Back to Main Page |
Building Enrollment II
By Carole Royal, Owner,
Royal Dance Works
Director, Dance International
Hope your goal-setting is coming along! (Please
refer to the last article if you are new to this feature) Increasing profits is an
important part of our business success. We can go about this by building enrollment,
adding classes for existing students, and making profit off of sales to our student base.
I'm going to be addressing the building enrollment part of the formula.
As far as advertising, I have found that yellow pages and local newspapers have worked the
best for me. I increased the size of my yellow page advertisement with great success.
Through a special program that was offered, I was able to track how many calls came in
directly through the ad and also at what time. I discovered that I received approximately
200 calls per month. In addition, about ½ of these calls came in during the day.
I decided to hire someone full time that could work 9-5, M-F. Although I was terrified of
this expense, it's paid for itself over and over again. I was very fortunate to fine
someone who was cheerful and enthusiastic, with dance and computer skills! Now the phone
is answered by a live person who is able to give information and at the same time, add to
our mailing list (now about 1,000 potential students).
I have developed a form that the front desk personnel fill out upon answering the phone.
(I will e-mail a copy if you are interested) We are then able to mail information about
special events, new classes, registration deadlines, etc. to a large group of potential
students. We have dramatically increased our enrollment of new students this year with
these methods. We'll delve into additional ideas next time!
I am contemplating offering a 3 day seminar with guest presenters in Phoenix, AZ regarding
building a successful dance studio. Some of the topics might include: building enrollment,
annual recital, children's curriculum, costuming, competing, teaching techniques,
advertising, computers, booster clubs, and 30 more topics. Are you interested? What time
of year would be best? Maybe right after Christmas? Please e-mail me at Danceintl@aol.com with comments.
Each future column will present a business tip that
can be utilized immediately for studio growth. Good luck! |
