martialartswaymag.com | THE ART OF SELLING: PART ONE

Part One I don’t care how much skill you possess or how big of a name you may have. If you can’t sell, then your school will inevitably fail. Sure, big names will be able to initially attract some attention to a school but a name only goes so far. What few realize is that you must not only sell to get new students, you must sell to KEEP your students. Too many instructors get complacent after the student signs their contract. What the school owners often choose to ignore is that contracts, by their very definition, expire. Renewal is never an automatic thing for students. For this reason you must continue to work diligently to keep your student base as happy as possible. When people are spending their hard earned cash at your school, they expect to be sold. No, I’m not talking about the “salesman” approach. Nobody likes that. What I am referring to is “attention to detail” selling. It always has been and always will be the little things that separate success from failure and good from great. The reality is that in most metropolitan markets you cannot throw a stick without hitting a martial arts school. It’s the “details” of selling that separate you from the competition. And no, a bigger ad in the local phone book is not what IÕm talking about.

The first key to successful “detail” selling is understanding your target market. The first step to really understanding your target market is to mentally sit on the same side of the table with them. Put yourself in their shoes. Understand where they are coming from. Most of them do not know the difference between Jiu-Jitsu and Karate for example. Their view of the martial arts is based on what they have seen on television and at the movies. Your first job is to set realistic expectations for your prospective students. If you do not, they will deem you and your program a failure and go to the school down the road after their membership contract expires.

The second key is simple. People buy from people they like. People like people that they feel respect them. So drop the “I’m a tough guy champion” act because nobody really cares what you have done. They only care about what you can do for them. You must show them respect to get respect. Fear is not a form of respect and will never create loyalty. The most powerful selling strategy is simple, be humble. Your students and prospective students will see an amazing martial artist who makes the choice to be a good person. They will then admire you even more because they know how great your skills are and that you could choose to be mean to them and get away with it. But you have made the choice to be nice instead. You will earn tremendous respect from everyone because you are approachable. You are friendly. Because of this your students will like you. They will respect you. They will be loyal to you. They will listen to everything you have to say. They will talk about you to their friends and encourage them to try your school out. Get the picture? If you disagree with any of this then stop reading now because you are wasting both of our time. And don’t bother reading this segment in our next issue either.

For those of you that made the choice to read past the previous sentence, congratulations. You understand one of the keys to running a very successful business. Once you have earned the respect of your students you have successfully opened your business up to tremendous growth opportunities. Check out our next issue and we will tell you how to leverage the momentum of respect to increase your business.

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