How To Teach Popular Classes

This week's episode examines what makes a Pilates class popular, from the environmental factors we can't control to the personal factors we can control. Beyond meeting the minimum expectations of being a capable and competent Pilates instructor, I explore the secret sauce making the best impression, motivating our clients, and building a community. Tune in! 

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Transcript

[00:00:06] Hello. Hello everybody. Welcome and welcome back to Pilates Teacher's Manual, your guide to Becoming a Great Pilates teacher. I'm Olivia. You'll get the latest updates if you join my community at buymeacoffee.com/OliviaPodcasts or follow along on Instagram at @PilatesTeachersManual. Pilates Teachers' Manual: The Book is available now. You can purchase it and other podcast merch at shop.OliviaBioni.com. You can also purchase my book on Amazon in the Kindle format, but it is more expensive to account for the large cut that Amazon takes, but there is an easy workaround to that. You can convert any file, including my book in either UB or PDF format, to a Kindle friendly file by going to amazon.com/sendtokindle. Save your wallet and get the same awesome book [00:01:00] that you can read on your Kindle. The EPUB format will maintain the most e-reader friendly, uh, specifications, but you can also do it with the PDF, but you'll have to like zoom in to read it and stuff like that. 

[00:01:15] Today's episode is all about teaching popular Pilates classes. So first of all, what does popular mean in this context? I'm talking about teaching group classes in a studio, but some of the things I referenced will have applications that go beyond the studio environment.

[00:01:34] Lots of things go into making a class popular, and it isn't always fair, and it isn't always things that you can control as a teacher. So some factors are environmental, like the studio's location, their pricing, the brand, the time of your class, the type of your class. Some factors are personal, like the connections clients build with you, the way clients feel in your class, and the impression that [00:02:00] clients have of you.

[00:02:01] So zooming out first. Before a person ever takes your class, they first have to get to the studio. One of the first things that potential attendees consider is maybe the studio's brand. So something like Club Pilates, which has studio locations all across the country, could be something that they recognize, that they're familiar with. Maybe they've enjoyed taking a class there and they wanna take a class there again, but maybe they had a not so great experience and they're gonna avoid the brand for that reason. They may look at reviews on Yelp or Google to inform their decision, and that is something that we can't always control as the instructor in a given class.

[00:02:41] The studio's location and accessibility are also playing a big role here. Is the studio close to the person? Is it easy to get to? Is it near bus or train stops for people who don't drive? If they do drive, is there parking available? Do you have to pay to park? Some [00:03:00] neighborhoods also have reputations as being cool or young, or safe or unsafe, and the reputation of the neighborhood that your studio's in can encourage or discourage people from trying a class there. The price point for classes will also make classes inaccessible to some people or more accessible to others. 

[00:03:18] The time of your class, which a lot of times you don't have a ton of say in when you are teaching it for a studio, but the time of your classes will also impact the class's popularity. I've shared before that evenings and weekends tend to be the most popular times for classes, and those classes tend to be full regardless of who is teaching them and how skilled they are as an instructor. Because in areas where studio clientele primarily works a nine to five job, Monday through Friday, classes outside of those working hours are just gonna be more popular. That's when people can take class. 

[00:03:54] But in other areas, such as places where a lot of people have a stay at home parents, [00:04:00] at school times will be times where the parent will be able to take class, or if the clients work from home, um, they may be more flexible when they can take class. Or if you have a large retiree population where your studio is, those people might be able to take a class at two in the afternoon, at 11 in the morning at, you know, three, something like that. All of that will contribute to the popularity of the classes because those are the people who are signing up for classes and when they can take class will impact your bottom line as a teacher. 

[00:04:32] The type of class you're teaching matters to where I did my Pilates training, for example, there was a big retiree population at the studio, so a very gentle Pilates mat class was one of the most popular classes. It was full every week. There was always a wait list. That same class, which was perfect for that studio location, um, may not do as well in an area that's younger or has more active clientele looking for more of a physical [00:05:00] challenge. 

[00:05:00] Why do I bring all this up? A lot of times we put a lot on ourselves as Pilates teachers, we make ourselves responsible for things that we can't control. So it's not just about you. It's not just about teaching the best class you can or being the best Pilates teacher that you can be. Sometimes the factors are environmental and changing your environment will change the popularity of your classes.

[00:05:26] That's big picture stuff. Let's zoom in a little bit more. Now you've got people who are signing up for classes at your studio. How do you make your classes popular? Popular classes appeal to a wide range of people. Lots of different people want to take that class, and if someone who usually takes that class can't take that class, there's another person who's ready to slide in and take that spot. How can you make your classes appeal to the widest range of people? [00:06:00] In my experience, those classes that have that broad appeal are ones that everyone who's in the class feels successful, they feel good about themselves, and they feel seen by the instructor. I think those three things are kind of the magic secret sauce that you can really employ to help your classes be popular.

[00:06:21] There's a saying that there's a lid for every pot, suggesting that there's a teacher for every student, you know, and some lids won't be a good fit and some lids will. So it's fine if not everyone loves your class, and I, I agree with that. Like I do believe that that's true. But there's also lids that fit a lot of pots and when fitting lots of pots impacts your bottom line, especially if you're paid by attendance or you're looking to add classes and you're trying to demonstrate that your classes are doing well at the studio.

[00:06:51] Let's talk about what moves the needle and helps you have that broader appeal to the majority of people who are taking class at your [00:07:00] studio. Yes, I wanna talk about what brings people in, but I also just wanna really quickly address what might be pushing people away from your classes. I'm talking about like your skills as an employee at the studio and your teaching skills. So things like, are you professional? Are you on time for your classes? Do you start and end your class on time? Do you have some solid Pilates knowledge of modifications, progressions, exercises? Do you program your classes well? That is the bare minimum that people expect when they go to a Pilates class, that you're gonna be there and you're gonna teach them Pilates, right?

[00:07:38] That's a baseline expectation, and not meeting that baseline expectation will push people away from your classes. As teachers, we need to make sure that we have that foundational skillset before we try to go above and beyond it. So if you're listening to that and you're like, Ooh, sometimes I'm late to my class, or I get a bunch of subs for my classes, like that break up in [00:08:00] consistency, that could be what's holding you back from having that popular class. So you really wanna work on that. Make sure you have that first, and then we can go above and beyond.

[00:08:10] Once you've developed those baseline skills, you're a solid instructor. You're a solid employee. Well, let's think about what goes above and beyond that. Clients really like coming to classes that make them feel good, that motivate them. So what kind of teacher makes a lot of people feel good? When you think about other instructors you know, maybe yourself, maybe the instructors you see on group fitness apps, things like that. Why are so many group fitness instructors bubbly and energetic and super positive? 

[00:08:43] It is possible that people who are naturally energetic and positive and bubbly are drawn to group fitness, but I also think we see them so much in this space because they've made it, like they're still there. They're able to make a living teaching [00:09:00] Pilates or teaching group fitness in the way that they do, and they're successful, like they stick around. Being positive and being energetic are qualities that many people enjoy in their fitness teachers. Being a positive and encouraging teacher, someone who lifts the students in their classes up is going to make students want to take class with that person. You know, I've had numerous clients tell me that they wish they could bottle up my energy or that I'm the highlight of their day. And I don't say that to brag, just that a lot of people enjoy spending time with someone who's more upbeat and more positive.

[00:09:39] In addition to that kind of personality or that kind of, you know, way of carrying yourself. Clients also like to feel successful. No one wants to do something and feel like they're bad at it, like does not, doesn't feel good. As teachers, we can program our classes in a way that everyone wins. Everyone gets to work on [00:10:00] something. Everyone gets to feel successful. We want to teach in a way that empowers our clients and the people in our classes to make choices for themselves that feel right in their bodies, that encourage them to grow without any judgment, without any belittling, um, that builds them up instead of tears them down.

[00:10:21] Like it is so important as teachers to encourage our clients to celebrate them and their successes because Pilates is a journey. Perfection, in my opinion, is not the goal of Pilates. I don't care if my clients do an exercise perfectly. I think that progress is what we're really looking for. Trying to do 1% better than the last time you do the exercise is the goal for me. And feeling that you're doing better even for yourself is like highly motivating. Complimenting clients on their progress, recognizing their progress, building them up, both in terms of like [00:11:00] building an exercise up from something that's simpler and more easily accomplished to something that's a little bit more complicated, a little bit more challenging, and creating a space where they don't have to do it perfectly, but the fact that they're trying, like all of those things go towards helping clients feel successful in class and then wanting to come back because of the endorphin rush. It feels good when you do well. 

[00:11:25] I also do wanna bring up this aspirational quality that people in class look up to the teacher as what Pilates could do for them. Your appearance as an instructor should demonstrate that Pilates has done wonderful things in your life. There is a visual aspect to this and teaching fitness does have, you know, this idea like in all aspects of life that people are judging us based on our appearance. They're making assumptions based on our appearance. 

[00:11:57] But we can show clients, regardless [00:12:00] of what we look like necessarily, but we can show our clients how Pilates has improved our lives and why we became teachers so that we can encourage people to use Pilates to improve their lives in all of the ways that that's possible. We can highlight how much stronger Pilates has helped us become, how much more flexible or more coordinated, or any wins that we have because of the Pilates that we do. Like, we wanna be able to share that with our clients and ideally make that visible to our clients. 

[00:12:29] In addition to that, we also wanna create a space where our clients feel seen and safe. We can make an effort to have these individual interactions and moments of connection before, during, and after our classes. Remembering our clients' names, which I know, when you teach groups like, it's a lot of people, but really making an effort to know people's names, ask about their kids and their hobbies and their work and what's going on in their life. If someone's been on a trip, ask them about it when they get back. If you [00:13:00] haven't seen someone in a few weeks, check in with them, see how they're doing, tell them that you're excited that they're back in class. You know, cheer for them when they have those wins and all of those little interactions, all of those little moments of connection really build community and let you have a deeper relationship with the people in your classes, which makes them not wanna miss your class, right?

[00:13:24] When you implement these things, these moments of connection, these building people up, these highlighting the positive, you know, maybe being a more upbeat version of yourself, like teaching popular classes means that you've succeeded in convincing a lot of clients that they should come back to Pilates, right? Your class is popular, not because a lot of people came one time, but a lot of people come a lot of the time. More people doing Pilates, like they're continuing their practice and more people doing that and exercising and taking control of their health and doing things that are good for them [00:14:00] is great.

[00:14:00] That is the actual biggest win. Your goal, regardless of the bottom line, and if you get paid per head or based on attendance, things like that, like of course you want full classes because you'll make more money, but even beyond that, full classes means that more people are doing Pilates more frequently, which is good for them and for you.

[00:14:19] Once your classes attain a certain level of popularity in your studio, it's a lot easier to become more popular from there. Popularity tends to snowball, and most people want what other people want, which is why things go viral, which is why things are trending. People will want to be in your class because they see that other people want to be in your class.

[00:14:41] It doesn't happen overnight. It can take a lot of consistency and really consistent effort on your part to do that. And you can do that by developing your baseline skills. Make sure that you're meeting the minimum requirements for teaching your class first, and then starting to go [00:15:00] above and beyond.

[00:15:00] Creating classes that help clients feel good by setting the bar low in exercises, letting them succeed before you offer more challenges, celebrating their successes, cheering for them, helping them feel successful, helping them feel seen, all of those things will advance your career as a Pilates teacher. You can leverage that popularity to get more classes or, you know, add on other things. Popularity is one of those things that can be a win-win that's good for you. It's actually a win win-win because it's good for you, which is good for the studio, and again, more people doing Pilates is always the biggest victory. 

[00:15:39] Huge thank you to all my supporters on Buy Me A Coffee. I'm looking forward to this month's coffee chat 'cause it's already May. Here we go. Biggest shout out to our newest supporter. Annika, thanks so much for joining the project. I can't wait to meet you and chat. I hope everyone has a great couple weeks. [00:16:00] The adventure continues. Until next time.