For Tutors - What should I do during my free video chat?

Your free video chat is the perfect opportunity to let parents and students know how you can help them achieve their learning goals. Getting your free video chat right is really important when it comes to creating long-term relationships with parents and students and securing more weekly bookings.

Parents and students are generally looking for a tutor because they or their child are having a problem, so it’s up to you to let them know how you can help to solve that for them! They may be nervous about getting a private tutor or learning online, so your 15-minute chat should hopefully help to calm any fears they may have and you should both leave the chat feeling really positive and reassured.

When parents and students come to our site and request a free video chat, it’s likely their first time looking into private tutoring, so don’t be afraid to take charge of the meeting! It’s your opportunity to tell the parent/student how things work and what you can do for them.

What should I talk about?

• Start off by introducing yourself and finding out some information about the student. The parent may also be there, so it’s good to chat with them too. Some parents like to be more involved in tuition than others and you’ll usually be able to get a feel for that in your free chat. 
• Find out what they need help with, if it’s a specific exam, piece of coursework or if they are generally struggling with the subject. Ask as many questions as you can to find out if you’re the right tutor for the student.
• Talk about how you can help them, you may wish to mention other students that you have had in the same subjects and give examples of how you’ve helped students in the past.
• Leave some time towards the end for their questions, as they will undoubtedly have some! 
• You can also use the time to show them around the online classroom
• If you think the chat has been good, don’t be worried about being proactive about booking in lessons together. It’s really good to outline a plan for how you see the lessons happening going forward, so for example, you could outline what the first lesson would start with or say “I think it’s best if we start with two lessons once a week” 

After the Chat:

• If the student or parent hasn’t agreed to book during the meeting, don’t fret! We’d advise popping them a follow-up message within a few hours, recapping what you’d discussed in the chat, how you can help and where to go from there.
• If you still don't hear back, feel free to send them a message a couple of days later to make sure they've had time to think about your meeting.