Parents occasionally ask their new coach to meet for coffee or have a brief meeting with the child “to see if it’s a good fit.” This is understandable but the problem is that the parent does not expect to pay for this.
We do not believe it is fair to ask you, our coach, make an unpaid visit to the client. If you feel better with a brief meet and greet, we won’t stop you, but if you’d like all your trips to the client to be billable, here’s a suggested script to help you handle these requests:
“HomeworkCoach has a policy about meet and greet sessions. They feel it’s more productive to have a real working, billable session for an hour. That way, you’ll get to see how your student and I get on, and you’ll get more accurate feedback from your child. And HomeworkCoach does have a first lesson guarantee policy. So if it turns out I’m not a good fit, you would not be charged. And we can of course take time at the start of the session for you to tell me more about your student, discuss your goals and show me any assessments or IEPs or schoolwork you think would be helpful for me to see. But let’s make that part of our first working session.”
Most parents understand, once you explain the key points in the script
– the first session will be a full one-hour working billable session
– it’s better this way, because the parent can see how the tutor and child get on together
– there’s no risk; if the session does not go well, we’ll refund the client’s money (the coach still gets paid)
Be sure to provide value in this first hour. Help the student plan upcoming assignments, review the school website to make sure there are no incomplete grades, and perhaps talk about short- and medium-term goals that the student feels are achievable with your help.
If you have any push-back from the parent, let us know, and we can talk to them. And remember to get your timesheet signed at this first session, so the parent is totally clear that they will be billed!
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