When studio owner Tia Noakes switched to Class Manager’s class-management software in March, she knew all too well the struggles of running a dance business on your own.
“I’d had enough of chasing people for payments or sending emails to 100 different people about 100 different things,” she says.
Grow Your Business (and Have More Time to Teach)
Today, Class Manager’s class management software helps Noakes organize her billing, class scheduling, and communication all in one place. Its easy-to-use, intuitive interface is designed specifically for dance studio owners so they can spend more time doing what they love—teaching dance. “It’s taken a big weight off my shoulders,” Noakes says.
Class Manager CEO Andrew Walker says this is exactly the company’s goal: to support dance studio owners by helping manage the business aspects that take them away from teaching. “Most studio owners that I meet started a dance school because they wanted to teach children to dance,” he says. “But they have to spend 70 percent of their time on administration.”
Easy-to-Use Software for Teachers and Parents
Class Manager has applied years of learning and market research to create a system that genuinely helps customers. Its user-friendly software, available on desktop, tablet, and mobile, is currently available in the U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
It allows teachers to spend more time in the studio and less on administrative tasks by facilitating enrollment and attendance, scheduling, billing, and parent communication. The platform also makes it easier for parents to stay on track with everything.
Class Manager isn’t just for studio owners and dance teachers—it’s accessible and useful for students and their families. A big part of that is the customization features available within the software. Users can customize the colors to match a studio’s branding, creating a seamless transition for parents, who can log into their portals to book classes, view upcoming lessons, and more. “The parents like the look of the portal and how easy it has been to set up and navigate,” says Michelle Widdison, a ballet teacher whose studio uses Class Manager.
Noakes reports a similar experience. Her studio, which trains a small number of serious dance students, has a complex schedule and a detailed billing process, so she was initially unsure if class-management software would work for her business. But with Class Manager, Noakes says,
“All my parents are happy—they all know what they’re paying for, they don’t have to ask me for invoices, and I don’t have to [spend time] drawing up invoices.”
Class Manager Facilitates Various Billing Systems
As Class Manager’s CEO and a dance dad, Walker uses the platform through his daughter’s dance school and spends much of his time speaking to teachers and studio owners about how the software can meet their specific needs.
This summer, Class Manager is launching a brand-new software designed to go one step further when helping dance studio owners navigate the stresses of dance studio ownership by removing the stress of paying subscription fees for something that helps them run their business. The new software will be available with no monthly subscription, only a payment processing fee. This means studios won’t need to worry about paying subscriptions when they’re not making money, such as Christmas or summer vacation.
It still includes everything studio owners expect, with streamlined billing and scheduling features created with dance teacher feedback in mind. Whether your studio bills by term length, hours, or monthly, “all of those things have been updated in the new software in one cohesive way,” Walker says.
Noakes says features like these not only make her days less busy but also provide important insights for her as a business owner. “I’m 25,” she says. “I have parents who are a lot older than me, and they’ll sometimes say, ‘Oh, I’ve already paid for that.’ As dance teachers, we have so much going on every single day that sometimes you start wondering, ‘Have I missed that?’ With Class Manager, it’s all there, timestamped and trackable, so it’s great to always have something to refer back to. I don’t have to doubt anything.”
Walker understands the financial constraints studio owners face. Class Manager only charges a transaction fee and no monthly subscription. “The goal is to be as fair to studios as we can,” he says.
Excellent Customer Service
As the migration from Classic Class Manager to the new version continues, customer service remains just a phone call away.
“The customer service is excellent,” Widdison says. “They resolve any issues I have and are happy to help in any way.”
When Noakes first began her switch to Class Manager, she spoke on the phone with a customer service rep daily. “I liked things pen and paper, and I was very much stuck in my way,” she says. “The customer service team was really, really helpful.”
Thinking of giving Class Manager a go at your studio? “I’d highly recommend it,” Widdison says as she’s heading into another year of using the software.
Though Noakes has only been a customer for a few months, she’s already seeing results. “It’s definitely grown my school a lot,” she says. “From a business standpoint, it looks incredible to a new customer’s eye. It’s a quick, simple click of the button to sign up their child.”
Ready to start using Class Manager’s class management software? Click here to book a demo or open an account.
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