Trust me – jumping in, even with a delicate jump, is ALWAYS better than inching your way in to a refreshing pool on a hot summer day. You’ll waste a great deal of time going through tiny segment after tiny segment of discomfort when you inch your way down steps or a ladder. You’ll be paralyzed by a lack of action.
If you completed the PESL certification training in the past, but never managed to gain momentum with finding clients, you may be wondering where to focus first in an effort to re-ignite your efforts. Perhaps you’ve realized that you’ve wasted a lengthy stretch of precious time agonizing over the details, becoming paralyzed by uncertainty.
My advice to all new instructors has always been to first be able to define your package. Know your training tools well: how they work , what they accomplish, and where they fit in the sequence of tasks and events you’ll guide your clients through. The most important tools are the Online Assessment (www.comptonpeslonline.com) and the Online Practice Lab (practice.comptonpeslonline.com).
The Online Assessment site is where you should be directing all new potential clients after they have completed a screening. Before you send a client there, you must first determine how the assessment portion fits into your training package. Do you offer a no-risk evaluation? Do you have a separate fee for assessments, and if so do you deduce the assessment fee from your training fee if the test taker becomes your client after paying for the assessment? Or do you include the assessment in your training package and allow the client to pay one fee for the whole package of services. No one else should decide something like this for you. It’s an excellent business decision-making muscle building skill.
You did come to terms with a specific and exact fee for your training package, didn’t you? That’s one of the other major decisions that MUST be made before approaching anyone who may become your next client. Know your fee. Own it. Believe it. Hourly rates typically result in clients who make a minimal commitment, but your fee can be paid in monthly installments. For this type of training and consulting service, customers are typically more interested in and intrigued by a complete training package experience that culminates with results.
The PESL system can certainly be modified and personalized, IF you know the layout and format of the standard training course. When a client begins a PESL program, they start with the basic building blocks of sound production, and basic utterance-length intonation patterns. They then compliment the basics with powerful strategies for strengthening their accuracy across all contexts and projecting their voice appropriately. The final third portion of a standard PESL program concentrates heavily on spontaneous speech, conversational interaction, and reading with accurate pronunciation. The program could easily be segmented into Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels. Knowing the layout and structure in this manner is critical. The early stages of the program require patience, consistent practice and commitment.
The slow, uncertain, timid entry into the cold pool on a hot day is ALWAYS more agonizing and less enjoyable than the plunge. You won’t have time to freeze; the shock doesn’t last long enough to register, and you’ll be concerned only with staying afloat and enjoying the water – where all the action is. For every decision that can be made, such as those mentioned above, there will be two others that you’ll never anticipate, and never be able to make, without the experience of getting the client in the first place.