3 Tips On: Closing the back door!

You have 60 students, and you are registering an average 3 students a month. Why is it that after 1 year you are still left with 60 students? Even though the answer to this question could be very complex, there is a simple explanation! Your back door is as wide as your front door! You spend money on advertising, you make efforts to market your school, but you focus so much on getting new students that you forget about the most import part of your school. Gaining new students is very important, but keeping the ones you already have can be more important. You have to make sure that your students enjoy and continue their training for years to come.

We all like to feel that the number of students we are losing on a monthly basis is an average in the industry, but do you really want to be an average school? In any type of business average always looses, while the best survives. Martial Arts business is becoming more competitive every day and the only way to increase the student body is to learn how to keep students!

We can all blame our failure on the Economy or any other reason but the fact stays that the more students you have, the better you live and the better you can help people in your community to become their best. After all isn’t that what we teach to our students, “Be the Best you can Be”.

How do I close the Back Door?

The first thing you need to do is to know how your school is statistically doing right now. If you don’t like to do your stats, unfortunately you will never be able to grow your business. You not only need to find your strength, but also your school’s weaknesses so you can focus more on improving things that are not working out. Remember business is logic. If you treat it logically, you will most likely win. For instance, you will need to be able to answer the following questions.

How many students do you currently have?______________

How many students did you have at the beginning of the year?_____________

How many students have you registered this year?_______________

If the answers to questions 1 and 2 are equal or close in numbers and the
answer to question 3 is less than you would like it to be, please read on for tips on how to change this.

If you are not keeping stats or don’t do it on a regular basis, please help yourself out by purchasing the All New MAS software. I guarantee that MAS can help you to double the number of your students within 12 months or you can get a full refund on your purchase. The only way I could ever give such a guarantee is if I’ve seen it work for other schools. Please try it, you have absolutely nothing to loose. MAS will help you to run a better and profitable school guaranteed.

This letter contains 3 tips on how to close the back door. All these tips have been tested in many schools that are currently using MAS software including my own. These tips will help you to systemize your school to bring down your quit ratio by half in a very short time. Please review the tips and call me if you have any further questions!

Tip #1

On a daily or weekly basis you must know 3 important things about your school.

• Your total # of students
• Which students have the state of mind of quitting? (C students)

Students never quit all of a sudden. They show up less and less till they make up their mind of not coming at all. If you rate your students according to their attendance, you will clearly know whom you need to pay attention to the most. Rating the students in this fashion will also help you on renewal day. For example, you should never talk to a C or NA students about renewing their membership. Rather you should ask them to come in for a talk so that you can get feedback from them and know what is going on in their lives that has changed their martial arts training. Only then will you know how to keep them motivated.

• Which students are still paying, but no longer showing up (NA students)

You have probably experienced that it is a lot harder to bring back a NA student than a C or B student. But remember there is still a chance that you can make black belts out of these groups.

Knowing your students’ rating on a daily basis will help you to see exactly where you currently are losing the most students. You can also easily associate the quitters according to their ranks, instructors or the classes they belong to. The first step towards a great retention is to find out who is thinking about quitting and not who has already quit.

How would MAS help?

MAS is the only program in the market that automatically rates your students A, B, C and NA according to their attendance. This approach not only will help you with your students’ retention it will also make it easier to send motivational letters and mass emails to those individuals regularly. Another cool feature of MAS is that it allows you to print dynamic reports on classes and students’ ranks according to their rating.

Tip #2

Pay attention to the C and NA students in the class when they do show up (Floor chat). Never show up to a class without a class report. Your class report should be able to filter the C & NA students for you so that you can easily focus only on those individuals. Having a class report also systemizes your school and allows other instructors to do exactly what you need them to do. So if you have an assistant helping you out, your students’ retention will not suffer. A class report will systemize your approach to the students and will strengthen the communication between the students and the instructors.

Let’s review the things you should do or say to a C or NA students in your classes:

When you talk to C and NA students remember that they are not motivated at this time. What could motivate them the most is the fact that you are paying attention to them and are working towards getting them ready for their next rank, tip test, or even a tournament. (It differs between schools and students to students; this must be a very individualized process)

When you do set a new goal for your C student, make sure you get their commitment to show up at least twice a week. This will insure their progress and ultimately their growth in martial arts and fitness.

Students stop training for different reasons. But the most common one is when they feel that they are not good at the sport. Make sure you encourage the C and NA students in the class, by bringing out the best in them. Pinpoint the things they really shine at. Maybe even stop the whole class where everyone can see how good they are at a certain technique, stance etc. and give them a round of applause. (Nothing beats the power of ENCOURAGEMENT)

How would MAS help?

MAS is the only program in the market that prints out automatically a dynamic class report on every class. After picking up the report, you keep it tucked in your belt. During the class you can refer to your report so those important things like; tip tests, floor chats, etc. are not forgotten. The C and NA students who do not get attention in the class will most likely feel left out and possibly quit your program. The MAS class report also filters students with injury, students who need to bring a late due payment and also the tip tests or stripes that have to be given on a certain dates.

Tip #3

Call the C and NA students before their class and not always after! Most schools call their students after they miss their classes. Remember students don’t show up to their classes sometimes because they are lazy or not motivated. Calling them ahead of time is sometimes the push they need to show up. Remember, Training = Progress and Progress = Retention?

What would you say over the phone when you call?

Hi Johnny, I am calling you to let you know that your next progress check (or exam date.) is by this date and I want to get you ready for it. I know that you are scheduled to come to the class today (or this week), so why don’t we talk, when you get here today!

Students who get home after work or school and don’t want to show up to the class that day will be motivated to show up after hearing your voice on their answering machine.

How would MAS help?

You are able to bring out or print the list of C and NA students for each individual class, check their notes from your previous conversation with them and then make phone calls all through your MAS software.

The sooner you implement MAS in your school the sooner you realize that you can no longer run your school without it. MAS is like a fulltime staff that works for you 24 hours a day. Start taking advantage of MAS today. Purchase it by calling us Toll Free at 877-774-5425 or just go to our products section to order online.