Posts Tagged ‘Billing Company’

Simple Honesty And Convenience Can Really Make A Difference In Your Bottom Line

Think you have some powerful sales kung fu? Put away those slick tricks. Honesty and convenience are better than tricks, any day of the week.

So, think you have some powerful “sales kung fu”?

If so, you likely are aware that your customers see the enrollment process as a buying process. They are shopping you along with your competitors, and will likely make their buying decision based on how good you are at convincing them to join your school.

Now, having said that, you should know that I am not a fan AT ALL of sneaky tricks and hard sell tactics.

So, before we go on let me present you with the number one rule I want you to live and die by in your sales process:

Massie-ism #674:

“When you have the truth, you don’t need tricks. Always tell the truth to your customers.”

No matter what you’ve been told, and no matter who told you – slick tricks work against you and not for you when you are building your enrollment.

Growing a school over the long-term is about building trust and a reputation for honesty in your community. Being known as the local used car salesman of martial arts instructors is not the best way to achieve that goal.

With that in mind, let’s look at a few key areas where you can use honesty and common sense courtesy to your best advantage to increase your sales and conversions.
Read the rest of this entry »

Save Money Doing Your Own Electronic Billing -  It’s A Cinch With New Technologies

Did you know you can do your own martial arts billing electronically in-house? Here's how...

It used be that here in the States, most martial arts schools would use a martial arts billing company to collect payments for them.

The student made their first payment at the school, and the billing company took over after that, collecting payments by mail, credit card, or electronic funds transfer (EFT/ACH).

This seemed like a great deal… Except for the fact that martial arts billing companies charged martial arts school owners 5 or 10 times more in our industry than businesses were paying for billing services in other comparable industries.

New Technology Creates A Power Shift In The Martial Arts Billing Industry

Once school owners started wising up, they began looking for alternatives to expensive martial arts billing companies. Some of us started using the same companies that businesses in other industries (fitness, for example) used.

I did this for a while, then I figured out that with advances in credit card and checking account billing technology, I could easily do the same thing myself using a merchant credit card acceptance account and an online payment gateway. Read the rest of this entry »

When I first heard the term “rotating curriculum”, I had no clue what the concept was. I think the first person I heard talking about it was one of the billing company guys, and to be honest I really discounted the idea wholesale when he mentioned it. Well, a short while later I found I was having a hard time keeping my classes structured as my school grew. I also found it difficult to keep my instructors on track with their lesson plans – no one really had an idea of what to teach in class, and Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most common questions I receive from our
subscribers and readers is, “Which billing company is the best?” I’ve
had my favorites over the years, but I always hated the fact that I’d
end up paying 7 – 10% of my gross income just to get my own money.

Understandably, many school owners simply do not want to use a
billing company – and I respect that. So, what’s a studio owner to do
about their billing if they don’t outsource it?

Here are some alternatives to using a billing company that I
think are worth looking into: Read the rest of this entry »