This is Stevea Robbins.

Welcome to the Get It Done Guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Customer Relationship Management.

It's a great corporate buzzword, but it applies to small solo practitioners as well as huge soul-sucking corporations that exist only to chew you up and spit you out when they've squeezed every last dollar out of your bank account.

Listener Michael from a city in Poland that has only one vowel, that's one vowel in the entire

city, they take turns using it, writes in, I'm in English as a foreign language tutor

for adults and business clients. Often, clients tell me with no warning that they won't be

returning next month. The reasons are often different. No time to do homework, they have other

obligations, etc. Many eventually return, so the quality of my service isn't the issue. Do I press

clients who want to leave and implore them to stay? Well, first of all, don't implore, ask.

Explain to them.

My practice fills up.

Is there a time that we should reconnect about your returning?

Don't expect them to say yes, but by asking the question,

you're priming them to expect your call,

and you're also forcing their brains to consider the time frame of the break that they're taking.

If they genuinely feel too busy to

practice, offer them a solution. Start an accountability service. Explain that regular language

exposure helps learning, and for an extra fee you can call them every day for five to ten minutes,

check in and hold a brief conversation with them in English, tailored to the material that you

know they're working on. Even if they don't have time to devote to a full lesson or to full practice, this will help them keep moving forward. You can do this

instead of their normal lessons, or you might want to offer it in addition to their regular

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