Operations
How tutors move from hourly lessons to booked, prepaid terms
7 July 20269 min readRead
Repeat local
How tutors get students: a 90-day plan
How your buyer buys: Modest price, bought again and again. Retention is the whole economics. Straddles repeat-local and b2b-practice. Parents buy like repeat local, so the plan is written for them. Work for schools, colleges and tutoring agencies is bought like a B2B practice, where cold email to the institution and screened calls become lawful options.
A parent looking for a tutor starts at the school gate and in the class WhatsApp group, then opens Tutorful or Superprof in the evening while you are teaching. They want the subject and level, the exam board, the DBS date, the price of a half-term block, and a free fifteen-minute call they can book without ringing. A profile with all five gets the first lesson.
After the first lesson the family is yours to keep or lose. Each half-term is a new decision, so three lines on progress and the payment link for the next block, sent in the last week, hold the slot. Schools buy differently: a SENCO or a head of year refers to a tutor they know, and a tutoring agency books like a business, which sits outside this plan.
So the booking button, the reminders and the credentials come first. Then the profile, the directories and prices in half-term blocks. Then the rebook at the end of each half-term, the review link on results day, and the two schools and the home education group that send pupils for years.
Step zero
The free checklist, before the plan.
The checklist repairs what you already have: the phone, the profile, the booking path. This page is the plan for new work on top of it, and the two are different jobs.
The Tutor's DIY Growth Checklist
The free checklist for tutors and tuition centres: every repair to the phone, the profile and the booking path, as step-by-step actions. Sent by email.
Where they look
Where your customers actually look.
Tutorful(opens in a new tab)
The largest UK tutoring marketplace and where many parents start. List with the same name, subjects and rates as everywhere else, and treat it as a source of first lessons rather than a home.
Superprof(opens in a new tab)
The other profile parents compare, with a large search for GCSE and A-level subjects. Keep the subjects, the levels and the exam boards identical to the Tutorful listing.
Tutor Hunt
Smaller, but parents who search for a subject and a town find it. One more listing with the same details costs an hour and brings a lesson or two a term.
The Tutors' Association
The professional body, with a code of practice and a member search. Membership beside the DBS date settles the question for a cautious parent and for a school.
School and town parent groups on Facebook
Where a parent asks for a maths or 11+ tutor. Reply with subject, level, online or in person, and your next free slot, and ask current parents to tag you.
Google Business Profile(opens in a new tab)
Tutor near me with the subject ends in the map pack. Category Tutoring service, address hidden, and each subject and level listed as its own service.
Your year
When the phone rings, and when to start.
The big waves are September and January, with a smaller one in March and April before the exams.
- Jan: peak
- Feb
- Mar: peak
- Apr: peak
- May
- Jun, start the visibility work
- Jul: quiet
- Aug: quiet
- Sep: peak
- Oct, start the visibility work
- Nov
- Dec, start the visibility work
Amber months are the peak, grey months are quiet, and "start" marks the month the visibility work has to begin in.
- January peak: start by October, because local search takes about three months to move.
- March to April peak: start by December, because local search takes about three months to move.
- September peak: start by June, because local search takes about three months to move.
Tutoring has three waves. September brings the new school year and the 11+, January brings the push to mocks and exams, and March and April bring a smaller wave before the summer papers. Directory listings and the profile take a quarter to move, so the work for September starts in June, the work for January starts in October, and the work for March starts in December. July and August are quiet, because families are away, which makes them the time to bring the directory listings and the half-term block prices up to date, and to message past families in late August for September places. Results day in August is for the review link and the referral ask.
The 90-day plan
Four phases, in the order that pays back fastest.
Each step names its channel, its cost band from the technique register, the effort it takes, and how long until the first enquiry or booking.
Week 0
Online booking
Put a 'Book a free 15-minute consultation' button on every page, tied to your real availability
- Cost: ££
- Low effort
- First result in 0 to 2 weeks
In the bundleReminders, deposits, cancellation policy
Remind the parent the day before each lesson, and take the half-term block up front by payment link
- Cost: £
- Low effort
- First result in 0 to 2 weeks
Credentials a buyer can check
Show your enhanced DBS date, your degree, QTS if you hold it, and the exam boards you teach, on every profile and page
- Cost: Free
- Low effort
- First result in 1 to 4 weeks
In the bundle
Month 1
Google Business Profile, complete
Set Tutoring service as the primary category with a hidden address, and list each subject and level as its own service
- Cost: Free
- Low effort
- First result in 4 to 12 weeks
Trade and sector directories
List on Tutorful, Superprof and Tutor Hunt with the same name, subjects and rates, as a source of first lessons
- Cost: £
- Low effort
- First result in 1 to 6 weeks
Published prices or bands
Price in half-term blocks, with online and in-person prices side by side
- Cost: Free
- Low effort
- First result in 1 to 4 weeks
In the kit
Months 2 to 3
Rebook before they leave
In the last week of each half-term, send the parent three lines on progress and the payment link for the next block
- Cost: Free
- Low effort
- First result in 0 to 2 weeks
In the kit and the bundleAsk every client for a review
Text parents a review link at the end of every term and on results day
- Cost: Free
- Low effort
- First result in 4 to 12 weeks
In the bundleGatekeeper partnerships
Introduce yourself to the SENCO and a head of year at two local schools, and to the local home education group
- Cost: Free
- Medium effort
- First result in 8 to 16 weeks
Month 3 onward
Due-again nudges and win-backs
Message past families in late August, in January, and the week mock results come home
- Cost: £
- Low effort
- First result in 0 to 4 weeks
In the kit and the bundleSharpen the offer
Tie the offer to the 11+, mocks and summer exams, say how many weekly slots are left, and run a waiting list when there are none
- Cost: Free
- Low effort
- First result in 1 to 4 weeks
In the kitLocal Facebook groups
When a parent in a school or town group asks for a tutor, reply with subject, level, online or in person, and your next free slot
- Cost: Free
- Low effort
- First result in 1 to 6 weeks
The cost of waiting
What doing nothing costs tutors and tuition centres.
The leaks below are the ones the tutors and tuition centres page already names. Put a figure on each, see what the fix gets back a month, and how many weeks the kit or the bundle takes to pay for itself.
Industry estimates, not client results
Industry-typical ranges for a private tutor or small centre: a lesson priced in the tens of pounds, most parents who enquire going ahead, and a weekly slot through the school year giving around thirty further lessons.
Every number below is prefilled from that estimate and editable. Put your own figures in and the leaks, gains and payback recalculate as you type.
Where it leaks
Drains repeat purchases
Every week is a fresh negotiation about next week
- Leaking now
- £159 a month
- Gain from the fix
- £79 a month
- The fix
- Self-serve booking and payment (about £700 one-off)
- Pays back in
- 38.2 weeks
Drains repeat purchases
Parents drift away silently between terms
- Leaking now
- £225 a month
- Gain from the fix
- £90 a month
- The fix
- Nurture sequence (about £600 one-off)
- Pays back in
- 28.9 weeks
Drains enquiries
Your qualifications and results are invisible online
- Leaking now
- £420 a month
- Gain from the fix
- £168 a month
- The fix
- A website that converts (about £1,750 one-off)
- Pays back in
- 45.1 weeks
Drains enquiries
No waiting list, so a leaver is lost income for months
- Leaking now
- £222 a month
- Gain from the fix
- £111 a month
- The fix
- Nurture sequence (about £600 one-off)
- Pays back in
- 23.4 weeks
On these figures
£1,086 a month leaking
Fixing every leak above gets back about £473 a month, with each leak counted on its own against the same baseline, regulars kept included.
- The Full-Timetable System (£1,795)
- Pays back in 16.5 weeks
- The Tutor Growth Kit (£49)
- Pays back in under a week
On these figures the bundle takes longer than 13 weeks (90 days) to pay back for tutors and tuition centres. The fields above are there to check that against your own numbers, which are the ones that count.
What matters most
The levers that carry the most weight here.
Four steps fill a tutor's timetable. The directory listings, Tutorful, Superprof and Tutor Hunt, because that is where the first lesson comes from. Credentials a parent can check: the enhanced DBS date, the degree, QTS if held, and the exam boards you teach, on every profile and page. The rebook in the last week of each half-term, with three lines on progress and the payment link, which holds the slot for the next block. And the SENCO and the head of year at two local schools, with the home education group, who refer for years once they know your subjects. The deadline offer, tied to the 11+, mocks and the summer papers with the slots left, runs on top of those.
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