Selling part time language courses to your local market

Selling Extensive and Part-time Courses
to your Local Market
Chris Moore

The Challenge
 1 or 2 evenings a week
 10-15 students per class
 Course book led
 Some exams
 3 terms, 1 level a year
 Native-speaker and local teachers
 Smiley receptionist
 Some e-learning, eg Campus
 It all looks the same!
specialistlanguagecourses.com

Ultimately… this leads to
Language Course Commoditisation!

So the big question..
What are you going to do?

7 Questions
1. Do you understand the market?
2. How can you differentiate – vision, values, brand?
3. How can you deliver the difference – products and experiences?
4. How can you communicate the difference – sales and marketing?
5. Are the practicals in place?
6. How are you learning and improving what you do?
7. How do you create a sustaining, virtuous circle?

Question 1: Do you understand the market?
1. How big is the market?
2. What share do you have?
3. Who is the market?
4. What do people want?
5. What’s important for them – Price? Quality? Location?
6. Why are they learning?
7. What’s the current price range?
8. What are the trends?
9. What’s on the horizon?
10.Where will the market be in 3, 5 or 10 years’ time?

Market Analysis – The 5 Forces

What are the 5 Forces?
1. Suppliers: teachers, publishers/bookshops, IT systems, buildings
owners/managers, professional services, stationery
2. Customers: students, parents, companies / existing & new
3. New entrants: private language schools, public sector adult education,
freelancers, universities
4. Substitutes: online, mobile, language exchanges, study abroad, private
lessons
5. Competitors…

Competitor Analysis
Strategy
• Vision
• USPs
• Competitive
advantages
• New business
• Retention
Market Position
• Market share
• Customer profile
• Revenues, Margins
• Growth or decline
• Student numbers
Marketing
• Brand, reputation
• Online: website, SEO, social
• Offline: brochures, flyers ,
events
• Communications
• Partnerships
Products
• Formats
• Accreditations
• Prices
• Start dates
• Innovation
Resource & Capabilities
• Leadership
• Teachers, other staff
• Knowledge, experience
• Building, assets
• Technology
• Financial reserves

Question 2: Is your vision different to others?
• What courses and experiences do you sell?
• Who to?
• Why do they buy from you?
• What sets you apart?
• What are you or can you be best at?
Seek to create unique value for your customers.
A vision creates and leads the school
No vision = no leadership

There are only 2 ways to go

What Steve Jobs says
“People think focus means saying yes to
the thing you’ve got to focus on. But
that’s not what it means at all. It means
saying no to the 100 other good ideas
that there are. You have to pick
carefully. I’m actually as proud of the
things we haven’t done as the things I
have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to
1,000 things.”

Question 3: How can you deliver the difference?

Product Differentation - A few ideas
 Multiple start dates
 Short courses
 Fast track courses
 Multi-level conversation classes
 Multi-level functional classes, eg for business, travel
 Drop ins
 Weekend intensives
 Conversation classes with lesson credits
 Language clubs
 Blended courses, Flipped classrooms
 Remote learning with monthly meetups

Brand Differentation - A few ideas
 Accreditations
 Teacher Training centre
 Social / community centre
 Exam passing machine
 Reputation, longevity
 High tech
 Designer building / environment
 Community focus
 Partnerships with… businesses, the unemployment centre, university,
public sector, schools

Fail to Plan…
A vision shows leadership
A plan shows commitment
1. Work on the medium to long term picture
2. Prioritise focus products
3. Align plans and activities
4. Like a lesson plan – ‘by the end of this year, we will have…’
By the end of this year, we will have launched…/ sold…. / employed…. /
developed…’

Align to your goals
Sales & Marketing, Comms
Recruitment, Staff, CPD
Courses, Methodology
Resources, Systems, IT
Partnerships
Leadership
&
Vision
Goals

Do you have the right people?
“There are going to be times when we can't wait
for somebody. Now, you're either on the bus or
off the bus.” Ken Kesey
‘First Who.. Then What.’
The right people are:
1. Flexible, they adapt to a dynamic environment
2. Self-motivated, take responsibility
“If you have the wrong people, you’ll never have
a great company.” (Jim Collins)

Question 4: How can you communicate the difference?
“There are no magic wands, no hidden tricks,
and no secret handshakes that can bring you
immediate success, but with time, energy and
determination, you can get there.”
Darren Rowse, Founder, Problogger

Touchpoints - Online

Touchpoints - Off-line

Marketing Campaigns should be..
Clear :: Concise :: Consistent :: Connected

Question 5: Have you got the practicals right?
1. Booking 2. Retention
3. Data 4. Feedback

Practicals 1: Booking - Make It Easy
 Accessible, easy – finding, booking, paying
 Short bookings-focused user journey
 Push the USPs so people know what and why they’re booking
 Use ‘sticky’ pages to promote booking courses, eg level tests
 Have ‘at a glance’ key info
 Use online tests (as opposed to school tests) and auto-allocate to classes
 Ensure everyone at the school is a product and bookings expert

Practicals 2: Retention - Keep your Students
“It costs 6–7 times more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing
one.”
– Bain & Company.
“A dissatisfied customer will tell between 9-15 people about their experience.
Around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people.”
– White House Office of Consumer Affairs.
“70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are
being treated.”
– McKinsey.

Student retention – what to do
Deliver great service and great experiences from the first point of contact.
Listen. Respond. Engage.
 Encourage on-going study
 Make re-booking easy
 Reward loyalty
 Interact socially
 Track the data
 Review, learn, improve
 Referrals go up
 Reputation spreads
 New business increases

Practicals 3: Track the Data
Bookings
- Format
- Language
- Trends
- Timings
- New business
- Enquiry to conversion rate
- Retained students
- Value per student
Attendance
- Class occupancy
- Drop out rates and timings
- By language/ format / teacher / schedule

Practicals 4: Get Meaningful Feedback
1. Get quantitative and qualitative feedback
- ‘10 / 100 questions from 100 / 10 students’
2. Make it measurable
3. Make it predictable
4. Make sure everyone does it
5. Include other stakeholders – companies, teachers, parents.
6. Then act on it.
“Customers who get their issue resolved tell about 4-6 people about their
experience.”
- White House Office of Consumer Affairs

Question 6: Are you learning from what you do?
1. Reflect, review, ask questions, understand, confront brutal truths
2. Think critically, learn from failure
3. Instil a culture of reflection and collaboration
– involve teachers, staff, students, partners
4. Commit to a culture of continuous improvement and innovation

To quote..
“The thing is, continuity of strategic direction and
continuous improvement in how you do things are
absolutely consistent with each other. In fact, they’re
mutually reinforcing.”
Michael Porter

Question 7: Can you create a virtuous cycle?
1. Generate interest based
on differentiation
2. Clear
info, easy
booking
3. Deliver with
integrity
4. Track, feedback
5. Reflect, learn,
improve
6. Loyal customers,
attract and keep talent
Vision, Values, Brand Products, Staff
Training
Systems
Communications
Technology

Not a vicious cycle
1. Generate interest
based on low price
2. Cut costs
3. Demotivated
teachers, poor
resources
4. Survival
mentality
5. Customers switch
easily
6. High staff &
customer churn
No vision Commoditised products
Little Staff Training
Ageing Systems
Undifferentiated Communications
Low Technology Investment

To Summarise
1. Understand the market
2. Create a vision and brand proposition that sets you apart
3. Deliver products which express the difference
4. Recruit, train and reward staff to support your vision
5. Communicate the difference clearly and coherently
6. Get the practicals right – processes, retention, data, feedback
7. Review, learn, improve, innovate

To continue the conversation
Chris Moore
Specialist Language Courses
chris@specialistlanguagecourses.com

Selling part time language courses to your local market

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