How can I avoid corporate students without tanking my stats?
I do not want to teach corporate students, for a number of reasons. I wrote in my profile that I am not taking on corporate students. I don't know whether people don't read or don't care, but around two thirds of my trials at the moment are with corporate students. Asking them to cancel the trial doesn't always work, because the students in question don't respond or don't even read their messages. On one occasion, the bookings were made by a company employee (not the student(s) themselves) who got upset with me, demanded to know the reason why I was turning them down, and reported me to Preply.
I'd like to avoid these issues, but I don't want to tank my ratings in the process. I also don't want to turn away other students by raising prices beyond the corporate price point (which seems to be 25$, but I'm not sure). At the moment, all I can think of is:
- Blocking off my daytime availability. I can explain to my existing students that they need to contact me to make bookings. Unfortunately, it would turn away some new non-corporate students and it won't turn away all corporate students, so it's not a great strategy.
- Telling corporate students that I am unable to meet the requirements of the corporate program because I cannot commit to the 12 month period. It's a lie and utterly irrelevant to the issue at hand, but at least it might stop them from running to Preply to report me because they don't like my reasons. It would only work for the students who read my messages, though.
When everything fails and a student books and remains unresponsive, I don't know what's my best bet. If I go through with the trial and tell them (again!) that I don't take on corporate students, they would have a right to complain to Preply. If I cancel the lesson at my end, I will be penalised, and it won't stop them from rebooking. If I block students too often, Preply is likely to notice and be unhappy about it. If I reschedule the lesson until they read their messages and cancel at their end, I'll be penalised AND risk upsetting the students.
I understand that this will all be immaterial when the new corporate programme is finally rolled out. However, I'd still like a strategy for minimising damage until that happy date. Any informed suggestions would be greatly appreciated.