Posts Tagged ‘Introductory Lessons’

There’s No Need To Be Afraid Of “FREE”

Let me ask you a question…

What have you given away for free lately?

Now, I’m not talking about giving away a bunch of free lessons – that’s not very wise, and if done too much it’ll cheapen the value of your service in the prospects eyes.

Think about it, you don’t see doctors giving away free surgeries, or attorneys advertising “First Case in Court Free!”

However, there are times when you can give away something for free and have it work in your favor. The trick is finding ways to do this while meeting two very important criteria:

1. First, the free offer must perform the function of enticing the prospect to give up something valuable – either their contact information, their commitment, or their time -
2. Second, the free offer must NOT be constructed in such a way that you are giving away too much value and thereby reducing the perceived value of your services (and I’ll explain how to determine whether this is so – read carefully because this is important!)

Meeting these two criteria is crucial to your free offer’s success. Fail to meet either one and you’ll end up on the losing end of the deal, every single time.

So, how do you do this? Here’s how… Read the rest of this entry »

As a martial arts school owner, you need to recognize the relationship between price and value. I feel that it’s important to share this with you because when you raise your rates, you can rest assured that there will be some people who will say that you are “too high” or “too expensive” or whatever… However, the fact remains that: 1. You get what you pay for. 2. Value is always related to perception – therefore, the perceived value of a product determines what a person will be willing to pay. Read the rest of this entry »

In the typical small school, the primary person responsible for scheduling introductory lessons, returning messages, and answering telephone inquiries will be you, the owner.

Therefore, it is your responsibility to turn a prospect into a student by getting them scheduled for an intro lesson the first time they call.

Just remember this: Before a prospective client actually sees your classes, and experiences the quality of your instruction, they have no reference by which to assess the value of your program. Knowing this, you can see how important it is to schedule that first lesson!

Although this sounds like a lot of responsibility (and it is), it is really not as hard as it sounds (remember, I did all this stuff by myself when I first started out).

There are three reasons why I say most people make appointment setting harder than it has to be: Read the rest of this entry »

Although most of the martial arts school owners and instructors I have coached don’t want to have a huge mega-studio, many of us would like to earn a comfortable living teaching between 150 and 200 students. While for some that may seem like an easy goal, for many others reaching 150 students seems near impossible.

The biggest hurdle to most school owners in hitting their enrollment goals is that they tend to look at different aspects of their business in isolated terms. Over here we have “curriculum”, here we have “advertising”, here we have “retention”, here is “billing”, then there’s “scheduling”, “pricing”, etc.

The problem with this is that it leads to a skewed sort of thinking – that is to say, you start to think that one part of your operations won’t affect the whole. And that can be hazardous to achieving your goal of having a small, profitable studio.

Let me explain… Read the rest of this entry »

”Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”
- Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)

Marketing is the Lifeblood of Your Studio

How important is marketing for your success? Without any reservations, I can tell you that it’s the lifeblood of your business. As I emphasize in the manual, no matter how good your product or service is it doesn’t matter one bit unless people know about it.

When current and aspiring martial arts school owners contact me for help increasing their enrollment, one of the first things I inquire about is their marketing. How and where are they advertising, how do they track their advertising results, how much is their advertising budget, and so on. Read the rest of this entry »

New and prospective students require special attention and care during their first visit to your school. This is when the student and their family will form their first impression of you and your studio.

If they are not given ample time to ask questions, or if they feel they were mishandled in any way, chances are good that they’ll end up at another martial arts school. Remember, if they leave your school, they will miss out on a quality martial arts experience.

It’s a real shame when someone opts for a sub-par martial arts school because they weren’t handled in a professional manner at another school. Don’t lose anyone over a lack of professionalism and courtesy!

Here are some guidelines to follow to make a new student feel at home on their first day: Read the rest of this entry »