Posts Tagged ‘Perception’

FREE Lessons?

Members can download the Halloween party invitation and this months ads in the members' download area.

Okay, let’s talk about giving away free lessons for a moment…

I’m not a big fan of FREE lessons, except for adult classes (I always offer the first class free – it’s a great no-pressure way to get busy adults into your school). The thing is, if you give something away for free all the time, it cheapens the perceived value in the potential customer’s eyes.

That’s why I limit guest pass distribution to students and staff (think “scarcity”). This is just my own personal preference; however, time and experience have proven this to be a wise approach.

So why is this month’s ad giving away free lessons? Because, every so often I like to advertise “an offer they can’t refuse.” How many moms are sitting on the fence right now about starting their kids in martial arts, that a few weeks of free lessons won’t convince to take the plunge? A bunch, I’m sure.

And, how much do you think your students will want to tell their friends to come in and try classes, if they can tell them, “It’s free until October 31st?” Who doesn’t want to share a good deal with their friends?

Here’s the thing – free offers are good when they are used properly and in small doses. There’s a good reason why top marketers and copywriters say “free” is the most powerful word in marketing. As long as you don’t let “free” become the overall perception of value for your services, a little bit of “free” every now and again is a good thing.

Now, here’s a tip for how to handle people coming in for their free classes during October:
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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.

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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 »

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 »