1. Find out what your competitors in the same area are offering. Do your research. You must find various items to distinguish yourself.
Lower the Barrier of Entry
2. Lower the barrier of entry as much as possible. For example, if most schools in your area ask for an entrance fee, you should not.
Realize that a student may stay with you, on average, for 3 years, so you can afford to give away a little on the front end to gain their initial
trust, knowing that you will capitalize over the long term. This is why it is crucial to understand the Lifetime Value of your average customer.
You can run an ad in the local paper that says something like this: "We realize that your little boy or girl may not like (your type of martial
arts) and it is difficult for you to risk spending an entrance fee, first month's fee and the price of the uniform, only to have your child
miserable in his lesson, hoping to quit. We want to remove that risk from you. That's why you can join the (name of your dojo) with no
entrance fee. And, if you child doesn't like his/her classes for any reason whatsoever and wants to quit after the first month, we will refund
your first month's fee and even allow you to return the uniform." This type of ad has been effective in similar industries and you will gain
many students, even when other similar schools are losing them.
3. Get senseis who love students and show it. I think this is more important that having a strong ability to teach. One of our most influential
teachers (in Japan) in helping to grow our school was actually quite limited in his ability to teach, but because this person loved on the
students so much, they showed their love in return and our school went through a great period of growth.
4. Realize that you can only grow your school by increasing the number of hours that a teacher teaches, increasing the number of students
in a class, or increasing the amount that each student pays. You must look for additional products or services that you can sell to your
students. Consider building a DVD training program for either students or teachers so that you can develop an on-going revenue outside
of your own school operation.
Referrals
Give your students coupons or dollars that can only be spent in your dojo. Instruct them to hand them out to friends and family members.
The people they give the coupons to could bring them in and save on their first month's tuition. The student who give the coupon would
receive an equal amount for a discount on their next month's fee. You will probably grow 10%/year by this method alone.
Martial Arts