Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katie Mann. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Katie, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
What do you think it takes to be successful?
Compassion paired with high expectations. For example, Annie Klark and I co-founded a theatre company for people with disabilities. At the heart of our business model are our theatre instructors; highly trained and creative individuals. We depend on a high retention rate and have kept it over 95% for ten years. We expect instructors to show up on a time, but there is a looseness to the model that allows for cars to break down and traffic jams to be had. We raise salaries before asked, and reimburse all our supplies. Yet, there are high expectations for the curriculum they bring to class. Viewing our instructors, and furthermore, clients, parents, students, and collaborative partners as a whole human with a global view of their circumstances has led to deep and lasting business connections.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Annie Klark and I co-founded OpenSpot Theatre in 2012. While working at a neurotypical children’s theatre, we realized there wasn’t really an opportunity for people with disabilities to express themselves in the arts. Thus our mobile theatre was born.
We travel to schools, libraries, and other non-profits to provide singing, acting and dancing lessons to people with Down syndrome, autism, etc. Our motto is “Theatre for all!” and in our 10+ years we’ve taught over 12,000 students of varying ages and abilities.
Our secret is our mobility. By traveling to the clients, they are already accustomed to their surroundings and ready to learn. Also, we take the onus of commuting so our families don’t have to. This allowed us, in 2020, to expand to a national company teaching classes in five states.
We are most proud of our students and their growth. One student in his 20s told me on the first day of theatre class, “I have no friends.” On the final day eight weeks later, after they had performed their original showcase in front of family and friends, he said, “I have 40 friends!”
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
As a theatre company, we are the epitome of a service industry. Our connections to our clients, families and students are the life blood of our business. Very early on, we knew that our reputation is how we would attract more clients. And to get that very first client to agree to hire us… that was quite the feat!
But once we had an “in” (and photos to prove we could do our jobs) we focused on doing our jobs very well. We check in with our clients often, but not too often. We make ourselves accessible to the families for any questions and concerns we may have. Our goals are transparency and loyalty. Someone once said, “Go slow to go fast,” and it’s true! Relationships takes months and years to build. But once built, you can be slingshot through the market with a gold star of approval from your previous and current clients.
Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?
Our clients are the most receptive to emails. We check in with them throughout the planning process and make it known we are available for any type of support they may require.
But the biggest boost, for them and us, is to see them face to face. It doesn’t matter how often, it is more about consistency; building that trust that we are here for them. It also benefits us to get subtle feedback from clients and parents. For example, we didn’t know what our parents loved about us, until they told us!
We are a mobile theatre for people with disabilities. We had assumed (don’t do that as a business owner, by the way) that it was our singing, dancing and acting curriculum that we taught so well. Well, upon face to face interactions it turns out it is our high expectations of our students. So many programs for people with disabilities don’t ask a lot of the population. Or it’s treated more like a babysitting program. We ask our students to memorize lines and learn dances. If we hadn’t have stopped by in person we never would have known our clients’ favorite part. Now, we can emphasize that on social media and other marketing material.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://openspottheatre.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/openspottheatre/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OpenSpotTheatre
Image Credits
Nancy Boyd, Richard McLain, David Pham