Marketing can’t fix a bad service any more than you can polish a turd.

Are You Trying to Polish a Turd?

A fundamental mistake for many business owners is focusing on marketing when really they should be focused on improving their service.

Many think that printing a new flyer… publishing a website… or running a deal on Groupon will solve ALL of their problems in attracting students.

Unfortunately, marketing can’t cure a horrible service.

You might be able to trick people into coming to your place with that deal of the day offer you made.

However, once they discover your service is bad, it won’t take long for them to filter out like water through a sieve.

When you have a good service, it’s that much easier for word of mouth to happen and start generating more believable marketing with the use of social proof (reviews, testimonials, etc.)

When you have a great service, your marketing almost writes itself and your referrals practically take care of themselves.

Therefore, you must start with your service and then and only then should you concentrate on your marketing.

Don’t start with marketing.

I realize that might sound odd coming from a marketing guy who’s who site is really dedicated to marketing, but it’s the truth.

If your current students aren’t inspired or happy, attracting more students in won’t solve that problem.

Sooner or later, like all your previous students, they’ll catch on and you’ll be starting over again.

That’s not a good long term way to run your business and expect to keep your doors open.

Something needs to change and it’s not your marketing’s fault.

It’s your service.

I literally just saw this on a public martial arts school’s Facebook Fan Page:

Is this how you would handle this?

How would you handle it differently?

Do you ever set goals for yourself?

I came across this letter that Bruce Lee wrote to himself dated January 1969. He used it to guide his career and was written four years before  the release of “Enter the Dragon.” At the time, he had been “Kato” on the Television show “Green Hornet” and had yet to become a movie star.

Have you ever done this for yourself? For your martial arts school? Maybe you should consider it.

Here’s what Mr. Lee wrote to himself:

“I, Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Oriental super star in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performance and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970, I will achieve world fame and from then onwards till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.” –Bruce Lee, Jan 1969

I love this because he did everything you should when setting goals.

Goal Setting Tips

• Be precise.
• Set priorities.
• Write your goals down.
• Set performance goals, not just outcome goals.

Before you set any goal, be sure to answer the question “Why do I want to achieve this goal?” The more reasons you have motivating yourself besides “I just want it” the better you be to keep motivated and on track.

Further, a commonly adopted approach to goal setting, known as the S.M.A.R.T. method, is as follows:

1. Specific – Goals must be specific.
2. Measurable – They must be quantifiable.
3. Attainable – Set goals that push you but are achievable.
4. Realistic – This means do-able, not necessarily easy.
5. Time-Bound – With no deadline, it is easy to put things off.

It’s amazing how setting the right goals and achieving them leads to increased self-confidence and feeling better about yourself. I am reminded of this every time I reach a new goal I’ve set for myself.

If you haven’t set a goal in your martial arts training, I challenge you to set, define then crush your goals!

Do you think Bruce Lee was setting realistic or attainable goals for himself when he wrote this letter?

Hopefully your martial arts business saw an increase in 2010. I know for many martial arts schools it was a year of opportunity with the release of the remake of the Karate Kid and signs that the economy was getting better. However, I also saw at least three schools shut down in my city so I know things weren’t smooth sailing for everyone.

To help give you some ideas for your martial arts school to start things out right in 2011, here are ten things to consider investigating in the New Year:

1. Make it easy to do business with you. Accept credit cards at your school, add a paypal button to your site, set up EFT, add the ability to schedule appointments on your website, add a shipping cart to your site, etc. I talk to martial arts school owners all the time who it a virtual gauntlet to do business with them. If that describes your business, this is the year to make some big changes. I’ll be talking more about how to set these all up soon.
2. Build a community. Invest in your students and show them you care. Get to know them and take the best possible care you can of them. Hold special events for your students, consider making at least one free. I do this on my anniversary and hold a free student appreciation seminar. They love it and helps reinforce I care.
3. Make your website a lead generation machine. I’ve said this in years past, but have you done this yet? This is a HUGE business transformation tool and not one you want to postpone or ignore.
4. Develop a killer upgrade program. One of the most direct ways to increase the revenue of your martial arts school and create greater financial freedom is to get more from those who are already there. Most school owners focus on chasing new money instead of getting more from those who already know, like and trust them.
5. Build a promotional calendar. When you schedule promotions, it helps you build your marketing calendar for years to come. Keep what works. Try something else if it doesn’t. Having your promotions determined in advance allows you to properly plan for them so they aren’t last minute hack jobs. To maximize any promotion, you need to have a plan, execute the plan and follow up to determine it’s effectiveness.
6. Get your deal on. Groupon.com, CityDeals.com, LivingSocial.com and more all came to the forefront in 2010 and I’ve seen a ton of offers from martial arts schools. Have you considered offering a deal on these kinds of sites yet? See a deal in action here.
7. Add exciting new special events. A great way to lift your bottom this year is to do special events like seminars, workshops or clinics. You can set these up monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or do a series for 8 saturday’s in a row.
8. Enhance your proshop. Time for some schwag! Have T-Shirts made for your school, put logos on your sparring gear, uniforms, and more. Some martial arts instructors make certain equipment required at different levels and add special packages. This will help you develop a whole new revenue stream if you aren’t currently doing this.
9. Develop a referral system worth having. Again, this is key to any business who wants to be in business long term. If your current students are happy, they will naturally refer you. However, it never hurts to give them a little incentive.
10. Master local search. 2010 marked the year of local search being fully integrated into the search results. If you don’t have a site yet or want to supplement how many references you have in the search results, it’s time to investigate. Chances are, you already have several local pages to claim that the search engines and directory sites have created for you.

What would you add to this list?

I don’t know about you but I got into teaching martial arts because I loved teaching… I didn’t get into it to become an accountant or collection agency.

And, I was thrilled when I finally pulled the trigger on electronic funds transfer (EFT) aka an audit debit system because I no longer had to be a bill collector.

It’s safe to say that EFT helped make my martial arts business more successful and a hell of a lot more stable.

Why I decided to switch to EFT

For about eight years I used a manual process to collection tuition.

At the first class of every month, tuition was due.

Sometimes that was on the first of the month. Sometimes it was the 6th (or later) of the month.

At the time, I only accepted either cash or check.

When I remembered to tell the students that tuition was due the next class, I would (probably 25% of the time I would remember).

For those members that remembered to bring money that day, I collected their tuition and entered it into my Google Doc spreadsheet.

For the majority of students that forget to bring their payment, I would try to remind them at the end of class.

That worked with varying levels of success.

However, I felt it was a negative experience because now money was getting in the way of their training in a very obvious manner.

Things shifted from me caring about them to appearing as if I cared about the money; which wasn’t the case.

And, by having them physically pay each month, I was asking them to validate it was still worth paying for each month they wrote their check.

It’s definitely a fine line to walk.

My monthly income was also completely unpredictable and I never knew how much I was going to make each month.

And, I was always floating the rent each month; paying for it before I had collected all the monthly tuition.

Having the money before writing the check is just good business.

For long term success, I knew I couldn’t continue to use that process.

Especially considering my school was growing.

I had to make a change.

Not just for my own sanity but for the long term success of my martial arts school.

It was costing me time, money, trust and stress by using my old antiquated tuition collection process.

That’s when I made the move to using EFT to right the ship.

How EFT helps my members:

• They no longer have to remember to bring their check books on the 1st lesson.
• Convenience — They can use credit cards, debit cards, savings or checking accounts.
• They know precisely when payment will be withdrawn each month.
• They can focus on their training instead of the money.
• They see me as their instructor, not a bill collector (which also definitely helps me, too!).
• They know they’re current and don’t have to worry about me stalking them.

How EFT helps my martial arts school:

• I know how much I’m going to make each month.
• I’m no longer a bill collector having to track down late payments.
• Students automatically pay me on the 1st of the month whether they’re in class or not.
• I know when that money will be deposited into my account each month.
• I sign up my members once and no one has to think about the money aspect again.
• I now have all of my money before I make my lease payment.
• If a student is late, they are reminded by my EFT company, I don’t have to stalk them to get it.

Personally, I don’t think you can start too early using this process — I did when I had about 20 students.

Now, it’s just part of my process of signing up students.

And, I’ve never had anyone tell me they don’t want to use it.

In fact, most are relieved I use EFT to make it easier.

The question isn’t “how much does using an EFT service cost” it’s “how much are you losing by not using EFT?”

So, what’s holding you back from using EFT to help your martial arts school become more successful?

I was given some advice several years ago that I took to heart and it has helped me to grow my martial arts school.

It’s so simple yet so powerful.

The advice?

Do (at least) one thing a day that will help you add more profit to your business.

It’s easy to let this slip.

Don’t let it.

It’s far too important.

This could be adding calls to action to your website…asking for referrals… managing your expenses… delegating low return tasks… raising your prices… building a lead generation website… etc.

Here are 50 profitable things to work on to help get you started.

Thinking like this each day will help you to stay focused.

And, in the long run, increase your profitability.

In good times and in bad, this little piece of advice can help you start charting your course to a more profitable future.

What kinds of things do you do each day that adds to your martial arts school’s profitability?

Are you having doubts if you’re going to be able to keep the doors open at your martial arts school much longer?

Do you invest your time and energy into your martial arts school and pour everything you’ve got into it but you’re still not making much, if any, money teaching martial arts?

While there is no magic formula to determine whether you’re going to make a living off of martial arts or if you’re going to have to shut your doors, there are certain things you can look at to tell you the overall health of your martial arts business.

Here are 10 warning signs that your martial arts school might be in trouble:

1. You’re unprofitable.
   Having money come in isn’t the same thing as turning a profit. In other words, what you bill each month isn’t as important as how much you make over and above your expenses each month. Many say a successful business is a profitable business. While profitability is only one measure of a business, it is certainly an important one.
2. You dread going in to teach.
   If you aren’t motivated and genuinely excited to show up each day, Houston we have a problem. If you’re not motivated, believe me, your students know it. And, if you’re not excited, they aren’t going to be and your chances of losing them as student increases. It’s just that simple.
3. You can’t take negative feedback.
   When a member or a prospect gives you some constructive feedback, what is your reaction? Do you freak out or think they’re stupid? Take a moment a listen and take their feedback to heart. Believe me, they’re telling you important things you need to address in your business. In short, you have to be open to change to make a change.
4. You don’t get many, if any, referrals.
   Wow. This is a big one. If your students aren’t excited enough to tell their friends, they probably have notice your lack of enthusiasm during class. Your classes need to be exciting and fun. You need to get people so pumped up that and feel they learned so much that they can’t help but tell their friends. Break up your routine! I know this is easier said than done. However, without making your classes worth talking about, you’re not likely to improve your lack of referrals. Another thing to increase the likelihood of referrals is to have a referral marketing system in place. Just remember, your classes first need to be worth referring for those to work.
5. You are the cheapest in town.
   This is the easiest way to go out of business. By being cheap, you’re not getting rewarded for the value you truly offer. Many martial artists struggle with asking for money let alone enough to be profitable. If you struggle with charging what you’re worth, you probably shouldn’t open up a martial arts school in the first place. Remember, the less you charge, the more students you need to make a profit. That’s a long, hard road to travel and most don’t make it with this approach (unless you have low overhead).
6. You hate to delegate.
   If you insist on doing everything yourself, you’re further behind than you realize. I know it may be hard to believe, but other people can do the job just as well as you can, if not better. Find out what your students do for a living and see if you can work out a trade or discounted service in return for their help. You might be surprised how many good resources you already have in your school you can use to help get your martial arts business back on track.
7. You don’t have the right systems in place.
   Having systems in place takes a lot of work. However, it will pay you back ten-fold. You should consider several different systems for your including operations, marketing, accounting, teaching, retention, prospecting, student intake and more. The more systems you have in place, the more efficient your operation becomes.
8. You’re not using EFT.
   I transformed my martial arts school the day I started using electronic funds transfer.  I no longer had to be a bill collector or the bad guy when someone didn’t pay. Now every month, the money is in my account and I don’t have to worry about it. And, you don’t have to be a large school to start using EFT. Every business no matter how big or small can benefit from it. If you’re still letting people pay you manually, you really should reconsider.
9. You’re the only one teaching.
   Having your students teach or assist is actually a great retention device and will also help free up your time to be on your business instead of in it. Start having your intermediate students help assist in your next class. You can have them run the stretching and warmups just to get them started. This allows you to be more attentive to your students and gives you a different perspective you don’t get from leading the entire class all the time. Once I started doing this,  I had more help than I knew what to do with.
10. You lose more students than you get each month.
    What is your retention rate? Do you even know? Keep your eye on the back door as that is as important for long term success as how many students are coming in the front door. The reasons for people leaving can likely be traced to one of the 9 things listed above. Whenever possible, see if you can find out the real reason why someone left. That can help you button things up even tighter.

Take a good look and see if your martial arts school is suffering from any of these red flags. Then set out to change them, one by one, as fast as you can.

What other red flags would you add to this list? Share you thoughts in the form of a comment!

I don’t care how much marketing you do…how much you spend…or how many martial arts marketing associations you belong to, at the end of the day, you still have to have offer great service, have incredible passion and contagious enthusiasm to build a school that people want to be around.

Not only that, but you also need to demonstrate great kindness and sincere appreciation to your students so they know you truly care about them.

This helps with not only recruitment but with retention.

When you do these things, your business will begin to change.

It will begin to transform itself into a place that people desperately want to be a part of and one they can’t wait to tell their friends about.

I remind myself of these things each and every day and gets me in the proper mindset to build a great martial arts business.

It is all easier said than done, I realize.

However, without doubt, it ALL has to be genuine.

You can’t fake any one of these things or your prospects and students will know.

If your business is struggling, you might want to consider the reasons as to why.

Perhaps one or more of these fundamentals might be the missing piece to the puzzle.

What other martial arts business fundamentals would you add and why?

2009 was a brutal year for many martial arts school owners. To help you spring into 2010 with a little more juice, here is my top 10 list of martial arts business and marketing tips to help your martial arts school become even more successful in the New Year.

1. If you haven’t already done so, implement everything I talked about in Make Your Martial Arts School More Successful in 2009.
2. Start doing online videos. You can do martial arts commercials, demonstrations, interviews..whatever. Host them on YouTube.com for free then pipe them into your website.
3. Create a Facebook Fan Page. In the age of social media, it’s time to set up a Facebook Fan page. This is a great tool for retention as as well as prospecting. I get interaction from my students on virtually every post I make.
4. Test Twitter. You’ll definitely want to experiment with this one. It might work for you and it might not. I don’t personally have a lot of students interacting on Twitter but still use it to get out information pertaining to my martial arts school. As this becomes even more mainstream, you will be ahead of the curve if you start using this now as you build your legion of faithful followers.
5. Test paid search. Paid search is the sponsored advertising you see in the search engines like Google. You pay for clicks on a keyword basis.  The more you’re willing to pay, the higher up in the ads you are. I highly recommend you start with Google. It’s the easiest and most effective system there is where you can send targeted prospects to your martial arts schools website in a relatively cost effective manner.
6. Create a member’s area on your website. This is a great tool for retention. Some say you shouldn’t restrict this area (it can help with recruitment) while other’s say make it password protected (makes it more exclusive). I personally have mine behind a password protected area as it is a competitive advantage. Whichever way you choose, you can house a private forum… how to videos… curriculum downloads… training tips… and more. The important thing is to make it worth visiting often and that it becomes a valuable supplement to your students training.
7. Build a list. This is one of the best things you can do for your martial arts school. Segment your students vs. prospects and send them different messages.
8. Show your students you care. Don’t just do this once and think you’re covered. It’s something you need to do often in conjunction with offering remarkable classes in order to maximize retention.
9. Create irresistible offers. This will help you to attract and sign up new students.  Learn How to Create an Irresistible Offer Your Prospects Can’t Refuse and 10 Types of Irresistible Offers You Can Make to Prospects.
10. Ask yourself 10 essential martial arts business questions for 2010.

I hope this helps and wish you great success in 2010! I look forward to hearing how you’re doing to build and grow your school.

Like any good martial arts instructor, sometimes it best to ask questions rather than give answers all the time. This way, you might uncover things more critical to your operation and business and it will mean more when it’s your idea.

Here are 10 questions to help your martial arts business grow in 2010:

1. How can I make my students lives easier/better?
   Always put your students first. Thinking about this might help you to uncover a new service or program you didn’t have before or how to improve existing ones.  You could consider offering more convenient hours, DVD’s, curriculum manuals, etc.
2. What are the biggest opportunities right now for my martial arts school to grow?
   Determining this will help you attack the low hanging fruit you need to give your business a much needed shot in the arm. What is the simplest things you can do that will give you the biggest bang for your buck?
3. What information do my instructors need right now?
   This speaks to direction, motivation and purpose. Rally the troops to make sure you’re all on the same page for the New Year. Share with them your vision and teach them how to improve. The last thing you need is instructors making this all up as they go along.
4. What systems can I set up to make my business run more efficiently?
   If you don’t have any, now is a good time to start. This could be as simple as create a system for answering the phone, teaching a trial program, teaching a class, greeting prospective new students, scheduling appointments, etc.  The more systems you have in place, the more efficient your operation becomes.
5. How can I increase my bottom line?
   Evaluate how many revenue streams you have and determine if you can create any more relevant ones. You can even work on ideas of how to get more out of your existing sources. Look at possibly adding new programs, upsells, cross sells, merchandise, seminars, etc.
6. What business skills do I need to improve upon?
   You know where you’re strong and where you’re weak. Work on things that need the most help. For some this might be marketing. For others, networking. Whatever “it” is, take a class… read a blog … buy a book.. subscribe to a magazine… get a mentor. Whatever you can do to improve the desired skill set.
7. What can I do to make it easier to do business with me?
   You might be hard to do business with and not even know it. Look at things like you sign up process, if you accept credit cards, are you easy to contact, etc. How can you make it even easier?
8. What can I do to retain more students?
   First you need to keep track of your stats to know if this is even a problem.  If your back door is busier than your front door, you’ve got some serious problems to fix! The key is to keep your students excited and engaged in their training. Ideas to help keep more students includes offering free private lessons, adding new classes and programs as well as introducing new drills and class formats.
9. How can I get more referrals?
   This is the lifeblood of the most successful martial arts schools. If you don’t have a referral program in place, get on it! Learn more about referral programs here.
10. How can I get “on” my business instead of “in” it?
    Are you in the trenches everyday answering phones… greeting walk in’s… teaching every class… private lessons… or do you have the resources and staff to help you be the visionary for your martial arts school? Read “E-Myth” by Michael Gerber for more information on this subject. A must read (WARNING: he’s a bit of wind bag but makes some great points).

What questions would you add to this list?