How to Get More Students
(It’s Not What You Think)
It’s the question I see all over Google and the dance studio owner Facebook groups:
“How do I get more students?”
If you’ve found yourself asking this question lately, you’ve come to the right place!
First of all, the answer to this question isn’t an answer at all, but more of a series of questions to GET TO the answer.
Second, the solution probably isn’t what you think, so keep reading!
But before we move on, will you make a deal with me? For the rest of this post, will you be honest with yourself? If you can separate yourself from your business and look at it objectively, what I’m about to share will be received in a much better way.
So, here’s what I want you to do…
Dig Deeper into WHY you need more students
What is the main reason you need more students?
Is it because more students are leaving than are enrolling each month?
Are your expenses just too high that you can’t keep up?
Have you always needed more students and never gotten to that “number”?
Did something happen recently?
Many times when I meet with a client, they come in with this question, but as we peel back the layers, it’s evident that a deeper issue needs to be addressed.
Take a look at some of the common issues and things to ponder below:
Focus on Your Total Yearly Revenue
By focusing on your total revenue, you can start to reverse-engineer the number of students you need.
Here’s an example:
-Total Revenue Needed: $100,000 yearly
-Total Tuition Per Student: $900 yearly
-Number of Students Needed: 111 students
This is just an example, but it allows you to play around with the numbers. What if your Total Tuition Per Student was $1,000 yearly? How would that change things?
This leads me to the next thing…
I have a strong feeling you are not charging enough for your programs. How does it feel when you hear this? Are you already coming up with a way to justify your tuition rates?
Repeat after me…
“The less I charge, the less people value what I do. The more I charge, the more people value what I do.”
It’s weird the way that this works, but it’s just TRUE. Think about some other places in your life where you are willing to spend more money on something because it is WORTH IT. The same applies to your dance studio!
So you might be asking, “Well, how do I know if I’m not charging enough?” Great question!
In my opinion and with my expertise, I know that people will pay $99/month for one weekly class. It’s just a fact! Now of course, there’s a way to get there and a way to raise your prices without causing too much conflict, but this can be your reality, thus, LOWERING THE AMOUNT OF STUDENTS YOU NEED. See what we did there?
Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s keep going…
2. Are Students Not Staying Long Enough?
If your retention is low, this is another easy place to focus your efforts for a few months, which will also lower the amount of students you need to bring in. In my one-on-one coaching program, this is a big part of what we do…addressing the ins and outs of getting dancers to stay longer. So, the longer you retain students, the fewer students you actually need.
Now for the “Get More Students” part…
It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give you a few actual strategies to bring in more students, so check out the best ways to do that quickly:
Target the Classes that Need an Enrollment Boost
Take a look at your schedule and find a few classes that need the most new students. We usually have three or four that could use a boost to make it feel more like a class.
Get as many students to try a free class in THOSE SPECIFIC CLASSES
Target internal and external leads:
Internal: If you have a leads list, send a mass email or text telling them about the free class
External: post in different places to get brand-new people to come to the free class (Facebook groups, your social media pages, Facebook ads, etc)
2. Give yourself 3-6 weeks to plan and market for this
“FREE INTRO CLASS” event
Depending on how quickly you need new students will determine how much lead time to give.
3-6 weeks gives plenty of time to do the proper marketing and advertising to build up the classes.
3. Adding a new class? Follow the same process.
When adding a new class, you want to get as many people into the free class as possible, knowing that only a certain percentage will enroll.
This method is great because you can instantly have a full class!
4. Facebook (Meta) Advertising
If you know how to properly run Facebook ads, NOW is the time to start running those ads! Although Meta is constantly changing, this is a HUGE part of attracting new students.
If you have no idea how to run ads, or you’re confused about the process, reach out! I love to help people feel confident with their ads and learn a little bit of the ins and outs.
We typically see anywhere from 40-60 leads each month in our dance studio when we’re running ads consistently. With those numbers, it’s easy to see how many new students you could have in one month.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you’ve made it this far, I’ve given you a lot to think about! The biggest takeaway I want you to have is that there isn’t one single strategy that will bring you more students. It’s a complex web that takes some serious thought, attention, and sometimes time to see the results you’re looking for.
However, there are a few simple strategies that can get you where you need to be, so try the methods above and let me know how it works out or if you have more questions…I’m here to help!
Want to go even deeper? Check out my E-book “How My Studio Boosted Revenue by $120,000 for just $10!
Get Your Free Guide Today!
