Headcount is what contributes to the profitability of coaching classes and educational institutions in India. Sometimes it may see that schools and colleges focus more on revenue generation rather than the quality of education. It is no secret that the standard of teachers and the standard of education is simply not enough. This may be one reason contributing to the rise of coaching classes. Unlike schools or colleges, students can take their pick of coaching classes so how can coaching classes in India get more students to enrol?
Location matters
One of the simplest ways to be noticeable and to get more students to walk in through the door is to locate the coaching class within a stone’s throw from the school or college. It is easier for students to attend coaching classes right after their school or college session is over. It saves them the time and effort of commuting.
Traditional Ads
Even the best tutor can sit and twiddle his thumbs without a student to coach simply because no one knows he or she is available. New coaching classes will need to spend on publicity through various channels such as:
- Newspaper Ads
- Local TV ads
- Distributing flyers to college students
- Posters and banners displayed outside schools and colleges
- Mailers and newspaper inserts
- Word of mouth – get people you know to recommend you in their circles
If you have an academic background and wish to start coaching classes you will have to budget for the above. In addition, it will be helpful to rope in someone to help out with advertising campaigns and promotions.
Online
New (and existing) coaching classes will need to adopt digital technologies and take to online strategies of which social media promotion is one thing that should surely get you more students.
Then there are online sites where tutors can offer their services but the problem is that you will be teaching one on one and this certainly is not going to contribute to a healthy bottom line. What you want is to have 2-3 batches in a day with each batch made up of at least 100 students, if you are teaching in a physical classroom. Teach online using the conferencing facility and you can teach a thousand students.
Remote coaching
Online strategies can also steer into another direction altogether to enrol more students. One such strategy is to embrace online technologies and offer distance coaching through a video conference facility. This technology is not expensive and students can undertake studies using nothing but a smartphone or a desktop computer. Of course, the coaching class will need to put together digital study materials and a system to hold online tests similar to those conducted by colleges and schools. Apart from the conferencing facility, such educational institutions can put in place coaching class ERP system that automates and digitizes the spectrum of their operations such as:
- Attendance supervision and management
- Preparing and maintaining a timetable relating to studies and courses and calendar for events and activities
- Track assignments of each student and generate progress report using the coaching class management software.
- Schedule classes, plan your day and plan syllabus for the entire course.
- Communicate through email, SMS and phone through the college ERP system, maintaining a record of such interactions.
Why stay local? There always is a limitation to the number of students you can take on. Instead, go online. Offer online coaching at a much lower cost and you can still earn more because you will be teaching not just 25 or 200 students but students in thousand across the country.
Loyalty and get existing students to promote
Students join coaching classes for just one reason and that is to gain the highest possible marks in the exam they plan to take so that they can advance further. Coaching classes and their tutors make all the difference to the success of students. In fact, one can even say with a degree of truth that coaching classes have contributed more towards the success of high ranking students than colleges or schools have done. Then, in competitive exams, one will not find schools or colleges to help students prepare for entrance exams, for banking jobs and UPSC. Coaching classes are the only recourse. What this means is that students trust coaching classes and have high expectations.
Coaching classes naturally have to put in more efforts such as personally attend to each student and know their progress, difficulties and queries. Students may be segregated and taught differently on the basis of their learning styles to ensure the highest chances of success for all. It is only when students of a coaching class consistently score high year after year that the reputation of the institute builds up and more students walk in. Students who have tasted success are likely to be loyal and recommend the coaching class to others.
Student Satisfaction
Coaching classes are busy, taking on one batch of students after another. Keeping track or managing students the manual way will be difficult. Therefore, opt for college management system software right from the start. You can automate many tasks, monitor student’s performance, conduct mock tests, interact and stay on top using digital ERP software to automate functions and processes. You will be free to focus on teaching and you can also keep students fully satisfied because there are no glitches or mess-ups.
Satisfied students do well. They get high scores and this underlines your competence. More students will naturally gravitate towards your coaching class, especially if it has strong IT underpinning.
Your topic expertise and your capability to transfer knowledge are vitally important. Personal skills and how you interact, your patience level, your commitment and passion to help each student to succeed also count a lot. At the same time, given that we live in the age of information technology you should make use of something like a college ERP system to digitize most operations. This will leave you free to give more time to students instead of being tied down in routine activities. Invest in college management software – you will recoup the investment in a short time.
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