Pilates Business Podcast

What Really Happens When You Switch Booking Apps with Maggie from Arketa

• Seran Glanfield • Season 24 • Episode 238

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On this episode of The Pilates Business Podcast, host Seran Glanfield sits down with Maggie Calegari, who leads the Studio Owner Success Team at Arketa, to demystify the exact process of switching studio management software. If clunky systems, manual workarounds, and spotty support are slowing your growth, this conversation breaks down how migrations really work—data transfer, timelines, team training, client comms, and smart “spring cleaning” moves that simplify your Pilates studio or boutique fitness business. 

You’ll learn how to prep your must-haves, consolidate pricing/packs, decide on payment data migration, and use the switch as a powerful moment to reengage clients, modernize policies (hello, automation!), and set up features like on-demand, trainings, and a branded app. If you’ve been nervous about making the leap, Seran and Maggie show you how to make it smooth, supported, and strategic.


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Speaker 1:

Switching booking software. It's one of those things that every studio owner thinks about, but almost no one feels excited to do. What if clients get frustrated? What if data goes missing? What if it's a total headache? Well, the truth is that the fear of change often keeps us stuck with software that is clunky or time consuming and actually is probably holding back our business growth. But the good news is that making the switch doesn't have to be painful at all. In today's episode, I'm joined by Maggie from Arquetta, and we're pulling back the curtain on exactly what the process looks like. So if you've ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes when you switch booking software, this is the conversation that you've been waiting for. Well, hi there, I'm Saren Glanfield. I'm a business and marketing strategist just for boutique fitness studio owners like you. If you're ready to be inspired and make a bigger impact, you're in the right place. All you need are a few key strategies, the right mindset and some support along the way. Join me as I share the real-life insights that will help you grow a sustainable and profitable studio.

Speaker 1:

This is the Pilates Business Podcast. Welcome back to the Pilates Business Podcast, you guys. This is the show that helps studio owners just like you, build profitable and sustainable businesses without a ton of overwhelm. I'm Saren Glanfield, and today we're talking about a topic that I know is probably on your mind from time to time, and that is your booking software, or your studio management. Software is probably what we call it today. Really, booking software is a little outdated because it does so much more than that. It isn't just a piece of tech anymore. It's actually the backbone of your entire client experience, your operations and your schedule. It's how people find you, how they book you, how they pay and, ultimately, how easy it is to stay consistent as a client at your studio.

Speaker 1:

So what happens when your current software just isn't cutting it anymore? Maybe it feels like it's not being kept up with the pace that you've grown. Maybe it doesn't give you the options to add additional revenue generating streams to your business that you want to add. Maybe it's overly complicated and maybe it's eating up more of your time than it's saving. But the thought of switching sounds terrifying. Will it be a huge headache? Will your clients hate it? Will you lose important data? Will your team completely revolt? And so I'm excited about this conversation and I brought in an expert. I'm joined by Maggie Caligari, who leads the Studio Owner Success Team from Archeta, and we're going to talk today about exactly what happens when you decide to make a switch. She's going to walk us through the whole process what the workload actually looks like for you as the studio owner, and how to make sure that everybody feels supported and how to make it super smooth for you. So welcome in, maggie. I'm so excited to have you here.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here and to have a conversation on a piece of the puzzle that's really, really important for studios. Can't wait to dig in. Yes.

Speaker 1:

So, before we dive into the first question, tell us just a little. In charge of onboarding our studio owners, which?

Speaker 2:

simply means when a studio decides to come to Arquetta, you are taken by an onboarding specialist through the whole process of setup, data migration and preparation for launch. Beyond that, we do education and webinars, strategy sessions, brainstorming, and we really work with our studios as they grow, and so a lot of that would be, you know, working with the studio owner, not only beyond launch but as they continue to grow, whether that's into other modalities, additional locations, offering on-demand teacher training. We make sure that the product is doing everything it needs to do to support you during that growth fantastic.

Speaker 1:

So you have seen everything that needs to be seen to have this conversation yes, yes, lots and lots of migrations.

Speaker 2:

So, yes, a lot of experience here yeah.

Speaker 1:

So let's start at the beginning, right? So, of this sort of change that studio owners will go through when they switch from one software to the other. Now, if people perhaps listening in, are a little bit frustrated with their current software, let's say, but maybe are a bit concerned about what making that change would look like, what would you say are some of the sort of common signs, the early common signs that it might be worthwhile investigating other options or maybe it's actually time to make a change?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I think one is just constant frustrations with your software. If you find yourself saying on a regular basis ah, this is so frustrating or I can't get a hold of anyone in support, hearing the same thing from your team or from your customers is a huge red flag. So you know, oftentimes the studio owners that I meet and work with are willing to kind of put in the extra work, even if there is a lot of manual workarounds. But once customers and their clients are starting to complain about it, that's a huge warning sign.

Speaker 2:

Additionally, just notice how much you're doing manually, whether that's workarounds inside your software or starting to manage multiple different software systems. That's taking a lot of your time. A lot of you know studio owners we work with that are coming to Arquetta have been on sort of legacy softwares for a long time and so as they're adding in, you know, the need to do marketing capability or text messaging and all of these other components, they're pulling in a lot of different platforms. So this would also be a good time to reassess kind of a more modern booking software which can incorporate all of that into one.

Speaker 1:

I do come across quite a few folks who are often on, have added on two or three or four different softwares and they're all sort of talking to each other and there's overlap in what they can do. Yes, it's a lot to keep track of when you're in that situation and you know, every now and again it doesn't always work quite the way you want it to.

Speaker 1:

It doesn't always work quite the way you want it to, so you know, I think when we think about you know, the all in under one roof solution, I think that is always such a neater way to to run a business right. I mean, that's how I've that's why I run my business.

Speaker 2:

I love having everything under one roof. Yes, exactly, and I think you know we get um, and I've been in the studio business before. I worked at Arquette. I manage studios, I'm so familiar with it. You just you get kind of used to the struggles, you know it becomes familiar. But especially if you're looking for other areas for your business to grow, you do need to free up your time as a business owner to pour that time and energy into where your studio is going, rather than, you know, spending your time on managing all of these different pieces manually.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely so. Once a studio decides to make the switch, what would you say is that very first step in the process that would help prepare a studio owner for that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think the most important thing is really just understanding what your needs are, and so as simple as sitting down and making a list of your pain points. So what are those things that are taking you so much time every single day? What are the things your customers are complaining about? What are the things your team struggles to understand on your software? So you know, it's so easy to you know you can take a call with another software and you we call it like shiny key syndrome. You're like, ooh, that's cool, that's cool, that's cool.

Speaker 2:

But you need to really be prepared with a list of like these are the must haves, these are the things that are going to make it worth switching and investing my time in this migration versus. These are kind of nice to haves. So I bet you know most reowners you could talk to could rattle off the top five off the top of their head. That are the frustrations for them currently. So that's where I would start and then from there it's just doing your research, which I'm sure we'll get into as well. But once you know what your pain points are, doing the research to figure out which software is actually going to answer those needs.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, such a good advice, and I'll also add that sometimes in that process people often forget to mention what they need. That perhaps already might be, working for them with their software.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

And so make a list of all of that as well. And I think you're right, when you get on a call for a demo or a conversation about what it looks like, we're often so excited for all the new things that we could be doing that we forget to sort of be like okay. We're often, you know, we're so excited for all the new things that we could be doing that we forget to sort of be like okay. And also, this is how I these are the different ways that I offer my services in my business. Can we just make sure that everything works?

Speaker 2:

exactly how I expect it to work within your software as well. So, yeah, for sure, exactly. There's so much and it's impossible when looking at another platform, it's impossible to know if every single you know action that you need to take in your current software is going to match up in the new software. I mean, it's, it's, those are the things you'll find out during onboarding, but really going in with those clear list of needs and wants and then nice to haves will help you determine where you want to go and if this is the answer for you at the moment.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely Big fan of checklists over here for sure yes, me too. So one of the biggest worries, I think, that I hear from studio owners as they're perhaps in that place where they're a little frustrated, they're ready to perhaps take the leap is losing the data, losing memberships or class packs. How does all of that work? Can you talk us through what that sort of migration of information looks like behind the scenes?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this is going to look a little different, just depending on what platform you're going to. I will say when you are looking to make a switch, the platform you're moving to should be holding your hand and giving you guidance here, and so, if you're not getting that guidance, definitely ask more questions and lean on them, because they're the experts. As you said, you know we've done thousands of migrations. It's our job to know what that timeline is, what to expect, where things might get sticky. You know what those signs are to look out for and to prepare you for that. Signs are to look out for and to prepare you for that. The thing about migrations that I think is so important is you know you go through. Okay, I've identified my pain points. I know what my needs are. I found the software that's going to answer all of my questions. It's going to make my dreams come true.

Speaker 2:

Now, when you're going into this stage of it's time to onboard, it's time to move my data, it's time to learn a new system, mindset is everything, and so just coming in with the understanding of this is going to be a little bit of time and work on my side, but this is also an amazing opportunity for me to kind of do some spring cleaning and make the cleanup. That will make my new system run even more efficiently. So if you're a yoga studio or Pilates studio that's been around for 20 years, do you need to have 20 years of sales history inside your new dashboard? Probably not. You know, is Susan going to come in and say I want to see what I bought. If I bought a water from you five years ago, you probably don't need all of that. That being said, it's very scary, I know, to owners to think like, oh my gosh, I'm going to lose everything. What if I do need that information? So a couple of things that we say when we're guiding people to the migration is one what are those necessary pieces of information that you want to come over with? Standard for us is going to be client details, so everything on the client profile name, email, birthday, milestones, address, etc. We can move all of that over Packages, memberships. We do something here, also called a historical migration, which is optional, and in that case we could potentially move over historical sales, historical reservations, if you do want that all in one place.

Speaker 2:

When we get you ready for migration, our team works with you to pull reports from your current system. We actually work with you to clean that data. So you know a lot of businesses that have been around for a while. You'll have, you know, maybe one client who has five different profiles. So we're going to work with you to consolidate that into one.

Speaker 2:

And then what's really important on the switch over, that you do have additional time on the back end, that you still have access to your previous software. So our recommendation is always, when we plan for your launch date, you have access to your current system for another two to four weeks, just so if you do need to go back and pull anything else, you can. Additionally, if, depending on the software you come from, to go back and pull anything else, you can Additionally if, depending on the software you come from and what reports you pull, you can just export that data and save it on like a backup export, either on a drive or external hard drive, something like that. So if you do need to go back and look at information, you can.

Speaker 2:

When we do the migration, something else I kind of say to comfort people is we have a set migration date, a launch date, where we pull this report. We review it with you as a business owner. Our team imports it and if you see anything once it's imported that looks like it needs to be adjusted it's not just a one and done we can make those adjustments. If you come in and you say, oh I forgot, I have 10 friends that I give free memberships to, we can add those in. We're going to work with you to make sure that you know you have everything in the place that you need it to be, and we're here to kind of support you and answer those questions throughout those next few weeks post-launch.

Speaker 1:

Fantastic, so you really hold people's hand through the process. It sounds like.

Speaker 2:

It's so important because I can't even tell you how many times people will open up their current platform and we pull a report and people have no idea what they're looking at. And that's not really at the fault of the business owner, it's just. You know, if you've been using a system that isn't working perfectly for your needs, you've probably done some manual workarounds. You probably have 200 different pricing options from different periods of time, and so we're working with you to say, okay, what do we actually need to bring over? How do we consolidate? How do we make this really clean? So when you open your new system it's so easy to read you pull those reports, you see what you want to see and then we kind of can weed out any of the unnecessary information.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think you know, I think, when it comes to that sort of process, obviously there are probably a couple of things that you know, like you mentioned, looking at those reports, or perhaps some even like you know, perhaps checklist of, but at some point I also want to change my pricing. Should I do it all at once? Should I wait? Should I not wait? And so talk me through some of these sort of things that even from a, from a just a sort of business planning perspective, that would just maybe help, um, to make the process super smooth in that, from a from the workload side for the studio owner.

Speaker 2:

Yeah for sure. So some of it's going to be on the back end, where I know from when I was managing a studio we had a 10-pack but then we'd have a summer 10-pack and we had that one time we ran a spring special 10-pack and so you might have clients who have two or three classes remaining from those packs. We can simplify and just assign a 10-pack to their account when they migrate over. So you don't necessarily have to go in and create, you know, eight different versions of that same package because essentially it's just a credit to come and take the class. So again, we're going to work with you based on how you want to see that information.

Speaker 2:

It is kind of to look at, go back to that kind of mindset and how you look at a migration and changing software. Is it's a great time to make any changes in your business because, client, you're already preparing your clients for a change and so communicating with customers like hey, this is going to be a great change for our business. As part of this we're making these changes. So I've seen folks make a change to kind of their core membership with alongside the migration, because it's a really easy time to make those changes and it's also a great time to re-engage people on your customer list that have been kind of sitting dormant since you're you know you're sending all this information about re-logging in. By the way, we're doing a special for you where you get, you know, 50% off your month when you sign back up with us yeah, I love.

Speaker 1:

All of that brings me nicely to my next question, because obviously you know, there's the one side of where for the studio owner where you'll think the studio is thinking about, ok, the the operational side of it. But then there's the side that actually faces clients, right, and one of the reasons why you'd move software is because you want to create a really perhaps a nicer experience for your clients. So it's, you know it's only good news, but clients don't always love change, right, you know it's only good news, but clients don't always love change, right. So what's the best way to communicate a switch like this so that it feels easy and seamless for them as well?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So one is to let them know what's coming. Hey, we're going to be switching booking software in the next couple of weeks. Please keep an eye on your email inbox for the changes to come. What we see? A lot in our software. We have the ability for you to also run on-demand video, set up programs like teacher trainings. Maybe it's launching a mobile app that you didn't have before, so kind of highlighting what are the benefits or what they're going to be seeing as part of this switch and really focusing on the exciting piece of it. When we switch, you'll have a new mobile app to download where you'll be able to access your classes and video all in one place for the first time. So just letting them know what's coming.

Speaker 2:

When we migrate our partners over, we provide a template that you send to customers, and that switch is really important for us, for your clients.

Speaker 2:

So for us, it's just a client is going to a landing page where they reset a password and then, once they log in, all of their package information is there. There's nothing else they have to do on their end. So we do truly try to make it as easy as possible for your clients, one thing that I've seen work really well for our partners is they'll put up either a banner or a landing page on their website that explains and takes you through everything that's changing. So here's how you first access your account. Here's what you need to know once you are inside your account. We didn't really talk about migrating payment data, but if a business chooses to migrate over without the client's credit card information, clients may need to add a credit card to file. So on, that landing page could be something about how you would do that, and then just any other kind of FAQs that you might want to share, and so that's a great way to just have kind of a resource, a landing page where people can go and find all the information I love that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's such a great idea and I think when you're you know you're doing something that's such a sort of a shift, that's sort of studio wide and applies to all of your clients. You probably can't over communicate on this.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, the email that lets people know it's coming, and but also probably you want to share something in the studio, uh, front desk, in classes, just so that everyone is aware that there is a bit of a change and that they will need they will see things looking a little bit differently perhaps, um, maybe a different place to go to book, etc. As much as you can communicate, the better, and you know, it's always you, always. It's always surprising how often we miss, miss emails and miss things. So it's, yeah, it's, it's you kind of want to make sure you're kind of sharing it in various different places, right? As much as possible.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, social, you know a link on social and all of that. Another thing that's really important is just making sure your team knows the answers to these questions. You'd be surprised how many of the questions are things like why can't I log in? And then you realize they're spelling their email wrong. And you know I've done this a thousand times where I'm so frustrated I can't log in and then realize I put gmailcom with an N at the end and it was my user error. It is technology, it is what it is.

Speaker 2:

So, just preparing your team with either a one pager or a bookmarked page on at the front desk, which is, you know, hey, here's some typical questions clients will probably ask. We do have an FAQ on that as well, because it's going to be the routine same five questions. And then the other thing that we really make sure we let our partners know is here's where you go with questions. So you have your onboarding specialist, but we also have a live chat for our support team that's ready to answer you within minutes. So if you do have a customer account, you're not sure what's happening with and the customer is saying they had this many credits, but only this many are showing you know, type into our support team, you're going to get help right away. Same for your team. So again, just kind of reiterating if you don't know the answer, that's okay, we're here to help you get it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think that you know that's kind of an important just to note specifically for our cater is a level of support and how quickly you can expect to have that support in those conversations. And I think when you're in it and there is kind of a short amount of time to get an answer, it's really good to know that you've got a team who's there and available to help as needed, right.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. It's one of the big reasons I would say people decide to come to Arcata and eventually to leave is they are just. Even when they do get support, they feel like they're not speaking to someone who really understands either the needs of their business or the urgency. Our support team and our onboarding specialists all come from the industry. Actually, the first onboarding specialist we hire I onboarded him. He was managing a yoga studio that was switching to Arquetta and he was doing the migration and he was working with me and he said I love onboarding so much and I'm like nobody ever says that and so when we were hiring he was such a perfect fit.

Speaker 2:

But I love that story because you know when you're working with our team through onboarding, these are people that have been through the process in your seat and it just goes a really long way. So we know when you're typing in in all caps like I need help immediately. We know what it's like when you have, you know, six people on the waiting list who are standing there, who didn't check their notifications, that they didn't get in, and you know. We know how things get really heightened quickly in studio experience and we want to be there to make it as easy as possible.

Speaker 1:

I think that's amazing because I think there's so many nuances to boutique fitness studios.

Speaker 1:

Oh incredible and you know if you've been a client in multiple or you've been behind the scenes in more than one, you'll know that there's. You know the way that one studio does a waitlist is different from in a way than another studio does a waitlist and offers different things. And you know every business has its way that it operates its own sort of business model, especially for those who are not part of a franchise, like I know many, many or most of archetta's partners are. So it's it's really fabulous to have people on the other side of the, the help desk, as it were, the who know, who know that all of the ins and outs and are familiar with all of the differences between you know late cancel and all of no show and all of the ins and outs and are familiar with all of the differences between you know late cancel and all of no show and all of these early cancels and all these things.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think you know that some of the best experiences we have with business owners during onboarding is people who are coming in and kind of open to reassessing how things are working, because oftentimes business owners have set up their business based on the capability of their software.

Speaker 2:

And if you started with a software 10 years ago, this might be a good time to look at. Oh, maybe I do want to handle my waitlisting different, or maybe I am going to automate a late cancel no-show fee now because I can and I can depend on the functionality. And so we do hear that a lot during onboarding, where people are saying I haven't done this before, what do you recommend or what do you see in the industry, and so that's a really fun part of the onboarding process is when people come kind of open-minded and looking to reassess all the ins and outs of their kind of day-to-day yeah, and then all sorts of opportunities open up, right.

Speaker 1:

With all these new possibilities? Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2:

As much as you can automate. I think studio owners, by nature, I think, don't are afraid of automation sometimes because they, you know it's, you're very close to it, you're very close to your community. It's scary to think like, well, what if I? What if I automatically charge Susan? And she's, you know, my best friend and I would never want to charge her. So you know, we talk through all those scenarios too, just to make sure you have you feel really confident in anything you are automating. But yeah, there's definitely it's a great time to kind of reassess all of that.

Speaker 1:

It really is. It really is so when you know. So, let's say, a studio owner has gone through the demo and is like yes, I'm in and signs on the dotted line, how long does it take to before a studio is fully up and running? And I appreciate you mentioned earlier. So how long does it take to for the four studios fully up and running? And I appreciate you mentioned earlier about sort of there's these phases of launch and et cetera. So what does it look like?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So if I had to just give like a sweeping comment on that, we do try to get everyone launched within a month, so under 30 days. Yes, this definitely depends on the business and the studio owner. So if we're working with a new studio who maybe is just opening their doors, they might have two calls and be ready to open, because there isn't the migration piece of things to look at and we typically say around four weeks and that really gives us time to set up the dashboard with you, walk through your day-to-day and make sure that you've had enough time building out. You know how do I add a service type, how do I put classes on my schedule, how do I create pricing options, intro offers, and we really do this together with the studio owner. And that is really important in our onboarding process, because when we say okay, it's launch time, we want you to feel like you know the software inside and out. So that is usually over the course of a couple weeks.

Speaker 2:

Migration is kind of happening in the background, but the biggest piece of the puzzle when it comes to timeline is whether or not you're migrating payment data, which essentially means you have your customer's credit card information stored in your current payment processor that has to get securely moved over to your new payment processor. That is between two third parties that have to speak to each other and move that data and that is not in your hands and that's not in our hands. It involves more people. So just to be safe, we typically say about four weeks to make sure all of that information gets securely moved over. Once you are launched, we typically have a post-launch call and that's within about a week. So once your data's in, we're getting on, we're reviewing any questions and then from there you're really moved into like you're launched. You can request a call with our team at any time, but you're officially kind of out of that onboarding stage.

Speaker 1:

Right right, right right, so it can be as quick as you want it to be, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I mean, if you were to sit down and you know, with Arquetta's product, open your dashboard and you wanted to sit down for a few hours in one day, I mean you could have your schedule in your pricing options in, you could have all the settings set up and ready to go. And then of course, it depends on the complexity of your business. If you just have group classes, that's pretty easy. If you have group classes, appointments, sessions, teacher trainings, on-demand library, you know there's a lot there that you can go in and put together. So you know, essentially we're always focusing and onboarding on what are the pieces that you're using now, currently, and then if you want to add on demand video later, once you've had some time after your launch, then we can always get back on and review that together.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. And I have to say you know I've seen it back in a lot of different softwares over the years, and Archeta is very, very easy to use and so it's very intuitive. It's not like you have to read the manual at all, it's very sort of straightforward. You've made it so easy truly.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think so too. I mean, of course I may be biased, because I love our brand and I love what we do and I came to this company from that background of running studios and was so impressed and excited by what I saw. But again, it's for anyone who, even if you love technology most of the business owners we work with are like I'm running a Pilates business because I don't want to live on the computer you know there's a willingness to like okay, this technology is going to be a little different than what I'm used to, and so you know, going in with an open mind and being ready to learn what that looks like is really going to help you adapt to it even quicker.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's great advice, maggie. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you for joining me. This has been a lovely conversation. I've learned so much and I really appreciate you coming on and being so open and sharing sort of the details and the nuances of what happens when a studio owner goes through this migration, and the possibility and opportunity and exciting parts of what it can also mean as well, and I think that is something to keep in mind. Like you mentioned, having an open mind and seeing that there is more possibility on the other side of a very short period of time which that transition takes place. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for joining us. Oh, thank you so much for having me. I love chatting with you.

Speaker 1:

So, friends, that's a wrap on today's conversation with Maggie from Archeta. I hope you're walking away with a bit of a clearer picture of what switching software looks like, and maybe a little bit less worried about the process too. Now, the truth is that your software should make running your studio business even easier, never harder, and so, if the thought of switching has been on your mind for a while, I hope today's episode gave you the reassurance you need to start exploring your options. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening in. I'll catch you next week. Did you love this episode and want more? Head to spring3.com and check out my free resources that will help you run a profitable and fulfilling studio business. And before you go, one last reminder there is no one way to do what you do, only your way. So whatever it is that you want to do, create or offer, you've got this. Thanks again for joining me today and have a wonderful rest of your day.