For Yoga Teachers Podcast. Episode 12.
Useful resources mini-series: Staying in touch with your yogis
We look at why you would want and need to stay in touch with your yogis, the different communication methods you could use, what to say, and what to bear in mind with each
Many businesses would absolutely love a way to ensure that their customers were right there, in front of them, on a regular, predictable basis, and one of the many interesting things about being a yoga teacher is that we see our customers regularly, likely weekly.
Now I know you don’t think of your yoga students as customers. me neither. they’re people who come to your yoga classes. But, if you allow yourself to think of your yogis as customers just for this one episode, i think it will make the information clearer and more useful. After all, this podcast is about helping you earn a fair living, so in reality, you do need CUSTOMERS to bring in INCOME.
In this episode, we’ll look at why you would want and need to stay in touch with your yogis, the different communication methods you could use, what to say, and what to bear in mind with each.
And we’ll round up by looking at how you can evaluate which method or methods are right for you, and for you yogis, to make your efforts as efficient and useful as possible.
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Useful resources mini-series:
Staying in touch with your yogis
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Useful resources mini-series: Staying in touch with your yogis - Transcript
Many businesses would absolutely love a way to ensure that their customers were right there, in front of them, on a regular, predictable basis, and one of the many interesting things about being a yoga teacher is that we see our customers regularly, likely weekly.
Now I know you don't think of your yoga students as customers. me neither. they're people who come to your yoga classes. But, if you allow yourself to think of your yogis as customers just for this one episode, i think it will make the information clearer and more useful. After all, this podcast is about helping you earn a fair living, so in reality, you do need CUSTOMERS to bring in INCOME.
In this episode, we'll look at why you would want and need to stay in touch with your yogis, the different communication methods you could use, what to say, and what to bear in mind with each. And we'll round up by looking at how you can evaluate which method or methods are right for you, and for you yogis, to make your efforts as efficient and useful as possible.
So let's start in a sensible place, why would you want to stay in touch with your yogis, with your customers? If at this point, you're thinking 'I don't actually have any customers, check out 'Finding your yogis' podcast, which is episode number 5.
So, why is it beneficial to stay in touch with your customers:
To encourage your existing customers to be loyal to you
To get more customers
To let customers know about all of the things that you offer - now and in the future
To ensure that the ways that you're sharing your yoga are the best ways for your yogis - check out episode 6 for inspiration about the different ways you can share your yoga
To know what your customers want and need from you, which can help inform any future trainings that you might be thinking of doing
To know whether to start a class in the next town, or should you focus your efforts online, or should you put your energy in to one-off workshops?
To show off your knowledge
To keep you accountable to deepening your knowledge of yoga
To help you earn more income if you stumble on hard times
Ok. Now we're all agreed on that, let's look at the ways you can stay in touch with your customers
social media
email, enewsletters and personal emails to one person
phone and text message
whatsapp
direct messages e.g. facebook and twitter
face to face! Including face to face and online classes, and things like socials; going for coffee
Let's have a look at the different methods here, what to say and what to bear in mind with each.
Social media
Social media is a bit of a minefield. First of all, we seem to have started to equate visibility with success. Just think about that. Associating somebody's visibility with how successful you think they are. Wow. Especially when you then think about what yoga actually is. Not asana; yoga.
Yoga is about going inwards!
Yoga is the science of the mind!
Yoga is not about going outwards, and social media is 100% outward focused. So please bear this in mind when thinking about your social media, your presence and who you follow.
Right anyway, social media. As you know there are many social media platforms, each with their own demographics. So first of all, have a think about your yogis, your customers, and then compare that with the demographics of the different platforms, and that's a great place to start determining WHICH platforms to use. Because you can't use them all. Well you could, but there wouldn't be a right lot of time for anything else.
The level of work needed
Social media is a bit of a fish tank type scenario - it will swell to eat up as much time as you give it. Podcast episode 10 was all about efficient use of social media, so if you're thinking you don't have the time, or you're worried about starting and maintaining social media accounts because you're thinking it'll eat up the spare time you have, that episode is going to be a really useful resource for you.
Email newsletters
An email service provider, an ESP, is something that you need for sending out enewsletters. It's basically a place that collects and stores email addresses, and send emails to those email addresses. You can use your ESP to design and send your emails.
Many ESPs allow you to categorise people, so you might have a category like 'interested in retreat', another 'attended stress management course in 2020' etc; this is useful so you're not sending out emails saying 'come join my course' to people who've already done that course.
We used to use mailchimp, but somehow it seemed to get very expensive, very quickly. We now use Convertkit, I'll put our affiliate link in the show notes if you fancy giving it a try. I think it works great, once you're used to it. They do have a free trial, and plenty of help videos, but the thing I like the most is they have an instant chat for assistance, so if you get stuck or have a question, someone help yous you out straight away, which is so valuable to me. But probably because i'm terrible with technology!
You must be aware of GDPR - check the Information Commissioner's Office for up to date legalities and guidance.
It's worth me mentioning here that a few weeks ago facebook and instagram went down for hours and hours. As with any software, there was a chance that they could have been broken forever, or when they came back online that everyone would have lost their followers etc. It is so xo so worth building an email list so that you can still contact your yogis if social media changes, or disappears!
So. What to say.
What to put in your emails is probably one of the things that I'm asked the most!
First of all, you need to give yourself a bit of a confidence boost. People have signed up to your email newsletter BECAUSE hey want to hear from you, so talk to them!
Here's some quick fire ideas:
Show off your knowledge! Feel like your yogis would really benefit from understanding the basic mechanics of the shoulder and how that feeds into plan and Chaturanga alignment? Tell them!
Have you yogis been telling you they're just not getting any downtime at the moment? Create 5 top tips for winding down after work!
Have you got some events coming up that you're putting on in response to people asking for them? Tell them!
actually ask your yogis what they want to know from you
go to your social media, and see which posts have had the highest engagement, put that content in to an email
In short - stop overthinking it, remember that done is almost always better than perfect.
The level of work needed
This really depends on your writing ability and passion. If you hate sitting at a notepad or computer and being forced to write something, try going out for a walk and speaking it in to your phone. You could just use a voice recorded app or a speech-to-text program, but it amazing how the cogs get turning when you're moving around and out in nature!
I would really recommend getting someone else to proof it, it's amazing how you miss even really obvious errors when you've been staring at something a while!
And lastly, I think the initial learning curve for an ESP can be intense, but after a while, it becomes really easy to create an email, or re-use a template, write in what you want, send a test for proofing and then send out to your list.
Personal emails to one person
It's easy to think ahhhh I don't have much of an audience / many social media followers / many / any people on my email list... But you do have emails from people where they've asked a question. When you reply, think about how you can expand on that even more. If someone emails to say they've never done yoga before, ifs this class suitable for them? Reply with a yes / no and let them know about your class pass deals, or a workshop you've got coming up, or ask if they want to buy a mat.
Be friendly, use their name. Simples.
Phone and text message
You need to think about GDPR guidance when storing phone numbers. but some people will naturally call up to ask their question rather than email. Make suer your voicemail greeting is relevant.
It is possible to do bulk text messages out, about offers you have on and upcoming workshops, just make sure you have all the relevant permissions!
Although whatsapp is now part of the big machine, sigh, it can be very useful. Whatsapp has a specific business app, which might be worth you using.
Usually on smartphones you can add keyboard shortcuts, so if you're finding that people are always whatsapp-ing you to ask if they need to bring their own mat, you could create a shortcut for the reply, saves so much time!
Just double check how your name appears, and maybe put your logo as the profile image
Direct messages
Again you can set up shortcuts and auto replies for direct messages on facebook and instagram. they are both a lovely way to engage with, and get to know your customers, so priorities non-auto replies, if you can.
Face to face!
Like I said at the beginning of the class, most yoga teachers will see their yogis, their customers, face to face (even if that's online) regularly. Talk to them! Remember their names! If they say they're stressed today, they had an interview, next week, ask them if they heard anything! From experience, the majority of people who come to yoga are really nice, they want to get to know you, and they have interesting lives that you can get to know about. The more you know them, the more you can help them. If they've taken on an extra project and are struggling to get to sleep with the stress, add some extra stress relief in to your classes.
Honestly, this opportunity to get to know your yogis, your customers, their needs, wants, desires, problems, is something many businesses pay bazillions of pounds for in market research.
You're a yoga teacher because you care. Take that care and tenacity and make it part of your business and party of your offerings.
Plus one you have people in front of you, you can let them know about things you've got coming up or new classes you might be putting on, etc.
To recap, we have
social media - listen, or listen again, to episode 10 for efficient social media use
enewsletters - taking time to boost your confidence, and then telling your yogis about your knowledge and your offerings
Emails to one person, be friendly, use their name, be helpful and put some extra info in the email too
Phone calls and text messages, if your yogis are likely to respond well to texts, consider investing in bulk sending out software, and be careful about the legalities around storing phone numbers
Whatsapp - consider business whatsapp and check your name and profile picture
direct messages on social media, great way to engage but can be time consuming
face to face - an incredible opportunity to get to know your customers and to tell them about what you have on
So go back to your yogis' demographics, have a think about the time that you have available and choose the communication methods that best fit with those requirements.
And, as always, happy teaching.