Build speciality classes that make great returns for your business
I was sitting on the hotel bed as my conference roommate spoke these words to me. We had been speaking about how I, a seasoned teacher and studio owner, was working with ALL of the special consideration clients in our community. I loved creating movement strategies that helped these folks realise they were more than their diagnosis, but my teaching dance card was past full and I was exhausted.
My staff was still in the “green stage” of teaching, where they would see a client with an injury or condition, but they’d rather see the client’s who were there for a workout. And I don’t blame them. Movement, in many cases, involves a bit of bodily discomfort and when you’re just getting your “teaching legs” underneath you, it can be intimidating to think about working with someone who has limitations. Within a year, they would realise that everyone has a special consideration and that their skills would translate beautifully towards whichever human they worked with. But for now, it felt all up to me.
My conference roommate had a great deal more experience running a studio than me and suggested point blank that I form a class for my “special clients” and offer it in lieu of some of the private sessions that were draining me. My gut reaction was “NO WAY.” I couldn’t imagine my highly dependent clients willingly giving up their private time with me, but at the same time, I was curious about how life might be if they gave it a shot.
I decided to go for it with a class called “Healthy Backs.” With scoliosis, disc issues and kyphosis, one could argue that the students in attendance had anything but. However, I’ve always taught from the perspective of working to support the function one has and used this premise to entice them in. Reluctantly, they agreed to try it out.
I know that some instructors will feel beads of sweat forming on their brow with the thought of managing so many different conditions in one room and on paper, it definitely looks daunting. However, when you start to lay out the mechanics, support systems, mobility needs, and comprehension that benefit all of the conditions, as well as the contraindications for each, you start to see that there is much overlap. I chose to focus on global systems of support, balance, and joint mobility, as well as frequent options for participants to make choices as to how they would execute an exercise. I knew that building up their agency surrounding movement would be the BEST possible tool I could offer them.
As you might expect, the beginning was shaky. We all had to learn how to work together to get our needs met. But after just a few months, the class had developed a bond. They enjoyed the autonomy of the experience and trusted me to guide them throughout. The pacing and group motivation helped them gain strength that we hadn’t been able to access in private sessions. The way I approach group equipment classes is much like group exercise. There is a rhythm to the movement that holds a steady beat for each exercise. Sometimes I shift the pacing to encourage quick movement into a muscular contraction and sometimes I slow it down to offer time to strategise or work on endurance. Having to self-monitor their movement helped them recognise their limits in the best of ways. They soon reported back that they felt more able than ever and were grateful for their new community.
We knew we were on to something special with this group and wondered if we could recreate the magic for other groups in the studio. We started this great experiment with a sort of matchmaking process of noticing which clients had similar needs, personality types and goals. We used the success of the first Healthy Backs program as a template for additional programs, making tweaks to the model as the classes grew. This shift not only allowed for ease in many teacher’s schedules, but also opened the door for a new revenue model in my studio.
We learned how to anticipate needs, create outcome-based programming for each session and serve our clientele at a high level of specificity, the likes of which they couldn’t find anywhere else. Here are a few lessons we learned:
It’s always important to gather information from your current clientele. This can be through regular surveys or simple conversation. In our case, we kept a running tab of client interests at the front desk. This was not only helpful in pairing couples together for semi-private sessions, but it also helped us develop additional classes for special considerations. The best part was that we took the guessing out of our offerings. We knew we could run our classes because we had qualified the interest before we communicated the offer. Wins all around.
2. Our specialty classes evolved to run successfully as time-based, pre-paid registration offerings. Drop-ins are convenient, but not special. We wanted these offerings to be high-value, therefore it was pre-registration for the win. In addition to having full classes, the timed sessions offered both a beginning and an end to each iteration of the experience. This allowed us to get specific with each session and bake in the goals that were important to our clients. By offering them a tangible experience, we gave them something specific that they could share about with others. Ex: “I worked for 6 weeks on my balance and now I am confident going up and down stairs.”
3. We instilled meaning and purpose through attending to the wants, needs and desires of our clientele. We were able to maintain our expertise and use it to offer them programming that mattered to their lives. Recently, I met a former client of the studio in a pizza parlor. She recognized me and said “I want you to know that I never felt more important than when I was at your studio and I have yet to find a space that does it with the same level of focus and care as you did.”
From where I sit in my Chicago studio, I am surrounded by 10 other Pilates studios. Suffice to say, the market is saturated. As a Career and Small Business Coach, I counsel my clients regularly to stand out to their communities by listening to them and creating offers that speak directly to their needs. Considering the ways in which you can offer unexpected quality to your services can mean the difference between a moving experience and an experience that MOVES them through their life.
If you’re ready to develop your own specialty program, check out my online course: Build Your Specialty Program. This three month immersion program will offer you everything you need to support the building of specialty classes, courses and the like in your studio.
With over two decades of experience in movement instruction, Jenna Zaffino is a powerhouse entrepreneur, movement educator, speaker, and coach based in Chicago. She specialises in breaking down complex movement science into easily accessible forms and has helped thousands of clients shift their mindsets, increase their physical resilience, and find their own individual wellness practices. When she's not inspiring her clients at her North Center studio, Jenna loves to spend time with her family creating “movement mischief.”