A portfolio is a very powerful marketing tool for tutors. For parents, hiring a tutor is an emotional purchase. They hire us because they want their child to succeed in school and in life. That gives the parents a lot to worry about. By reducing or eliminating that stress, you will make more sales and successfully acquire more clients. Here’s the secret!
Get a Nice, Professional Binder
The Samsill 15130 Classic Collection Ring Binder Portfolio is a good choice to start with. It’s more upscale than most binders you’ll find at an office supply store but not ridiculously expensive like the leather ones (although if you’re in tutoring for the long haul, go for a leather one)! You’ll also need some clear, plastic sleeves like these ones by Avery. A 100 page box like this will keep you set for a while and you can also use them to create a portable white board!.
Fill Your Binder with Letters of Recommendation
If you’re completely new to tutoring, ask you teachers, professors, or colleagues to write you letters of recommendation. Take some time to volunteer as a tutor in your community and ask your students and fellow volunteers to write you letters of recommendation. You will store these letters in the sleeves in your binder along with any other related documents such as copies of a diploma or degree, thank you notes from clients, photos of you and students, and anything else you can think of that is related and shows that you are a good, trusted, and successful tutor.
Contact old clients and ask them to write you letters of recommendation as well. I once emailed a client I hadn’t spoken to in a year and asked for a letter and she was more than happy to do it. The majority of people will gladly help you out after you’ve helped out their child; all you gotta do is ask so don’t be shy!
Combine This Tool with the Free Lesson Technique
The biggest challenge to landing new clients with this tool is that you have to meet with a client in person to show them. A great method to get that face to face meeting so you can seal the deal is with the free lesson technique.
Get started building that portfolio right now by sending some emails to anyone who could write you a letter of recommendation. The faster you fill that binder, the more effective it becomes!
This tutoring portfolio works well if you have documents to give parents that describe your services, rates, policies, etc. I have turned my own documents from my tutoring business into Microsoft Word templates that you can download and use for your own tutoring business. They’re available here.