Being a dance teacher, coach or studio owner is no easy feat—especially right now.
But whether you’re calmly prepping for next season or frantically gluing rhinestones for a performance that’s now earlier than you expected, a personalized e-commerce tool like Just For Kix’s Dance Teacher Program could be the one catchall that makes your job a bit easier.
With incredible customer service, special prices on exclusive products, and the option to create an online storefront for your team, Just For Kix’s Dance Teacher Program provides coaches and studio owners with a simple way to generate income and make dancewear-buying more convenient for dance educators and parents alike.
Dance Teacher spoke with Cindy Clough, owner and director of Just For Kix, and Kelsey Vercruysse, head coach of the Minnetonka Performance Dance Team, to learn how teachers can maximize the Teacher Program’s stress-saving perks.
Special Pricing on Exclusive Products
The Teacher Program includes special promotions, confidential wholesale pricing and volume discounts on new products.
Courtesy Just For Kix
We all know teachers and studio owners shop way more frequently than the average dancewear consumer, which is why the Teacher Program includes special promotions, confidential wholesale pricing and volume discounts on new products. Plus, members can combine other coupons with their Teacher Program discount for an additional 10-70% off.
“There are so many costumes that aren’t in our catalog that nobody has seen,” says Clough. “They’re in this ‘Teachers Only’ area. So you can go in there and select them knowing that the parent has never seen the price, which is a great advantage.” Costumes are priced as low as $9.99, which teachers can mark up as they see fit.”
Your Own Team Store
The Move U team store allows Teacher Program members to set up an online storefront for parents to have exclusive access.
Courtesy Just For Kix
Just For Kix’s Move U store allows Teacher Program members to choose from hundreds of customizable dance essentials and set up an online storefront for parents to have exclusive access.
Move U includes everything “from sports bras and jackets to masks, hats and backpacks,” says Clough. “The beauty of it is that a teacher can set this up, and then she can go ‘Alright, parents, here’s your log-in, here’s what you have to purchase.’ Then, they purchase what they need with the prices she’s set. She doesn’t have to touch the money. She doesn’t have to do anything, but she makes the profit,” she adds.
Vercruysse gets her team poms made using her Move U store every year. “Everything in my closet that I’ve ordered from years past, I still wear. And I know my dancers do too, because they come into practice with their things from years ago,” she says.
Although Move U was created specifically with dance teams in mind, it’s something studios can take advantage of as well. Having all of your studio-approved products in one place not only saves parents the hassle of going from store to store for all of their dance essentials, it frees you up from having to answer questions about what they need to buy for each class, age group or performance. So now you can spend more time building relationships with dance parents and less time debating the right shade of tights for ballet class.
“You can say, ‘Here are your tights for class, for competition. Here are your shoes for tap, for ballet.’ And you can put whatever you want in there,” says Clough. “If you’re a school team and you travel a lot, you could have a garment bag or a backpack. If you’re a studio team, you could have their practice leotard, tights and recital outfit.”
In-stock items ship the next business day, and they even provide members with 10 percent back on a Visa gift card for their store sales. “We’ve had teams order $12,000 worth of stuff. So, when you get your 10 percent back, that’s kind of a nice kickback for that coach,” says Clough.
Game-Changing Customer Service
“I run a Facebook page for about 9,000 different coaches and studio owners, and the biggest complaint you hear on there is ‘I called (insert company here) and they never answer me back! I’m just wondering where my costumes are!'” says Clough. “The cool thing about Just For Kix and Move U is that you can talk to a person and they will help you. And we’ll call people back!” she says.
“This year has been very strange,” says Vercruysse. “We had two weeks to get our fall team in order. I contacted Just For Kix and said ‘How fast can you make masks?’ And they were at my doorstep within two weeks.”
Endless Possibilities
Just For Kix resident costume consultant Stacie meets virtually with Teacher Program members to answer any questions and give costume suggestions.
Courtesy Just For Kix
The longer you’ve been a dance teacher, the more you understand the challenge of picking a fresh recital theme each year that your dancers will be excited about. If you’re ever stumped on ideas for an upcoming show, Just For Kix has been known to help out, offering potential themes, music and costume suggestions. And custom T-shirts for themed shows and holiday recitals aren’t off-limits either.
“I have an idea, and I ask,” says Vercruysse. “Even if Just For Kix doesn’t have it right away, they’ve always gone above and beyond to figure it out for me.”
