Episode 44: 6 Strategies To Turn Your Parents Into “Raving Fans”

Earlier this year, Taylor Swift came to my city. Somehow, my 25 year old daughter was able to get tickets to the show. That’s when I started to understand a little bit more about Taylor Swift fans or “Swifties”.

Three days before the first show, six 18 wheelers rolled into town. These are the merchandise trucks and the “Swifties” were camping out the night before to be the first in line to buy a T-shirt. For Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour”, her fans dressed up in outfits that represented different eras in her career. “Swifties” make dozens of friendship bracelets and then they exchange them with other “Swifties”. That description barely scratches the surface of the level of obsession that Taylor Swift fans have for her. 

I remember thinking that all of this was a little silly and “over the top”, but then I remembered something. I am exactly the same way. The only difference is that I act this way about my favorite college football team!

I have waited in line for hours to take a shuttle bus to a stadium, where I could stand in the cold and wear the same colors as 110,000 other people as we all jumped up and down, while screaming at the tops of our lungs.

Always remember that the word “fan” is short for “fanatic”.

We all have parents at our schools. Many of us have happy parents. But, very few of us have “Raving Fans”. Ken Blanchard coined the term “raving fan” to describe “a customer who is so overwhelmed and floored by the customer service they've received that they can't stop telling everyone about it.”

On today’s episode of The Private School Leader Podcast, we are going to discuss 6 Strategies To Turn Your Parents Into “Raving Fans”!

I’d like to ask you for a favor. If you have gotten any value from this podcast, could you please go to Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen) and write a review and rate the podcast? Those reviews help the algorithm push the content out to more leaders as a suggested podcast. Private school leaders in 50 countries are now listening to the podcast. Thanks for helping me get this content out to leaders around the world!

I hope that you will listen to the podcast for your weekly dose of motivation, inspiration and PD. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for making a difference!

Mark Minkus

I’ve created a free resource for you called “The 6 Things That Every Private School Teacher Wants From Their Leader”. This guide is a 6 page pdf that will be a game changer for you. I guarantee you that if you do these 6 things, the teachers at your school will be happy to follow you. You can pick up your free guide by going to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/guide

I want to give you a gift to say “thank you” for listening to the podcast. I have created a FREE guide for you called “5 Strategies To Help You Work With Difficult Parents”. We know that working with parents is part of the job and most of our parents are great, but some of them can be very demanding and emotional and difficult. This guide will give you the tools that you need to build better relationships and have better meetings with the difficult parents at your school. Go to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/parents to grab the guide. Thank you again for listening every week!

Please check out all of the free resources on my website that can help you serve and lead your school community. There are "Plug & Play PD's" (45 minute webinars with guided notes) as well as Top 10 Lists of Leadership Books, Productivity Books and TED Talks over at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/resources. You can grab the show notes for today's episode at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/episode44

If you have gotten value from listening to the podcast, I would love to work with you 1-on-1. I would love to take my experience and help you to feel less overwhelmed and frustrated or help you have success if you are a brand new leader. I also work with private school leaders who are aspiring Heads of School and want to accelerate their leadership growth or experienced leaders that are moving on to a new school and they want to get off to a great start. If I’m describing you, then head over to www.theprivateschoolleader.com/coaching to learn more about working with me 1-on-1.

Please write a review of this podcast and help push this content out to more leaders. I would love to get your feedback about the podcast, ideas for future episodes and hear about how you are implementing these strategies in your life and at your school. You can email me at mark.o.minkus@gmail.com Thanks!!

I’ve created a FREE RESOURCE for you called “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit”. This is a 10 page pdf that will help you to keep your staff and students safe and help keep your school out of court. Litigation is expensive, time consuming and extremely stressful. This common sense guide will help you to be more intentional and proactive when it comes to protecting your school. You can grab “The Top 6 Ways To Protect Your School From a Lawsuit” at www.theprivateschoolleader.com/lawsuit. Thanks!