We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ronni Allen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ronni, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

Client success stories are my favorite!! Seeing someone accomplish a goal that brings them joy, makes them feel more confident, or even adds to the quality of their life is incredible. (And getting to be a part of that journey is why I love teaching Pilates.) For the sake of privacy, I will refer to the client as B. B was in his 70’s when we started working together. He had done Pilates before and enjoyed it, but he wasn’t seeing any changes in his body (besides that his body issues have not gotten worse … which lets be honest is actually pretty great). After our first session I noticed that he had very limited spinal mobility, tight hamstrings, and he mentioned that a silver dollar size spot on his foot was constantly numb. We made it his goal to be able to touch his toes when bending over. This may not sound like much, but it was a great starting point. After a couple of months of working together twice a week he was so close to touching his toes, but even better than that he could comfortably reverse his car. I think it is safe to say that most of us take our ability to reverse out of a parking spot for granted. B explained that for the last few years he was not able to just simply turn and look out the rear window, he had to rock on to one cheek and kind of tilt is entire torso between the seats. And now he was throwing his right arm around the passenger seat and looking back with ease. This brought him, and me so much joy. To know that our work in the studio translated into real life and actually added to his quality of life was amazing. We continued working together, and he did touch his toes! Not only that, the numb spot on his foot shrunk to the size of a penny. I am not a doctor, and cannot do more than guess that the tight hamstrings were a part of the problem for the numb spot.

Ronni, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi I am Ronni, certified Pilates, Barre, and MELT instructor, owner of Nashville Pilates Company in Germantown (Nashville). I took my first Pilates class in 2016, I wish I could say I loved it … but it was horrible! I felt out of place, confused, embarrassed, and just overall did not enjoy it. After that I was convinced that Pilates is not for me and no one could ever convince me to try it again. Oh was I wrong! A friend going through her Pilates teacher training was raving about how incredible it was and I just needed to try it with her. Long story short, I did and LOVED IT!!! I like to compare the Pilates experience to going to a hair salon. Hair cuts can truly suck until you find the right stylist for you. Pilates is the same. Even though we all teach Pilates, the experience will vary by instructor/ studio.

At Nashville Pilates Company it is our goal to create a fun and inviting environment for everyone, regardless of age, sex, gender, weight, skill level. We keep our class sizes small, maximum 4 people per class, to ensure you receive modifications and corrections to give YOU the best experience. Pilates instructors have different backgrounds and styles of teaching. So, it was very important to me when interviewing instructors to only pick those who truly care about the clients experience, find joy in helping clients achieve their goals, and have a passion for wanting to learn more and broaden their own practice.

At this time NPC has 7 instructors: Lindsey Rae (@misslindseyrae), Whitney (@whitwhitwhatwhit), Chelsea (@eatplaylovelocal), Corie (@coriedoespilates), Simone (@simonemalave), Elise (@elisehughes_), myself – Ronni (@ronnialllen). – You can’t go wrong with any of these awesome women, but try us for yourself and see who is the best match for you! We offer your first group class for $15, as well as have a variety of intro offers you can find in our free app – “Nashville Pilates Co”, to get you started.

We offer a variety of class types, and times. All of our classes are equipment based. You are sure to be on the Reformer, but depending on your instructor and class, you can also use the Tower, Jumpboard, and props. (We love our props to spice things up a bit.)

To get a feel for NPC before your first class check out our instagram @nashvillepilatescompany, and peek at the instructors” instas as well to see if anyone is your vibe right off the bat.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Client experience. In the Pilates world word of mouth is your greatest marketing tool. And the happier a client is, the more they will want to tell their friends about you/ your studio. Because this is our main goal, it is a very natural process. We do have a client to client referral program to thank clients for bringing their friends to us. – For every person you refer you get a $15 credit to your account that can be used towards classes, private lessons, and merchandise.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I am no expert, and our following is still small, but I am very proud of the progress we have made. I purchased Nashville Pilates Company January 2020 (oh yes, THAT year haha) and at that time the studio had only a few hundred followers. Now we are up to almost 1400, and most of those followers happened this year. Our biggest jump came when we started doing reels. I tried to avoid having to do them, and if you are doing the same, stop! Make the reels, they are no longer an option, they are a necessity for social media growth. I still have a lot to learn about social media marketing and building up an audience, but the process so far has been pretty fun. It also quite rewarding when we get a new client at the studio because of our social media. So to sum it up, my advice is to do the reels, post as often as you can, and utilize the apps that help you edit and plan out content.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nashvillepilatescompany.com
• Instagram: @ashvillepilatescompany @ronnialllen
• Facebook: nashvillepilatescompany
• Other: Free app: Nashville Pilates Co

Image Credits
Weslyn Reed