Posts Tagged ‘Belt Rank’

Easy Ways To Implement An Added-Value Membership Program

Weapons training is an excellent training theme for a black belt club program.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, upgrade programs fill a vital need in the program offerings in most successful martial arts schools.

For students, they provide increased training opportunities they would not normally get in regular classes. And, for school owners they represent an opportunity for increased income and improved customer service.

Whether you call your membership upgrade a “black belt club”, an “elite membership”, a “gold level membership”, or some other nomenclature, the fact remains that having one available is a benefit for your students and your school as well.

If you’ve struggled with the concept of creating an added-value membership, I’m here to tell you that implementing one is as simple as offering “more” and charging a bit more for it.

So, here are 10 super-simple ideas for how to start a black belt club in your school: Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a dilemma most martial arts instructors face when they start teaching kids (well, those who are honest and have integrity, anyway). That is, how do you handle belt rank promotions for kids?

Obviously, kids don’t have anywhere near the emotional maturity, logical deduction, motor skills, strength, or learning ability adults have. Granted, kids can do a lot of things many adults can’t (full splits in three weeks, anyone?) but generally speaking they simply cannot perform like adults when it comes to retention of techniques, application of techniques, and performing like an adult black belt.

So how do you handle belt rank promotions for kids without lowering standards or becoming the thing you hate most? Read the rest of this entry »

The following are some simple, straightforward teaching tips I hand out to all my instructors and assistants when they begin helping out in class: Read the rest of this entry »

The Key to Easy Upgrading – Stop Selling and Start Recruiting

It’s important to have the right mindset when you start offering upgraded student memberships. It has to be a privilege, something that a student earns the right to be a part of, instead of just a way to make more money. Remember that you are choosing students for elite membership upgrades on their merits, and they should be honored that you have given them the opportunity to join.

Once you adopt this attitude, upgrading students becomes much simpler. In fact, more often than not you’ll have students approaching you about joining, versus your having to approach them instead.

The Upgrade Process – Make Them Work For It

Here is the process we used to get students to upgrade their memberships: Read the rest of this entry »