This is a sample plan. The answers are made up.
Do this first
Finish the work you owe before you ask for more.
Why
- You still owe these students work or a fix. (you checked)
- The owed work waits for a date on your schedule. (you checked)
- One person reaches out. They have a backup. (you checked)
Asking an owed student to come back won’t work. Finish what you owe first.
- Who does it
- The person in charge.
- Done means
- Each owed session has an owner and a date. Each student knows the date.
Where you stand
2 working, 1 not checked.
- Someone reaches out when it’s timeWorking (you checked)
- Each student is on one list with a due dateWorking (you checked)
- Due dates are keptNot checked
Do this today
- List your last ten students. Add any older ones still open.
- List the work you still owe each student.
- For each one, write what is owed, and the first date you could do it.
- Give each one a date to finish. Or set a date to tell the student.
- Mark each one. Is it dated, waiting on the student, or with no owner?
Your records support this, so you can start the change while you check.
Use what you find
| What you find | Your next step |
|---|---|
| What you find: Owed work sits with no date. | Your next step: If owed work keeps piling up, look at how work is planned and checked at the end. |
| What you find: Each owed session has a date, and still they don’t come back. | Your next step: If nothing is owed, look at when students come due. See what happens then. |
| What you find: If you can’t tell | Your next step: Keep the owed list for two more weeks. |
Your list
Sheet: Owed work list
This list is made up. It is for Northstar Tutoring.
| Found in | Student | What we owe | Waits on | Finish by | Student told? | Owner | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Found in: Calendar | Student: Math tutoring, Lee | What we owe: One more session | Waits on: A date | Finish by: Thu | Student told?: Not yet | Owner: Jo | Next action: Tell the student the date |
| Found in: Student list | Student: Test prep, Ortiz | What we owe: A fix to last week’s work | Waits on: The student | Finish by: Not set | Student told?: Yes, Mon | Owner: Sam, the backup | Next action: Reach out once for what you need |
Your blank copy, 8 rows
What you type here stays on this page. It is gone if you reload. Print or copy it to keep it.
A note you can use
Use a date you can keep. Check the schedule first.
Fill in the parts in [brackets] before you send it.
Check again
When: In two weeks.
Count these real cases:
- Owed: work you still owe, with no date to finish.
- Finished: owed work done, and the student told.
- Cases still open:
- Keep cases with no outcome yet in their own group. They aren’t lost.
- Later:
- Wait until the owed work is done. Then count who comes back on their own. On your path, each of these counts on its own: session done, due back, reached out, booked again.
Ten recent cases show what to fix. They are not a rate for the whole business.
Change the plan if
- If the check finds a gap:
- If owed work keeps piling up, look at how work is planned and checked at the end.
- If it finds no gap:
- If nothing is owed, look at when students come due. See what happens then.
- If you can’t tell:
- Keep the owed list for two more weeks.
The whole fix
- Finish the work you owe before you ask for more.Done when: Each owed session has an owner and a date. Each student knows the date.
- Put a date on each owed session this week. Tell each student the date.Done when: you have checked again on your review day.
- Make it how you work: all owed work has an owner and a date. The student knows the date.Done when: two weeks pass and no case is missed.
How we can help
Use this plan
You can do this yourself.
The steps above are all you need to start. If you want a second look, bring your owed work list to the free review.
You can also use this plan on your own.
Why this plan
Your first answers picked one area to start with. Then a set of written rules used your later answers to pick the first step. People wrote and checked every rule and every sentence. Your answers stayed in this tab until the plan was shown.
The answers this plan used
- What would help most right now?
- More customers coming back.
- How do most customers buy from you?
- A pack of visits or sessions.
- Have people paid for this service yet?
- Yes, more than once.
- Could you take on more of the right work next month?
- A little.
- Do enough of the right people ask about your work?
- Yes, for the work we can take on.
- What has gone on lately?
- Good customers do not come back.
- Start here?
- Give good customers a next step.
- How do good customers come back to you?
- They book their next visit.
- Think of good customers who didn’t come back. What happened last?
- We still owe them work or a fix.
- How many customers were done or due back in the last 30 days?
- 15 to 49.
- Who reaches out when it’s time for customers to come back?
- One person on my team does it, with a backup.
- Where can you see each customer, when they’re due, and who owns the next step?
- A few places that we can match up.
- What is the owed work waiting on?
- A date on our schedule.
- What have you checked to back up these answers?
- Records for the recent ones in this plan.