Most parents have paid for a tutoring service or a private tutor at some point. In many cases, parents hit the panic button when their child brings home a D or F.During these times, parents will look through the phone book and contact either a tutoring company or private tutor. If the parent chooses a company, they usually pay a hefty fee for the initial assessment and then the tutoring takes place in and around many other students. The tutoring is not 1 on 1 in most cases.
Many private tutors offer their services at any location. Parents usually have a better experience with private tutors, because the tutoring is 1 on 1 and the tutor usually communicates with the parent and provides feedback on the student’s progress.
When I sit back and compare these two options, it’s obvious to me that parents and students are much better off if they choose a private tutor over a tutoring company.
If there was a way to collect real statistics on the longevity of the paid tutoring services provided by private tutor’s vs tutoring companies, I would bet the house that private tutors hold onto their clients for a much longer period of time.
The reason for this is simple. Private tutors take the time to care. Tutoring companies don’t have time to care. They are primarily concerned with their bottom line and as a result, they are shooting themselves in the foot.
If you do a search for Sylvan Learning centers, you’ll see some stories of bankrupt learning centers going out of business. This is a shame in my opinion and it could have been prevented. All they had to do was take the time to care by consulting with the parents and giving the students a 1 on 1 tutoring experience.
The lessons learned from this are simple. Take the time to care and parents will be happy to pay for any tutoring service for months if not years to come.