Responding to Leads

Earn $30k to $70k as A Math Tutor Part Time

I keep my iPhone on me—I keep it very close. And when I get an email from a new lead, I try to adhere to my five minute rule: respond to every lead within five minutes. There is a study suggesting you are 300% to 400% more likely to convert a lead into a sale when you respond right away. We live in a world where things happen fast. People want to get things done quickly.

Influence is based on emotions, which are highly sensitive to timing. People feel differently about things at different times. To sell to people, we need to pay attention to timing. One of your main advantages as a tutor is that you’ll be thinking of yourself as a business. In your personal life you don’t have to respond to things right away. But in business you do.

Imagine someone emails you at 9:30pm and they're thinking about tutoring. They say, “I'm looking for a mathematics tutor, can you help me?” Well, many tutors lose business because they don’t respond for two days. Finally they say, “Oh, yeah, I can help you.” But by that time it's done. You've lost that lead. Maybe they’ve changed their mind. Customers are fickle, and emotions change. Two days from now they might not feel like they need a math tutor anymore. Maybe they are feeling better, or maybe they decided it's hopeless. Plus, they probably sent emails to multiple tutors. That’s what people do. We get on Google, do some searching, and put out a few feelers to see what comes back.

So boom, you’re the tutor who responds within five minutes and you're the first to email them back. Your promptness immediately demonstrates that you are on top of your game. This creates a halo effect. Now this client is going to see you in a positive light, and will perceive anything you do more positively from that point forward. They're going to think, this person is on top of it, organized, efficient, and is probably going to be a good math tutor.

Compare that to the slouch who responds in two days. No one is going to want to work with them.

The five minute rule is simple but it has revolutionized my business.

You can have success either by emailing people or calling them. However, one big secret I’ve discovered is to text your clients. At some point you could even get a business iPhone to text them on. Think about it, we text our friends and people we're close to. If you're iMessaging clients, you develop a bond with them before you even meet in person. Plus, it’s really efficient because you can be messaging five people at once. So if you get an email from a new lead, and email them back within five minutes, you might offer your number and ask for theirs. Offer to text them and set something up. Then move the interaction to text. This way you're going to develop rapport in that relationship, just by using technology to your advantage.

It’s also helpful to meet people where they are comfortable. Some people just prefer to talk on the phone. Others like email. You can suss that out in your initial email. Most of the time, people will email you for their initial inquiry, rather than calling. At least that's my experience.

Imagine someone emails you and says, “When can we have a call?” In that case, you probably don't want to keep emailing them and writing long explanations. They've mentioned a phone call, so they probably want to get on the phone. Get their number, send them a text, set something up, or give them a call right away.

It's going to help you in your tutoring to read some things about motivation and psychology. And it's also going to help when you're dealing with clients. One phrase I use a lot, once a client signs up, is to say, “thank you for choosing to do business with us.” There's research backing this up. This phrase reaffirms that it is their choice to do business with you, they could be working with someone else. You're affirming their autonomy and telling them you appreciate them for choosing you.

If you start listening now, you’ll notice that many companies do this. You’ll hear it on airlines, “Thank you for choosing United.” It's all over the place. I always chuckle when I'm in my seat and hear them use that line. They wouldn’t go through all the trouble of making sure all their employees say that during every flight if it wasn’t important.