Turning Dance Parents into Lifelong Studio Fans

Hello, friends. I'm Amanda Barr.

And I'm Rebecca Lou Brennan. And welcome to Dance Principals United, the podcast.

Together, we are passionate about helping studio owners with the business of running their studio.

Join us as we talk everything from marketing systems, studio culture, motherhood, life and everything in between.

This is the Dance Principles United Podcast. Hi, friends, and welcome to a very special episode of the Dance Principles United Podcast. Hi, Bec.

Hi. Super exciting to be in Fiji with you. Oh, my goodness. We have had the most incredible three days, haven't we?

We have. So we're here sitting on the balcony of our beautiful resort in Fiji. We're going home today. It's a bit sad.

Very sad, I said. It's really. It's been tough, though, hasn't it?

It's been.

It's been hard.

It's been a hard couple of days. Right. We've been in Fiji since Monday, scoping out properties, looking at different options for our clients for our Studio Growth Club retreat next year in October. How great is that going to be?

So exciting. Yeah, it's been interesting because we've had to test out a few different properties, which we thought we'd chat to you guys about today because different price points, different locations. We're just trying to work out where the best place is for our Studio Growth Club members. But I feel like we've learned a lot along the way.

Yeah, it's been a really interesting time because, you know, we've been over here, we've met with some of the managers, we've been wined and dined by some of the sales managers, et cetera, at some of the hotels, which has been absolutely lovely, but it's also been really nice because we've actually sat down with a few of them and had, you know, a couple of hours with probably each of them, really. And obviously, we've been talking about how we can make our experience and our retreat next year fantastic for our members, but we've also just been chatting to them about business as well, which is interesting, hearing their perspective on things.

It has been very interesting. And when we say it's been tough, it's actually been the most beautiful three days. We've had to test the cocktails. That's been good. We've had to test the pools. No, but it has been really interesting. So. So why don't we just start with, we arrived on Monday and we went to one of the resorts that's kind of in the middle of the two price brackets, would you say? Because we looked at three different resorts.

Three really well, and so the result that we looked at first, we stayed there as well and gosh, the check in process was amazing. Right? It was so incredible and we found it really interesting. And you know, we want to make sure that this is valuable to you guys as studio owners and that you guys get some ideas. And let's start by prefacing this with. Obviously our studios don't make as much money as the Sheraton, the Marriott, the Accor, but what can you do and what can you bring into your studios? So to me, the customer service at the first hotel we stayed at, which was the Sofitel, was above and beyond, right?

Oh, insane. From the second we went, we arrived, the customer service was unbelievable. And I think first impressions is everything, you know, like.

And we did.

Yep. And we got greeted straight away. We got taken to our room in a buggy. Everything was done for us essentially. We felt very welcome.

They did. I think the, the warmth of the people at the Sofitel was so apparent and not forced. Like, you know, I feel like other places sometimes it's like, hey, we're doing this because this is the script we were given. But it felt so genuine and welcoming there. You know, the whole thing was so frictionless and I wanted to also chat about. We had, I think it was called an adults only room and they had a different section and it was basically a little bit like website at the Softel in Dar Harbour, quite a lot. And they have like club floor access. It's like the VIP rooms or whatever you want to call them. Obviously you pay extra for those rooms. But I was blown away by the amount of freebies we got given from that. And I find that concept really interesting because, you know, we were talking to the manager there about that concept and he's like, people don't remember how much they paid, you know, when they paid for their holiday. Six months ago, eight months ago. But having that free glass of champagne, like it was brought to you every hour around the pool, you know, a glass of champagne and it's like that just absolutely delights people. And, and one of the staff said to us, oh, our staff here just love to spoil the guests. They just love to spoil the guests. I'm like, isn't that a beautiful concept?

It is and it's clever. And if we compare that to the other hotel we're at where we've had to pay for everything, I would rather pay, pay more for the accommodation and then think that I'm getting things for free, wouldn't you like than to Be constantly paying out, out, out. It's. Yeah.

And so interesting mindset.

It is a very interesting mindset. And I think we should. There's a couple of things there that we could look at for our studio. One is, when someone first comes into your studio, how does it feel? Is it welcoming other people? Greeting them? Welcoming? Are the teachers welcoming? Like, it has to be across the board, too, because I don't know, there was one part of the hotel that we felt wasn't as welcoming, which was breakfast.

Yes.

And it was really interesting. And it was only one staff member that made us feel that way and then that kind of didn't put a dampener on breakfast. Breakfast was still amazing there. But it was interesting that. That one staff member. And I think about my studio, and I think it only takes one staff member to stop you from feeling the welcome.

Absolutely. Especially if that's the person you engage with the most. And, you know, I think it's so important to think about when someone walks into your studio for the first time, that first impression, you know, what are they seeing? What are they feeling? Because you can't change that first impression. And so if they happen to walk in and someone's in the bathroom, for example, what happens? Like, is there no one there? Does the person who's not normal, like, the friendly, welcoming person isn't there? So the grumpy someone else gets, you know, what does that actually look like in your studio? Is a place beautiful and clean? Is the whole process frictionless and easy? Because, you know, as I'm sure you guys have all traveled as well, you get off a flight and you want it to be easy. You don't want to sit there filling out paperwork for ages. You don't want to do those things you want to enjoy. But you know what? Our clients feel like that in our studios as well. Like, you know, there's nothing worse than filling out heaps of paperwork if you've already done it online and then they're asking you to, like, double up. You're like, you know my name. Why are you asking me my name again? Like, silly things like that.

Yeah. That actually annoys me so much when you have to do stuff like that. And I think, yeah, just thinking about every single staff member and exactly what Amanda's saying. If it's not the happy receptionist, which I hope you've got a happy receptionist, then who is it meeting and greeting? And are they all meeting and greeting in the same way? And this is something that I really act out with our pause stuff. And often I'll act out what it feels like to walk into somewhere that's awkward with cranky people, just for them to feel it for themselves, because I think they don't get it until they see it. And then they're like, oh, that would feel really awful, actually.

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's super interesting. You know, everything about that hotel was amazing. We've got a tour from sales manager, who then took us to. He hosted us for sunset drinks. He then took us to dinner. And he was amazing. He had so many interesting things to talk about. And we asked him a lot of questions about the customer service and the training that they do for their staff. And that blew me away. Did it blow you away?

Yes. But I think in every hotel, how much customer service and training there is is incredible here. And you can really tell because they are so. They just go above and Bey. Um, but he was really interesting in the mindset that he gave them, because I think that was different to the other hotels and their mindset is to make every customer experience as amazing as possible. To not focus on the tips, but to focus on the customers. That was an interesting one.

Yeah. He talked about that he didn't want things to be transactional, and by that he was meaning the tips and stuff as well, but not like a. You ask me a question and I give you the answer. It was more like, how can we make you feel like you're part of the experience, part of the family, and make sure that your stay is incredible the whole time? I love that he talked about that. All of the staff, he said, from the gardeners to the cleaners to, you know, obviously the front desk staff, the hospitality staff do more than 300 hours of training a year.

He said. Even the electricians.

Yes. All the contractors, everything. Yeah. 300 hours of training a year. And I'm like, wow. So I'm sitting there calculating that, going, okay, so that's like, if they work full time, that's like eight weeks. Right. Of training every single year. And I found that so interesting. And obviously that's not something we can't do 300 hours of training in our studios. Absolutely not. But, you know, finding time to do it for three or four hours a year is very important. Or twice a year or four times a year. What can you do? I think that's so, so valuable. I found it interesting here as well. I know we're not doing quite a sequential timeline, but we are currently at the Sheraton Golf Resort. I'm like, trying to remember where we are and we walked through. When we had our site visit, we walked through the closed buffet breakfast and all the staff were sitting around. Did you find that really interesting?

Yes.

And we said to the manager that was showing us around, oh, you got staff training today? He's like, oh, no, that's the after breakfast debrief. We do it every single day. And I'm like, okay. So all of them sat down. What we did good, what we can do better tomorrow.

Amazing. And it's something that I think you should be doing with your team every term is sitting down and going, what was great? What was.

Or after a big event, after the concert.

Absolutely. I know you did that. I definitely do that. And I think is, well, we forget how important customer service is in our business, which is crazy because we are such a service based business that we should be focusing a lot more on customer service. But we're too busy focusing on the costumes, the choreography, the dance teaching, which is great. But that customer service is everything. And I always say the people that are paying the bills are the parents. Yes. And so they want to feel amazing and special in there as well. Not just the kids.

Yeah, I 100% agree. And you know, that whole freebie thing as well. I'm just going back.

Yeah, yeah.

Because that really is like playing on me. Like, how could we bring that into our studios? You know, giving those parents, those clients that incredible customer experience that isn't transactional. It's not always about. I'll give you this. You know, we saw that, you know, one of our studios in studio Growth Club, Keiko Studios, gifted all of their parents, you know, Kiko supporter or I'm a Kiko parent or you know, something like that for their comp kids and surprise the parents with that.

Did it.

And I'm like, that is so clever. I love that they're all rocking them at the last compact with them. It was incredible.

Yeah, that's amazing. And that's just smart because it feels like then you supporters are everywhere, wherever you go. So that's really good. We're certainly not sitting here telling you to give free things to all of your parents all the time.

That's not what we work into the price. Of course.

Yes. But I think that little moment or that little thing can actually mean so much to people. Can it?

Absolutely. You know, I had a moment once at the studio just reflecting on that, that I bought a parent coffee. Right. Yeah. They were waiting in the waiting room now the only one there. I can't really remember why I was going across the road, she looked like she was having a rough day.

Mm.

So I brought her back a coffee and a little, like, biscuit when I came back and I said to the cafe, because she was there all the time, they knew I knew the order. I think that went such a long way with that parent. It was not something that I did. And I think I should do those things. I always was like, I should do that more often. But how do you do that at scale? And how is that fair? And, you know, all of those things which sometimes you've got to work out. But that meant so much to that mom, like, you know what I mean? And it was a client that probably paid me $50,000 over their lifetime. Right. A $5 coffee once was nothing.

Yeah.

But it's like, it was the surprise of it. I think that's the big thing. The not so much the generosity, but just, I don't know, doesn't everybody just love, like, getting a gift or getting surprised or having someone be generous to them?

Yeah. We do free coffee, tea, and hot chocolate for our clients who are in our waiting room all the time. We have someone there to just do that.

They make it and bring it around.

They make it. She'll walk around and say, would you like a coffee? Would you like it? You know, so we do do that. But something that just popped into my head was we had our VIP re enrollment day, Amanda. And as you know, our parents camped out. I'm not kidding. From 8pm we need your whole podcast. Probably.

Yeah.

But I one went down there because we had a show that night that we went to, so I got back quite late. I went down there at midnight and just spent some time with them. That meant the world to them.

Yes.

And then I left, obviously, because I wasn't going to stay there overnight, but.

Why on earth not? You don't want to camp in the car park.

I ordered UberEats for 2am to go and take them McDonald's. And, like, they loved that. You know, that was just such a moment for them that. But I just think that's such dedication from those parents as well.

But the same thing cost you a hundred dollars or whatever. It wasn't a big deal.

No, it wasn't. But little tiny things like that do mean a lot to people. And if you can somehow reach out and do something like that, it means, like, we're here talking about the free champagne that we got at the pool, which is just such a small thing, but it meant so much to us on the holiday and things like that actually will make us choose.

Wasn't a holiday, it was a business trip back.

Feels like a holiday. Working very hard, guys. But little things like that will make us choose that venue. And if you think about your dance studio, it's small moments like that that might make them choose your studio. You know, when we give kids their uniform, were gifted in this beautiful box, Amanda. Now, the box does cost us $5, but the unboxing of it and the feel of it is so much more special than them being given a plastic.

Bag with their uniform in it, manufacturing bag or whatever.

Right. So it's just little things like that that can mean the world of difference. And it has meant the world of difference to us here. Because that customer service. I think the hotel that we've chosen had the best customer service. Not necessarily was the fanciest or the prettiest.

Yeah, it's really interesting. And like we said, you know, was so lovely to be taken out by those three sales directors that we got taken out by. You know, they bought us a champagne and they paid for dinner and all those things.

So much food, Amanda, So much food.

But, you know, obviously at a hotel, that doesn't cost them a lot of money. Like, you know, that's what they do there.

Right.

But we're gonna drop, you know, a hundred thousand dollars plus on this conference for them, you know, to buy us a champagne. It's not a big thing. Right, right. And that's what we need to think about, you know, with our clients as well. Like you talked about those clients that you spent that hundred dollars on Maccas for, probably some of your biggest clients who are going to be with you for 15 years. Incredibly, you know, it's the small things that actually, actually matter, I think is so important.

Absolutely it is. Absolutely it is. And so I guess we want you to reflect on your studio and think about, like, what do we need to step up with customer service wise? How can we step up customer service wise? You know, what sort of things can you do for your clients to make them those fans that are there forever? Because that's what you want, right? Clients that are there forever.

Absolutely. You want them to be lifelong fans. There's a speedboat going past us if you're watching and you can hear that noise. Part of filming experience, of being in Fiji. But absolutely, I think it's all about, like, creating those relationships that aren't like what Michael was saying. You know, it wasn't so transactional. Like, you do this for me, I'll do this for you. It's more like, how can I make this experience incredible so that I gain a customer for life?

Absolutely, absolutely. So we want you guys to have a little think about that. Self reflect, really. We've loved Fiji. Right?

Oh, my gosh, it's been amazing. It has been incredible. We've been making sure as well. Should we just talk about our retreat?

Yeah, I think that could be great.

So let us tell you a little bit about our retreat and what we've got installed for our studio owners next year. Oh, my God, it's so exciting.

It's going to be so good. It's our first international retreat and we know a lot of our studio owners will bring their families along as well. So we're really planning such a special time for them.

Absolutely. I think as small business owners, you know, so often we don't stop and celebrate ourselves. We don't celebrate our wins that we've had, we don't. And we don't stop to reflect. So we really want to create space for that for our studio owners that they can, you know, use it as a, a goal, an end goal and something to work towards so that they can celebrate themselves. We want them to leave, you know, impressed with what they're achieved and, you know, in that sort of celebration, we want them to be inspired because obviously we're going to do some incredible teachings whilst we're here. But I think it's so nice to remove yourself from the day to day of your studio and get over here. Like, we all know that our best ideas always come when you have white space. And that white space might look like being in Fiji. It might look like going for a walk or it might look like being in the shower. Right. It's why we get good ideas in the shower. Everybody does it. Yeah. Because you have white space.

Yes, absolutely. And it is so calming here. That's probably the biggest thing I would say. And my life is totally crazy at the moment because we've got concert season coming up and, you know, there's so much happening. But being here the last few days, I do feel calm, even though there's chaos in and around me.

Yeah, it's like that duck with the paddling legs. So, so good. So we cannot wait to create this incredible experience for our studio Growth club members. You know, we want them to bring their families. So we're working on, like, activities for the kids.

Yes.

You know, for, you know, husbands or partners, male or female. We are, you know, making great choices about what the other partner can do at the same time.

Yes.

Go on a trip, do all those things. And I think that'll be incredible.

Yes. It's going to be a whole experience for everybody. And we've noticed that a lot of people at the moment are applying for Studio Growth Club, which is amazing because it's a great time to start. Right, Amanda? Because we know that those who apply now, we can start getting you ready for an incredible 2026, which will include a retreat to Fiji, which will be amazing. So we would really love for all of you to join us. So if you've been thinking about Studio Growth Club and you're kind of on the fence, now is really the time to apply for us to jump on a call with you and see if you're the right fit for us and if we're the right fit for you.

Absolutely. We cannot wait to hear for you from you very, very soon. We hope you've enjoyed this special episode direct from Fiji. We'll be back to regular programming next week, but I hope everyone's concert season is going so well and you're surviving silly season.

Yes.

And having the best time.

Thanks so much, everyone. We'll talk soon.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dance Principles United podcast. If you'd love to learn more from us, we have a special offer just for our podcast listeners. Go to the link in the show notes right now to get two weeks free in Dance Principles United Tribe. We would love to see you there.