It’s that time of year! The holidays! It’s exciting to think about spending time with family and celebrating Thanksgiving all the way through to the New Year. But as a business owner, you can’t forget about what keeps the lights on in your house. Kids signing up for classes, camps, workshops, etc. can’t stop during this six week period. That’s close to 10% of the year!

Here are some things to think about to keep your students excited about coming to classes.

Registration Incentive – Give priority to the families enrolled through December for the busy Spring season. You could even give a discount for these folks. This is huge for parents who want their kids to stay in classes at your studio. It also shows that your classes are popular which never hurts!

Deck The Halls – Decorate the studio with your staff, parents, children, and anyone else who wants to help! Play Holiday music and spend the time nurturing relationships with your gym family.

Giveaway – Create a prize to give away that is a collector’s item. This could be a t-shirt, warm-up jacket, water bottle, sticker, or anything else that your customers will love! Make sure you pick something that is new and shiny to create excitement around it. For example, don’t just give away the old stickers you have in the office and just need to get rid of.

Drop ‘Em & Shop –  Come up with fun themed events and mini clinics on a consistent schedule for parents to be able to leave their children at your business for shopping and make it interesting to the students so they talk about it with their friends. Include fun holiday music and props for the kids to play with.

Holiday Recital – Perform for the parents to get them excited for the holidays  and the big recital coming up in the Spring. This could be informal and more like a dance party if you want to keep it casual. Or you can do scenes from The Nutcracker and really show off your dancers’ skills!

Email – Marketing is important here. You’re doing cool stuff, so make sure you tell your customers about it! Showing them that you’re keeping them in the loop is important for them, whether they realize it or not. They may not sign up as soon as you send the email, but plant the seed! [Use Jackrabbit for this.]

Bring/Refer a Friend – Think about offering the registration at the price of 2 for 1 when they come with a friend. This will bring more people in the door and you can blow their socks off and have them sign up for another class.

Holiday Party – Host a family Holiday party where folks dress up and come have a social event with other parents and students at the studio. Maybe have a dance competition or something silly to keep everybody entertained! Charge a fee for them to get in the door and tell them about the new things coming up for 2016.

Make information accessible- Even though your studio may be closed for the holidays, customers continue to seek information day and night. [From Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet]

• Website: Ensure that information on January enrollment, tuition, class schedules, start dates/times, dress code, etc. is readily available and easy for your customer to find. Provide clear information for the first day of class: start times, location, dress code, etc.

• Phone/voicemail: Be sure to let customers know that you are accepting enrollments and direct them to the place they can find information by way of your organization’s voicemail.

Get your word out at performances – Many times children and parents become interested in enrolling after experiencing a performance. Capitalize on this excitement by letting them know that you are accepting enrollments now by including an ad in your performance program and using visuals like posters at the performance venue.[From Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet]

What other ideas do you have for holiday enrollment?