The end of the year is a time of summaries and often also of resolutions not only in private life but also in a professional one. This is the perfect time to analyze the actions taken in detail. It is important for the future of the language school, as the results of analyzes and reports are extremely helpful in the development of the action strategy in the coming years.
Difference between reporting and analysis
One of the reasons why analytics does not produce the desired effect is the misunderstanding of the concept and essence of analysis and its frequent confusion with reporting and data collection. The result is a poor use of resources and money. To distinguish these concepts, I shall first give brief definitions:
- reporting – answers the question: what? It is a process of collecting specific, raw data into reports informing about the effectiveness of the various areas of activity of the language school.
- analysis – answers the question: why? It is an activity that interprets the data from the reports and allows us to draw concrete conclusions, through which we can improve the functioning of the areas concerned.
The key difference between the two activities is that we can fully automate the reports using data collection tools such as e.g. Excel or SaaS solutions. On the other hand, the analysis requires a human factor.
Basic analyses in a language school – why and what data should be included in reports
In order to answer the question of when actually there is a good time to analyze the data in a language school, first of all, it is necessary to verify what data we want to analyze. And we have a fairly wide range of possibilities here, so let’s just briefly describe each one:
Market analysis – from current market changes, the business environment changes, technological changes, to demographic areas of target markets.
Buyer analysis – a collection of all the information about customers, their preferences related to our offer, and purchases that are held by the company.
Sales value analysis – here information on the costs required to produce and promote a given good is taken into account.
Sales profitability analysis – this concept includes information on the quantity and volume of sales made and actual profits, expressed in gross value.
Analysis of the products/services offered – assessment of the profitability of all products or services in the range, the revenues and costs they generate, and their parameters and technical data. It allows us to think about which products are worth refining and which products should be reduced or withdrawn altogether.
Analysis of the work of salespeople – evaluation of the results of each employee taking into account the profits generated by them, activity and quality, and efficiency in contacts with customers.
Analysis of sales strategies and methods – i.e. continuous updating and checking the implementation of the plan.
No matter what plan we have, virtually every process of working with data can be divided into 5 stages:
- Data acquisition
- Data organization
- Reporting
- Analysis
- Presentation
Of course, there will be processes where some steps may be omitted, but it is safe to use one pattern of action.
When is the right time to analyze data in a language school?
In fact, whenever you want to implement a specific strategy or plan sales and marketing activities. Data analysis is also necessary when turning points appear that are beyond your control e.g. another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s sort this matter out with respect to the sub-points from the above paragraph:
Market analysis
- you plan to expand the school’s activities,
- you want to set up your first or a new language school,
- whenever there are political, economic, and social changes,
- introducing a new product into the offer.
Buyer analysis
- recruitment for new semesters,
- also here – whenever you introduce a new product into the offer,
- you want to change your sales strategy,
- before key sales periods for schools,
- before planned marketing activities.
Sales value analysis
- before budget planning,
- before the decision to introduce a new product,
- and in situations mentioned in the analysis of buyers.
Sales profitability analysis
- when setting the financial targets for the following month, quarter, year,
- also during budget planning,
- before deciding on the planned expenditure,
- before you approve the continuation of a specific course and decide to introduce a new one to the offer.
Analysis of products/services offered
- before approving the continuation of a particular course and deciding to introduce a new one,
- when deciding to increase/decrease the number of staff/teachers in a language school,
- before deciding on the final price of the courses and the amount of the discounts granted,
Analysis of the work of salespeople
- when deciding on the size of the sales department,
- in the evaluation of employees,
- before introducing new or continuing old sales strategies.
Analysis of sales strategies and methods
- this can be done for each of the above-mentioned sub-points, but it is good to spread it in time to collect data to which you will have reference e.g. quarterly.
Tools
Excel – the old good Excel used by some schools to keep the entire data register, will also work in reporting. Using min. PivotTables, you can draw up reports from the data you previously entered. However, it will work if the school actually uses Excel on a daily basis and you do not need to copy this data from other programs, because it is simply a waste of time. The problem also arises when creating a report requires more employees to be involved and this requires overwriting data, granting access, and merging partial sheets. The cloud can of course be used for this, and this is a slightly better solution, provided that sensitive data is properly protected against leakage. However, for 60% of those surveyed, Excel was insufficient, for example when creating a budget.
Google Analytics – very useful for market and buyer analysis. How and why to use this tool we have already written HERE. It will help us generate four types of reports:
- Recipient report – will help you to obtain knowledge about users visiting your website. You will learn how much time they spend browsing the content of your website, who they are, where they are, and what devices they use. This will help you to analyze the sales and marketing activities carried out on the language school’s website.
- Acquisition report – allows you to determine how visitors find your language school’s website. It is often used to analyze the traffic and effectiveness of a particular model of the marketing campaign.
- Behavior reports – show what your potential customers are viewing, how much time they spend on a particular website. It also tells you what they are looking for (if there is a search engine on the website) and what they click most.
- Conversion reports – illustrate the effectiveness of your actions. However, to use this report, you must set goals and configure settings properly.
However, if you are looking for something tailored to the needs of language schools, which will allow you to generate reports on the most important aspects of your activity, then we have a ready solution too. The „Reports” module, which you will find in the LangLion Platform, will allow you to create compilations of various data such as finances, teachers, students, or groups. You can choose from the following reports, among others:
- Finance – student payment summary
- Finance – sales report
- Groups – profitability
- Students – payment balance in groups
- Groups – attendance
And many, many others. All available reports can be found in the guide HERE.
All reports are generated quickly and automatically, and you have time to analyze and prepare the strategy for the next year, 2022 😉
If you want to test how this will work in your school, you now have the opportunity to arrange a free presentation and a 14-day free trial. Just click HERE.