Read on to find out more about why automating your tuition businesses onboarding process is important, and which systems you can use to do this as a solo tutor.
As a tutor, onboarding new clients can be a time-consuming process - and as you get busier, there comes greater potential for tasks to fall through the cracks. From scheduling initial chats and gathering relevant information, to setting up payment methods and signing contracts, there are many steps involved in getting a new student up and running.
But what if there was a way to automate the repetitious parts of the process, freeing up your time and energy for the more important tasks of teaching and supporting your tutees?
Enter, onboarding automation.
By using online tools and platforms, tutors can streamline and automate many of the tedious and time-consuming aspects of onboarding new clients. For example, you can use scheduling software such as Calendly to automatically schedule and confirm initial consultations, and collect necessary documents and information using online forms. You can also use payment processing tools to set up automatic billing and payment methods, eliminating the need for manual invoicing and follow-up.
Not only does onboarding automation save you time and energy, it also improves the experience for your clients. With a streamlined and efficient onboarding process, your clients can get started quickly and easily, making for a better overall experience.
It’s true that there are many “one system fits all” systems out there, but they can be a) costly and b) hard to integrate with your other software. Big systems like Tutorcruncher are amazing, and can be extremely helpful for tutoring agencies that are managing many different tutors and clients - but I would argue that there are much better and cheaper systems for the solo tutor.
Here are my recommendations for small business systems that can help you to automate your processes:
Call scheduling
Calendly
Has a free option as long as you only need one call type.
Will scale with you as you grow.
Can be embedded on your website.
Really slick, and really easy to integrate with other systems (you can even take payments).
Automated Emails
Mailerlite
Why not set up an awesome set of onboarding emails, giving your new clients all the info they need in handy, easy to digest chunks?
Mailerlite is free for up to 1000 contacts and, unlike many other email marketing softwares’ free versions, offers automations (and landing pages for those of you who don’t yet have a website).
Signing Contracts
Sign Request
If you require your clients to sign an agreement (and you jolly well should) this is a cost-effective online solution.
It’s free for light use and not awful even on the paid version.
Storing documents and a load of other stuff
Google Workspace
Of course, Office 365 is another option here, and I love the Office suite as much as the next ex-teacher (who doesn’t love a bit of Powerpoint here and there?) but for my money, you get a better experience from Google because the sharing possibilities are so much better.
Meet isn’t my favourite online meeting room (I gave up and paid for Zoom) but it kicks Teams’ arse every single time, the calendar is amazing, Jamboard is just the job for online tutoring sessions and Google Drive is a great way of sharing the right documents with the right person - so perfect for homework
Central record of all the things (God Documents)
Airtable
Airtable is one of my favourite tools in the entire universe.
It’s a relational database, and it’s incredibly easy to integrate with other systems, so it works really well as a central record.
Use it to store ALL the things - clients contact details, children's details, invoices and much, much more. My fave Airtable uses are: contents page for my Google Drive because much as I love Google, the Drive is IMPOSSIBLE to keep in any kind of order, and a content base - I have separate tables for my blogs, social media, other media links, hashtags - and the analytics. It's properly beautiful.
The free option is perfect - the paid option becomes even more powerful.
Joining the dots
This is a total optional extra but it really can be a game changer when it comes to joining up your systems.
Imagine a world where, when someone fills out your call scheduler, they’re added to your Airtable base for leads, so you don’t forget about them.
Then, when they’ve signed your contract, they’re automatically added to your task list, a label is made for them in your email, a folder is created in Google Drive and they’re added to your invoicing software.
Zapier can do all that - and mostly for free (depending on how many times per month you want it to do all that stuff).
Remembering to do all the things
Clickup
There are many amazing task management tools, and they are hard to recommend because which one works for you is completely dependent on you and your style, but I love Clickup.
In my business, when a new client signs a contract, Zapier sets them up a folder in Clickup, and adds a templated task with all the other things that I need to do for their onboarding, so nothing slips through the cracks.
I also have recurring tasks both for my clients, who often need me to do the same tasks each week, and for my business - so I don't forget to do annoying things like adding up tax at the end of each month or planning my social media!
So if you're a tutor looking to save time and improve the onboarding experience for your clients, consider implementing onboarding automation. Your clients will thank you, and you'll have more time and energy to focus on what you do best – teaching and supporting your clients.
If you’d like help deciding on the systems that are going to work for you, and how to build them, get in touch! As ex-teachers we have a unique understanding of your needs, and as Virtual Assistants we’re experienced in setting up systems and processes that work for you!