We had a Great Summer!

It has been some time since I last wrote on this website or blog, but i was an excellent summer for use, despite some losses of a few students. During the months of May, June, and July we enrolled over 30 new members. This was outstanding especially given the fact that the economy is still suffering.

August was a little slow, but thus far September is also looking very strong! My message to everyone at this point? Keep strong and stick to the path. Your results will amaze you!

Visit our website at http://karate-marketing.com

Body Armor for the Recession

Keeping adults training.

One of the keys to success in the martial arts business is attracting and keeping adult students. Often times adults start out strong, but end up quitting down the road due to boredom and sometimes injury.

Without these adult students, your school has no future.

With this in mind, school owners, check out this coming event and learn more about attracking adults and keeping them training.

Kyusho Jitsu Information Webinar for instructors and school owners. Wednesday July 8th 3:00pm EDT http://snipr.com/lrtdj

Space is limited and this webinar is FREE.

Good Summer Coming

Now we are more than half finished June I can honestly say that it is looking like it will be a record year for summer enrollments. Now not all is good news. We have lost a few people lately due to the poor economic conditions of this city. However the numbers are still below average for the industry and with the new enrollments we are GROWING.

What is the secret? Well we kept marketing and working to get new students. One of the best times to market is in a recession. Why? Well for one not everyone is affected and two, most other business STOP marketing to save money.

School owners make sure you are still doing the things that have worked for you to get enrollments. Also make sure you are marketing to you current students for possible family add on's and referrals!

Good luck everyone!

Learn Kyusho Jitsu at Home!

Finally after a year of work, our Kyusho Jitsu Home Study Course is going to be released on July 20th 2009!. Here is what you will find in this package.

• Our Novice Kyusho Jitsu Workbook
• Information on obtaining (Certifying) as a Black Belt
• 7 DVD's filled with study material you can begin to use right away.
• Monthly email newsletter
• Unlimited email support

So what is one these 7 DVD's?

1. Revival Techniques (dealing with a knockout) - Anatomy of a Pressure Point - Principles of Kyusho Jitsu
2. Meridians of the Upper Extremities -Understanding the Cycles of Destruction and Creation
3. Meridians of the Lower Extremities - Energy Flow Theory
4. Kyusho Jitsu Joint Locks and Principles
5. Stances, how they work and why - 24 Diurnal Cycle and how to use it.
6. Kata Bunkai (Breakdowns of 2 kata)
7. Bonus DVD - Kyusho Jitsu Self Defense Techniques

Advanced orders for our Kyusho Jitsu Home Study Course may now be placed. All orders are placed through PayPal and will include shipping to your destination. Make sure that all information in your profile is correct. You don't need a PayPal account to use PayPal. You may process with a credit card.

Click on the link that best describes your shipping needs. All payments are done through The Peaceful Warriors' Martial Arts PayPal account. (Peaceful Warrior Publishing)

The cost of this 7 DVD set is $250 CAD. Below are a breakdown of cost for shipping.

• Home Study Course Shipped to Canada $250+$15.00 shipping
• Home Study Course Shipped to USA $250+$30.00 shipping
• Home Study Course Shipped Overseas $250+$45.00 shipping

Clicking on the links provided to get you started. All order pages as SSL secure. Please email any questions to master@kyushojitsu.ca

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Something Funny

Retention with websites

Keeping students coming to class is always a challenge. One of our greatest retention tools is our student website. This is a members only website, with some public content. However you must be registered and an active student to get the most out of it.

Here are some of the features of this SOCIAL website.

• Forums for discussions
• Article and video cover varying topics
• Photo Gallery
• Event Calendar
• Private Messaging among members
• and much more!

This website was created using Joomla and is very easy to update. Take a look at it with this LINK. If you don't already have one going, feel free to contact me for some more information on getting started.

Fall is coming

Fall has always been a big time for martial art school owners. It is the time when most school enroll the bulk of the students for the year.

Are you prepared now for Fall?

Right now marketing money for most school is tight. But the fact is that you need to do something now to drive the September traffic. Make some fliers and get them out to local schools and in your neighborhood. June is the time, not August.

Redouble your efforts and September will be a great month for you!

Hitting a Home Run

One of the dangers that comes in marketing your martial arts school is when you do something that is a "Home Run". Most of the effective marketing things we will do are 'base hits' and sometimes a 'double', but the Home Run is rare and dangerous!

A Home Run is when your marketing efforts provide leads or students in greater numbers than you dreamed would happen. Of course is this great news! The problem is that we tend to then depend on this method, expecting these results to continue. They may continue for a while, but as we all are aware nothing is forever! The big problem comes when we have stopped doing the other things, the base hits, in lieu of the great results we are getting in one area.

Remember the base hits are what is going to make you school great. Don't look for the home run, but enjoy it when it happens!

Do you have a summer plan?

The NAPMA boys are currently talking a lot about the up coming summer and the slow down that tends to happen to most school. Summer at my school is a busy one and it has been that way the last 4 summers. Why? Because we plan it that way.

Every year I listen to instructors and school owners talk about how bad summer is. Since this is there focus, this is the result they will get. About 5 years ago after have the worst summer I can ever remember we decided it was time to do something about it. So rather then aim our marketing at September and October like everyone else does, we aim at June, July and August. it works too! In fact the wave has started early this year! We have enrolled 8 in May with more on the table! (by the way we charge premium prices for premium service). September and October are also still good months for us!

So get the lead out! Start your marketing NOW and see the benefits. Also, don't forget to plan some great events this summer to keep your students training!

Free Kyusho Jitsu DVD

Register today by clicking this link and receive your FREE Kyusho Jitsu DVD! This DVD includes some techniques you can learn to use right away! There is no cost or obligation and we even pay the shipping! Don't wait this is a limited time offer!

Retain Adult Students - Learn Kyusho Jitsu at Home

Finally after a year of work, our Kyusho Jitsu Home Study Course is almost ready to be released. We are expected everything to be ready to go early summer this year! Here is what you will find in this package.

* Our Novice Kyusho Jitsu Workbook
* Information on obtaining (Certifying) as a Black Belt
* 7 DVD's filled with study material you can begin to use right away.
* Monthly email newsletter
* Unlimited email support

So what is on these 7 DVD's?

1. Revival Techniques (dealing with a knockout) - Anatomy of a Pressure Point - Principles of Kyusho Jitsu
2. Meridians of the Upper Extremities -Understanding the Cycles of Destruction and Creation
3. Meridians of the Lower Extremities - Energy Flow Theory
4. Kyusho Jitsu Joint Locks and Principles
5. Stances, how they work and why - 24 Diurnal Cycle and how to use it.
6. Kata Bunkai (Breakdowns of 2 kata)
7. Bonus DVD - Kyusho Jitsu Self Defense Techniques

Pricing information and delivery information will be available very soon. Bookmark this page. This course will provide you with enough information to start using these principles right away. If you have any questions please email me at master@kyushojitsu.ca. Visit our website at http://www.kyushojitsu.ca

Kyusho Jitsu is one of the most effective programs for the retention of adult students. Visit our website for more information.

What about sales?

The auto talks continue as GM and Chrysler try to restructure themselves to become viable companies once again. They are still talking about loans and concessions, but no one is talking about sales!

Borrowing money to pay bills just doesn't work, we all know that. It only delays the problem. But how many new car commercials are we seeing on TV? It is like these companies have rolled over and died already.

Do you remember Chrysler back in the late 70's early 80s? They spent a ton of money reselling the market on their company. How many of you remember this commercial?




This and other strategies is why Chrysler recovered. Hopefully the current directors of both GM and Chrysler will refocus and get sales moving!

Who is your best customer?

How many times have you asked yourself that question? The answer is much more obvious that your might first think.

Entrepreneurs spend a ton of money acquiring new customers. We advertise on TV, radio, Newspapers, Magazines and fliers. The problem is while we are working hard for all these new customers, we are missing the boat on our greatest resource, our CURRENT customers.

That is right, are you still marketing to you present customers? In a martial arts school this can be selling equipment, or adding another family member as a student. Are you tracking previous customers? Martial Art school owner should have a re-activation list of old students that they would love to have comeback.

Remember your greatest resource is your current customer lists. Yes, marketing for new members is VERY important, but tend to you flock first. Your results will amaze you!

Becoming Better than your Competition

To become incredibly successful in any business you need to increase your potential clients perceived value of your product or service. If they see your service as valuable, then the price objection will disappear. In a martial art school what is the best way to do this?

Well, first what is going on in your classroom better be amazing! If you are doing appointments and intros, it is not the time to be training new instructors. The floor must run seamlessly. It needs to be high energy and well controlled. The students need to look like they are loving what they are doing. If they have been looking at other schools, you want them to see how great yours is compared to the others.

Now here is the clincher! Give them a FREE uniform when they register for their 2 FREE Intro's. Yes you are going to lose some uniforms from people who decide not to enroll. But the odds are you are currently throwing money away in Penny Saver ads and things like that. This will increase your intro to enrollment ratio quite dramatically.

Give it a try, you will be thrilled with the results.

Saving Our Economy - Back to Reality

If you listen to the news, read the papers, all you ever hear about is how back our economies are. This is true. For many, many thousands of people things are very bad. Locally we have a radio station with a talk show. It has been dominated since the fal with talk about economic conditions, job losses and especially GM. Ford and Chrysler. The main topic? If we lose these companies, where will people find jobs?

Let take a look for a moment at one real problem with this way of thinking. Who will employ me? I have a degree, but no job. What feild should I be retrained in to get a job?

Our continent was founder by immagrants for all over the globe who came here for one reason. To make a better life for themselves. Non of these people came here looking for jobs! Some found work, but many, many of them created BUSINESSES.

We need to put the idea back into people's head that they need to resolve their problems by creating businesses. These businesses will hopefully grow and eventually employ other people. All the huge corporations that we know today started as small businesses and grew into what we now have. I believe the day of Mom and Pop operations will return and the days of WALMart will end.

If you are a martial arts school owner on a part time basis, start thinking about doing it full time. If you are a martial arts school owner without employment, now is the time to change your focus.

Our website and coaching program can help you with this transistion. However I do recommend to check out Dan Kennedy's information as well as reading anything and everything you can about starting a business and being successful.

If you have any questions, feel free to send me off an email at artm...@karate-marketing.com

Now on Facebook

I just setup a support group on Facebook since just about everyone has an account there. Check us out at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67509033257

We are just getting started here, but it will be a great place to discuss ideas for growing your school or business.

See you there!

The Secret to Business Growth

Everyone who runs a business is looking for a home run idea that will increase sales and customer / client base. Often while looking for these ideas that will turn everything around we miss the small "base hits" that can really make a difference in your business.

Social networks are great, but they are only a small piece of the puzzle. What is this 'base hit' idea? Get out and meet new people each and every day! For the martial art school owner this is a MUST.

People buy from people they know. By meeting people in person you can become a local celebrity in your town. So how do you meet people? Here are some great examples.

• Join your local Chamber of Commerce
• If you are a church goer, there is a great resource
• Visit the business in your area and say hello
• Be friendly to people that cross your path
• Attend local charity functions

Remember to create yourself a great elevator speech too! This is a 30 second speech to tell someone what it is you do for a living. Keep a notebook (small) with you to keep track of the people you meet. Get as much information as you can. Soon you will be build a large database of people you know. Over time you will see a big change in your business.

What is The Path?

So what is The Path?

The Path was introduced to me by my martial arts business mentor Keith Hafner. The Path put very simple is what happens to a new student from first contact all the way to Black Belt. When I first joined Professor Hafner's Gold Mastermind Coaching Team over 1 year ago our school had it's own method of enrolling students. The statistics proved that the method we were using wasn't working!

Here is what The Path looks like.

Info Call - Appointment - 1st Intro Lesson - 2nd Intro Lesson - Enrollment - Renewal - Black Belt

In subsequent articles I am going to break this PATH down bit by bit and piece by piece. If you follow this model to the letter, you will be very successful in enrolling new students! Our number went from a bleak 30% to 80% very quickly by following what will be posted to the letter!

I would also suggest going to his website and getting a copy of his Small Business Mastery Course. This was one of the best investment we have ever made! Take a look at the link and get yourself a copy. There is nothing more important for your business than your education!

40 Characteristics of a Leader

Leadership in the martial arts business is critical to success. Here are 40 characteristics of a great leader.

1. Leaders isolate themselves to recharge and reflect
2. They are experts at learning and knowing peoples names.
3. They are skilled at relationship building
   
4. They keep a journal and capture lessons
5. Learn from their own mistakes and the mistakes of others
6. Unafraid of criticism
7. Value quality vs. quantity
   
8. They are proactive
9. Understand that evil exists and fight it.
10. Understand the times (seasons) in which they live
    
11. They are numerically literate (interested in the numbers)
12. Have a library
13. They are skilled at speaking well of others
14. They are students of excellence in every area
    
15. Leaders rejoice in the success of others
16. They can see how others see them, they can put themselves in other people shoes.
17. They are good finishers, but just good starters.
18. They expect more of themselves than others do.
19. They give without remembering, and recieve without forgetting.
20. They are always Optimistic.They know you get what you expect.
21. Leaders are great asker's of questions.
22. Leaders move outside their comfort zone. The run to opportunity.
23. Habit of prayer or reflection.
24. Willing to do things that others aren't willing to do.
25. They focus on older wisdom - time edits the bad.
26. They are masters of personal appetites
27. They are merchants of hope. Quieter's of fear.
28. They are loyal to those who have been loyal to them
29. Maintain regular habits and schedules
30. Do small things extraordinarily well.
31. They create systems, they make things work.
32. Leaders can take charge in a crisis
33. Leaders are good listeners. Seek first to understand, then be understood.
34. They know everything counts. Pay attention to the details.
35. They create time, reverse procrastination.
36. Leaders anticipate. They look down the road. They have VISION.
37. They are confrontational. (attack problems head on)
    
38. Leaders apply what they have learned. They are doers
39. Leaders invest time and money in personal education.
40. They are 'good' finders in all situations and great 'Sayers' of these finding.

Offline Strategies

Can you really drive traffic to your website by the bucketful with offline advertising?

Yes! If you've been running your online business without offline advertising support, you've been doing it all wrong! (And missing out on extra profits.)

The best entrepreneurs have been advertising in proven "real-world" mediums for years with amazing success. Profiting like mad with...

• Print ads
• TV spots
• Radio spots
• Inserts
• Magazine and newspaper articles
• Classifieds
• Direct mail
• Direct response
  
• And FREE local advertising

For this free report called Offline Strategies for Online Business's simple go to our website and register. The report is FREE with no strings attached. I have used this information myself to help drive prospects to register on my school website.

What have you got to lose?

Driving traffic to your website

I have mentioned on our website that one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website and increase your search engine rankings is to write press releases and articles. I received a tweet today about doing just this with a fanatic list of various websites that will publish your articles.

Follow this LINK to read more about posting articles and driving traffic to your website or blog! Also for some great advise on marketing online follow dsmpublishing on twitter.

Writing internet articles has helped make my school website number 1 on Google and Yahoo without me spending a cent advertising it.

Time Management

How best do we manage our time so there is more available to us each and every day. Well the truth is that there is only 24 hours per day, so we cannot create any more time, we have all there is, but we can begin to manage it better.

First, start to log your normal activities each and every day. See if there are places, and there will be, were you can improve your efficiency. When I first did this I ran the log for about 3 weeks. I was shocked at how much time I was wasting on a continuous basis. On this list also remember to prioritize these tasks. Be honest too.

When the 3 weeks is past take a long hard look at what you are doing. Area's of improvement will become very obvious too you.

Time Vampires

For martial arts school owners and instructors these are a very real threat! These are often well meaning students, parents, staff or friends who just drop in to your office to talk. These people are always themselves running from place to place trying to get things done. This problem must be resolved. Have students or parents come to see you at preset times or by appointment. You can lose hours per week or day if you don't take charge os this problem ASAP.

This is a great start to getting control of your time and reducing your stress levels. I will go into other time management strategies in later posts.

Goal Setting 101

Of all of the topic I discuss on the floor in class and in articles I write on different websites and blogs this is one of my favorite topics as well as one of the most important.

Success psychologists say that 95% - 97% of the people in the world do NOT have written goals and fail, while 3-5% have written goals and succeed. These people also succeed to what their goals and desire are and really no further.

If you take a look at the current conditions of our world you can see what this lack of foresight by the masses has created. Why don't people have written goals? Mostly because they are too lazy to do it! The idea of goal setting is to plant a suggestion in your non-conscious mind, and have it go to work on creating the reality you desire. By writing your goals out you etch the desired result into your unconscious mind, which will then take over and provide the ideas and method to achieve these goals. But you MUST do the programing to be successful!

Being a martial artist means learning to set goals. Your first goal when you begin is to achieve your first stripe. You are also looking at the higher ranking belts and wanting to be like them. Black Belt is the first long term goal! Watch this 9 minute video to understand the true life changing power of goal setting!

Don't wait! Get started today and create the life you want to live, rather than the one the media is telling you that you are going to. And as Tony Robbins always says "Live with Passion!"

Your Business Education

How much time and money do you spend on developing your business knowledge? I have found that most martial arts school owners basically fly by the seat of their pants and hope for the best. Some will do alright for a while, but eventually the lack of knowledge on running a business will catch up to them.

At this time I am personally spending about 12,000 dollars per year on business education. Has this been worth it? YES. Actually I should spend more.

Now I know what you are saying, I can't afford that much money right now. This might be true, but you can't afford not to get started! First get yourself a copy of Dan Kennedy's Magnetic Marketing. The link I am providing is for an electronic version and the price is AMAZING. You will not be sorry you did!

Next use your car as a learning device. Listen to business audio in your car while you are driving. Zig Ziglar calls this going to Automobile University.

Finally look into coaching programs. These can be VERY expensive, but we offer one via email for only $19.95 per month. You can cancel at anytime also.

Good luck everyone!

Shift your Focus, the Power of Questions - Tony Robbins.

Check this video out.

Don't throw away your advertising $$$$

Hard economic times require that you continue to market. No matter where you might live there are always people doing well in any economy. An example is cars sales being down, then auto repair is booming. It is also a fact that those businesses who continue to market during tough times are in a better position when things get better than those who did nothing.

What do you need to do? First you must clearly define WHO exactly your market it. If you answered everyone, you are wrong! My best market are families with parents between the ages of 30-45, with 2 young children, a home and an income of $50,000 or more. With this information I can locate where they are living. (Like attracts like) and market to this group with better effectiveness.

Next I am going to decide what media I want to use to deliver my message to them. This also requires research and planning. I really don't want my message to be delivered to people who cannot afford my services, nor to people who don't want my services. This is a waste of money in a time when no one can afford to do that.

I know of a local martial arts club that is very new to the business. They decided to have some large postcards delivered to the entire neighborhood in the area that the club operated. They created a very expensive multi colour card, which was full of logos and pictures telling the world about all the things they had available for the public. One one half of the card there was a picture of two ring fighters, with one receiving a heavy punch to the head. On the other half (same side) they had a child in uniform telling parents about their great kids program. I can guarantee that the only business generated from this was for the recycle people. There were too many messages on the card and they were in direct conflict with each other. Someone looking for ring fighting doesn't want kids around, and parents don't want their kids beaten up. This is a BAD messages.

I could go on for hours on this topic alone. Check out are website for more on this and other marketing topics.

How Important is Retention?

What is retention and how important is it? Retention is simply, how many students as a percentage are quitting each and every month. An example is if you have 100 students in your school and 5% quit this month, you know have 95 students. If your school has 300 students and 5% quit, you now have 285 students.

These number can be very sobering! The trick is of course to enroll more students than you have quit! So lets look at this again.

Example 1

School A has 100 students with a 5% quit rate, they need to enroll 5 new students each month just to keep even. To grow they need to either enrol more students, or drop their quit rate!

Example 2

School B has 300 students with a 5% quit rate, they need to enrol 15 new students each month to break even! WOW they is an even more difficult task. If they don't enroll 15 new students they are losing ground. This school must look at reducing the number of students quitting as well as getting new students.

From these example you can see how important retention is! 5% is also well below the average for most martial art schools! If either school can get the quit rate down to 3% they make the job of growth far easier!

Run these number for your school and see how you are doing!

#1 Leads????

Martial Arts School Owners spend a lot of money advertising. They decide to advertise in Penny Savers, Coupon Books, Kids Magazine etc, etc etc. Often the return is very poor at best. This type of advertising is OK in moderation, but it is often chosen by MEDIA rather than MARKET. This topic however is for another time.

#1 Leads are something most school owners neglect. These are the people who have contacted you on their own or from advertising and said they are interested but did not enroll for some reason. These leads are GOLD because we know they are interested already. Are you keeping track of these people? Are you getting name / address /phone number? If you are not start doing so ASAP.

These leads are great to market to. We will talk more about this later.

Now is the time to Market

Have you been paying attention to your mailbox recently? Well I have! I don't get anywhere near the amount of "JUNK" advertising mail as I did a year ago. Why? The economy is bad, so business stops advertising. This just does not make any sense at all!

Since the mailbox is slow, now is the time to increase your activity to drive people toward your school or business. Send mail to former members and any #1 Leads you have. Make sure your sales letter is a good one, with a headline, lots of content and a great offer.

This is also a great time for fliers to go out! Follow the links provided for more information on writing sales letters and creating fliers.

Remember to us the Law of Attraction and focus and what you want for an outcome and not what you don't want!

Hackers and Business

If you are using a PC you are subject to hacker on the internet. Make no mistake about this! I have been involved in the computer (PC) industry since it's creation back in the 70's and these hackers and virus writers are for real.

Here is a LINK to a 60 Minutes video on the current trends in hacking.

Make sure you have good AntiVirus software and that it is up to date. Also you need a good firewall to keep intruders out.

I have about 10 different website and there are hack attempts each and every night. So far my security has only been breached once.

If you want to end the problem, switch to a Mac. This will not completely eliminate the problem, but it will reduce it about 99%.

Lead Boxes

Today I am writing about something I personally never use, Lead Boxes. These are boxes you put into stores ith pen and paper hoping that someone will fill them out for you to contact.

I have head and seem many horror stories around this marketing tool, but for the most part you are not going to get very good leads.

Here is a LINK to an article on using Lead Boxes. Take a look and if it works for you then by all means go for it!

Are you still charging test fees?

The subject of test fees came up on Saturday at Keith Hafner's Marketing Bootcamp. I have not charged test fees for coloured belts in over two years. We started fazing them out before that.

Hafner says "Test fees are death to student retention". I must also agree.

I remember when I took my first belt test back in 1984 and was charged $55 for my yellow stripe. Now I wanted to be a Black Belt, and wanted the training more than I can describe so I didn't complain. MY piers however were not very happy. 99% of them quit after a few months.

If you are still charging test fees consider building these costs into your tuition. Since belt testing is mandatory is is not smart business to turn around and charge for it. This will also assure your students test in a timely manner.

Parents may be paying it, but I can tell you they resent doing it. Don't nickle and dime them. Follow this and watch your student retention increase each month!

More on Social Networks

Here is an interesting martial art social network I found a few days ago. It is called Martial Art Professional Community. It is still very small, but well worth checking into! Logon and create and account. I would be interested to hear your feedback.

Why are martial artists so resistant to change?

Yesterday I was in Ann Arbor Michigan at Keith Hafner's Martial Arts Marketing Bootcamp. Now I am a Gold Coaching Student of Professor Hafner, and have been so for 2 years.

The Bootcamp was fantastic as always, but I am always stunned by how resistant some people are to change. Everyone was there to find ways to improve their martial arts business. Keith Hafner is one of the most successful school operator/owners in the business. Yet, so many of the ideas he has are met with resistance.

Tony Robbins always says if you want to be more successful, find people who are getting the results you want and model them. Keith Hafner says, "You always get the right result".

So, how is what you are currently doing working for you? If it is working great, then I guess you don't need to change anything. If it is not getting the results you want, then it is time for change. According to Albert Einstein, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. I quite agree!

There was one lady present who when Professor said that test fees were the death of retention, was VERY resistant. But she likely does not know what her monthly dropout / quit rate is. I know mine, and test fees are the death of student retention. I have not charged test fees for colour belts in years!

Are you looking for a better result? Change your thinking! Check out our website too.

Using Social Networks to Advertise

Social Networks are all the rage today. There are so many that I can't even really begin to list them all. Facebook is of course the best know of these. Social Networks are a great way to promote your business for free or at a very low cost. You can use this networks to drive traffic to your website or your school.

Myself I have done little work in this end but am now really starting to see the value. Take a look at this artivle on Mainstreet.com. http://mainstreet.com/article/small-business/marketing/using-social-networks-small-business?page=2

I welcome your feedback

Following this Blog

For those of you who are reading this BLOG you can now follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/MaMarketing . I will be twittering frequent updates and ideas to get your school moving forward in this bad economy we are seeing.

I will return the follow as well!

The art of retaining Adult Students

One of the most important things in running a martial art school or business is being able to retain your adult population. These are the students that help you to determine your future in the arts. These members are not only potential Black Belts, but potential teachers as well.

What causes these students to quit? Simple, they get bored.

Would you like to retain your adult members as well as motivate your current Black Belt. It's easy, simply click on the picture for more information right now.

Have you noticed your mailbox?

If you are anything like me, and I love to watch other business' market your might have noticed that they amount of JUNK mail you are receiving is dropping.

For some reason when times are tough many business stop their marketing efforts.

This is great news for us!! Now is a great time to send old non active students and number one leads some postcards or letters. With so little in their mail box, you increase your change of getting read!

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!