who responds and what action steps do we take (e.g. book in for a time to chat more).  There are then clear steps that the staff members need to follow, to ensure that the potential student is followed up successfully and no one is forgotten.

2. New Student. Once a parent commits, we need to know what steps to take to ensure the staff and family know exactly what is happening.  

We have a flow chart that shows what happens for a family once a child enrols.  

For example: 

1. They receive a confirmation email with all the details including their time & day, start date, tutor’s name and details for payment. 
2. They receive enrolment forms and the cancellation policy which must be signed and returned. 
3. This information is then entered into our system and calendar
4. Invoicing and payment is set up 
5. Tutor is advised of all background information for the student.
6. New folder is created for the student and planning for their first lesson is done.
7. After the first session, a phone call to the parent is made, to check in and provide feedback.

3. Paying Staff.  The exact steps that staff (and the payroll officer) must take to ensure everyone is paid each week.  

This is a very important system, as mistakes can be costly and can leave you with unhappy or underpaid staff members!  Your system needs to ensure that you are cross checking hours and have accounting software in place so that things such as Super and Tax can be easily recorded (and paid).

4. Employing New Staff.  The steps that need to be taken to find a new staff member, officially onboard them, welcome them, train them and provide feedback, etc.  

Your business is only as good as your team!  So when you are hiring new staff, you want systems in place that mean you are able to reach, find, employ (and keep) quality tutors.

5. End of Term Feedback.  How and when we provide parents with feedback and what exactly that feedback is.  

Parents like to be kept updated on their child’s progress, so we ensure that we provide written feedback at the end of each term which clearly shows what their child has been working on, how they are progressing and what we are still developing/working on with them.  We have a template that our staff use (this ensures that no one parent feels that they are getting more or less feedback- consistency and quality control) and then all feedback forms are edited by the manager, before being emailed to parents, all on the same date.  The forms are also saved and filed in each of the students’ folders for future reference.

These are just a few of the essential systems that we have in place currently, and they are super easy for you to implement in your own tutoring or educational business.  With systems in place, you are setting yourself up for less mistakes, less time-wasting and more growth and high quality service for your students and staff!

Kirsty Gibbs