Posts Tagged ‘Black Belts’

Your Members Want More – Just Make Sure You Give It To Them With Integrity

Having a BBC is a must, but "selling black belts" is NOT the way to go. If you do it, set it up so your BBC has integrity.

Having some sort of elite membership in your school is a must in this day and age.

You have to do this… I’ve tried having a school without an elite membership level, and it just doesn’t work.

As you probably already realize, those folks become your “core” and help keep the school together. Plus, it gives the really serious people something more.

Not to mention that it allows you to increase retention in your martial arts business. That’s a big one. We all want to keep our best students around longer, and a good BBC program can help you do exactly that.

How To Have A Successful BBC

Three things you must do: Read the rest of this entry »

A Built In Retention Program

While black belt is the pinnacle of achievement for most students, black belt club can be a way to reward your most dedicated students and improve retention.

While some schools are resistant to the idea of having an elite membership in their studio, the fact remains that many of your students will jump at the chance to belong to such a program.

The reason is that you already have students who are extremely dedicated and motivated to train… so why not offer them a program that recognizes and rewards them for their commitment?

Black belt club is a perfect way to do this. And, before you get worked up into a tizzy, let me clarify by saying that the way I set up my BBC has nothing to do with selling belts. Instead, it’s all about keeping the program quality high and rewarding good students.

Here’s how I do it: Read the rest of this entry »

So, What’s Next?

Knowing what comes after black belt can be a great way of keeping students' interest once they reach 1st dan.

For new school owners, this may not seem like it’s even worth worrying about yet… but I’m here to tell you it’s something you need to consider if you’re past your first year in business.

You might think it’s only important to have a strong program up to black belt, because that’s what most of your students are after, but that’s a dangerous misconception that can hurt your school’s long-term growth.

Now, some martial arts systems already have tons of curriculum in place for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree black belts (Note: Just having a new form to teach them isn’t going to cut it).

And in other systems (like BJJ, for example), the road to black belt is so long, the main challenge you face is keeping students until black belt. However, if you fall into either of these categories, you still should read this article because there are still pitfalls to keeping students long-term you may not be aware of.

So, sit tight and take notes while I tell what works in keeping students through black belt and beyond.

Read the rest of this entry »

Remember those old football cheers?

“We – are – fired up, yes we are fired up!”

Nope, I never belonged to my high school cheer-leading squad, but I remember those cheers (and cheerleaders) well. Ever wonder what makes a person get out in the cold weather and freeze their tail ends off just to watch a bunch of people chase a pigskin up and down a field?

Figure it out yet? If you’re a football fan, you know why – it’s the emotional high you get while you’re watching your favorite team play their hearts out on the field.

Now, let’s take that lesson indoors to the dojo floor, and apply it to our students… Read the rest of this entry »

You know, it’s funny how martial artists think so differently from the majority of the people we meet, yet we’re rarely ever conscious of it. I’m reminded of how several years after we had been married, my wife told me that when we first met she thought martial arts instructors were for the most part a bunch of arrogant, self-centered yahoos (no wonder she didn’t want to talk to me the first night we met!) Seriously though, she was only half-joking when she said it. In fact, she went on to explain that when we met she Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, one of our readers wanted to know what I thought about the Tracy’s Karate business system, founded by the Tracy brothers of Kenpo fame. He prefers to teach adults rather than children, and wanted to know if I thought he could earn a decent living following their model.

I respect the Tracys a lot. I don’t know them personally, but I know they have turned out a lot of good black belts through their studios, and that many of their instructors have achieved success using their system. Plus, they are martial arts business pioneers, and were running successful studios when most of us were still in diapers.

Having said that, with regards to the Tracy method I think it is a good business system, with one exception – it focuses on a business model that is labor-intensive. That is to say, you will work a lot harder in your studio if your main business is giving private lessons.

To illustrate this point, let’s look at the following scenario: Read the rest of this entry »