Do you know the number one thing that dance school owners think they are really good at in their businesses? It’s keeping their students happy, in other words retention! BUT when I go through the simple maths equation to actually find out what their student retention rate is it is often not as good as they had hoped… oops! The average drop off and therefore retention rate is 75% in the dance industry but we want to get that up to a whopping 95%. It takes work but it is possible.

So how do we achieve this?

It is not as simple as being nice to the kids and friendly to your parents. There are many many steps to keeping happy customers. The strategy at the top of my retention leaderboard though is PROGRESS FEEDBACK! I cannot tell you how much I constantly remind those in my dance boss coaching programme to feedback progress to their parents, consistently, thoroughly and often!

Why

Let’s see it from the parents point of view. As a parent you pay your bill, drop your child to their dance classes and leave. This goes on week after week. The teacher cannot chat about your child's progress between classes and there just doesn’t seem to be any other appropriate time. After a while you start to wonder if it is really worth your child doing these classes any longer. You have no idea how they are getting on, if they have made great friends, what their progress is and if they are doing well or not. Eventually with the lack of progress feedback you may decide to call it a day.

The Problem…

People say to me “Deborah we get this but how do we do it?”
How do we give feedback to parents though in a way that is quick, easy and specific to each class that will not add more time to my already busy and hectic dance boss life.

This is where Val comes in. I cannot recommend it highly enough. The small amount per student that it will cost you per year is minimal and should be a part of your retention budget. Say they pay you a minimum of £150 per year for dance fees, if you give feedback 3 times per year this could be as little as £1 per student. To me this is money well spent!

This feedback system has been needed for so many years. I am thrilled to have firstly found it, and secondly teamed up with the VAL to offer you such a great discount.

Dance Business Lab has partnered with VAL student evaluations to offer members a 15% discount when you purchase evaluation credits on or before August 26, 2021.

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