Who answers the phone while you’re teaching a class?
The phone poses the biggest distraction for a lone instructor. However, there are ways to handle that particular problem.
Do you use an answering machine to handle the calls? Do not.
When folks are calling for information about signing up for martial arts lessons, they want a real person on the other end ready to answer their questions. If they don’t get one, they may end up calling another martial arts school.
Should a visitor in the lobby answer the phone for you? Never.
You’ll always want the person answering the phone to sound professional. We all know the first thought that crosses our minds when we call a place of business and the person who answers says “Yeah?” Not good.
Should you hire a receptionist?
Not necessarily. In this day of modern technology, a cellular phone is probably the best option for handling calls during a class and when you’re away from the studio. You can have your office phone set up to forward your calls to you wherever you are.
If you choose not to have a cellular phone, your second best option is to step away from your class and handle the call quickly, preferably in less than a minute.
This may require you to ask the caller to call back when your class ends. Or, you may need to have a pen and paper next to the phone to scribble down a name and number so that you can call the person back after class.
