Online Driver Ed/TLSAE for Teens

With behind-the-wheel training obviously curtailed due to social distancing practices and the struggles of adapting to new daily routines on their minds, teens might be tempted to forego learning to drive. But now is the perfect time for prospective young drivers to complete the "classroom" portion of their driver education, and it's an opportunity for your driving school to bring in a little extra cash during this business slowdown. Internet-based traffic safety education courses from Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC)—including Driver Education in California and the Traffic Law and Substance Abuse Education (TLSAE) course in Florida—are still up and running during the coronavirus pandemic. And with schools nationwide transitioning to distance-learning activities, teens are now more familiar than ever with completing educational programs online.

TSC's online programs feature easy-to-read text supplemented by full-color graphics, informative charts and diagrams, and streaming videos that enhance student comprehension. And the simple-to-navigate courses are mobile-ready, meaning today's connected kids can access them on a smartphone, tablet, or any other internet-connected device (yes, even one of those old-timey desktop computers). State-of-the-art internet technologies and our dedicated, in-house technical support staff and redundant server configurations ensure 99.9% system up-time—meaning students have convenient access to their course whenever and wherever they want it.

Get the word out, and let teens know that you're still open for business! Completing a Driver Ed/TLSAE course will make productive use of their social distancing time at home. By completing the "classroom" portion of driver education now, they'll be prepared to get their behind-the-wheel training once the nation is off of "lockdown." Then they can be safely on the road before they know it!

Fatten Up Your Bank Account in 2019

Want to boost your sales and grow your business in the new year? One affiliated school reports that distributing coupons and putting up a sign at the place of business, easily readable from the street, has doubled online sign-ups—with very little effort or expense!

Over the years, we've blogged about a number of easy, effective, and low-cost marketing strategies for small(er) businesses and suggestions that can help your school to attract students. Check them out and boost your business in 2019!

For a complete list of all of the marketing-related posts that we've published,
Click Here: Marketing Suggestions

Marketing Using Themed Promotions

Marketing research suggests that themed promotional campaigns tend to have higher conversion rates than non-themed campaigns. Themed promotions, then, represent an excellent opportunity to attract attention—and customers—to your traffic safety school.

Holidays present an obvious opportunity for a themed campaign, and many businesses take advantage of these occasions. But because the competition for attention is fierce around general holidays, your ad may get lost in all of the noise. This isn't to say that you should avoid running promotions around the holidays, of course. But other events might provide just the opening you need to get your message out in a way that ties in nicely with your product.

A number of events relate very nicely with the theme of traffic safety education. Consider these opportunities to promote your school:

• Distracted Driving Awareness Month - April
• National Impaired Driving Prevention Month - December
• Global Youth Traffic Safety Month - May
• National Teen Driver Safety Week - third week of October
• Bicycle Safety Month - May
• National Pedestrian Safety Month - June

A number of events could also be associated with specific modalities:

• Online Courses
• International Internet Day - May 17
• Internet Day - October 29
• Booklet Courses
• National Book Month - January
• National Literacy Month - September
• International Literacy Day - September 8
• General/Classroom
• American Education Week - mid-November

The events noted above are national or global affairs, but many local jurisdictions hold similar happenings to promote traffic safety or other worthwhile initiatives.

Be on the lookout for any tie-in opportunities that you can use to get the word out about your business!

Marketing Growth Strategies

Successful businesses know that they have to keep up with the latest trends to maintain their competitive advantage. Small Business Trends shares some marketing growth strategies that could help your school to prosper:

1. Mobile dominance. Over the past few years, mobile has overtaken desktop in usage and search—especially among younger users. As a result, there was a big push in 2016 for small businesses to ensure that their websites were optimized for mobile browsing. (Note that, as your traffic safety education curriculum provider, Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., develops sites and courses that are mobile-friendly!) You might also consider looking into alternative payment methods, such as Square, to help you collect tuition from students of your classroom-based courses on-site at the time of the class.
2. Data-informed decision-making. Much has been made lately about "big data" and the need for business to become "data-driven." But most organizations—especially small ones—lack the sophisticated and expensive tools needed to fully embrace this strategy. But data doesn't always know best; insights from data analysis should be paired with your existing knowledge base and the opinions of experienced team members. You should, however, always track the effectiveness of your efforts, and be willing to make changes as needed to ensure success.
3. Better blogging and social media. You may already regularly be generating content for your website and/or social media accounts. But audiences are starting to notice the difference between noise and valuable posts. If your content isn't helpful and exciting, you'll have trouble getting customers and prospects to engage. And don't forget to monitor the data on the effectiveness of your marketing and advertising activities to improve the performance of your next campaign.

The original article offers some further tips. Check it out to learn how to get your school on the path to marketing success!

Develop a Marketing Plan

Companies don't just stumble upon customers—at least, not a lot of them. If you'd like to see your business increase, it's time to put some thought into attracting more prospects. Having a successful marketing plan will help to ensure that you're allocating your resources wisely and growing your client base to enhance profitability. Bloomfire offers the following tips based on the latest marketing trends:

1. Increase your social media advertising budget. Paid advertising on social media is hardly a new concept; it's possible you’ve been doing it for years. But changes in the world of social media—particularly Facebook—have led those networks to limit the effectiveness of organic reach in order to grow their paid advertising efforts. 2017 is expected to see a year-over-year increase of a whopping 33.5% on social media advertising spending. Keep up with the trend by boosting your social media budget, because you can bet your competitors will be doing so.
2. Produce more niche content. More content is published on a daily basis than ever before. This makes it nearly impossible for small companies to compete when it comes to broad content topics. There's just too much of it out there. But the key is the decline in the caliber of that mass-produced content. You can still reach prospects by identifying a narrow, more targeted crowd and producing high-quality content with their interests in mind.
3. Make more videos. Excellent video cameras are now available in many smartphones, making video production easier and more cost effective than ever. And four times as many customers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. Moreover, one in four consumers actually loses interest in a company if it doesn’t have videos, and customers are nearly 50% more likely to read email newsletters that include links to a video. As you develop your marketing plan, give some thought to what content could be (better) delivered through a video.

The original article offers some more suggestions for more aggressive marketers. Check it out! But these tips will get your started toward a more successful operation.

Great, Low-Cost Guerilla Marketing Ideas

Put gorilla guerrilla marketing techniques
to good use and boost your sales!

We understand that, as smaller businesses, traffic schools don't have the marketing budgets of huge, multi-national corporations. But drumming up business doesn't have to be expensive, time-consuming, or difficult—if you get creative. To inspire you, we wanted to share this excellent article on Cost-Effective Guerilla Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses!

Guerilla marketing is about mesmerizing your audience with beauty or curiosity while delivering a strong message.

Put your imagination to work and drum some business for yourself this new year! (And please feel free to share in the comments section any successes you've had attracting new customers!)

How to Promote Your Small Business Event

Every small business wants to draw a customer-friendly crowd to an event it's hosting. The key is to match your time and energy with your needs. It takes time and effort to plan an event, so make sure you have the resources to devote to its planning and execution. You'll also want to pick a time that's appropriate for your customers. Once you have the basics figured out, it's time to send out the invitations. Here are a few tips and tactics to spread the word quickly and easily.

Use the Appropriate
Social Media Tools

These days, social media offer a free and easy way to let your customers know about an upcoming event. You can create a Facebook event; or if you have a paper invitation you're going to send in the mail, take a picture of it and post it on Instagram or Pinterest. You could also try Twitter-based tools such as TweetVite or TweetMyEvents.

Don't Ignore Traditional Media

While many people now gravitate toward social media, don't overlook the traditional newspaper or local radio and television stations. Not all of your prospects use social media, so it's important utilize several information channels. Many media outlets have "community calendars" in which you can list your event for free. You could also send a press release to local journalists who might be interested in covering the event.

Create a Calendar Invitation

Speaking of calendars…

Once your event details are set, you'll want to send an email to your loyal customers reminding them to attend. By sending out a calendar invitation (via Google or on your iOS device), you can ensure the event will automatically go directly into your customers' daily schedule.

Let's Party!

So, what are you waiting for? Host the bash of a lifetime and show your customers and prospects what you can do to help them!

Great Event Ideas That Attract Customers

If you're looking to connect with local customers, a hosted event is a great way to create excitement and attract new prospects and loyal customers alike. But what kind of event would people like to attend? Here are some great suggestions for customer-attracting events that you can actually use:

1. Learning Event: You operate a traffic/driving school, right? Why not make use of this "how-to" type of gathering to show off what you do and maybe teach your community a thing or two? A driving school might show off its new simulator or training vehicle (you might even take people out for a short drive around the block). Or you could work up a short video that you play on a loop or other traffic safety demonstration that you present periodically.
2. Interactive/Hands-On Event: Like a learning event, a hands-on event takes education and literally puts it into the hands of an attendee. It allows guests to roll up their sleeves to learn and do at the same time. Perhaps you own a performance driving school and are willing to give a brief lesson on safe driving in extreme situations. Or maybe you help participants to properly adjust their seats/mirrors/etc. or winterize their vehicles. Anything that provides a service and allows people to participate will be remembered long after the event!
3. Charitable Event: Events that have a cause tied to them are brilliant at attracting customers because of the "do good, feel good" element. Shopping or spending for a cause is something people can take pride in, and these sentiments help to make these types of events successful and memorable. You could even partner with a driving-related non-profit or service organization in your area. You can hold a charitable event any time of the year, just be sure to connect your theme/cause to something that's relevant to your audience and something they care about.
4. Special Guest Event:A special guest host or emcee for your event can be an excellent draw. Many local athletes will lend their name and presence to causes they support—and if it's driving-related sport (e.g., a NASCAR), so much the better! Or, perhaps a local custom shop celebrity can make an appearance. People love to have special, out-of-the-ordinary experiences, and these events deliver on that.
5. VIP Event: People love exclusive offerings, and a VIP event for your most loyal customers (e.g., seniors who take your mature driving course like clockwork every few years) will be a great attraction. The key to doing VIP events well is to keep it small and manageable so you can offer only the best experience—since these are your best customers.

Now that the seed for an event has been planted, it's time to start making preparations. Check out our upcoming blog post for some tips on how to get the word out, so people actually know about and show up for your soiree!

Winning Through Great Customer Service

Attracting customers is one thing. Keeping them happy is another undertaking entirely! Even when you have the best of intentions and do your best work, things somehow manage to go wrong on occasion. How you respond to customer complaints can make or break your business in the long run.

In a previous post on this blog, we've discussed how to handle bad online reviews. While this is an increasingly important skill as ever more financial and social transactions move to the Internet, there are a few invaluable customer service guidelines that apply no matter your product/service or where the customer interaction takes place.

How to Talk to Your Angriest Customers is an excellent article that outlines in detail steps you can take to deliver exemplary customer service to your most problematic patrons. (Don't forget to follow the numerous links within the article for even more in-depth coverage of various points!) And, hey, if you can placate your angriest customers, imagine how easy it will be provide great service to those making simple requests!

Oftentimes, a client's negative experience can be salvaged and turned into an opportunity. Righting something you've done wrong—or even providing extra assistance to help more smoothly resolve a situation that's ultimately out of your control—can go a long way toward retaining disappointed customers. You might even get a referral out of it. So, get out there are make happy those students you've worked so hard to attract!

Branding Your Small Business

Get your branding right and you'll score customers just by "being you." You certainly can't afford to do nothing, but small businesses can't bear the costs—time or money—of hiring a flock of consultants and ad agencies. So, how do you proceed with this critical business management task without breaking the bank or the clock? The Guardian offers A Guide to Branding Your Small Business. Check out the full post for the details, but in short…

1. Know Your Audience

Don't invest time or money developing your brand without first knowing your target audience and their needs. You must know what will resonate with your customers in order to talk to them effectively.

2. Use Your Knowledge Carefully

Know your market to carefully tailor your design and pitch, and deploy these tools consistently in your sales and marketing activities across all channels so the brand becomes easily recognizable.

3. Embrace Failure

It seems counterintuitive, but a great deal can be learned from branding failures. The marketplace is crowded and it can be difficult to know where you fit in. Each failure is a guide in the right direction.

4. Don't Think Like a Small Business

Thing big from the start. Act as if you're operating across multiple territories—you never know when that might actually happen, and you'll be prepared when it does!

5. Color and Design Matter

Visual identity, including your logo, is often a consumer's first encounter with your brand, so it must create the right impression. Unless you're a designer, avoid the DIY approach and hire a professional; services like Fiverr.com or PeoplePerHour.com can help you to find a freelance designer who suits your style and budget. And keep your identity consistent across media channels by creating a set of brand guidelines with detailed information about the color palette, fonts, and tone of voice to use.

6. Go Beyond Your Logo

Many small businesses make the mistake of confusing their brand with their logo. A logo is merely a symbol or other design adopted by an organization to identify its products, property, etc. A brand, meanwhile, is the public personification of your company, conveying everything you believe and hold dear about what you do. As the saying goes, people buy a product but they join a cause—make your brand memorable.

7. Choose Your Brand Name Carefully

Don't ruin great branding by giving your brand a bad name. A brand name must reinforce the key elements or objectives of your business. Remember: The more it communicates to your audience about your business and what it provides, the less effort you'll expend trying to explain it. (If you need some help, a recent article in Inc. talks about How to Come Up with the Best Name for Your Brand.)


These are the basics, but you can always read the original article (and its linked material) for more information. Happy branding!

Social Media Posts That Engage and Get Clicks

We've encouraged you, on many occasions, to get active on social media to promote your business. While our previous blog posts have offered valuable advice on what to post, it can be tough to know how to craft a compelling message if you're not a professional wordsmith. The following tips offer helpful suggestions on how to grab your customers' attention and get them to interact with your business more deeply:

• Use more action words. Posts filled with verbs and adverbs tend to engage readers and deliver better results than those that have a lot of nouns and adjectives. For example, the headline
       Mask Your Ticket Quickly and Easily
  is likely to get a higher click-through rate than
       Traffic School is a Good Way to Mask Your Citation
• Post more links. It may seem obvious, but…accounts that post more links get more clicks. If you want to drive more traffic to your site, at least half of your posts should include a link to your site. But don't go overboard; keep the number of posts with links to your site to under 80% of your total social media activity. If every post you put up includes your link, you'll come across as "spammy."
• Complete your profile. Inexperienced marketers neglect this simple but effective step. Be sure all of your social media profiles include a professional photo, a brief but compelling bio, and a link to your site. Accounts that provide all three of these items have more followers and more engagement than those that don't.
• Don't talk about yourself (except in your bio). A business's social media posts that are too personally self-referential may catch the interest of your family and close friends, but may not necessarily draw potential customers. Talk more about them to get them to click, share, and engage. (If you participate in some activity that your clients might find interesting, it's certainly okay to share those experiences with them. It's attention-grabbing and provides a connection. But make the post relate to your audience somehow, not just all about you.)
• Provide a clear call to action. If you want more clicks, ask for them! Don't just provide a link, explicitly tell readers how to follow up. For instance, you might change
       3 Tips for Safer Winter Driving: www.link.com
  to
       3 Tips for Safer Winter Driving? Click here to learn more: www.link.com!
  
  Further, be creative with your calls to action. Don't use "click here" all the time. Try alternatives like "Check out this new [post/product/etc.]:" or "What do you think about [some event/claim]?" to encourage a response.

Greater social media engagement and more clicks can help you to draw more customers. Make these simple tweaks to your social media activity to get the marketing results you want!

Make Sure You're Mobile-Friendly

Are you leaving money on the table because your outdated technology isn't optimized for today's consumers? Just 51% of small businesses have websites. And while four out of five consumers use a smartphone to shop, a recent survey found that over 93% of small business websites aren't compatible with mobile devices.

TSC Has You Covered

If you've taken advantage of the Web design services of Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) you're ready for the future! TSC provides our affiliated partners with sites—including the "front end" and the educational content presentation—that are engineered to be mobile-friendly. Our Web- and curriculum development teams deploy state-of-the-art Internet technologies to ensure that you and your students enjoy the best online experience possible.

If You're Providing Your Own Website...

Driving schools and traffic schools who have developed their own websites could be missing out if the site isn't optimized for the mobile era! Nearly half of mobile consumers won't return to a site that doesn't load properly. And Google recently began expanding their use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal.

If you haven't yet taken steps to ensure that your customers are having a good mobile experience, consider these points:

• Is your site easy to read on a mobile device? If your users have to pinch-to-zoom to read your content, your site isn't mobile-friendly.
• Is your site easy to navigate? Navigation should be intuitive and smooth. Thirty percent of mobile shoppers will leave a site and go to a competitor's if they have a bad experience.
• Is your site designed to be responsive? This means the code will adjust the presentation according to the screen size of the user—whether they are on a desktop, tablet, or phone.
• Does your site load quickly? As with 0-to-60 and quarter-mile runs, every second counts. Users will become frustrated—and leave for a better site—if they have to wait a long time for your pages to load.

If you don't know if your site is ready for mobile users, consider taking Google's mobile-friendly test. Google will grade your site by looking at how "Googlebot" sees your home page, and a good score means your site is ready to go!

The Bottom Line

Today's shoppers are using mobile devices to search for products and services, and the next generation of consumers is even more dependent on these technologies. Make sure your business gets found and that your site makes it easy for visitors to get what they need!

Magic Marketing Words!

We all know that language can influence emotions and persuade action. But unless you're a professional copywriter—or at least an amateur wordsmith—it can be tough to know how to get started. Different motivating words and phrases work better in different situations, of course, but the following article from marketing services provider Vertical Response offers some helpful hints. Check it out and get your marketing efforts off to a successful start!

The 30 Magic Marketing Words You Should Be Using

Guerilla Marketing Techniques for 2016

It's rare for smaller businesses to have a large marketing budget. Marketing remains a critical part of an overall business strategy, however. Without making people aware of your business, you won't make sales. It's that simple!

Put gorilla guerilla marketing techniques
to good use and boost your business!

To successfully tackle marketing on a small scale, creativity is the key. This means guerilla marketing tactics that are often unconventional and outside-of-the-box. The term guerilla marketing was first coined by Jay Conrad Levinson who wrote a book by the same name. His book instructed businesses to capture the attention and imagination of their audiences using unusual tactics such as street promotions, giveaways, games, and contests.

Interestingly, taking a guerilla marketing approach actually has some distinct advantages. Not only is it typically very cost-effective, it also means using strategies and tactics that are often impossible for larger businesses to pull off. Smaller often translates into being more nimble when it comes to marketing, and this can be a distinct advantage.

Check out the guerilla marketing tips below to get your business swingin':

• Social Media: Social media connect billions of people around the world through a series of status updates, tweets, and other rich media. And in the business world, it's a powerful tool for attracting prospects and upping your customer service game. If you haven't jumped on this bandwagon, it's definitely time to do so.
• First, get on Facebook. Invite your friends and family to like the page and then use those numbers as leverage to gain some credibility with outsiders.
• Then, join Twitter and follow, follow, follow. Use the search feature to find people within your niche and tweet at them, making pleasant but relevant conversation.
• Once you have these outlets, push as much rich media out as you can, whether it's photos of where you work, videos of a typical day on the job, or witty tweets and status updates. On a related note…
• Produce a Viral Video: Social media success can be taken to a whole new level with the addition of video. A video on YouTube can go viral in a matter of days if it's compelling enough. This is an incredibly powerful form of marketing that can literally create a valuable minute of fame for your business. With something moving, funny, undeniably interesting, a video shared on YouTube can travel to Twitter and Facebook like wildfire. This form of guerilla marketing for small businesses isn't for everyone, but if you have a great idea, it's worth giving it a shot.
• Start a Friendly Fight: A friendly fight is when you and another company battle it out through the use of social networking and/or other media by having the public vote on who has the better product(s) or service(s). This won't harm your business; however, it would help people to cast their vote judiciously.
• Create "Billboard" Opportunities: Why not slap your logo on a shirt or hat for your friends, family, and employees to wear? Of course, you should be wearing your garb, too. Shirts and caps are inexpensive and can generate buzz in the grocery store, on the street, or at an industry function or trade show. Take this concept a step further, and consider magnetic signs or bumper stickers for your vehicle or even a total promotional wrap. The more people who see your information, the better!
• Postering Still Works: Postering has been around for a while now, but it's picked up steam again, thanks to a lot of clever posters. A good way to implement this strategy is to have a question on your poster that just about everyone in your target audience will understand. Then, you either need to make them laugh or want to take the time to get the "help" they need by calling the number or going to the web address that is printed on the poster.

Want some more ideas? Check out these real-world examples of great guerilla marketing!

With a little luck, these guerilla marketing techniques just might deliver results to pound your chest over!

Build Brand Loyalty Through Social Media

With the rise of the Internet and social media marketing, younger generations are exposed to brands at even earlier ages. This makes it important to reach potential customers as early as possible—especially in the case of businesses that provide goods or services to younger consumers (like driving schools!). The good news is that these younger prospects tend to be heavy Internet users, and social media marketing can be free or relatively low-cost. In this space, creativity and simply taking action can often win the day.

It can be hard for newcomers to social media to know where to start, however. Check out this excellent article for easy suggestions: 5 Ways to Build Brand Loyalty Through Social Media!

Practice Makes Perfect—and Profits!

The California online driver education curriculum from Traffic Safety Consultants, Inc., (TSC) includes a valuable Practice Permit Test component that can help young drivers to pass the written exam portion of the permitting process. Students are offered one complimentary test of fifteen questions and have the opportunity to purchase four more unique practice tests, so they can study up for their written exam.

A Great Upsell Opportunity!

An examination of the applicant's understanding of driving laws and traffic signs and signals is a required part of the driver licensing process. Because the stakes are high and the regulations many, applicants are naturally nervous about this milestone in their lives. But research shows that the opportunity for examinees to take a practice or mock version of an exam before they take the real thing has huge benefits in terms of performance! The Practice Permit Test service not only reinforces students' traffic safety knowledge and enhances their overall experience with their driver education, but it can boost their satisfaction with your program—increasing the likelihood that they'll refer their friends to your school.

Further, offering the Practice Permit Test program to your students is a quick and effortless way to earn a few extra dollars. The program is offered and administrated entirely online, and requires no work on your part. So, make sure you're mentioning this great opportunity to your students when they register for your driver ed course—for your benefit and for theirs!

Content Marketing Ideas for Fall 2015

Content marketing is the process of creating and publishing material in order to attract, engage, and retain customers. Often its aim is to be useful to customers, honestly helping them learn, do, or experience something. It's the perfect marketing strategy for a traffic/driving school—whose existence is naturally dedicated to helping motorists to become better drivers and saving lives!

If you're having trouble getting started with your content marketing efforts, check out the following ideas for this fall season:

• Community Events: Try to engage with a local event and blog or post about that experience online. It would be reasonable for the owner of an online business to attend, take lots of pictures, and share the experience. Local events are taking place all the time, of course, but this is an especially good season for this sort of marketing effort, as school heads back into session. And what better way to get to know prospective driving school students than to participate in an event at a local high school?
• Publish a "Lookbook": A lookbook (spelled as one word or two) is a promotional tool of the fashion industry; it's a series of photographs meant to highlight a model, photographer, style, or line of clothing. The term has more recently been expanded a bit to include almost any sort of picture-driven promotional piece. If you have anything that looks good in photos—like a sporty (or otherwise interesting) vehicle or some driving-related accessories—this is a natural way to draw in prospects.
• Safety Campaigns: The NHTSA is in the midst of a child car safety seat campaign on social media, but their website is full of great driving safety information that could be promoted as appropriate (e.g., bus safety for back-to-school). The California DMV even celebrated National Cheeseburger Day with a distracted-driving safety message.
• Holiday Shopping Guides/Promotions: It's hard to believe, with the dog days of summer so soon behind us, that the holiday season is just around the corner. But now is the time to think about helping your customers/prospects with their holiday plans. You might run a holiday promotion for your services. Or, compile a list of gift suggestions related to your industry to keep your name in the public's mind. PBS provides an excellent example of a list of (cooking themed) gift guides for a variety of recipients. You might even consider creating a series of short holiday gift idea videos. These could be distributed on YouTube or social media, both as content and commercials.

Creating content marketing pieces can be easy and fun—and the information is memorable and useful for your readers. Get started today and reap the rewards of spreading your name around!

Surviving 10 Driving Emergencies

"Normal," everyday driving can be challenging enough. But when it comes right down to it, obtaining a license to drive is often all too easy. Motorists are not usually well-trained—and not commonly required by licensing authorities to demonstrate—how to handle road emergencies and other extreme driving situations. The first time that many drivers are asked to employ accident-avoidance skills, lives may be on the line. And without the proper knowledge and practice, the odds of successfully executing an extreme maneuver are not in their favor.

Edmunds.com presents a extremely helpful article that describes how to handle and survive ten common driving emergencies. While these tips are covered in the driving safety courses that you present, here's another look at some situations many motorists are likely to face over the course of their driving careers. Take a look to make sure you're providing your students with the correct information. And share with your customers via social media if you're marketing to them that way (and you should be!!!).

As importantly, encourage your students to get some advanced driving training and/or to practice these maneuvers in a safe environment so they'll know how to respond—and do so reflexively—should the need arise. Their lives and the lives of their passengers may depend on it!

Traffic Fatalities Up in 2015

CNN reports that new data point to an estimated 14% jump in U.S. traffic fatalities this year, putting 2015 on pace to be the deadliest for motorists since 2007. There were more than 18,600 motor vehicle deaths from January through June this year, compared to 16,400 deaths in the same period of 2014.

The estimated cost of the deaths, injuries, and property damage related to those crashes rings in at $152 billion—up 24% from the same period of 2014. Those costs account for wage and productivity losses, medical expenses, administrative expenses, employer costs, and property damage.

The report attributes the uptick primarily to:

• Americans are driving more because of…
• lower fuel prices.
• increased employment levels.
• Drivers are more distracted behind the wheel thanks to their phones, despite the fact that most states ban texting while driving.

Traffic Safety Classes Help Save Lives

Whatever the cause, the loss of life and property are tragic. Sadder still is that many crashes are avoidable with good, defensive driving. Be proud of being a traffic safety education provider, as you're literally saving lives with the work that you do!

And make sure that the public knows you're out there and can help. Most traffic school students complete a course to remove a citation from their driving record or to get a discount on their automobile insurance premiums. Instead, they could avoid citations and premium increases—and substantially increase their odds of staying safe and sound!—by keeping up with traffic laws and safe-driving techniques. Many motorists never receive further instruction in safe motor vehicle operation after they finish driver education/training, but occasional, continued coaching could help them to be far better drivers!

Driving Sales for Driving and Traffic Schools

In a previous post, we discussed the art of maintaining good office practices—some of which are even required by regulation (depending on your industry). Providing exceptional customer service can help you to win and retain satisfied customers. And happy customers will be refer still more business your way.

So…what's the #1 thing you can do around the office to boost your sales?

Answer Your Phone!

The best and easiest way to capture a sale is to answer your phone and make your sales pitch directly to potential students. By talking up your program, you can explain its merits and the value proposition; and by providing the opportunity for prospects to talk to a "real human being," you can easily demonstrate to them the kind of customer service that they'll get as valued customers. Make sure that you also offer to register them for the program right then and there—it not only provides them with outstanding customer service, but it negates the opportunity for them to shop around and sign up with another provider. Moreover, it's the single most effective thing you can do to make sure you get the sale!

Meeting customer expectations is critically important for success in business. Failing to answer your phone—or waiting long periods of time to respond to a customer's inquiry, whether they contacted you by phone or some other method—could have a lasting negative impact on your bottom line.

Remember to pick up the phone and to provide your customers the same level of customer service you'd like to receive. These simple tips can drive customers your way and ensure your that school thrives!