School businesses can be one of the most profitable businesses in Nigeria if you put in a lot of hardwork and remain consistent in the services you provide. The rate at which children are born every day; and the desire of parents to send their children to good schools at all costs makes the competition of starting up a school business a rat race in Nigeria. You can barely turn to any street these days without finding a school, or two in it.
The competition, notwithstanding, the efforts you put into making your school standout from the others, thereby making it more attractive to parents is what should matter most to you as a school owner. Every learned parent knows the value of education, and enrolling their children into good schoolsー not just any schoolー is a top priority for them.
So, if you’re thinking of ways to make your school standout, and make parents see the value it offers amidst competition, this article is just the right one for you. I’ll be sharing a few secrets on how to make your school unique…shhh, don’t tell anyone!
- Put your students first: Every parent wants to be sure you know what you’re doing, and by this, they expect you to consider their kids first in any of your planning processes. Think about it too, in any regular business, the customers are always the first thoughts during the planning, branding, or rebranding stages. Putting your students first means thinking about the different ways the learning process will favour them- creating a good and healthy learning environment, making all learning tools available for students before resumption, ensuring the classrooms and furniture are in good shape and would in no way cause any injury to the children, etc. Even though the parents are the ones paying, the students are your primary customers because they are the ones enjoying the value your school gives. So, It’s not just about owning a school; it’s about ensuring it’s in a conducive environment and making sure the resources for learning are readily available. If the students are happy, the parents will be happy too.
- Ensure your school has high teaching standards: Think of the dream school you would have loved to attend, or the best school in Nigeria you would have loved to send your child to if you could afford it. Asides from the name, what would be of topmost priority to you would be the educational standard. Many parents have just the same dream as you—to send their children to the best school in Nigeria—and just like you, they can’t afford it. Here’s a little secret, since they can’t send their children to that school, you can bring the school to them. How? By ensuring your school’s teaching standard is almost as high as theirs. To do this, you can compare their school’s curriculum and match your school’s own with it. This way, students whose parents can’t afford that school don’t get to lose out much, as they enjoy quality education from your school also. The value you give will eventually make the name for you.
- Employ knowledgeable teaching staff: The teachers you employ in your school will determine the progress and growth of your school business. Teachers are the ones who communicate knowledge to the students, and if the teachers are not knowledgeable or well experienced in their fields, it would be as good as them wasting the students’ time. Parents will know the value your school is giving their children by the progress they see in their academics. If a child is not improving academically, the parents will withdraw them from your school. So, here’s another secret to making your school unique: hire some of the best teachers.
- Embrace digital technology: This is one important secret to making your school business standout. Embrace digital technology. Technology makes everything easy, and everyone wants “Easy” these days—students, parents, and your school staff too. Digitalizing your school’s learning and management system makes it even easy for you to run your school business effectively. There are many technological types of equipment out there to make teaching easy, but if you’re thinking of how to manage your school business with digital technology, you should think Schoolable. Schoolable provides not just financial services, but the necessary tools needed to manage your school’s finances transparently and conveniently.
- Encourage feedbacks: You should always remember that owning a school is a business, and feedbacks help businesses improve on their services. You never can tell just where you might be missing it, but with feedbacks from parents or even your school’s staff, you would know where improvements need to be made. You can create online questionnaires for parents to fill, or you can ask them in person. You should never be afraid to hear feedback, whether good or bad, they help your business grow.
CONCLUSION
Sometimes, school owners fall into the error of thinking they know everything there is to know about owning and managing a school business, and they end up doing the same things as other lower schools do and even lose customers in the process. As I said, it’s not just about owning a school, it’s about knowing the right tactics to employ to make your school business unique, and to run you more profit.
