VISIONARY - Music Inc. Magazine
VISIONARY - Music Inc. Magazine
VISIONARY - Music Inc. Magazine
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QUICK TIP I BY MYRNA SISLEN I MIDDLE C MUSIC; WASHINGTON, D.C.<br />
MUSIC LESSONS GROUPON<br />
“It’s summertime. People are<br />
going on vacations, and there<br />
are a lot fewer students in our<br />
music lessons program. So, I did<br />
a Groupon with a time frame.<br />
“It’s for either two guitar or<br />
two piano lessons. It covers the<br />
registration fee and the book —<br />
in this case, I used a Hal Leonard<br />
book.<br />
“The Groupon went out<br />
on May 29 and will expire on<br />
Sept. 1. People pay $59. And if<br />
somebody calls and says they<br />
would rather take a voice lesson<br />
instead of piano or guitar,<br />
I say, ‘Of course.’<br />
“I limited it to 200 people<br />
since we have to accommodate<br />
all those new lessons, and we<br />
got 155 to participate, which<br />
is good. I did not put ‘new customers<br />
only’ on the Groupon,<br />
so about five people who are<br />
already taking lessons here used<br />
it, too. But I got about 150 new<br />
customers. And a lot of people<br />
have told me they’ve seen the<br />
Groupon.<br />
“I receive 25 percent of the<br />
asking price on the Groupon, so<br />
no matter how you slice it, you<br />
don’t make money on the actual<br />
promotion.<br />
“But this way, my teachers<br />
are still making money. I’m<br />
helping support them during<br />
the summertime. And the first<br />
person who came in to have<br />
her two lessons didn’t need the<br />
method book, so she put that<br />
amount toward a $99 guitar case.<br />
Also, one of the other Groupon<br />
people has already signed up for<br />
a full schedule of lessons, and<br />
it’s only been a week since the<br />
promotion.<br />
“We would be too busy to<br />
do this promotion during the<br />
school year. But during the summertime,<br />
people’s schedules are<br />
more relaxed, and we can space<br />
the new students out throughout<br />
the whole summer.<br />
“I’m sure I’ll at least break<br />
even on this, if not do better.<br />
It’s a win, win, win.”<br />
JULY 2011 I MUSIC INC. I 19