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November is all about maximizing outreach during an abbreviated sales cycle.  With essentially three weeks before Thanksgiving and major admissions and testing events behind, November is about 1) courting Spring test takers and 2) engaging Seniors with one more SAT or ACT on the horizon before regular admissions deadlines.  

Engaging the Spring test takers, we’ll call them Group A,  should involve an aggressive incentive-based strategy. 

Working with the Seniors, Group B,  should involve low cost marketing combined with an urgency message.  Boot-camps, Weekend Only, and Subject Specific Tutoring messages all have merit.    

• Events:  Continue with Fall Practice Test messaging but add in “What do your scores mean?” workshops.
• Incentives, Group A:  Early Bird Incentives designed to take market share ahead of Thanksgiving should be the largest of the year for the Spring group.   
• Incentives, Group B:  Incentives for  high school seniors  should be modest if at all.  These folks are likely already in your lead queue.  If you do feel compelled, try a value-add message such as  “Sign up for our Boot-camp and receive [ free flashcards].”
• Planning:  Triage past lead inquiries into 30, 60, 90 and 180 lead cohorts.  If you don’t use our marketing – autopilot, simply sequence a relevant message for each lead group and insert into your drip campaign.
• Sales Management:  Update a sales short sheet with incentives  &  class dates.  Stick to the rules of each incentive and review with your team. 
• Networking:  in general terms, communicate your  main messages to relevant groups & administrators:  

EVENT Title+ [Incentive] for Group A.   Group B should simply be informed  of  Boot-camp Dates  or Tutoring Availability with a Last Chance for Bootcamps  message.

• More broadly:   Align website,  blog, email, and social outlets with the main message.  Resist the urge to pack multiple offers along side one another in any media.  Stay simple and direct.   Group A is a larger revenue opportunity with a more lengthy conversion cycle.  Group B is smaller, has more immediate revenue upside (albeit nominal) and also has a shorter customer life cycle.  Align your efforts accordingly. 
• Crystal ball:  We project more students than in the past will submit both ACT & SAT scores.  Also, the number of SAT Test Takers  has increased due to state contracts.  The  number of students submitting ACT scores also seems to be up.  However, TPR reported a 15% decrease in year over year results last month so traditional efforts may be less effective than in the past. 

Boutique firm business results have been mixed since the introduction of Khan Academy.   Keep yourself organized, define revenue & lead goals each month, and use that knowledge to refine your marketing efforts.   The following Pulse articles  may be helpful:  Niche Strategy, Applying the Hedgehog Concept, Determining Client Acquisition Cost. 

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