If you own and operate a dance school, one thing is certain, you will at some point have an issue with a parent. OK, it might be a few issues with a few parents over the course of a lengthy career! Fortunately most of them will be small things that can be handled quite easily. Some, however, will present a greater challenge and test your management skills to the max. One thing I want to share with you is, most of the time if you follow your gut feeling on any issue you are facing, you will be right on the money. If, for instance, you think a parent is bad mouthing you, you are probably right! The way you proceed in these situations is not only the key to a successful conclusion to any issue, but will also determine how well your business is viewed by your clients. Here are four typical scenarios that every studio owner will be called on to address at some point.

The Bad Karma Parent

There is nothing worse than having a parent in your lobby talking in the ear of all the other moms in a negative way. These types are like a cancer and will try to destroy your business. Of course, they really can't, but they can cause you a lot of aggravation and could precipitate some people to leave your studio if left free to do their dirty work. Here is what we do when we know for sure that this is going on. First of all, have them come into the office. Explain to them that you have been told that they are not happy. Try to find out what the issues are. Once you have listened to them and you have determined that they are not beneficial clients for your business or are not going to be happy at your studio, offer to give them a refund right then and there. Often this offer alone will make them want to stay, but they will now understand that you are in the drivers seat. If they take you up on the offer you know that they were not right for your studio. If they decide to stay, tell them that you want your studio to be a place of happy people being served by happy people. If they persist in creating a problem by involving everyone else, then they should leave and find a new studio where they would be much happier! If you find out that a client of yours is bad mouthing you outside your studio, you can handle it the same way.

The Mouthpiece Parent

I love it when a parent comes in and starts off with, "Well, everybody is saying" or "A lot of people are mad about" or any other imbroglio in which she becomes the spokesperson for the whole studio. Rest assured that she is not speaking for anyone other than herself. Through the years we have heard this a number of times and it is amazing how no one other than the one complaining ever brings the subject up, whatever that subject happens to be. When a parent begins this way, we always let her know straight off that she is the only one coming to us with this particular problem and that we can only talk to her about her issues. We let her know that our door is open to anyone who has concerns. Typically, no one else ever shows up! Once in a while one person will speak for another parent, but I would bet that the one who is talking is the one who brought up the issue in the first place and stirred the pot to get other parents to even think about what is bugging them.

The Victim Parent

This is one of those phone calls I just love, not! The voice on the other end is calling to say that their child was ridiculed, insulted or somehow treated badly by a staff member, faculty member, another student, another parent and maybe even you! Well, in truth sometimes it happens. First, I recommend not over-reacting. I have a hard time when parents make a big deal out of nothing more than kids stuff. Sometimes children are mean to each other, other times it might be that a student is just being over-sensitive. When it is simply kids stuff, parents should try to stay out of it and encourage the kids to work it out for themselves. Too often parents are overprotective of their children and don't let them develop coping skills. However, if you or one of your staff members or faculty did say something inappropriate, then the situation needs to be handled quickly and sincerely. A verbal apology is a must, followed by a handwritten note saying how badly you feel about the situation and letting them know that you will make sure that it never happens again.

The Righteous Parent

Most of the time issues arise from a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of something that was said. Then there is the parent who hands you an actual complaint. When this happens, first try not to get defensive about it. Listen carefully, take notes, sympathize and then find a way to appease all those involved. This doesn't mean that you have to let anyone walk all over you; you just want to solve the problem and get on to more productive tasks. Let's say the problem goes deeper than an easy resolution, and you believe you are right and are willing to lose the client over it. After you collect all the information you need, you can tell your client that you do not agree with their assessment of this issue and try to arrive at some common ground. If not, you should move to an amicable parting of the ways. We never like to tell someone to leave our studio, but have done so in a few instances when we saw that there was no chance of compromise. It is never pleasant, but if you have someone who is taking up all your time and energy with their negativity, then I recommend you let them go elsewhere.

Fortunately these incidents are the exception rather than the rule, and you might go years before having to address one of them. Of course sometimes you might have to manage a few of them coming at you fast and furious in a row. But as long as you handle each one quickly and with confidence, you and the parent involved will easily move past the disagreement so that you can both because on what really countsteaching their child about dance.