Driving instructor career guide

Driving instructor
career guide
Five reasons why becoming
a driving instructor could
be the best career move
you make...
Security – with 750 thousand
people learning to drive every
year you can enjoy a job for life
and never, ever fear redundancy
Income – it’s a great way to earn
what you deserve, most full
time instructors earn at least
£30 thousand per annum
Choice – choose how much you
work, when you work and get
the time off you need for your
family and social life – control
your work life balance
Fun – can you imagine anything
better than being well paid for
doing something you really
enjoy, helping new drivers fulfil
their ambition?
Career – enjoy the prospect of
career progression, advanced
training, remedial training and
corporate work are all great
ways to further your career
Government statistics confirm that in
any one year around 750,000 people
pass their driving test. It’s also
confirmed that the average learner takes
47 hours of professional driving tuition
to pass the test. That means in an
average year about 35 million driving
lessons are taken and paid for. That’s a
lot of business for driving instructors!
(Check out the government website at
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/motoring/learnerandnewdrivers
/practicaltest/dg_4022483 for confirmation of these
reassuring facts and figures)
And more good news, these figures hold
up even in times of recession. The above
figures are for the year 2010 to 2011 and
prove that just about all 17 year olds
continue to learn to drive even when the
economy is struggling. It’s obvious really,
even if you’re unemployed you still need
to learn to drive because you’ll need that
“full UK driving licence” on your CV. As
for paying for lessons, that can be down
to bank of mum and dad, giving their kids
a leg up in the job search market.
So a driving instruction career can be a
safe, lucrative and enjoyable one, through
good times and bad. Especially if you
enjoy the business of training and helping
people to acquire a much needed life
skill.
Why become a driving instructor?
There are currently over 30,000 qualified
driving instructors in the UK and each
year a proportion of these instructors
retire. So there are always opportunities
for new instructors to come into the
industry and enjoy a good living.
www.myblink.co.uk
Why become a driving instructor?
...and five more reasons to do
it with Blink Driving
School
Security – It’s our job to get you
all the customers you need – in
fact we guarantee it! (please see
opposite for guarantee details)
Income – Be part of our great
brand and benefit from our
many years experience in
marketing to maximise your
income
Choice – We’ll give you complete
freedom to decide you own
hours, so you can build your
career to suit your own lifestyle
Fun – We all have most fun when
we’re doing something we are
good at, we’ll show you how to
be great!
Career – We’ll provide you with
the framework to develop your
skills and progress into new
markets such as corporate and
advanced driver training
There’s a simple idea underpinning our
guarantee: busy instructors are happy
instructors. And if we have a happy team
then we have a business which flourishes
and is easy to run. We don’t want to be the
biggest driving school ever, just the best
both for our pupils and for our instructors.
Here’s how the guarantee works:
1. You tell us how many hours per week
you would like to work
2. We calculate how many pupils you will
need to fulfil that working week
3. We contract with you to provide that
many pupils
4. Until you are getting the hours you need
we waive in full the fees which you
would normally pay to us weekly (see
Earnings Potential pages). That’s your
guarantee that we will ensure your
pupils – otherwise you don’t pay us a
penny!
www.myblink.co.uk
On the next page you can read about how
we fulfil our obligation to you, to find all
the pupils you need.
(There are terms and conditions attaching to this
guarantee and fee refunds payable to you in the
event that we ever fail. Please contact us for full
details or discuss these matters at your
interview)
Getting pupils is of course crucial to your
success and leads to a long term and
secure income. Take a look at our Earnings
Potential pages to understand how, with
our backing and support, you could earn
up to £30,000 per annum, and even more
in years to come.
You also get the chance to control your
own diary. With pupils keen and happy to
learn to drive at all sorts of times of day
you can easily control your working hours
and ensure you have all the leisure and
family time you need. Want to play golf
every Wednesday afternoon? – no problem,
just work your diary around it. Need to do
the school run each day? – again, that’s
easily accommodated and you’re free to
book your pupils to allow you that time off.
It’s often though that all learner drivers
want evening and weekend lessons.
However in the modern world that’s no
longer the case:
• Many learners are in full time education
and have regular free periods, so they
are often free during week days.
• Many youngsters work in retail or
service industries, where weekend
working is common. They then enjoy
days off during the week, an ideal time
for them to learn to drive.
• And many people in other jobs work
shift patterns, again making them
available for weekday driving lessons.
Why blink driving training?
Guaranteeing something so important is a
big commitment, and one we have not
entered into lightly. It’s based on many
years experience in the industry, a real
understanding of the market and use of
marketing techniques which have proved
themselves over and over again.
Blink Driving School guarantee to
get you pupils - how do we do it?
Here’s our strategy:
The Market. Government statistics
confirm that around 750,000 learn to drive
each year and that on average each takes
47 hours of professional driving tuition.
That’s 35 million hours per annum!
Instructor Numbers. We only look for a 5%
market share, so we never have too many
instructors in any area. By restricting the
number of cars on the road in any area we
make it easy to keep them all as busy as
they want to be.
Our Brand. We hope you will agree we
have come up with a striking and attractive
brand image. It’s certainly eye catching
and has been formulated to appeal to our
market, which is mainly 17 to 20 year olds.
Branding makes us stand out from the
competition and makes our marketing
more effective.
Routes to Market. Having the above is all
well and good but we need to go out and
shout about it, and we do! Here’s a list of
many of the techniques we’ll be using in
your area once you are on the road with us.
• Websites. We have our national website
but we also provide you with your own
local site. And we continuously promote
that site for you by running an adwords
campaign for you. So if someone
Googles “Driving lessons in (your area)”
then your site will appear, and business
will result.
• Shopping Centre Promotions. We’ll run
regular promotions in an appropriate
shopping centre near to you. These have
www.myblink.co.uk
proved over many years to be a great
way to fill a diary quickly and are
essential when you launch. We pay for
them and staff them but you can be
there if you like to give us a hand.
• Roadshows. The outdoor equivalent of
the shopping centre promotion, these
work very well at retail parks or
summer fetes.
• Online Promotions. From time to time
we run special promotions with
Groupon and other online discount
clubs. Many youngsters are members
of one or more of these clubs and by
offering special discounts for members
we can quickly generate new pupils in
your area. And if we do a discount, the
cost of that discount comes out of our
pocket, not yours! So you still earn the
full lesson rate.
• School Visits. We’re developing
educational resources to take into
schools and we will be running a
schools liaison service in all areas
where we have instructors. Again, these
are manned by us, you don’t need to
get involved but you will benefit from
the business which results.
• Leaflet Drops. Good old fashioned
leafleting campaigns always work. We
normally plan a 10,000 leaflet drop in
your area when you launch and back it
up with further drops as and when
needed. Once again we organise and
pay for these for you.
• Introduce a Friend Campaigns. Give a
free lesson to any pupil who introduces
a friend. We provide you with vouchers
to promote this with your existing
customers. But the neat thing is, we
pay the lesson fee to you. So although
it’s free to the pupil, you still get paid!
In a nutshell, there’s always business out
there. And because we have a good brand
and market ourselves well we always get
our fair share of the market.
Why blink driving training?
USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
Marketing jargon which means having
great products, unique to us. Our present
“best seller” is the six week pass course.
Appealing to the majority of learners it’s
the most efficient way to learn to drive (far
better than the old one hour per week
approach). Promoted under the strap line
“it’s cheaper when it’s quicker” this is the
best for both learners and for instructors
and goes down a treat, particularly at our
shopping centre promotions and
roadshows.
Earnings potential...
You may well have decided that
being a driving instructor will be a
satisfying and secure career for your
future, but you’ll need to know what
you can expect to earn:
• Average lesson rates are around
£23 to £27 per hour
• Most full time instructors do
around 40 hours tuition per week
• Working for many driving schools
such an instructor should earn
around £600 per week
• Working for Blink Driving School
the same instructor could earn
up to £720 per week doing the
same hours
Earnings figures shown are estimates only based upon
average rates, lesson prices and market conditions prevalent
when going to press. No guarantee is given that any
particular instructor will achieve the figures quoted.
In an average working week a driving
instructor might give 40 lessons. Taking
the lowest lesson rate of £23 this would
give a gross income of £920. The good
news for instructors is that their driving
school will charge a smaller portion of
this, typically around £200 per week. And
with fuel and insurance costs coming in
at around £90 per week it’s easy to work
out that average net earnings can easily
exceed £600 per week before tax.
Fees charged by driving schools to
instructors usually cover a
comprehensive range of services, the
most important ones being provision of a
tuition car and help getting new pupils.
So the figures opposite illustrate genuine
pre tax earnings, there are no hidden
costs. And it isn’t difficult to earn rather
more than that provided you’re prepared
to work longer hours, there certainly are
many instructors out there earning
£30,000 per annum.
It’s tempting to think that an instructor
might earn more working for himself
rather than for a driving school. This is
certainly true for established instructors
who get lots of recommendation
business, but remember in the early
months it’s hard to get going and all
reputable major driving schools provide a
really good support service which is
great value for the newly qualified
instructor.
www.myblink.co.uk
Blink career terms bring you the best of
both worlds. We are unique in providing
a flexible support package for all our
driving instructors. We tailor our support
to your needs, and our fees accordingly.
That means when you need us most,
usually when you are newly qualified, we
provide the most support, notably new
pupils. But as you find your feet, you will
rely less on us and more on your own
reputation, so our support can reduce
accordingly. And of course our fees
decline as the support reduces, so you
earn even more.
At Blink we believe our instructors can
earn significantly more at all stages of
their careers with us than with any
other national driving school.
Earnings potential
Earnings potential
Your career with blink...
We’re determined to keep Blink career terms at the
forefront of the industry for value, so that our
instructors earn more than the industry average, no
matter what stage their career is at. We do this by
offering flexible support in the following way:
• We charge the lowest possible
fees to our instructors, so you
earn more
• We provide great brand and
market presence to attract all
the pupils you need
• Remember , we guarantee to get
you the pupils you need.
• But the great bit is the flexible
new pupil support scheme – all
the new pupils you want, when
you want them. And if you don’t
need any for a while, we don’t
retain any fees.
• We use our “fast start” shopping
centre promotions to get you
busy right from day one
www.myblink.co.uk
Your career with blink
We operate a very proactive approach in
getting new pupils nationwide. Check
out our website at www.myblink.co.uk to
see how we appeal to new drivers
through our special offers, including free
driving tests. You can see how we stress
the importance of frequent learning to
speed progress and make learning to
drive cheaper. By selling frequent
lessons we not only make it cheaper for
pupils, it also helps us fill your diary
more quickly.
You’ll also notice we encourage pupils’
family to get involved. Getting parents
involved is great, because often they are
paying towards the fees. So it’s important
they feel their learner is getting value for
money.
Our website also gives details of New
Drivers Club. This provides free learning
resources to pre learners and is a great
way to engage youngsters as they
approach their 17th birthday. Our
Schools Liaison Service is also available
in all areas – another brilliant way to
engage learners at an early stage and
generate new pupils for all our
instructors. But it’s our shopping Centre
Promotions which really make the
difference, getting you pupils whenever
you need them.
Taken together these new business
campaigns are run to ensure your
success through a full working diary
which we aim to provide very soon after
you qualify with us.
Your career with blink
We believe Blink Driving School retain
less of your pupils fees than any other
national driving school. But your success
isn’t just about the cheapest franchise
deal, you need to know that we’re here to
get pupils for you anytime you need
them.
Training with blink...
Blink driving instructor training
courses are designed not only to
prepare you for first time success at
each part of the exam, but can also
be structured to include free extra
training and exam fees paid by us in
the event that you fail any exam
attempt. In addition course
enrolment guarantees your career
placement with us:
• Full theory and practical training
for all three exam parts
• Free additional training and
exam fees if you need to re sit
any exam (if specified)
• Guaranteed career placement
with Blink on qualification
Course fees vary and we are
constantly seeking to be the most
competitive providers, call us today
for an up to the minute training
quote on 0800 644 0202
www.myblink.co.uk
course features:
•
•
•
•
•
Online distance learning modules
covering all examination
requirements.
Self paced study
All recommended books provided
Tutor support by e mail and
telephone
Guidance on private practice in
preparation for practical part 2 and 3.
•
•
•
3. Additional training (if specified)
•
2. Parts 2 and 3
•
•
16 half day practical in car training
sessions in your area.
All in car training delivered on a one
on one basis.
Mock examination in each case.
Training delivered by trainers who are
either ORDIT registered or who are in
the process of ORDIT registration
Tutor supported private practice
•
•
In the event of examination failure at
either part 2 or part 3 Blink will
provide in each case:
A further full practical in car training
day at a location convenient to the
candidate.
Applies to first or second attempt
failures if applicable.
Further tutor supported private
•
•
practice.
Re sit examination fees paid by Blink
driver training.
Applies to first or second attempt
failures if applicable.
4. Guarantees
•
•
•
Blink Driving School placement upon
qualification.
Fast start launch promotions to get
your diary filled as quickly as
possible. This will include a dedicated
shopping centre promotion just for
you
Pupil sourcing guarantee
Training with blink
1. Parts 1, 2 and 3
Your next step...
We hope you’ll share our view that
training to be a driving instructor
with Blink, then joining the Blink
driving school team will be your best
route into a rewarding new career.
If so we’d like to invite you to apply
for a career position with us. Just
telephone us on 0800 644 0202 for
a preliminary chat with one of our
recruitment consultants. Calls to
this number are free from most UK
landlines.
We look forward to hearing
from you.
Our launch promotions ensure
you’re busy from day one...
Blink Driving School
Hub One, The Innovation Centre
Venture Court
Queens Meadow Business Park
Hartlepool
TS25 5TG
T: 0800
644 0202 (free from most UK landlines)
T: 08456 89 91 93 (local rates apply)
E: [email protected]
W: www.myblink.co.uk