Business for Martial Arts
I will help grow your martial arts school!
Tips on Improving Your Martial Arts School Website
Jul 7th
I’ve looked at hundreds thousands of martial arts school websites. The main thing I’ve found in common with all of them is that, in general, they suck. This is bad because your website can be the best advertising medium you will ever spend money on! The reason they suck is easy to pinpoint:
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Another Secret to Converting Leads to Customers
Jul 6th
I have another secret for you. This secret is so important that it will increase your sales, guaranteed. Want to know what it is?
The secret is:
Always forward your office/school phone to your cell phone when you’re not in the office.
When leads call you in the early morning or on the weekend, they expect to get a machine. They expect to leave a message. Show them your awesome customer service skills by surprising them early…and answer the phone when they don’t expect it.
Two nights ago, I got a call from a lead while I was in the grocery store. I went to a quiet corner, took down their information, and talked to them about their child’s math issues like I normally do. Then the person said something I didn’t expect: “If you hadn’t answered, I would have called the next business on my list.” I told him that was how we do things at our business. He signed up for twelve months the next day.
I was surprised he said that because I know that people do that, but they just never tell me that they do that. I was surprised because he was honest.
Remember that I am the owner of a math tutoring business for kids. There’s not a lot of competition. I’ve worked with so many martial arts businesses and martial arts schools that I know this situation happens all the time.
It’s so hard to differentiate yourself as a martial arts business when everyone thinks of karate and tae kwon do as being the same. The one way to differentiate yourself right away is to be available. If you miss a call, return it right away. Especially the ones that don’t go to voice mail.
In my experience, very few people will leave a message unless they’re specifically looking for YOU. Since most aren’t, they’ll go on to the next name in their list.
Don’t forget to carry a notepad and pen with you so you can get their information when they call!
Happy Fourth of July
Jul 5th
If you’re in the United States, happy 4th of July! I always read the Declaration of Independence this time of year. It’s important to know where America comes from.
My secret technique to sell your martial arts school’s value to leads
Jun 30th
If you’ve been in business a while, you’ve heard some of the same questions over and over again. That’s a good thing, because it means you can easily come up with “canned” responses.
When I say “canned”, I don’t mean boring answers. I mean ready-to-use answers.
Here’s my secret system to increase your sales skills:
- Write down every question you can think of that leads ask.
- Take every question and write an answer. Any answer at all. Even if you repeat yourself.
- Wait at least 24 hours or more, then re-read all your answers. They were crappy weren’t they?
- Re-write your answers, this time, saying every answer out loud.
- Wait 24 more hours, then re-read your answers again. Fix any more problems and tighten up your answers. Be concise but informative.
- Now that the answers are done, work at memorizing them. Make sure you can recite them in your sleep.
- Over time, refine your answers and always look back at what you wrote to fix or update any problems.
This “secret” plan will work, but it’s hard work. You have to constantly be on improving your sales techniques as you’re in business. What you say today should not be the same thing you say next year…or even next month. You can always be better!
It’s worth it. The best martial arts school marketing in the world won’t save you if you can’t convert them into paying customers!
By the way, one blog that helps with sales skills is the Selling Sherpa. He’s awesome!
Check your martial arts school marketing
Jun 29th
I was talking to a few parents the other day, and they were talking about how they and their kids recently quit their martial arts school. Naturally, I asked why and they said something that I didn’t expect.
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Helpful SEO Tip for Multi-Center Owners
Jun 28th
I read a lot of blogs and a lot of books. Keeping current and learning new things to help my business (and yours) is important to me.
When I read this blog post, I knew it would be interesting to some of my readers.
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Not having a business plan is deadly!
Jun 23rd
One of the most important things that a business owner can do is to have a business plan. We’re always told that when we enter business, but somehow, most of the martial arts business owners I’ve talked to don’t have one.
It’s always something that they’ll do later. The excuse I always get is that they’re growing without one, so why bother? Or they don’t know how. Or they made one, but then lost the napkin that it was on!
This post shows proof why that’s a bad thing.
Palo Alto Software makes Business Plan Pro (and a couple of other software suites for business owners), and I don’t personally use their software (nor do I get paid if you buy it from them). My business plans have always been way more informal than what they handle, but I bought into a franchise so they helped me with my business plan.
They asked thousands of their users a few questions about if they have planned and if they have put the plan into practice. Almost 3000 of the people that had, at one time, planned to make a plan, responded.
Basically, those who actually finished their plans were almost two times as likely to grow their business and receive funding for their business!
This is important because if you plan your business, every aspect of your business, then you will be two times likelier to grow it.
If you have been in business for a while and don’t have a plan but you’re doing well, great! Could you do better if you knew where you were headed?
If you haven’t started your martial arts business yet, you need to have a plan before you ever think about leasing a location. There are a lot of things to think about.
And yes, I have made a business plan for this website and my business advising services!
Classifying people that seek out your business
Jun 22nd
I was talking to a martial arts school owner the other day, and he was talking about leads and prospects and referrals. I was confused with the way he was talking about them though, because he wasn’t using the words correctly.
So I decided to make a post about it.
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Like flies to vinegar??
Jun 21st
A few weeks ago, we started seeing a lot of gnats around our sink. To get rid of them, we put out a bowl with vinegar in it. This is what the all-knowing internet told us to do!
It worked great! The gnats all flocked to the bowl of vinegar. They flew around it and they loved it. The problem is that they didn’t die, they just hung out. We didn’t know what to do with them once they were all there.
What does this have to do with your business?
Reward your students for referrals
Jun 18th
If you want referrals, you have to tell people you want referrals. Then you have to reward people for referring other students to you.
There are a lot of issues I will eventually talk about regarding referrals, but for now, I want to mention something that I’ve not seen very many martial arts businesses do.
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