Information For Driving Instructors
Are all Internet Marketing sites the same?
Driving schools are spoilt for choice when it comes to advertising their business to prospective pupils.
Apart from the traditional forms of marketing, such as advertising in your local paper or in one of the national business directories, there are literally hundreds of free on-line directories offering you free listings.
When considering on-line advertising options, it is important to consider the following factors:
How visible is the website? Is it an established site and how does the website market itself?
How much do you want to spend? Where are you likely to get the best return on your investment?
Do you need to be an IT genius to use the website? How much support might you need from a website and how much support will you get?
How do you prefer receiving enquiries from prospective pupils? Do you prefer receiving enquiries via telephone or email?
How can you quantify the success of on line advertising? How can you measure results?
How much control do you want to retain over your advertising activities? Can you reflect real time changes in your business and services in your advertising activities?
What are the Key Benefits of Using Driving School Local?
Established brand and proven Business Model The site is based on the well established successful Tradestamp business model, which has become a recognised brand in the marketing of driving school across the UK. The site actively markets itself, and its registered driving schools, on Google ensuring that a steady stream of enquiries are generated
FREE to register your driving school and follow up leads that we send you. You pay an affordable "success fee" of less than the average cost of one driving lesson ONLY if you win the business.
Easy and Simple Our site is easy to use. You receive details of new enquiries via email as well as through FREE SMS text messaging.
We have a dedicated support team ready to assist you should you need any help using the website
Tracking Success By telling us when you have won a new pupil means that we can obtain customer feedback and build up your personal service history. This provides you with the opportunity to keep track of how successful you have been ion winning business through the site.
Flexibility Unlike most alternative sites targeted at driving schools, you manage your own personal business profile on the site. This enables you to make amendments real time in line with changes you are making to your website and services that you offer.
About Driving Schools Local
Driving Schools Local was launched in May 2009. It automatically matches prospective pupils with local driving schools. The site is affiliated with Tradestamp which is responsible for managing the registration and screening process for Driving Schools that wish to receive enquiries from pupils via this site. Therefore, if you wish to register your driving school, please click on this link which will take you to the Tradestamp website, where you will be able to complete the registration process.
Before you register, you may like to know more about how this site works and how it can add value to your business.
- How long has the Driving School Local site been operating? This is a new site, which was launched in May 2009. However, our affiliated site tradestamp.com has been matching prospective pupils with local driving schools since February 2006.
- Why are driving schools registered on the Tradestamp website and not the Driving Schools Local site? Tradestamp is responsible for managing the registration and screening process for all service providers, including driving schools that want to use any of the company’s websites, including Driving Schools Local.
- What is meant by the screening process? At Driving School Local, we make a distinction between “Approved” and “Non Approved” Driving Schools.
Once you have registered your driving school on Tradestamp, you MUST apply for “Approved Status" within 30 days. Failure to do so will result in the de-registration of your driving school.
You will be required to submit details of 2 pupils who we can contact to get feedback on the service you provide. This feedback will be entered, anonymously, into your service profile and prospective pupils with whom you are matched will have access to it. In addition, Approved Driving Schools are permitted to access prospective pupil’s contact details directly from the site.
While we are processing your application for approved status, your driving school will still be listed for pupils. However, you will not be able to access prospective pupil’s contact details and your chances of winning new business will be limited. - How much will it cost to use Driving Schools Local? There is no charge for registering your driving school or following up the leads we send you.
We will charge you a “Success Fee” if a prospective pupil, who we introduce, books lessons with your driving school. You will be charged between £10 and £20 for each pupil that instructs you, depending on whether your website has links to this website and our affiliate website Tradestamp.com
The Service Provider Terms and Conditions and the Approved Service Provider Contract on tradestamp.com, our affiliate site, contain further details of our charging policy that is applied to Driving Schools using the Driving Schools Local website..
- How are new enquiries generated on the Driving Schools Local site? We currently use “pay per click” internet advertising as our core means of generating new enquiries.
- How will I be alerted to new enquiries posted on the site?Prospective pupils are required to complete and submit a short enquiry form to tell us what they are looking for. Once a form has been submitted, details of the requirement are automatically channelled to the centralised Tradestamp database and matched with the most appropriate driving schools.
If your driving school is matched, you will receive a notification email.
Once you’re an Approved Driving School, you'll be able to access the pupil’s contact details directly from the site. In addition, you'll be able to receive FREE SMS Text Messages so that you can contact prospective pupils even if you're out on the road. Prospective pupils can also contact you through a direct link to your website and by accessing your profile. - How are enquiries matched with the right driving schools? When you register your driving school, you will be required to provide details of the post codes, “Catchment Area”, which you cover. Matching is done automatically using the pupil's post code.
- How do you ensure that enquiries posted are genuine enquiries? The short answer is that we can never be 100% sure. As with any other internet based advertising business, we do occasionally get bogus requirements. We do however require prospective pupils to authenticate their email address before their enquiry is posted which helps and we are constantly considering other ways of preventing unwanted enquiries from being posted.
It is in our interest to reduce bogus enquiries because we incur the cost of paying for their "click" and sending out wasted SMS text messages. - What Information will prospective pupils be able to access about me? When you register with us, you have the opportunity to create and manage your own profile. Within this profile, you can include a link to your own website and you can market your driving school in the company description area. Anonymous feedback from your pupils is also posted in your profile. Prospective pupils who are matched with you are encouraged to read your profile before booking driving lessons.
- Can I edit my personal profile at anytime? Unlike many other similar websites, we allow you to have complete control over your personal profile. You can edit your company description, website details and details about the services and areas that you cover at any time simply by logging in to your account.
- Why do pupils use this site? Driving Schools Local is modelled on the success of Tradestamp.com. Research has shown us that most prospective pupils use Tradestamp.com because they want to read feedback from existing pupils and because they like the fact that they can compare driving schools in their town simply and quickly on one website.
They also like the fact that they have a choice as to whether they contact driving schools directly or whether they wait for driving schools to contact them – thereby saving them the hassle of phoning around themselves. - Do I need to tell Driving School Local if I successfully win a new pupil? When pupil books driving lessons via the site, you are required to tell us by clicking on the “My Quote Has Been Accepted” tab. This will be explained more when you register. This is very important as it triggers the customer feedback process. Evidence shows that driving schools with the most customer feedback in their service history are more likely to win new business.
For more information or if you have any other questions, please call us on 0207 096 0406 or send us an email to info@driving-schools-local.co.uk Alternatively, if you would like to register, please click on this link which will take you to the Tradestamp website from where you can register.