Chapter 4: Nurturing Strong Relationships 🤝

When you are matched with a new student, you commit to supporting them throughout the academic school year. Having a mindset of long term support helps you establish the appropriate level of communication to build strong relationships.  Your ability to build trust with both parents and students through high quality interactions lays the foundation for consistently delivering tangible value. Trust and rapport are key to achieving a high Student Lifetime Value (SLTV) and glowing Google Reviews. This chapter delves into the pivotal interactions that shape your relationships with parents and students.

‍Key communication interactions: 

Trust forms the cornerstone of impactful tutoring experiences. The trust and rapport you build with your clients are shaped by the following interactions: 

• The First Call: We have created the First Call Questionnaire (FCQ) to guide you through this interaction. The FCQ guides you through a series of questions that cover important topics such as what support the student is looking for, how you will run lessons and when the first lesson will be. We will cover this further in Chapter 5. 
• The First Lesson: We have created the First Lesson Questionnaire (FLQ) to guide you through this interaction.  The FLQ helps you understand your student’s goals and areas for improvement and guides you to outline a simple lesson plan as you approach your student’s next exam or assignment. We will cover this further in Chapter 7. 
• Subsequent Lessons: To consistently provide your students with value in your lessons is built on your understanding of: (i) the content you are teaching; (ii) your student’s goals and what support they are looking for; (iii) what type of student they are (more on this in Chapter 6); and (iv) what key milestone you are supporting them towards. We will cover how to consistently run high value lessons in Chapter 9.
• End of Each Lesson: Ask the following 3 questions at the end of every lesson to build rapport and lesson consistency: (1) Before we finish up, do you have any questions on what we’ve covered today?; (2) Would you like a lesson next week?; and (3) Does the same time work for you?

• Lesson Reports: You are required to complete a lesson report after each lesson on TutorCruncher. The lesson report covers 3 areas - (i) what you covered in your lesson today; (ii) what you will be covering next lesson; and (iii) what wins or progress your student has made. We have received excellent feedback from parents from our lesson reports - doing this well goes a long way to building trust and rapport with your parents and continuing to offer value to your students. We will cover Lesson Reports further in Chapter 7.
• Communication in between lessons: After the First Call, you will be the primary point of contact for the parent and student. The aim is to keep the channel of communication open. Parents may reach out to you to reschedule lessons, ask questions or share feedback. Respond promptly and professionally to messages to build trust in your relationship and maintain their confidence in your capabilities. Other examples of communication between lessons include texting your student on the morning of your planned lesson to confirm their attendance; checking in with your student after they have completed the exam or assignment you have been working towards together; and reaching out to students towards the end of school holidays to organise your next lesson. 

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Remember - we are here to support you every step of the way. If you have any questions along the way, always feel free to reach out to Natalie via text or email.