M03.03 Your Place

Years ago, before I started to rev up BodyChance, I used to do a huge snail mail of our annual ATA booklet about all the visiting teachers we had lined up for the year. As our list grew, so did the cost of mailing out this 24 page A5 booklet. Then I got a bright idea – put it in a clear plastic self-sealing bag. It would both save me money and show us off, let people be proud of their association with ATA (Alexander Technique Associates as we were known in those days). Boy, did I make a huge mistake! Which turned out to be a gift in disguise… The complaints started coming in – very deep, angry people calling and writing back saying: "How dare you show everyone what I am receiving in the post." OMG. They really didn't want other people to know what they were doing?! Not a sign of a healthy business. Around this time, because of this and other related information, I started waking up to the big fear people had about us: "Is Alexander Technique a cult?" Hard as it was for me to accept it at that time, many people on our list wanted to hide their association with us! We are a cultish business, but then so is Yoga, Pilates and even fitness fanatics – it's a loose term these days, but in Japan – not long after the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo sarin attacks in Tokyo – people were wary of anything that gave off a whiff of cult. Alexander Technique certainly does that, but the more palatable term these days is "community." People are "religious" about Alexander Technique and that's a good thing, until it isn't.  So how do your students view your business? It is important for you to wake up to their perception. You find out by asking them. Try this experiment… Arrange a Introduction to Alexander Technique for the friends and family of your current students. Don't tell them electronically, tell them to their face – offer it as a gift, letting them know that they can bring their friends and/or loved ones to your session as a free guest. Now, watch their faces carefully at this very moment of communication. How do they react? Are they delighted, happy, grateful – asking when it is?; or do they look awkward – downcast their eyes and start to fidget? This will tell you more than anything else how they view your business. The former reaction is the one you want, the latter will tell you why you struggle to find new students. Teachers in private practise, the majority of you reading this, must be able to leverage current student relationships to find new students. A rich source of new students can come from these referrals, but you need to offer a total experience that generates their enthusiasm to share what they are doing with their loved ones and friends. During this month I will be suggesting simple ways that you can enhance your place: make it feel safer; make it more fun, gamify it if you have – do whatever you need to do to make them proud and talkative about what you do. This is what your place needs to be about. When I understood that some of our students were slightly ashamed of ATA - that they wanted to keep it secret - I was genuinely shocked. It was so far off my radar, I had no idea the problem even existed for them. I realised then I had one element of my business very wrong. After my rude awakening, I instigated our name change to BodyChance, one part of a slow but sure move to start "mainstreaming" our business in a way that created ease and comfort for people to be associated with us. Make Your Place a place that your students want to tell their friends about.