We offer total peace of mind, in order to do so we expect a high level of professionalism from our tutors.

Before the first tutorial

We provide a free call before the first tutorial. This builds trust before you begin. You should not cover any content however, (that’s what you get paid for in the tutorial), and this call should not be more than 15 minutes.

Use the following format:

1. Pleasantries: Introduce yourself using no more than just a couple of sentences. Remember to be positive and enthusiastic about working with them. For example;

1. “Hi – I’m Bob. I’m really looking forward to helping you gain a fantastic result with your (GCSE math’s paper). Last year I helped several students jump up three grades! Together, I’m confident that we can do this!”

2. Gauge their needs: Ask them to explain using their own words, (or the parent’s if they’re younger), what they would like help with.

3. Get specific: Try to identify a specific topic which you can cover in your first tutorial.

4. Agree on what they need to do: Should they have any notes prepared prior to meeting you? This sets an important example before you have even met them. Tuition is a partnership and they need to pull their weight in order to succeed.

5. Logistics: Ask the parent if their house is hard to find, (the amount of times I’ve been lost less than 10 meters away from someone’s front door…). If tutoring online, confirm the correct email/ID to use and explain how they are to get into the online classroom.

Handouts are standard under HB Tutoring and are key if you want to provide the most professional service;

Create A Handout: This is how we really impress them and make a lasting impression. Formula cheat sheets or class summaries work best of all. I personally like to turn up with an exam question that looks difficult but is manageable and a worksheet that can be applied to similar questions. If you turn up with a couple of high-quality handouts, this will give your student far more confidence in you, and therefore make them more likely to want to work with you. The best thing about creating handouts is that once you’ve made one, you can reuse it again and again!

Add value

To make money tutoring you must retain your clients. The first tutorial is special because it’s a showcase, its essential you make a great first impression.

There should be two distinct parts to this tutorial

Solving A Problem:

1. Get straight into the problem that you identified on the phone. You should make small talk to reassure them, (especially if they’ve never had a tutor before), but you have about 15 minutes to teach them something. If you can get your student to solve a problem that they couldn’t do before they met you, their trust in your ability will rise and you can both start to relax.

2. Within the hour you should have had them complete 3 questions that they could not complete before (it doesn’t matter how short – this is a taster session).

3. If you can’t teach them something within 15 minutes, its likely they will become confused, unengaged or even critical of your teaching style and the cost of the tutorial.

Remember:

4. If you provide material that they could already do – you have added no value.

5. If you provide material which is too difficult, and they are confused – you have added no value.

6. How do they know if you’ve added any value if you haven’t tested their understanding? How do you know if they’ve really learnt anything?

Creating a teaching Plan:

1. Towards the end of the tutorial, once you’ve impressed them and shown that you can teach, and you have also left them a resource to help them with their future studies.

2. You now must sell the future tutorial sessions. You’ve shown that you can add value on this one topic. Now you’ve got to show that you can also keep adding this value again and again.

3. Set out an action plan for what you’d like to cover in the next five tutorials, show them just how much of the syllabus that will tick off.

4. By adding life-time value to your students, you’ll keep them longer and you’ll make more money tutoring!

After the first tutorial

Set homework. Yes, students actually do want homework!

But here’s the trick: Gauge it to the level of your student.

If they are struggling, set easier homework to boost their confidence, and save the harder stuff for your next time together. Set more challenging work to push your top students outside of class.

Follow up with an email 24 hours after setting the work, (message the parent for younger children), confirming that they have received it and ask them how they are getting on.

Make it clear that homework is not optional. It’s part of the road to success journey, plus, now you must meet with them a second time to go through the homework!

HB Tutoring care deeply for our students, but we also care deeply for our tutors. If our tutors are happy and love their job, then their students will love being taught.

If there is anything, we can do to support you then just ask, one way or another we’ll find a way to make sure everything works and everyone gets what they want from the professional service we offer!