Martial Art School Owners - The Uncoached Masses

As martial arts Black Belt we know better! Can you imagine having started your training as a White Belt having your instructor give you a video and wish you luck. "Come and see me in 4 years when you are ready to be a Black Belt". Do you think you would make it?

So why is it when it comes to business so many martial arts school owners think they are Black Belt in being an entrepreneur? Do our ego's become so BIG we are willing to fail just so we don't need to admit we don't know everything?

Back when I first opened by school I purchased a copy of "Black Belt Management" by John Graden. It was actually part of my NAPMA package. Now back in the day Napma was a pretty good organization, but it still only covered maybe 10% of what I needed! Plus, I was uncoached and NAPMA could not help me with that.

Now being uncoached in business is like trying to learn martial arts without a teacher. GOOD LUCK! You need someone to keep you on track, doing things the right way and allowing you to ask questions. Being coached is the difference between success and failure, excelling and just getting by.

I am being coached and it has made the world of difference in my business and life. And guess what, my coach is being coached too!

I am currently offering an opportunity on my website for those school owners who are not being coached to get in on a program at a FRACTION of the cost of other coaching programs. Once you are in, your keep this great price also. I will add however that this price is not going to last! I am accepting a few people into this Email Coaching Program, then the price will increase to what the real value is!

Here is the URL for more information. Take a look, email me any questions, and I look forward to talking to you very soon!

Will my business survive - Bad Economy 101

Reprinted from Martial Arts Marketing Canada Website

I watch the statistics for this website each and every morning at the start of my day. It has been fascinating that the traffic here slows down, the worse the economy seems to get. Go figure! You would think that smart marketing would become more and more important as the problems get worse.

It has been several weeks since my last article, why? My school has been very busy! November has been an excellent month for us for enrollments, despite the bad news everywhere. So why are we growing when so many other schools are going out of business or just surviving? two reasons, #1 is student services. We are always striving to make the student experience better and better. Then when Mom and Dad look to eliminate unnecessary things from the budget, we are not one of them! But I will do specific student service articles later.

The second reason, how many students do you actually need to do well?

I live in an auto town. The unemployment rate is up 30% and 2 plants are closing in the next little while. There are approximately 200,000 people in this town, not to mention the surrounding area. There are also about 20 commercial martial art schools.

The area (5 square miles) that my school is in has about 30,000 or more people in it. How many people out of this are going to be affected by the current situation? Let's face it there are a lot of people still out there with lots of money! But, lets put this figure high at 50%. That leaves me 15,000 unaffected.

How many of those are prospects (age etc). Ok how about 5000? This will exclude older people, people with no children etc. Again I am giving a high figure!

Now, look at your current situation, would another 100 students change your life? With the above figure I would need .02% to move to enroll 100 new students. See my point?

So, stop worrying and bitching about the economy, and start doing smart marketing. Start with your current flock of students. You will be amazed at what you see happening! Feel free to email and questions to artm...@karate-marketing.com.

Who represents you?

One of the things I really enjoy doing is visiting other schools. I don't do it very often in my home town simply because I am known. I love to visit other towns and cities and just drop in. What I am looking for? Not how much they charge, I really don't care (this includes my city too). I want to see how I am being greeted when I arrive.

Today I dropped in on a local school. They were open and I was curious. I stepped into the Dojo and was quickly acknowledged by what I am assuming to be a 'trainer" (This is a MMA Fight Club that teaches martial arts too). He shouted from across the room at me "What do you want"? He also definitely looked like I was bothering him.

Now this man did not know who I was, nor was he interested. However had I been a prospect for his club I would have been turned off right at the door. So I ask again, who is representing your business?

For most people entering a martial arts establishment is an intimidating thing. Having someone further intimidate you at the door is no way to get students. If this is the norm for martial arts schools, and unfortunately it is, no wonder so many are failing.

Hmmm......I wonder how they answer the phone?

Do you issue a Newsletter?

Do you issue a Newsletter each month to your students? If you don't it is time to start! For years now I have had an online newsletter, but this year I am going to add a paper version to hand out to the class at the beginning of each month.

Why? It builds school spirit! It makes the students excited to see what is in it and who the Student of the Month is? Yep, Student of the Month, each and every month!

What else can you put into a Newsletter? Well just about anything. It is especially awesome to talk about things that different students have achieved outside of the karate classroom.

And for your first or next newsletter, don't forget to talk about all the great things your school did last year. Include some of the great things you have planned for this year also.

Oh, one other thing, do you know what you call this? It is Soft Marketing, and GREAT STUDENT SERVICE!

Happy New Year everyone!