Prizm Company, a studio in Williston, ND, strives to bring dance, cheer, tumbling, and ninja skills to students of all backgrounds, ethnicities, and abilities.
Name: Keisha Nelson
Organization: Prizm Company
Position: Owner
What she was up against
Prizm Company opened its doors in 2018, the same year SportsEngine Motion launched under its former name, SportsEngine Studio. After being recommended to SportsEngine Studio by her member families, Keisha took a chance on the startup to help her run Prizm Company.
After a short time, Keisha decided to switch to a different software provider that she felt was more established, thinking it would help Prizm Company gain footing as the newest studio in the area.
While using the other software, she grew more and more frustrated with every new feature release making her and her families’ experience more confusing. The hand-holding required to keep her families happy was at an all-time high. Due to the complexity of the software, Keisha constantly had to send long, confusing links to parent portals, so families could access their information. She also had to repeatedly communicate updates about events and registrations, and far too often remind families when payments were due.
The time spent on these activities was taking too much time away from being with her students in the studio, she was in need of software that allowed her families to be self-sufficient, and her to get her time back.
Finally, Keisha decided to return to SportsEngine Studio (now called SportsEngine Motion) for the same reason she was originally drawn to it: She wanted to make her families’ lives easier.
What SportsEngine Motion did to help
While Keisha was using the software provider, SportsEngine Motion evolved past the growing pains and consistently started delivering on its promise of being an easy-to-use platform that delivers complete control. Our team showed videos of the user experience improvements to Keisha, and she knew it was going to be a much better fit for her families.
What the impact was
“The most important thing to me is that families are happy and have everything they need to continue having a great experience at Prizm Company, with three other studios in town and us being the newest, their experience is super important to us.”
“Our former software provider kept releasing new features, which is great, but only if it makes it easier for the user. Every release they came out with made it more complicated for all of us. When we got back in touch with SportsEngine Motion and watched some videos of the platform, it was clear everything was simplified and so much easier for my families.”
“Before SportsEngine Motion, all of my parents were getting lost using the parent portal that so many competitors have. The link to get to the parent portal was about eight hundred characters long, and of course, no one bookmarked it. So I would need to send that link all the time. But now, with the SportsEngine Motion mobile app and website, everything is easy to access and everyone uses the same link.”
“The other thing I love is that right when families enter into the mobile app, their billing information is the first thing they see. If they have a major outstanding balance, it's a great reminder for them. But, if they have a zero balance, it’s also a great message for them to see right away, reassuring them that they’re on top of it.”
“Plus, because of auto-billing, I don’t need to communicate about payments nearly as much. Before, I would be done with a long day of dance at 10 p.m. and then would put in a long night of billing. Now, the parents know that if they need an adjustment to their bill, they have to let me know by a certain date. That takes the onus off of me to update at any hour of the day, but still allows them to make adjustments.
“Lastly, if we ever run into issues, whether it’s a parent struggling through a portion of registration or not understanding where they can view something on the website, it’s so easy to help them with the all-in-one system. We’re always looking at the same thing, versus me trying to mind-read what they are looking at in the parent portal.”
About Andie Ostrowski
Andie Ostrowski is a content contributor for NBC Sports Next's GoMotion brand. She graduated with a marketing degree from the University of North Dakota, where she played Division 1 soccer and served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Today, Andie volunteers as a student mentor in conjunction with the Pancratz Business School Mentor Program.