Question on Recent Article

[yogarocks]

Hi Harlan,

Your article was really true about yoga teachers working from early morning till late eve with classes and many times only a few people showing up.

You said: If the goal is private clients, then the marketing plan must attract private clients. Only if the goal was more classes should a teacher be pursuing more classes.

I have a few questions on this:

1) I find that with privates, unless there is a strong personal issue (ie someone uncomfortable with their lack of flexibility or weight) that people seem to want to transition into a small class after a month or so (generally due to financial concners). This is okay with me, except with people's busy schedules, it seems often hard to group 5 people at same time.

Do you suggest a certain target market for people that tend to want long-term private lessons? Or is it a certain income bracket this works best for?
Perhaps there are self-employed people that would like to save the time commuting to someone's home or class and prefer private in-office lessons, but what is the best way to locate them?

Thanks.

Debbie

[Sara]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

My first suggestion is to Go For Private Clients. If that is where you want to go, the clients will come.

Sometimes you can get private clients by the classes you teach but in my experience That doesn't happen very much.

We just posted a video about advertising on Craig's list. If you are not familiar with this free way to advertise then I think you should start there.

Write down how many private clients you would ideally like to have and be convinced in your mind that you are going to get them. Once you have them or even one to begin with you want to tell them the benefit they have with working with you one on one.

I think it's better not to suggest eventually going into a class. You want them to love working with you so much that they make it a top priority in their life. Make them aware that the attention you give then and adjustments you do, they would not get in a regular yoga class.

Never be to shy to be upfront and tell your clients the difference between a class and a private session.

We look foward to hearing how you begin to grow your business. Good luck to you.

Peace,

Sara

[yogarocks]

Hi Sara,

Thanks for your reply. That is interesting what you said about not suggesting to a private student to join a small class but instead focus on the benfits of the private lessons.

I need to think about that more as the form of yoga I do doesn't have as much hands-on interaction with students as other schools (though there are corrections and some body manipulations). But I do usually incorporate stress reduction techniques that are very tailored to the person using my background as a therapist and own studies of eastern/western philosophy.
I need to think out more how to talk to someone about what they'll get 1 on 1vs in a class. I'm not sure if it can be advantage having the counseling background or if makes things murkier for people integrating the two.

1) Do you see people every other week who say they can't afford it weekly?

2) Do you find certain types of areas (ie weight or extreme stress) may be more inclined for one-to-one long-term yoga lessons?

3) Does word of mouth play into your referrals? I know as a therapist I've gotten people to refer friends.

I have worked with a few people privately via craigslist who have always asked about moving into a class after a short period of time! Maybe that is my karma.

In any case, I can give continuing ed credits to therapists workshops on yoga related areas so am working on that which I think will be another area and something I love to do.

Debbie

[Administrator]

Hi Debbie,

As someone who has gone to both privates and classes, I haven't found
most classes do very much for me.

In privates, I get all the attention. If I need to work on a pose, I get immediate correction. In many poses, if you hold your body out of alignment, you can get hurt - badly.

I don't believe you can really learn yoga from videos or books. I believe you must learn yoga from teacher.

Historically, yoga always was a student teacher relationship.

Now, I've enjoyed some classes - but if I wanted specific results [hint - most of your clients do], I'd stick with privates.

Now these are hard words to hear but the only one with an issue about how much classes cost is...

you.

Yep.

I remember months ago when Sara discussed raising her rates. Could she
go from $65 to $75 or $85? How should she word it? Would her clients leave her.

It's a few months later.

Sara is comfortable quoting rates of $100-$130 an hour.

What changed?

Not the clients.

It was her mindset.

Most yoga teachers need to work on this aspect of beliefs.

Your clients can afford your services whether you charge $35, $65, $95, or $135.

You need to work on your comfort zone and your belief that you are worth that money.