A few years ago I had the opportunity to become a ballroom dance instructor, and it made me a better salesperson.
You might ask, what does ballroom dancing have to do with sales? Well, one of the single most important things a ballroom instructor must do is sell lessons. On the surface that doesn’t seem that hard, I mean if you were interested in learning to dance you’d probably be willing to pay a few bucks to learn, right? Would you pay a few hundred dollars a month? A few thousand a month? A hundred thousand a year just for dance lessons?
You can’t take home dance lessons and park them in your garage, you can’t hang them on your shelf, your friends won’t be that impressed, they won’t make you any money, and they won’t make your house any bigger.
So many salespeople struggle to sell things to people that we can touch, feel, and use…. cars, homes, software, even insurance has a clearly defined use, value, and utility. And in all of them one of the most common objections that salesmen struggle with is price.
But dance instructors are routinely selling something that many people spend more on every month than most of us pay for a car or house payment . On top of that they are selling much of the time to people for whom the cost is a major sacrifice. So how do they keep their studios full? By using the following tips:
- Keep your pipeline full – You can’t make sales if you have no prospects. Dance instructors are masters at networking, lead generation and sales funnels. They prospect for clients using online advertising, social media, meetups, groupons, and most importantly they network for highly targeted prospects in person by going out to dance events like salsa clubs and dancing with everyone they can. Most importantly, hosting events in their studios which they advertise and promote within their social circle, reward their clients with free lessons for referrals, and advertise on online coupon and meetup sites.
- Roll out the red carpet – Once they get the client in the funnel, they do everything possible to make them feel welcome in their studio. If it’s an open studio party night, after a brief group lesson, the well dressed charismatic male instructors will dance with all of the women, young and old and of various talent levels constantly smiling while making sure the customers are happy. Giving out honest compliments and helping them to feel comfortable and dancing better than they knew they could. Meanwhile the attractive female instructors do their best to encourage the reluctant husbands and the single men who are hoping that learning to dance will help them meet quality women, on to the floor and teach them the basics they will need to dance with the women. Then the husbands and wives awkwardly dance with each other each realizing that their partner wishes they were a little bit better…. Like the instructor from a few minutes ago. And on their way out the door at the end of the evening, the instructors lead the couples to the front desk where they schedule their free couple’s lesson as soon as possible.
- The first lesson is the sales pitch. It determines whether or not there will be a sale. The best I have ever seen at this is Mr. “A” a former studio owner I worked with. A tall thin Haitian immigrant who spoke in broken English with a thick accent. He moved with grace normally reserved for the prince in a fairy tale. His joyful almost childlike demeanor beaming smile and spontaneous laughter hid the ice cold logic of his first lesson / sales process. He took every couple through the exact same sales process the exact same way every single time. It was timed down to the minute, and designed to keep both partners engaged and moving forward in the process.
- In dance, you sell the couple, not just the husband, not just the wife. If they both aren’t on board, there’s no sale. In most industries, there are “common knowledge” tropes about selling the wife, or selling the husband. The common objection is the customer has to discuss with their partner prior to committing. In selling couples lessons in ballroom dance, you sell both partners at the same time, who may have very different reasons for their interest in lessons. You have to pay attention to both, perform discovery, perform the sales process and ask for the sale all with both partners there.
- Every step of the sales process was based on 3 principles: Easy, Fun, and Moving.
Easy – to make sure they didn’t struggle with the process, and they could feel like they were dancing better than they’d expected. They had to know they could get what they wanted easily – Success had to feel attainable.Fun – When a first lesson goes as planned customers were laughing, and engaging endorphins the entire time, entertained, and feeling like a star.
Moving – so they never had time to rest and the 20 minute lesson went by quickly so they wanted more. Then imm
ediately when the first lesson was over, they were directed to the front desk to schedule the 2nd 40 minute lesson at an intro price and sign them up for a multi-lesson intro package. The first lesson would show just enough progress and be full of positive affirmation so the couple couldn’t resist seeing how much they could accomplish in the second, third, fourth lessons. Prices were kept lower to give the customers time to get attached to dance before paying full price of upwards of $100-120 / lesson.
- Never discuss price until asking for the sale. During the entire sales process there is only ever a focus on what the client wants to learn, how you will teach it, the positive steps it will take to get there, and how much value is truly in it for the client. Price is NEVER discussed until the customer has shown a strong interest in actually purchasing a lesson package. Pricing isn’t a secret, it’s posted in specials, sale prices, etc… however it’s all designed to show a value with teaser rates, special new customer packages etc… that are easy and affordable in order to get people into the first PAID STEP of the sales funnel. Get them to buy their first lesson package then you can up-sell them on additional lessons, expert coaching, dance competitions, and more.
- Create a Community – Once the customer is in the studio and is taking lessons the rest of the students and instructors are very welcoming. The customer becomes part of the community within the studio and it all begins to feel like a family atmosphere. Their children have play dates, there’s always an event in evenings, weekends, etc… that involve a wide range of customers, and dance becomes a major part of the clients social life. This community breeds loyalty and referrals that further expand the community.
- Keeping the pipeline full is incredibly important just as it is in other industries. There is only so much bark on the tree from any individual client, and in order to keep the lights on you have to keep a steady flow of new clients coming in the door. Many that come for an introductory lesson won’t see the value and purchase a starter package. Many that purchase a starter package won’t purchase an
ongoing lesson package. A few will purchase weekly lessons for many years, and a few of those will become “whales” that purchase multiple weekly lessons, at over $100 each train for competitions, travel to competitions paying the instructor thousands of dollars to go with them all over the world, go to every studio group event, pay professional visiting coaches, refer other friends who become clients, etc… I’ve seen individual students drop upwards of $10,000 in entry fees alone for a single weekend competition, and then do this on a monthly basis just to win a handful of ribbons and possibly a trophy that probably cost $20. These are the customers that every instructor dreams of, but in order to find them you have to bring hundreds of interested people into the pipeline, and keep moving them upwards through it.
How does this apply to other industries?
The key lessons here that apply to a multitude of industries, is you have to continuously build value for your clients not just during the sales process, but afterwards. Building a community builds long term loyalty, brings referrals viral growth, and long term income. But in order to make a sale you have to keep the entire process easy for the client, have fun and allow them to have fun, and definitely keep the process moving. And once you have a client, treat them like family, that will give you the opportunity to up-sell higher and higher margin products or services.
Slowdowns during the sales process lead to doubts, and a stoppage of momentum inevitably leads to losing sales that you should’ve had.
