Leading Note Studios

The Opportunity

Camille always knew that she wanted to pursue a music-related career. So when an investor gifted her the means to open a school, she jumped on it. Leading Note Studios opened its doors in 2009 with just five students.

Three months later Camille hired two more instructors, but her client base still wasn’t growing as much as she would have liked. Part of the problem was that Camille didn’t have the time to market her business. She was too busy trying to run it.

The Frustration

In the early days of Leading Note, Camille used pen and paper to manage administration. “I couldn’t book a new client without first asking the teacher to look at her spiral bound books and tell me when she had openings, and then calling back the inquiry and hoping they hadn’t gone somewhere else.”

As Camille began to focus more on growth, she realized that she needed a better way to see schedules and communicate with clients. So when she received a phone call from MindBody, she signed up. “It was the first time I had even looked into something like that,” she recalls. 

But it didn’t take long for Camille to know that MindBody was not the solution to her administrative woes. If anything, it was creating even more work, and she felt like she was spending all of her time in the system.

"MindBody had a big learning curve. It was hard to train new teachers to manage schedules. And it didn’t 'look' pretty or inviting either."

It was so difficult to train new instructors on the MindBody system that her staff finally snapped. One of front desk employees started researching MindBody alternatives, and brought her top choice to Camille. 

That choice was Pike13.

The Solution

Camille liked how easy it was to navigate Pike13 software. She especially liked that simple color configurations would let her visually distinguish between schedules and lesson types, something she had struggled with before.

Leading Note made the switch to Pike13 within six weeks, and Camille noticed the difference immediately.

"It was much easier to train employees right from the beginning. And as we grew, we learned how to adapt the system perfectly to our needs."

Pike13 offered the flexibility that MindBody didn’t. Camille was able to set up her business exactly the way she wanted to, from recurring payments to email and text reminders.

The Results

Today, Leading Note employs 32 instructors that teach a wide range of musical education to more than 550 students. And Camille spends much less time stuck behind her desk.

Easy Scheduling

At Leading Note, clients are scheduled in different rooms, at different times, and with different teachers. Camille needed software that could keep up, and Pike13 has supported her every step of the way.

"We have two locations both in the same Pike13 system. We can see all the staff, rooms and availability for both locations, and can help schedule both! No need for our clients to call a different number."

Things are easier for her clients, too. They now receive an automatic reminder 24 hours before a lesson, and they can set it to be a text or email.

All of Leading Note’s clients are automatically billed so Camille and her staff don’t have to worry about it. Pike13 lets them know if a payment is declined, and also warns of any credit cards that are expiring soon

Camille loves that she can easily track payment information in Pike13 reporting. “The visual "shopping cart" makes it so easy to see when a client owes money. I have graphs and reports instantly showing money deposited on any given day for a time period.” It gives her peace of mind to be able check her finances at any time, on any device, wherever she happens to be. 

Powerful Reporting

Camille utilizes Pike13 Premium Reporting to track important business metrics across her multiple sites. She’s been using the powerful data visualization tools to build custom reports for her unique business. She schedules her most important ones to be delivered to her inbox.

Camille likes her First Visit Today report a lot. She checks it every morning so that she and her staff are ready to greet new clients. “I love putting smiles on the faces of clients,” she says, and Pike13 helps her spend more time doing just that.

Pike13 helps Camille and her staff take care of their community. They use the Public Notes feature to keep clients informed, and it’s easy for clients to quickly access their Pike13 accounts from any device.

"We call each child by name when they come in, and we are able to because we have photos in Pike to look at!"

Thanks to Pike13, Camille has been able to grow her business exactly the way she had envisioned it: “We are a happy, healthy place putting music in everyone's home!”

The Virtual Pivot

When Camille was faced with moving her entire business online in 2020, Pike13 was right there to support her. She used the flexibility of Pike13 scheduling to create an unlimited ‘Zoom Pass’ for her clients, and added links to a Zoom classroom for each service.

Even though Leading Note has been able to resume some in-person lessons, Camille isn’t giving up on virtual classes. Her business is offering both types of classes now, and she uses Pike13 color configurations to keep everything organized. 

And of course, Pike13 Reporting has kept up every step of the way, too. Camille has built reports specifically to track Zoom engagement and other virtual metrics.

The Now

Twelve years after opening her doors, Camille still loves teaching music as much as ever. “I’m blessed to do what I love, and make a living with it,” she says. And she’s happy to have Pike13 on her team.

Leading Note is much more than a school for music lessons. They host recitals, free music workshops, and contests in the lobby. They have homework stations, coloring books and chalk boards, and free WiFi. Camille’s business has grown into exactly what she hoped it would be–a community hub for people who share her passion for music.

Camille hopes to continue sharing her love for music with students of all ages for years to come. For her, music is a lifelong treasure. “Everyone and every age needs music in some form or another. Remember, every nursing home has a grand piano to play, but there are none with a soccer team!”