From teaching in-person for seven years to opening her own home-based virtual Pilates studio in Atlanta, Georgia, Lane Grosser has learned a lot about developing a business plan and growing her client base over the last nine months.
During that transition, Lane, a STOTT PILATES® Certified Instructor and Total Barre® and ZEN•GA® Qualified Instructor, formed her business around one central question: What would a busy mom in her 30s, like her, want from a mindful movement class?
By knowing exactly who she wanted to reach and keeping them front of mind, she built Pilates with Lane to provide clients with convenience, flexibility and accountability.
Here’s how she did it.
How have you structured your virtual Pilates business?
- Convenience: Lane offers 10 online classes a week all between 20 and 45-minutes specifically for people short on time.
- Flexibility: Clients can purchase single classes, weekly class subscriptions, class packages and monthly class passes. Her affordable weekly class subscription (three classes for $15) encourages clients to commit to moving their bodies multiple times a week.
- Accountability: A recording of each livestream class from that week is available to clients until Sunday at midnight, keeping people motivated and accountable to their fitness routine.
How did you build your virtual client base?
Start with your inner circle of friends and family and move outward to your acquaintances and other contacts via email and social media.
When Lane launched her first online Stretch class in mid-May 2020, she reached out to her inner circle of family and friends.
“This was at the start of the pandemic and everyone was saying how bad they were feeling, so I created this class to help people move and feel better in their bodies,” she says. “People were quick to sign-up.”
Once she had a more robust schedule of classes, including a Tone class (a mix of ZEN•GA, Total Barre and STOTT PILATES), Stretch and a Pilates Matwork class, she started reaching out to her broader network of acquaintances through email.
“While I felt uncomfortable emailing old acquaintances, I was really excited and proud of what I’d produced and created and I wanted to share it with people,” she says, adding that it’s also important to give people an option to unsubscribe.
She also launched Facebook and Instagram ads and partnered with friends, including an author, an Etsy store owner, a women’s health/herbal medicine expert, in giveaways and live classes on Instagram.
While collaborating with some of those individuals attracted thousands of attendees to her live Instagram classes, it didn’t always result in new clients on her platform. Currently, only about a quarter of her clients are people she didn’t know previously— and most discovered her via word-of-mouth.
“Running a business is constant PR. I spend about two to three hours a day on the business outside of teaching. You have to continually build relationships and community. Anytime I start getting stressed about the business or thinking I want more clients, I go back to this central question: ‘What is the motive? Is it to help people, or is it self-seeking?’”
How do you retain clients?
The most important element for clients is the quality of your classes and instruction, Lane says.
Beyond that, there are a few other things instructors can do to ensure they’re delivering the best experience to clients:
- Regular communication and check-ins: Lane recently polled her clients about how much they’d be willing to pay for a Pilates class. Based on their responses, she was able to slightly increase the price of her subscriptions for 2021 without losing any clients or their trust.
- Quality testers: Lane relies on a few regulars to provide her with private feedback on her classes. She readily embraces feedback and incorporates it into her sessions, which was one of the things her clients said they liked about her.
- Personalize each class with music: Lane creates custom playlists for each of her classes on Spotify, so clients who opt to purchase a Spotify subscription can tune in as she teaches.
- Weekly game plans that build throughout the week: Her classes at the beginning of the week set the theme, intention and foundation of movement. From there, she builds on those, ending with the spiciest class on Fridays. This keeps clients engaged and motivated.
- Use your skills to keep innovating: As a former professional dancer, Lane decided to develop an online Pilates training program for teenage ballet dancers to help them improve their technique and quality of movement, and prevent injuries, through Pilates. The six-module course is available as a one-time purchase.
“There’s a lot more work that goes into developing a business than one might think. You have to make all the decisions and decide on your vision, mission, brand and what experience you want your clients to have. But remember that you’re the one running the ship. And you can say no to yourself. It’s up to you to decide when it’s time to shut down the laptop for the day.”
“It’s been a journey to figure out my business model, but I’m really proud of what I’ve created so far, and there’s more to come.”