The phones have been busy this week! The number one question was, “what is a tutor referral business?” The easiest way to answer that question is to use the analogy of a stockbroker, real estate broker or mortgage broker. All of the aforementioned individuals shop the marketplace for the best stocks to buy, houses to purchase or mortgage rates for their clients. The customer does not have to spend their time trying to find what they are looking for on their own. Their broker does the legwork for them. In the case of a the real estate agent; they find out the buyer’s requirements for a home, search the neighborhoods for the best homes with the features the buyer wants and presents several options to their client. Anyone who has purchased a home has probably spent several hours in their real estate agent’s car touring potential homes.
A tutor referral service is very similar. The tutor “broker” meets with the parents of a child in need of tutoring and determines the academic needs of that particular child. The owner interviews and contracts with many independent tutors and makes the perfect “match” for the student, based on not only the student’s academic requirements, but also their learning style and personality. The parent does not have to shop the competition, visit learning centers or hire a tutor from an ad in a local paper. They place their trust in the HTB owner to have done all of the legwork for them. It’s a win-win for the tutor looking for work and the family in need of a tutor. The tutor broker makes money by (in most cases) splitting the rate they are charging the client with the tutor. The more hours the tutors are out tutoring during the week, the more lucrative the business!
In essence the HTB owner is referring tutors to clients and making a handsome profit!