Posts Tagged ‘business systems’

A Confused Mind Never Buys…

Handing out unnecessary information just for the sake of doing it can actually hinder the enrollment process by creating confusion in the mind of the prospective student.

Recently, a MASAI member asked me how many sheets of information he should hand out to his new students and prospects.

Apparently he’d been told by an “expert” that he needed to hand out a ton of information to new students, ostensibly to increase the likelihood that his prospects would enroll…

Well, if you’ve been reading my materials for any length of time, you know that I hold a strong dislike for unnecessary complexity in any shape or form in any process – be it in business systems, martial arts technique, or teaching methods.

And, the above situation is no exception. Let me explain why I think overloading new prospects with information is a mistake, and allow me to show you how to make your enrollment process much, much simpler.

Read the rest of this entry »

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

In the 14th century, a Franciscan friar and logician by the name of William of Ockham came up with one of the most famous rules of logical deduction… a rule that is still being applied today in a variety of fields and vocations.

The rule is popularly referred to as “Ockham’s Razor”, and it is often expressed like so:

“Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity.”

In other words, the simplest solution is generally best. This principle, when applied to business systems, will help keep you sane while reducing your workload immensely.

One of the most common mistakes well-intentioned school owners make is to create complex, complicated systems to manage and run their schools. If you’re doing this, here’s how to fix it… Read the rest of this entry »

license – “a grant by the holder of a copyright or patent to another of any of the rights embodied in the copyright or patent short of an assignment of all rights”

franchise – “a right or license that is granted to an individual or group to market a company’s goods or services in a particular territory under the company’s trademark, trade name, or service mark and that often involves the use of rules and procedures designed by the company and services (as advertising) and facilities provided by the company in return for fees, royalties, or other compensation”

Over the last year or so, we’ve seen several martial arts franchises pop up in the industry. In fact, I even had one company approach me to write their operations manual for their school owners (And no, I didn’t write it).

John Graden told me he’s been approached for the exact same reason several times over the last couple of years by companies that were launching martial arts franchises.

Of course, we’ve been seeing the “cookie cutter” approach to martial arts schools for years. Many martial arts organizations have already been in the business of licensing their name, logo, business systems, etc. to their member schools and instructors. However, there is a huge difference between holding a license agreement to represent a style or system and entering into a franchise agreement with a franchisor.

For better or for worse (mostly worse, in my opinion) martial arts school franchises are here to stay. And while other martial arts business writers might disagree with me, I believe martial arts school franchises are a really bad idea for the the individual school owners that buy into them.

Here’s why: Read the rest of this entry »

Black Belt Club, Shmack Belt Club…

A lot of people in the industry make a big deal out of Black Belt Club upgrades – in fact, some business systems that are being taught revolve around upgrading students to BBC after only a few weeks.

To me, this is like the old illegal “bait-and-switch” sales tactic, where a business advertises a product or service at an extremely low price to get people in their store and then tells the customer they are sold out (or gives some other excuse) and offers to sell them a similar product at the regular price. Shame on those schools that line their pockets by upgrading all their students to a BBC program right off the bat!

Because of the widespread use of these types of tactics, I suggest you find other names to use for your upgraded memberships. For example, I recently spent some time with an Israeli martial arts instructor, and suggested he call his upgraded memberships “Krav Club.”

You could also use the terms “regular” membership, then “Gold” and “Platinum” level for the elite/upgraded programs you offer. The possibilities are endless; the object is to choose a name that is unique and that separates your elite memberships from your typical run-of-the-mill martial arts school.

Okay, enough with the soapbox lecture. Here’s what I recommend you do to make your BBC something your school can be proud of -

Benefits – What Your Elite Program Will Provide

It’s common sense – if you’re charging more, you need to offer more. Typically, you’ll want to offer the students in your upgraded programs something you don’t offer in your basic programs.

You can do this in one of three ways: 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 »