Amanda Barr 0:02
Music. Hello friends. I'm Amanda Barr and I'm Rebecca Lew Brennan, and welcome to Dance principles 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 the dance principles United podcast, we are so excited to be talking about getting new students in your door still now at this time of the year. Nathan, how are you?
Nathan Barr 0:39
I am very, good. Thank you. Sitting here in lovely air conditioning today because it's really freezing.
Amanda Barr 0:44
Can we stop this? Do not say that, because I am sitting here absolutely freezing my little tits off, and this is
Nathan Barr 0:52
one of the main look, one of the biggest points of tension in our marriage, guys, just to really let everybody in, is that the air con levels, I prefer meat locker, whereas Amanda prefers not sauna. Yeah, sauna. So, like, it's a balance.
Amanda Barr 1:05
Ah, I am not enjoying recording in here at all. I wanted to sit upstairs away. Anyway. We will not have this. All right, tell me. Life update, do you want to share with everyone a bit of a life update, what's going on?
Nathan Barr 1:17
Life update, for us, look super exciting. I think this is going to resonate with a lot of the audience. Kids went back to school this
Amanda Barr 1:25
week. Thank God for that. I love my children dearly, but God, it was time for them to go back to school.
Nathan Barr 1:30
It's been so hard to do work, right, like we, both of us working from home now. And our kids are six, nine and 12. And look, let's be honest, our nine and 12 year olds are pretty, pretty self sufficient in terms of being able to let us do work, yes, so being able to sit down and get deep into work, yeah, we love work, right? Absolutely. And being able to get into that is just good for the soul, for us, right? How about you? Apart from that, any other specific life updates? Well, we go to Melbourne
Amanda Barr 1:59
this weekend. I'm excited for that. We're meeting some new friends in Melbourne for our one day in royal students event, which is super exciting. We're getting deep into the expo planning. It's going to be incredible. Today's job is decorations, which I love doing and making it all pretty, but my other big drama is what to wear. So that's going through my head. So anyone that wants to, like, you know, suggest any brands to me, feel free to shoot them through. I really need
Speaker 1 2:28
some help with what to wear. It is taking up a lot of time. It takes up a lot of headspace. Yeah, absolutely.
Nathan Barr 2:35
But we, believe it or not, we're not too here to talk about our air conditioning dramas or Amanda's outfit choices. What are we going into the podcast? Okay,
Amanda Barr 2:44
so today we're talking about, you know, that it's not too late to be enrolling more students into your studio. What, you know, there was that old school mentality that you get to, you know, depending where you are in Australia, you might be in week 123, depending on where you are, but you kind of get to that period and you stop, that's the number that you're done at, and that you have all the students for the Year, and it just goes from there. Basically, yes, occasionally, if you might, come in, but that's it. Now, what I really want to do is encourage you to change that mindset. And, you know, really drastically, oh, 100%
Nathan Barr 3:21
and that's what, you know, like, I can't I always, like, sit here on the podcast and like, draw little like grass with my fingers, which doesn't really translate, no, but like Amanda said, like, just that, we really need to change as businesses, that old school mentality of you would enroll in January, and then you would teach and marketing and enrollments and things like that would just be a bit of a always be the afterthought. But as businesses, as businesses, especially if you're a business that wants to grow, if you're a density that wants to grow, then constant lead generation, constant enrollments into your studio, is absolutely key, and should be, should be at the forefront of what you're doing whenever you're working on the admin side. Obviously, we understand that lots of people and lots of studio owners love teaching and still do loads of it, 100% but focusing on the admin side of your studio, your important Yep, and lead generation and nurturing needs to be just as important part of that. So what would you be doing, Amanda, or what did you do when we had the studio? What would sort of be one of your focuses now on how to generate more leads and get more students in the door in this important time? Okay,
Amanda Barr 4:32
so first thing I want to talk about is, you know, just kind of touch on the importance. I want to pull back to that for a moment, because I think it's important that we sort of understand that the student numbers keep rising, especially like the first term, especially, you know, I've been chatting to other studio owners, you know, depending on the size of their studio that at the moment, especially if they're in New South Wales, and it's week one for them, they should be aiming to enroll five to 10. Students a day. Your students every single day. That should be the goal that they're setting. You know, they're for larger studios. Of course, if you're a smaller studio, you know, what is it? Is it five or 10 a week? Maybe, you know, whatever it is that's right for you. But setting those goals, the other thing as a studio owner, especially if you're the one in there doing all the work and doing the majority of the admin and doing most of the stuff is prioritizing your time around, chasing enrollments. And to me, that should be a minimum of an hour a day, every single day, absolute minimum, hopefully going up from there, depending on the growth trajectory you want to have. But actually putting that time aside. And I'm going to jump into some ways to kind of like, Chase students and not wait for them to come to you. But don't just go, Oh, I've got no new inquiries today. So I don't need to spend that hour. That hour should be spent on finding new people. So that's what I wanted to kind of talk about. Don't wait for them to come to you. Go out and find them Yeah. And
Nathan Barr 5:58
that's what we're seeing too too often with studio owners is they're just sort of yeah, that, that expectation that yes, oh no, I've always done it. I've always got students by word of mouth and just sitting there and waiting for them. But in 2025 like one thing we always hear from studio owners is that just feels like there's a new studio on the court, like on every new corner and things like that. And we're not just competing with dance studio owners for for the attention and enrollments of students nowadays as well. Guys, we're competing with karate schools like there's just so much competition. Everybody else has tapped into this notion, guys, that kids want to do lots of activities. So it is becoming more and more competitive, not just in the dance industry, but in that overall space that we operate in that we need to be proactive in seeking out new enrollments for our studio. Absolutely
Amanda Barr 6:45
okay. So some things I'd be doing on social media every single day, in that absolute minimum of an hour that you're like, fully focused and doing it, I would be doing organic marketing strategies and different ones, not just a post making sure your stories are always going and they're always live, using a lot of engagement techniques inside your stories as well, things like the sticker buttons, you know, comment here if you want to know that, you know, thumbs up. Which one do you like more? You know, that sort of style thing. Actually, the which one do you like more? I don't love because that's aimed at current students. You know, you like jazz or tap, like it's good to get, you know, people engaging in your stories, but things that are, you know, want to know more. You know, does your dance? A little girl love dancing around the house, you know, like things like that. That's more aimed at potential new students. I think is more valuable. That's
Nathan Barr 7:41
the key that we've we've got, you know, and I think you were talking about in one of our maybe it was the SGC call the other day, that, yes, it is important for our socials to be, one of its purposes is to be showcasing to our current students and families all the amazing, fun things that they are part of our wonderful communities. For that is one part of it. But just as important, if not, sometimes more important, is showing, showcasing what we do to new potential parents.
Amanda Barr 8:08
Absolutely the other thing I'd be doing so obviously making sure, obviously making sure your social media is looking great. We're not really talking about that today. The posts are great. They all have calls to action, calls to action that actually work as well. You know that the stories are on all of those things, but I'd also be getting a little bit more, have a little bit more fight in you, I guess is what I want to say. A little bit more hungry for. It shoots for. That's a good word. I would be also, you know, engaging with new followers, people that have liked your page. You know, you can go or your profile, or whatever you call it on Instagram, going back through and seeing the people who have started following you and dropping them a message, hey, thanks so much for the follow. Are you looking for dance classes for your little one question mark? You know, a lot of people are going to ignore that message. For sure, there's a lot of stalkers that start following you stalkers, meaning you know parents of, you know grandparents, or you know parents of, you know kids at other studios or whatever. That is, right? But just reaching out, you might get a response from someone. Someone might go, oh, actually, that is why I decided to start following you. Thanks for reaching out. You know,
Nathan Barr 9:22
yes, I think the key to that is getting over your fear of failure. I think that's what talking to dance studio homes. I think that's what I see holding so many of them back around things like that, is that we think that whenever somebody says no to us or ghost us, then it's just the worst thing ever. And it's that, oh, we failed at this. What we're talking about, basically, in, like, in everything we're going to talk about today, guys, is that it's, it's a numbers game, it's a volume game, absolutely not. Of course, everybody's not going to reply to every message. But if we send 10 and get one great that is, that's a great strike rate, absolutely.
Amanda Barr 9:55
And so don't be worried that, you know, nine people ghosted you who care. So you got one new potential client from it, or one new trial. I think that's really important. I'd also be scrolling back through old messages, old comments, anything like that, to see if there's anyone who perhaps had inquired on Instagram or Facebook or whatever that ghosted you. Maybe in November, maybe in November, you know, they reached out saying they wanted some classes, and then they just kind of disappeared, and it was concert time, and you just didn't really chase it again. You know, what is it like? Scroll back through your messages on all your social platforms and have a look and just re engage with some of those people. I'd be doing that. I'd also be trying different techniques on Instagram, Instagram lives, for example, you know, and even doing something like then sharing those kind of things to community pages, for example, you know, one tactic I've seen that works really well is, you know, an Instagram Live teaching your audience something, for example, at this time of the year, We know that there's a lot of kindergarteners starting school that could be really nervous about starting school. So what about doing a little you know, Instagram Live talking about, I know so many little ones are starting school this year, but I want to let you mums know you've got this. We often see little dances that are nervous to go in, but after a few weeks, you know, of love and reinforcement and positive reinforcement. You know, they end up loving their classes. And you know, whatever that is, give them a tip. We find that, you know, what's the little groove is thing that they sprinkle courage dust on them. We find that courage dust on our little dances work so well. My daughter had jitter juice in class. And you know, her class did jitter juice on day one. You know, you could give a tip like that to parents that could help them for school, but could also help them for dancing, and then share that to your community page as like a tip from someone who's seen lots of little people you know go through that process, because you're an expert in your field, you're an expert in encouraging little people to start dancing or start whatever it is that they're starting, and all the amazing benefits that they have absolutely so doing anything like that just really gives to your community, but also talks to potential new people, not just your current students. And I think, once again, that's the confusion that can sometimes happen, you know, introducing your staff, for example, and talking about, you know, that I had this staff member who, you know, did this contract, or was in this ballet or something, is all well and good, but that's usually dance parents that actually care about that. Yes, current dance parents, obviously some other people that are, you know, looking for absolute best of the best. But a lot of like, you know, preschool parents don't actually care about that, but they love to hear about the courage dust that you sprinkle. Yes, so make sure you're talking to the right person. Yes and
Nathan Barr 13:03
or like, like you were saying those teacher introductions can be amazing as well, but make sure you also talk about a random fact, like, talk about how much fun they have in class, or talk about just random facts with them as well, away from the dance Yes, obviously, talk about their dance qualifications, because you want to position, yeah, it's important, and you want to position them as an expert. But give those other parents that are not in the dance world already, give them something to relate to as well, and see what amazing, incredible, friendly staff that you have at your studio.
Amanda Barr 13:36
Yeah, so the things I'd be doing, social media. What would you be doing else? Nath, that you think would be really beneficial to get more students through? Yeah,
Nathan Barr 13:44
sort of the first ones along the same lines as you were talking about scrolling back through your Instagram and Facebook, dams and again, like I said earlier on, it's just a numbers game, right? Everybody, every single dance studio that I've ever spoken to always finds people when they scroll back through their old inboxes, because it's just a reality of life. We're humans. Sometimes we let things slide, unless you've got, like, a top notch customer relationship management software that you've got using it, so scroll back through that and create that hit list. But then, on the same note, also go in and do the same in your email inbox, because, again, we're only humans, and how a lot of studios and a lot of businesses, if we're honest, handle their inquiries is, whilst it's at the top of their inbox, it gets replied to, but it slides down the bottom, slides out of our memory, and we don't get back to them. So everybody's most people, if you've got a website inquiry form, comes into your inbox with the exact same subject line every time. Like, you know, website inquiry, new website inquiry, semi colon, or whatever, whatever that is, take that exact line, put it into your inbox and search it, yes, then go back, I don't know, four months, and just scroll back through. Through every single one of those and just quickly checked, are they enrolled? No. Cool. Let's
Amanda Barr 15:05
reach out to them all the sent ones as well. You know, for example, you know, if you do the same for your Sent folder, ones that did that and you sent them something, you sent them a timetable or a price list or whatever you did, but then they're still not enrolled. So try them again.
Nathan Barr 15:20
100% just going back through, create a hit list of 20. Yeah, day one, find the first 20. Just copy and paste. Like, don't you don't have to write as individual email to all of them, because, again, we're just creating a numbers game. We're just trying to get a bite. And what we've found working recently is not to sound too salesy in the email. Like, don't send them the big don't think you've got to send them the big professional. Email. Hello. My time. It is Nathan from Dance sensations here. Here is the full time like, don't send the big, long email, because parents at all times are busy. But especially at this time of year, there's 1000 bits of information coming home from school,
Amanda Barr 15:56
the amount of emails from school this week. Yeah. So
Nathan Barr 16:01
be the be the quick email to read literally one line or two sentences. Hey, I know you inquired last year. Were you interested in classes this year? Do you want me to send you some more info? Question Mark, you're just looking for that bite back. Yeah, you'll send 20 out. You might only get two bites, but they're the ones that you invest more time in. The next absolutely be smart about it. Work smarter, not harder.
Amanda Barr 16:23
Yeah, I love that. So, so good. I think also, you know, reaching out to that if you've got a cold email list, make sure you're still engaging with that. For the same reason, a cold email list is a big list of email addresses that you have that is old inquiries. It is anyone who is a past student that never returned. It's anyone that's ever touched base with you and given you their email address, no matter what, basically, 100% it's
Nathan Barr 16:49
the most undervalued. Thing that we see with studio owners is not keeping, maintaining, updating that list, because it's just so, so valuable. You know, we used to run like, one of the big campaigns we used to run was an open weekend. An open week campaign. I'm certain we've talked about it in other podcasts, but it was essentially a week where loads of students, like, we would have over 200 students come in for trials in one week. And we would run big Facebook big paid Facebook campaigns to it, obviously, but within those 200 sign ups, or over 200 sign ups, we would get about half from the ads, but we'd also get half from that cold email list, that old email database, because we maintained it, we nurtured it, we looked after it, and we grew it, yes, to a list of, I'd say, three to 4000 people at the time. And when you have that list, it is just so, so valuable. You you spend money on marketing anyway to get people's information. Please don't waste and
Amanda Barr 17:50
don't forget, it's not always that same student, but it could be their best friend, their neighbor, their sibling, their cousin. You know, they might share that information with someone else. So don't ever undervalue that as well, because exactly that, you know, I afforded an email that I thought a friend would like today. You know, I was on their marketing list, you know, and I just sent it across to her because I knew she would like it. And it wasn't for me, but it might be for her, and people do that, so never undervalue that. I think that's probably all of our best top tips today. I
Nathan Barr 18:20
think that's definitely enough to get people started, because that's the biggest that's the biggest thing holding people back is that first step, right? Don't feel like you need to over complicate it. Yeah, don't feel like you've gotta go and systemize it, or systemize it just like we like, I've said a few times already, it's just a numbers game. Get 10 to 15, Facebook, Instagram, DM sent, get another 10. Email sent like whatever it is. Try and do that every day for a few days, and you will definitely get some people on the hook and get some enrollments going. I'd
Amanda Barr 18:52
love to hear it. If you try one of these tactics and you get a trial from it, drop us a message. I want to celebrate with you. I want to have a champagne in your honor. So please make sure you reach out. We'd love to hear I don't need an excuse for that. Thanks so much, guys for listening to the podcast. We cannot wait to chat to you again next week. Thanks faith.
Nathan Barr 19:10
Thank you so much.
Amanda Barr 19:12
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. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
