Music Teaching Business Makeover
When I met Michigan Rock School owner, John Kozicki I was so impressed with him with his ability to express his vision for his music teaching business. I went to go check out his website and my first impression was not quite what I had expected.
Have you ever spoken to someone on the phone and you have this idea of what they’re going to look like and then you see a picture of them and it doesn’t quite match?
How You Communicate Your Uniqueness
John was communicating with me on such a high level, in terms of what his hopes were for students and his teaching studio yet his website didn’t send the same message. John recognized this disconnect and snapped into action.
In this episode I discuss with John Kozicki how he discovered he transformed his music teaching studios website and the impact it made on this studio.
Interview Takeaways
[The following are quotes from John Kozicki]
I kind of looked at it (my website) like, all right, well I created this website for my first music school so I’ve got this template. Keep in mind that was, in 2009 so 2014 rolls around and I’m thinking like, all right, well I’ve kind of done this before.
I sort of had this, this realization that what it looked like and what I was putting out there was not a representation of what the studio was about.
I just thought let me rework what I already have. Heavy copy was kind of more of a deal in 2009. People wanted to read about the programs, people wanted to read things on the websites. I just said like, well, I’ve got this template, let me apply it to this new music (teaching) studio. I’m not really thinking that well, things have changed drastically in what people want to see on a website and how they interact with a website.
I think I just had one of those Aha moments and I looked at it and I said, well, for one, there’s all this copy that people don’t want to read through anymore. It’s got all these old pictures, stuff that I had kind of recycled from, you know, previous music school.
It (my website) was just kind of scattered. The main thing that made me want to redesign the website was I sort of had this, this realization that what it looked like and what I was putting out there was not a representation of what the studio was about. So when I went to my web designer to talk about what I wanted to do for this new site, I essentially said this needs to look and feel like what people experience when they come to the studio.
Dave: I think that the biggest takeaway right there is that disconnect you had the culture and I could tell from talking with you on the phone I think you’re, you’re a great spokesperson for, for the studio and you’re able to really present it well. If the website does not reflect that culture, it’s, it’s, uh, it’s almost pointless. I had the exact opposite problem in my studio. Somebody once said to me like, wow, you know, your website looks really great, and when I step into your school, I expected it to be this just really colorful, energized place and it’s not, I’m like, Oh wow, okay. That’s a problem too.
What I’m doing at my studio is just an extension of who I am as a person. And, you know, I attract the instructors that I attract because of how we interact together. And the students have a good time because of like how we interact together. So I think it’s all related. It’s hard to put your finger on and it’s hard to describe these feelings, but at the end of the day, I think it all just has to be cohesive and feel right. And it all starts with, with the owner, your personality
Dave:I’m a really big fan of recording yourself on the phone doing sales calls, even if it’s just you and not the other end because it’s just like your website, your voice conveys a certain feeling and you can work on that.
I was interacting with the designer, we had been working on it for a couple of months and from his perspective he was like, wow, this, it looks like we’ve got all this content. It looks like we’re ready to go. And I’m sure he wanted to get that project off of his plate.
I had one of those moments where I thought, all right, well, it’s the Seth Godin thing, you know, it’s not about the amount of work that you put into it. It’s about the amount of work that you ship. So he, even though it wasn’t totally right on my end, I felt like, all right, well we’ve made huge strides. I think we can kind of put it out into the world. Even if it doesn’t seem totally right just yet.
That’s kinda how I feel when I go into the studio to record music. You get into the studio and you start working and there’s millions of things that you can tweak and this isn’t right and this isn’t right. And you know, if you fall into that cycle, you’re never going to finish it
Dave: People might love what you’ve put out and you might think twice about changing it. It was like, wow, I’m getting this great feedback. What’s the point of going in there and tweaking it.
How a New Website Can Change Your Music Teaching Business
Dave: How has this website impacted your teaching business?
It’s been positive for sure. Going back to the old website. I didn’t have a real easy way for people to contact us. It was, it was essentially like, all right, give us a call or here’s this email address and you can send us an email. Kind of working off that 2009 template, that was, that was not uncommon at that at that point. Right. But we’re talking about, you know, 10 years later. I’ve got a, a good web form that people are using. We probably get close to an inquiry every day or two. Whereas before most of the stuff we were getting was I guess more word of mouth and we would get far fewer people contacting us via email.
Now if I’m getting them, you know, every couple of days. I’ve got to have a system in place to, to kind of manage those and make sure I’m keeping track of everything. I use Calendly and try and include that link in my follow up email…I’ll always include an email reply with, with a Calendly link so that they can book a phone call with me cause I do want to get them on the phone eventually.
Featured Websites
John Kozicki’s studio Michigan Rock School
Show Credits
Intro music: Dusted by Fojimoto
Transition Music by: Levi Simon
Outro music: Rain and Revolution by City Breathing
