Customer Service...how do you manage expectations

You think we just run dance classes? ....in this day and age there is way more to running any business and the business simply wouldn't run without customers. Miss Ava dicusses what she enjoys about customer service, the challenges and how DanSci have gone the extra mile for their customers.

The customer is not always right but it is our job to make them feel like they are!

We are lucky at DanSci Dance Studio to has such a wide array of different types of customers whether a small child taking their first magic class, a worried parent, a nervous adult returning to dance, professional and seasoned dancers, teachers & instructors and the hirers of our facilities who can be from medical and holistic backgrounds. It’s great to be able to interact with so many different people from such diverse back grounds but usually with a similar passion-dance.

Our business is part of the service industry so although we try to build a real sense of community at the studio, people in general do not often sing praises unless we ask them to fill in review cards etc. When a parent or student takes the time to articulate personally, or by a card, gift, email or review of how much they enjoy their experience, class or the facilities; that’s when you get a real ‘Wow’ moment and know you are doing something right. We attend as many community events and support local charities through gifts, raffle prizes and performances and support the wider dance community by offering rehearsal space to students and charitable events for free.

The passion involved in our area of the arts also has it’s downsides There are far more emotions involved and it can be tricky to know how to handle any issues or complaints in a sensitive way. We are constantly looking at ways to improve our communication as parents in particular lead busy lives these days and it is easy for confusion over class times, rehearsals etc to be overlooked resulting in frustrated parents. Our community atmosphere and active social media presence also makes us accessible at all times. Sometimes this can be disadvantageous when you have customers messaging through social media platforms in the middle of the night who get disappointed if they do not get an instant reply.

On a personal note; as a business owner it can feel very personal when you recieve any feedback positive or negative so you need to keep to look after your own mental health and learn to detatch. As a dancer, I words can take longer for me to form and I find it daunting speaking in front of others.

Social media can also be one of our biggest customer satisfaction platforms as happy dancers just love to pin tweet and faceboo

k their achievements. We try really hard to reward our loyal customers through monetary incentives, such as money off if they visit and book online and public announcements of their achievements. We are really lucky that the style of our business allows us to have this informal interaction and are customers are often offering to help out and help build our brand off their own backs as well as arranging social events in and out of the studio.

An example of how DanSci went above and beyond was demonstrated recently when we had a young dancer turn to his teacher and say he no longer wanted to dance. On hearing about this I thought it would be a good idea to take the parent to one side and see what the underlying issues were, did he find class too hard? Did he not get along with class mates? His mother in turn said that he had been particularly worried about an upcoming performance, she didn’t want to push him to do something if he wasn’t ready. After speaking with the teacher it was obvious he knew the dance so I went back to the child and parent to reassure them that he would be fine and that although he may lack confidence, it is such a life lesson getting up on stage, overcoming your fears and joining in with your team mates that no matter what happened it would be beneficial for him to at least carry on and take part this time. He if still wanted to give up afterwards then that was fine too. Not only did he take part but the performance won gold which obviously increased his confidence no end, he came bounding off stage to ask when the next performance was. The following week he took part dancing at Exeter Respect Festival. It has been a huge privilege watching him grow both in himself and his dancing, if we had not taken the time to investigate, he may not be dancing at all right now.

I personally trained in classical ballet so it was always an important factor for me to consider when creating the business, the ideal was to remove the elite stigmatism sometimes associated with the style of dance and welcome everyone. We wanted to create a place where anyone can come and try class, a nurturing environment which I think we have achieved. Through listening to our customers and responding where appropriate ie; new classes in the styles requested we show that we are approachable.