Somebody books a trial class. She is placed with a group two levels above her, spends fifty minutes understanding almost nothing, and leaves convinced she is bad at languages.
The teaching was excellent. The placement was a guess made from a one line enquiry form.
Step 1: assess before you place
A short placement step before any trial, however informal. It takes ten minutes and it is the difference between a trial that converts and one that puts somebody off entirely.
Step 2: publish how placement works
What the test involves, how long it takes, whether it is online, whether a conversation is included and how quickly the result comes back, which is the ground in level test and course questions from language learners.
Step 3: publish the trial terms
Free, discounted or chargeable and credited. Whichever it is, say so plainly. Ambiguity makes people assume a sales pitch is waiting.
Step 4: say what happens in the session
Whether they join an existing class, what they will be asked to do, whether they will be put on the spot and what they should bring. Adults are nervous and this is why they hesitate.
Step 5: match the trial to the real thing
A trial in a class they would actually join, at the level they would actually be, with the teacher they would actually have. Anything else misrepresents the product.
Step 6: handle complete beginners differently
They cannot be placed by a test and should not be dropped into a group. A separate beginner route, published as such, is what reaches them.
Step 7: capture the goal, not just the level
Work, study, travel, family or an exam. Two learners at the same level want entirely different courses, and the goal decides which one to recommend.
Step 8: capture the practical constraints
Days, times, online or in person, budget and start date. It determines whether an enrolment is even possible before anybody invests in a trial.
Step 9: follow up within a day
While the experience is fresh, with a specific recommendation, the price and the next start date. Trials that are not followed up convert at a fraction of the rate.
Step 10: make the next step concrete
A named course, a start date and what to do now. Vague encouragement to get in touch loses people who genuinely intended to enrol.
Step 11: run trials at useful times
Evenings and weekends, because that is when working learners can attend, which is also when the enquiries arrive.
Step 11b: decide what happens when a trial goes badly
Sometimes the level is wrong despite the assessment, or a group is not the right fit. Offering a second trial at a different level, without any awkwardness and without another charge, recovers a learner who would otherwise conclude the school is not for them and never return.
Step 11c: publish what happens after enrolment
Learners want to know whether they can change level once they start, what happens if a class is too easy or too hard, and how progress is reviewed. Saying so before the trial removes the fear of committing a term's fees to a decision made in a single fifty minute session.
Step 12: the same structure works for corporate enquiries
Assessment, a pilot session and a proposal, as in corporate language training enquiries.
Step 13: trial handling is a shared discipline
Every lesson based business lives on this, as in trial class enquiries for martial arts schools and an AI receptionist for driving schools.
Getting started
Publish the placement process and trial terms, then capture level, goal and availability at any hour and book the right class. SpideyChat for language schools answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about booking on the features page.