Switching Software - What You Need To Know with Jan Taylor

Maybe it's a little bit outdated , cumbersome to use , maybe lacking some features you wish you had , or maybe it simply doesn't align with the way that you want to grow your studio business . That's when you know it's time for a change .

But change can be daunting , right , especially when you think about migrating all the data , retaining your staff , ensuring a smooth transition for your clients . There is some good news that change also brings opportunity the opportunity to streamline your operations , offer a better client experience and , yes , even boost your revenue .

And I'm here to share with you all of the insights you need to make an informed decision . So grab your notebook and get settled in and listen to me chat with my guest , jan from GetLivelyNow . We're going to be diving into the topic of making that big switch and changing from one studio management software to another . Well , hi there , I'm Sarah in Glenfield .

I'm a business and marketing strategist just for boutique fitness studio owners like you . If you're ready to be inspired and make a bigger impact , you're in the right place . All you need are a few key strategies , the right mindset and some support along the way .

Join me as I share the real life insights that will help you grow a sustainable and profitable studio . This is the Pilates Business Podcast . Welcome back to the Pilates Business Podcast . I'm Sarah . Thank you so much for joining me here again today .

Now I'm here with a wonderful human being who I'm so excited to have on the show , because Jan is someone who came into my program . She came through my marketing intensive program and then through my Thrive program . She always showed up with fantastic energy , fantastic insights .

I'm so thrilled that she's come on the show today to talk to us about the big topic of moving from one studio management software to the next . Welcome , jan .

Because I think it's kind of it's shifted right , like all of our businesses have ?

I worked in higher education for well over a decade doing that type of work , and there was something that was always calling to me in the fitness world and I was training for a half marathon and I was having some struggles with that . I went to a sports nutritionist and she said you're overtraining , I want you to start doing Pilates .

And I had never done Pilates . I had been a kettlebell person and a gym person and I took my first class and I want to say it was three weeks later . I signed up for the teacher training program , never with the intention of teaching . I wanted to learn more again . I had a wonderful career .

I learned 500 hours in the Pilates program later and then decided well , let's get my personal training license , because that'll be fun , because that's fun , right , the Sears catalog shows up in the mail and you teach yourself anatomy at night . It's not fun , but I did that .

And then I decided to go into health coaching school , and so this was the several year long process where I was learning all of these things and doing all of these things while continuing to do my job . And one night my husband looked at me and said so what are you doing with all of this ? And the idea ? I used to talk about it as a pipe train ?

Well , maybe someday I'll have a studio . Maybe someday I'll do that . Well , long story short , I eventually decided to start a home-based business . So I'm in the Metro Boston area . We finished the basement in our home , made it a fitness studio and get lively was born . So I was doing primarily personal training .

I had a Pilates chair , I had a mat , I had a Pilates ball , some bands , and I was on my way . Very slow start , as I was transitioning into an industry where I , frankly , had no experience . I worked for just over five years out of the home , building the business . I eventually added some small group classes .

I then started renting out spaces by the hour other studios , dabbling in what that might feel like , and then the stars aligned so that I was offered a sub lease on a fantastic space here in town and moved in on March 1st of 2020 . And that was my big start , and I'll never forget the first class .

One of my clients walked in and said so are you worried about this coronavirus thing and I said , oh , that flu . No , what are you talking about ? Of course , 10 days later we were shut down for four and a half months , but it's you know . So we did that , managed to work our way through it .

I mean , I'm laughing now , but all of you who are listening you've been through this know it was a slog .

It was a tough three years and we just kept climbing and building and I offer small group training in both Pilates and HIT and TRX and strength training and we were in that space for three years until the dance company that we were sub leasing from unfortunately became another COVID casualty and they had to close , and so we moved into .

We were lucky enough to find a new space here in town and we moved in on April 1st , and one of the big shifts that's happened in our business since moving into that space is we have become much more of a community destination , as I like to say , beyond coming and getting great workout and smiling along with your friends , we're starting to host birthday parties

. People are saying can I have my birthday here and can I have the eighth grade class fundraiser here , and so we're starting to do lots of things like that we're . Also we've got a lot of our clients who are starting to dabble in their own side businesses . So we had a Chikouterie workshop this summer .

One of the girls came in and we made Chikouterie cups . We've got another one coming up in a month where we're doing a fashion pop up . So our studio has become a place where it's a place you go to get lively in a variety of different ways and for so many that is showing up and sweating and smiling and getting your workout in .

But also we're becoming a lot more than that it's a place where you celebrate and network the events of your life .

It's so fascinating because I think that the more we lean into as a business owner , the more that we lean into the things that light you up , the more joy that you get from your business , for sure , but also the more you find the people that you are most destined to work with and come into your world , into your community , and so it's so wonderful that you

are leaning into that more and more because it's just , it is going to serve you absolutely , absolutely .

So now , like so many studio owners right now , you grew up with like we all did , grew up with a particular software that was the go-to for many , many years , and over the course of probably the last five or six years , we've seen a lot of other options come along with when it comes to what we used to call a booking system , but now what we call a studio

management software , because it's not just a booking system anymore , it is now so much more than that .

There are so many more things to consider right when you are deciding what software to use in your business , and one of the things that Jan and I had talked about for those of you listening is how is what we talk about it actually every single week with my studio owners about software and which software is the right software and how to choose a software , and

I've got a slew of resources on my website to dive into that . So if you're looking for that , I will link to it in the show notes . But when it comes to software , there is a lot to consider and there's also a lot of options , right ?

And so tell me , to begin with , perhaps what you found , perhaps were , was sort of prompted the decision to look at other options other than talking about it . So I'm trying to .

And I was I wouldn't say I was satisfied with that software that I grew up with , but I couldn't wrap my brain around the idea of making the change . And it wasn't until several demos that we had in Thrive and several conversations that we had amongst the group that I started to realize oh wait , a second , I'm settling here and there's a .

I mean I coach people on this . All the time I hear clients say , well , I can't work out in the morning or I can't do this , so I'm just gonna deal with the situation . Well , that's kind of how I was with my software .

I had a mental block to it because I couldn't get over the mental hurdle of it's going to be so hard to make the change and I coach people on change . So I said , Jim , why don't we do a little practicing what you preach here and really what you this description you made of ?

We had booking software and now we have studio management software , and that really is the transition that I have felt . And so , as I went through several of the demos that you had provided . In our group , I then booked several on my own one-on-one .

I was seeing that and I was seeing how we could leverage technology in a way that I was not able to in the software that I was using , and so it started to open to my eyes to the possibility of how I could engage with my clients in a different way .

The ease of doing the types of things that our studio is now doing All of these events and things that I'm talking about . That was fairly challenging in the older platform , in the other platform and in trying to send links out and then people prompted to create accounts and all of these things .

I will say that that is one of the bigger differentiators between some of the older platforms and some of these newer players in the space is that clients can register for something without having to create an account or download an app for that matter , and so that makes things .

It eliminates that speed bump where you have someone's attention and they're looking at something you give them and then , all of a sudden , their phone is challenging them because the link won't open or it's prompting them to create an account or whatever , and then they're just onto the next thing .

So that was something that I was really looking for and what I will say some of the newer players are really doing quite well .

But when we think about , perhaps more about if we kind of take away the software , if you take the software off the table , and we say how do we want to build our business , ignoring whether that fits with the software , and say what do we want to do in our business ? What do you want the clients to do ? What do you want to sell ?

How do you want to sell it ? When do you want to sell it ? What do you want the customer journey to look like ?

Right , then what I find is that you become not just a better business person , because you're thinking about your business from a different perspective , but you're no longer this cookie cutter situation and you're no longer comparable to anyone else down the street , because it's not just like a price 10 pack versus 10 pack price point . That's different , right .

You're now perhaps able to offer a very different , a different type of way that you work with your clients because you now have a different way of selling it and different way to price it .

And so , when some of the other I think all of the software platforms have upped their game in so many ways over the last sort of five or six years , but I think what it has allowed us to do is to really tap into a lot of opportunity that we would never have been able studio owners would never have been able to tap into before and really lean into their

own using and their expertise and their knowledge to create experiences for their clients that would not otherwise have been possible .

Oh my goodness , our new software does this is we do a Planksgiving challenge , which a lot of studios do , and I've always done it in a private Facebook group and I'm sure other studio owners can relate to this but no one's on Facebook anymore and certainly no one's in groups , and even if they are , they can't find things .

So it's really it's just not as much of a place that worked for that type of thing . And so this morning I realized oh my gosh , this is in the software where I can just post the Planks every day , and what a way to get people to get involved . And now it's the studio connected right in our app .

If not , you need this , you need that , you need to go to Facebook . Nope , it's all right there in our software . So things like that that we're still discovering even just about six weeks in , it's really great .

And what we're talking about the difference , like you said , between a booking system and a studio management software is the studio management software Will also do emails , will also do email automations based on client behavior , based on what activities your clients are taking . They will also show you data in a way that is meaningful and useful .

Also , have campaigns set up in a way that guides clients forward , will show you Perhaps people who have not visited in a while that you might want to follow up with they are . You know there's a lot to .

You know all of the platforms truly offer all of this and and you know it's about , you know if you , if this is something that you will have yet to tap into . You know it's really , I think , important to consider how that might fit the business you know . So Tell me a little bit about what it looked like for you .

So you were in thrive we , obviously , we , we talk a lot about it in there . I have some of the experts come in to thrive to the from the each software and talk through and give a demo and you get to Ask questions and then you went to set up those conversations separately as well to talk through some specifics .

There were two things that I was really looking for , which I'll mention , but I also was very open to the idea that I Recognized this is operating in a space completely differently than the way we had done it and in the way the some of the more Generational , let's say Booking softwares were developed .

So for me , the two things that I was really looking for was a very easy way for people to come to community events and For free events , for ways for parents to bring their kids to events without having to create an account for them . So I was looking at things that were really simple in terms of like free , community driven events . That was number one .

The second thing was the automations I was looking to . I was doing everything manually at so many people are you have your two-week intro offer , you're texting from your phone , you're , if you remember , you're sending an email that you cut and paste from a cent item from the last intro offer .

I'm sure many of you are more organized than that , but I think many of you are doing it exactly like that and I knew I was losing people in the process , and so I was eager to have that automated .

I was also eager to Get to a place where I wasn't selling 10 packs and then they languished for three months , that we're getting people in again and Not reliant on me texting them and doing all of that manual communication .

So the automations and the Flexibility to do classes and programs and really easy registrations those were the two big things I was looking for . Now , some of the surprises that I have been very Excited to experience . The reporting yes , I just Absolutely love what I can see . It is so easy to find information .

I love how easy it is for me to change things around and use the system . I have a background way back comm . I started in content management and so I know this stuff 20 odd years ago . But still I understand how these things work and I will say I could never find anything on my old platform , so there was a lot of stuff that I just didn't do .

So I've really appreciated the ease at the interface .

How long did it take ? What ? What did you do ? What did you wish you'd done ?

I have people that are very tech savvy , a little small pocket , and then some who are , like myself , not always so savvy at times . So I was concerned about the transition , I was concerned about the movement of the data , and I will say it went more smoothly than planned .

We worked together for about two weeks to prep for the transition , to set my classes and everything up into the new system . I will say and I strongly suggest that all studio owners consider this I took the opportunity to raise my prices and again , that's thanks to you and the work that we do and thrive .

You're always encouraging us to look at that and so I did raise my prices as part of it , and so it was about two weeks to work on all of that . All the while I was a broken record in the studio . There were signs everywhere , all of us where it's coming , it's coming , it's coming , it's coming , and then we had our transition .

So we did do a soft launch , which I know some Places recommend or some organizations recommend doing so . We had a go live date with one , but then we had still five days in our old system To give people that time to transition over In a .

You know , in hindsight I think I probably would have just flipped the switch on one day , and so people have asked me but then what happens ? How do they know to go there ? I said , well , they go to your old software and there's nothing there . And they call you .

So I think in hindsight I would have done that differently , what I definitely would have done differently and I did not anticipate this piece of it . I , from a business owner standpoint , the new softwares are 100 percent mobile optimized , so there's not a staff app like some other platforms have had . Everything's just mobilized .

For me , it's amazing I've talked to other studio owners about this like we don't have to take our laptops with us when we go away for a weekend anymore because we actually can do everything on our phone , which is amazing . For our trainers , that has been a bit of a transition because it's not a truncated , just pure booking software staff app .

Had I been more in tune to that , I would have done more training on the front end . This is where your Thrive Group has been really beneficial as well , because I was able to get a lot of feedback on how other people have dealt with this and having a station inside the studio , an iPad , that's a little easier for them to navigate .

I would not lose sight of your trainers and your instructors that there is likely going to be a transition if you're moving from one of the older systems into one of the newer , because there's not a business app . I mean you can make an app on your phone , a shortcut , but it's not a shortened , truncated app .

I went in and I set my classes up . It really did not take me long . One of the things that , when you have your data transferred and this is another piece of advice that I would give people is you're going to create a data map of everything that you have in your current system and everything that is going to map .

To win the news , as I mentioned , I had a price increase on certain products . We had to map that . I had some products that were not going to carry over . There were some things that got lost in the shuffle . I found out by using the new system .

I wish I had QAID an example of every one of those products , just to make sure that we had really seamlessly gotten everything . I did hold on to my former platform for a period of time . A little clue there . I thought I had a 90-day termination on it . It was actually excuse me , I thought I had a 30-day and it turns out it was 90 days Again .

So many of us started these contracts five , six , seven , eight years ago . I had 90 days . I ended up with it . I still have it . But I would say , absolutely , hold on to 30 days , because it's been very helpful to peek back and forth when you've got a client who hasn't been in for a few weeks that says , hey , I had a pack , what happened ?

Well , I can look in the old system and say , well , actually it expired , but I'll give you an extra 30 days on that . So it's nice to be able to have that historical reference . I'd say 30 days is a good period of time for that .

I think one of the things that I'm very aware of , because I speak to all of these guys all the time for various different reasons but that they are very aware that most people who are moving from another platform perhaps are very used to that particular way of doing things .

So they want to make sure that you are using the new platform in the best way possible , in the optimal way , so they give you an onboarding support .

It's very helpful if you're onboarding specialist if they don't ask you in the beginning is to help them really understand how your studio works , because so many of us are doing all of this between clients and things . So I was being taught how to set up , how to select spin bikes or certain spots or reformers , and we don't have that . So it was .

There were some things that they were guiding me to do that weren't relevant to my business . So I would say how do your specialists , if they're not inquiring about it , help them understand ? This is how my studio works and this is like for my space .

We have 2,200 square feet of open space , so sometimes there's three personal trainers working at the same time , and so you can cross . You can have people booking appointments at the same time . The software allows you to do all of this , which is great , but if they don't understand that that's how your space works , they won't .

They view it as one location , so the more you can help your onboarding specialists understand the nature of your business , the better you're going to acclimate to the software , because you won't have to go through some of the things that aren't relevant to you .

I think that when you're in and this is an observation that I have for with having worked with your hundreds of studio owners across the board , but even mostly even within sort of that Pilates , bar , yoga , dance , cardio world , that even that there is everybody has a little bit of a different way of doing things , and so I would encourage , I would expect , to

get on the phone and expect to say this is what I do in my business , this is how big my classes are , this is how many classes I have , this is the other thing , this is the other revenue drivers I have in my business , and have them and share with them perhaps ideas or thoughts you've had about how you might want to change your pricing around that or

whatever that looks like , because then you're going to get the most out of that person . They have all the knowledge , but if they are making an assumption about your business , then they're not going to be able to give you specifics , which is so important .

We put a lot of expectation on it , and several people said to me Janie , you got to remember , no software is perfect .

There's always going to be things that aren't going to work exactly the way you want them to , but you want to go with the system that best fits , and so I think , keeping that in mind as well , and then working with your onboarding specialist to figure out this is what I'm trying to accomplish here how do we go about doing that and they're very helpful in

trying to make all of that happen .

It's just wonderful to be able to share that with all of our listeners so that they can take that away and take that with them . So , thank you , well , thank you .

I think we have our six year anniversary coming up next week and that's the GetLively with Jan show on Apple and wherever else you find podcasts .

Maybe speak the same language , you're in the same industry , you think they're going to do the same things , but things are a little bit different , so you might have one thing in one piece of software that is not in another , or you might have another thing in another software that is in the other .

You want to make sure that you are asking all the right questions as you go and perhaps explore what options are out there for you and , like I said , I have got an abundance of resources on the spring3.com website as well as on YouTube , as well as , if you listen back to some other episodes of the podcast , you can listen into some interviews with some of

the other software providers as well . But if you've got a specific question , by all means get in touch . I'll be happy to answer . Thank you so much for listening .

Did you love this episode and want more ? Head to spring3.com and check out my free resources . That will help you run a profitable and fulfilling studio business . And before you go , one last reminder there is no one way to do what you do , only your way . So whatever it is that you want to do , create or offer , you've got this .

Thanks again for joining me today and have a wonderful rest of your day .