Just4tap Blog

Costume Management

As it gets closer to June and all the students are finally measured, there is a major urgency to get costumes ordered, into the studio, checked, double-checked and distributed. Some personal suggestions

• Outstanding balance MUST be paid in full to get your costume
• You have two weeks from the arrival of the costume to pay or it is returned AND you are still held accountable for the balance as well as any additional fee(s) charged to the studio by the costume company
• be sure to record the student or parent’ s initials for picking up the costume, as well as, the initials of the Staff  or Faculty or staff member who hands that costume out.
• No costume. No show. No Exceptions.

These may sound harsh but, if you make people well aware of these policies and stay true to your rules and regulations, you will get more respect from your clients. You will also eliminate many problems. I always say eliminate each year eliminate one or two problems and the following year your get it back 10 fold in new students. You want to make sure you run your studio and not the parents of your students. Of course you need to listen, be considerate and treat people fair, but a dance studio is still a business. It takes time to develop the proper client base. Great example. I always say I can divide studios, in certain scenarios, into three categories. The ‘educational facility’,  ‘recreational classes’ or the ‘baby-sitting service’.

So where does that leave us; Back to the questions that started it all – Costumes. The main reason I bring this up is due to a conversation I had with a studio owner this week. It turns out they are using a service called Costume Manager.  This service started in, of all places, the Silicon Valley, the same place I started Just4tap, Danceregister, Dancerhost and more. Costume Manager was present at the Dance Studio Life Summer Conference. Bethany and I attended the DSL event the summer of 2009 to present Danceregister and Dancerhost to hundreds of  Teachers & Studio Owners. I found it interesting that I heard the same two comments, from two different people, with two totally different perspectives on the same matters. Although I did hear from many people about there experiences, feelings and thoughts on Costume Manager, the two item I address where the hot topics. Though I don’t personally use the service I have browsed the site and I feel mentioning both sides of what I have learned would be valuable to any teacher or studio owner.

Issues at Hand

• Limited amount of costume companies, therefore you are limited to the choices your have

Both people expressed frustration with this and many others mentioned the problem. I noticed this when I personally searched for a costume I needed. Yes, it is limited but if the site has time to grow, is aggressive with the expansion of companies they are affiliated with and makes the search more appealing, it could be a solid place to begin migrating to in the next 2 to 4 years. If you don’t mind using both Costume Manager and Old Skool Costume books, you may even find it helpful for some generic, last minute costumes for this June.

• NO contact with the Costume Companies, Plus the addition of a middle-man

The overwhelming majority of teachers and studio owners who are not utilizing Costume Manager told me their number one issue was loosing the personal relationship they have with many costume companies. Who helped them when a costume needed to be replaced, wrong size, back ordered, extra material and on won’t be there any more. Everything you do goes through a newly created middle-man. Many studios want to deal with less not more and the creation of a middle -man between the costume companies and themself wasn’t an option. On the other hand – That was the exact reason one studio owner did decide to use the service this season. Already overwhelmed with 4 kids from ages 2 to 18, she felt this would give her more time free from the studio. I guess it really depends on the individual.

Either way you go, I hope this information is helpful. See you on Danceregister and as always Tap w/u Soon.

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