How To Attract New Guitar Students Like A Magnet

by Tom Hess

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Wouldn't it be great to never struggle again teach guitar successfuly or to have a full schedule of guitar students?

Every guitar teacher wants this, but most struggle to attract a lot of guitar students all throughout the year.

You may think that if you simply advertise more, you’ll get more guitar students. Advertising is definitely important when you teach guitar, but it’s only half of what it takes to fill your schedule with lots of guitar students.

The other half is showing your guitar students why they should hire you to teach guitar to theminstead of doing other things to improve their playing.

Here are the most important things that help you teach guitar better and attract more guitar students quickly:

Your guitar students want to feel like you truly care about them as human beings and that you want them to succeed when you teach guitar to them.

When your guitar students feel that you care about them, they will want to study with you even if you are more expensive than other guitar teachers in your area.

They will also brag to all their friends about how cool their guitar teacher is. This helps you get new guitar students to teach guitar to via referrals.

It’s not hard to show your guitar students that you care. Watch this video on how to teach guitar to learn what it really means to care about your guitar students’ success:

Tip: show that you care with actions, not words. For example: reinvest some of the money you earn from as you teach guitar right back into your guitar students. You can hold your own group events, seminars, master classes, parties or banquets exclusively for your guitar students. Don’t charge your guitar students for this - give it to them for free.

Word will spread quickly about all the cool things you do for your guitar students as you teach guitar to them and your reputation will grow. As your reputation grows, attracting more guitar students becomes easier.


Question: “But Tom Hess, what if I don’t have enough money (or time) to put on special events for my guitar students?”

Answer:

1. You don’t have to spend any money to show your guitar students that you care about them and their progress as you teach guitar. You can create special events for your guitar students when you can afford to do so (and without spending much money).
2. Any investment you make into your guitar students will pay for itself many times. Just imagine how much more money you’ll make when:

• You attract more new guitar students who hear about all the cool things you do when you teach guitar to your students that no other guitar teacher in your area does.
   
• Your guitar students study with you much longer than ever before.
   
• Your guitar students refer more of their friends to you who will want you to teach guitar to them.

3. The more successful you become as a guitar teacher, the more time and money you have to invest into your guitar students beyond the basic things you do to teach guitar to them.

2. Inspire Your Guitar Students To Set Ambitious Musical Goals. Here Is What This Means When You Teach Guitar And How To Do It:

Most guitar students are afraid to believe in their own potential. They set very weak goals based on what they think they could achieve (instead of what they really want to achieve).

For example: your guitar students may think they only want to learn how to play a particular song, play fast guitar solos or learn to play like their favorite guitarist.

Most (average) guitar teachers will try to teach their guitar students what they say they want to learn.
When the goal is reached, their guitar students have no reason to continue lessons… so they quit.

Truth is, many of your guitar students would love to achieve a lot more ambitious goals (and have you teach guitar to them for much longer). Their other goals may include:  

• learning to improvise their own awesome guitar solos
   
• writing their own killer songs
   
• becoming professional musicians

 …if you simply make them aware of the possibilities available to them while you teach guitar, help them believe in their potential and guide them through the process.

Tip: have an in-depth conversation with your guitar students about their goals before you start to teach guitar lessons to them This shows your guitar students that you care and makes them confident in choosing you as their guitar teacher.

When you help your guitar students set more ambitious goals, they get to achieve what they really want and you make more money by keeping your guitar students longer. Win-Win :)

Note: not all of your guitar students will want to achieve big goals. That’s ok. Your job is to help your guitar students understand what’s truly possible for them and to help them achieve what makes them happy. Anything else is a disservice to your students (and to you).

3. Make Your Guitar Students Excited About What They need To Learn To Become Good Players. Here Is What This Means When You Teach Guitar And How To Do It:

Your #1 job as a guitar teacher is to get your guitar students to do what you tell them to do. This ensures that your guitar students actually become great players.

Very often your guitar students will have to practice skills that:

• Feel boring to them
• Are not instantly gratifying (meaning your guitar students have to put in a lot of work before they see results)
• Are difficult to do (either mentally or physically)

If you simply tell your guitar students what to do, most will stop practicing as soon as they feel bored and start practicing something that feels more fun. It’s frustrating when you tell your students what to do over and over but few of them actually do it.

Want to learn the secret to motivating your guitar students to practice everything you tell them every single time? Watch this video:

The better you are at motivating your guitar students to practice, the faster they will improve and the faster you build your reputation as the #1 guitar teacher in your area.


4. Get Real Training On How To Teach Guitar From An Elite And Verifiable Expert. Here Is What This Means When You Teach Guitar And How To Do It:

Imagine you are a serious guitar student looking for a guitar teacher for yourself. Would you want a guitar teacher who taught himself how to teach guitar through decades of trial and error (or by copying every other guitar teacher)?

…Or would you want a guitar teacher who actually has real training on how to teach guitar to you in the best way possible?

If you want to attract the most serious guitar students - the ones who pay the most, learn the fastest, make the most progress, are the most fun to teach and help build your reputation the most - you’d better become the best teacher in your area.

People are not stupid. Everybody knows that you can’t learn brain surgery by trial and error or by watching another brain surgeon. Everyone also knows that becoming a lawyer, accountant, auto mechanic, airplane pilot, cook, machinist or architect doesn't come from trial and error or by watching others do those things.

Being an expert guitar teacher is no different.

Yes, you will become a better guitar teacher with experience, but what student wants to be your laboratory rat while you experiment on them? Don't be lazy, don't be cheap, don't take shortcuts - both you and your guitar students deserve better and you know it. Get REAL training and coaching on how to teach guitar.

Disclaimer: if you know anything about me, you already know I offer such expert training for anyone who wants to teach guitar (and become a guitar teacher). So you could choose to think that my only intention here is to promote my guitar teacher coaching program... It's not.

You don’t have to get guitar teacher training from me. I really don't care who coaches you to become a master teacher. I'm simply telling you that you need expert guitar teacher training and to go out and get it.
 

5. Do Not Teach All Your Guitar Students The Same Way. Here Is What This Means:

Every guitar student you teach is unique. To be a better teacher - tailor your teaching to your students’ personality type, learning style and specific goals. This helps your guitar students improve faster and makes guitar lessons more fun for them and for you.

Watch this video to see a live demonstration of how to tailor your guitar lessons to your students’ personality type:

Question: “Tom Hess, how can I use this knowledge to attract more guitar students?”

Answer: Your prospective guitar students will sometimes ask you “how you would teach them” or “how your lessons work”. The way you answer this question can make or break the students’ decision to work with you or not.

Average guitar teachers would go into a long pitch explaining how they teach lessons.

The best guitar teachers won’t answer this question about someone they’ve never taught before. Tell your potential guitar students that you don’t teach everyone the same way using a cookie-cutter approach. Your plan for them is going to evolve based on their progress, their situation, their specific challenges and needs.

This is the only way you can help your guitar students actually get results and learn to play the way they want to play.

When you have this mindset, attracting new guitar students becomes a lot easier.

Note: it IS ok to use the same method when you teach complete beginners. Beginner guitar students all start from having zero knowledge and zero skills. All beginners have to learn the same things in the same order to master the basics of playing guitar.

Just make sure you have the best teaching approach for teaching beginner guitar students.

6. Demonstrate To Prospective Guitar Students That Your Lessons Are Superior To Anything They Can Find Anywhere Else. Here Is How To Do It:

Have you ever had prospective guitar students call you and ask you what you charge for lessons and where you are located?

Your guitar students ask these questions for 2 reasons:

Reason #1: They likely assume that all guitar teachers and guitar lessons are the same (like a gallon of milk is the same, no matter where you buy it). In their mind, the only difference between you and another teacher is what your lesson rates are and where you are located.

Reason #2: Most people only think about the price per lesson, not the total amount of money and time they will spend to become good guitar players.

You probably know that your location and your price don't help your guitar students to choose the right teacher for them. Problem is, you might not know how to help your guitar students choose a guitar teacher based on the right criteria.

Here is how you can easily position yourself as the expert guitar teacher:

• Show your prospective clients a list of guitar students who already became great guitarists by studying with you.
• Explain that you have invested into becoming a great guitar teacher by acquiring real guitar teacher training (a credential that average guitar teachers do not have). Note: this is NOT the same (and is far better than) having a ‘music degree’, since a music degree doesn't help you in any way to be an effective ‘teacher’.
• Teach in innovative formats (not only private lessons) that will help your guitar students to progress more quickly. Clearly explain to your guitar students the additional benefits these formats will give them.
• Be an ‘expert’ in the style your guitar students want to learn (rather than a jack of all trades guitar teacher).

When you do all of the above, 2 things will happen:

1. Your prospective guitar students will clearly see that you really ARE the only option for them.
2. Other guitar teachers in your area will lose a lot of guitar students as word gets around that it is YOU who helps guitarists reach their goals faster than anybody else.

The next step to filling your teaching schedule is learn how to apply these strategies in your business and begin attracting new guitar students today.

Download this guitar teaching eGuide to learn how to attract new guitar students like a magnet and make them excited to start lessons with you.

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About Tom Hess: Tom Hess is a guitar teacher, music career mentor and guitar teacher trainer. He trains guitar teachers from all over the world how to earn 6-figures per year teaching guitar, while working less than 40 hours per week. 

Learn even more powerful ways to get guitar students fast for your guitar teaching business.

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