How to get local students for a new business?
Traditional local advertising like flyers, city events, and mailers often fails to bring in enough students to fill classes. This leaves business owners with empty rooms and no clear path to finding clients in a competitive area.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1relying purely on word of mouth
- 2taking on private lessons from outside competitive dancers from established studios
- 3Getting the first clients from people already in your network
- 4Targeting turnover cleans between tenants ordered by property managers and realtors
- 5Gaining initial experience and trust by applying to work for established cleaning companies first
- 6Using a Facebook page
- 7Considering lawn signage for current clients
- 8Considering vehicle signage
- 9Setting up a Google Business Profile to appear in searches and collect reviews
- 10Spending money on Google Ads
- 11Posting on social media and Instagram
- 12Asking friends and family to leave cars outside to look busier
- 13Looking into mobile servicing or pick-up and delivery
- 14Scanning local Facebook groups for people posting about car problems
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“My younger kid classes are practically empty and I really need to get more students in.”source ↗
“I made flyers, passed out schedules, did boots on the ground advertising dropping flyers at homes, done events through the city, mailed out advertising, it seems like nothing is working.”source ↗
“Some weeks we barely get 3–4 calls and it’s honestly pretty demoralising.”source ↗
“We just don’t get enough people through the door.”source ↗
“What makes it worse is there are garages near us that look absolutely rammed all the time. Cars everywhere, phones ringing, people coming and going, and then ours can be dead. It’s hard not to look at that and think, what the hell are we doing wrong?”source ↗
“How does one find houses to clean?”source ↗
“So far I can buy the cleaning supplies tomorrow and have a car but I am not sure where to find homes to clean.”source ↗
“I’m struggling bad to find more cleaning clients”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 5How to find reliable staff for a food business
- 2How do I find a trustworthy business partner and avoid split mistakes?
- 2How to avoid buying a 60-hour-a-week job instead of a business
- 3How to save a local retail shop when foot traffic drops