I love this quote and I was reminded of its truth recently in my training.  I am a student of many martial arts disciplines.  I don’t claim to be very good at any of them, but I love all of them and I still practice consistently.

One of the disciplines I study is Iaido.  It is the art of drawing the sword and is considered the peacetime art of the Samurai.  I have been training for about 12 years under Shihan Nishiuchi and tested for my first degree black belt about eight years ago.

Technically, I should have tested for second degree about 6 years ago but, truth be told, I haven’t been that committed to it.  My classmates and I have postponed our test numerous times because we felt we weren’t ready or didn’t have the time.  

A few weeks ago, Shihan Nishiuchi issued us an ultimatum; take our test or he would quit teaching us. (I’m paraphrasing a bit but that was the general message.)  I have to be honest that at first I considered discontinuing my lessons.  After all, I am an extremely busy person and the requirements needed to pass this test are pretty extreme.  But…….after a bit of thought and a lot of encouragement from my classmates, I decided to go for it.  I have sincerely committed to being the best I can be by test time. 

Interesting things have happened since I have a recommitted to my Iaido training.  All of a sudden, I seem to have the time to practice, my skills are improving and I am sincerely enjoying practicing again.  Will I pass my test?  I hope so, but with Shihan Nishiuchi you never know what’s going to happen. 

Either way though……. lesson learned.  I have once again been reminded of the importance of aiming high, training hard, enjoying the process and, most importantly, being committed.  

Gotta go now, I have some Iaido practice to get to.

Imagine for a moment that you just found out that Chuck Norris is in your city shooting some scenes for his next movie.  And you’ve just been notified that he would like to visit your school tomorrow to get in a little training after a long day on the set.  He knows he can’t be anonymous, but he just wants to get in some training with your advanced adult class.  After you verify that this is not a hoax, you spring into action:

• You call your staff together and let everyone know that they need to bring their “A” game.  You review your plans for every class to be sure everyone is on the same page and ready.

• You make sure that your school looks as sharp as the day you opened it.  Your mats are cleaned.  Your bathrooms are spotless.  Your office is immaculate.  Every sign is perfectly straight.  Every piece of gear and furniture is exactly where it is supposed to be.  You replace any burnt out light bulbs.  Maybe even a candle or two to be sure the place even smells perfect. 

• You walk outside and take a good look at your school from the street to be sure that it looks great when he arrives.  You pick up every piece of trash within 10 yards of your door.  You make sure that your staff has moved their cars so he can get a good parking space. 

• You’ve been told that he might get there early, so you make sure that every class that day runs like clockwork. 

• To be sure that everything goes perfectly, you  make sure to have enough help so that every student in every class feels like today’s class was the best class they’ve taken. 

• You pay attention to every detail to be sure everything is perfect.  You even remind your staff to have a breath mint before they start each class.

• You get to your school just a little bit earlier than usual to be sure that you can attend to any last minute details. 

• Just before the day starts, you remind your staff to make Mr. Norris feel welcome in your school.  You remind them not to run at him the moment he walks in, but not wait so long to welcome him that he starts to wonder if anyone knows he’s there.  Remind them that since he’s never visited your school, it might take him a few moments to feel comfortable there.

It’s not frantic.  You don’t want him to feel that you’re all totally on edge. You want him to get the sense that you’re genuinely happy to see him but at the same time, you maintain a low key confidence that tells him that he has come to the best martial arts school in your city. 

So when Mr. Norris walks in, he is completely impressed with you, your staff and your school. 

And of course, you know that Mr. Norris isn’t really in your town.  And he won’t be training at your school today.  But what would happen if you treated every day like the day that a very special guest was coming to your school?  How great would your retention be if you put that extra preparation and energy into every class you teach?  And what percentage of your prospects would enroll if you made that extra effort to make an exceptional first impression?

Going the extra mile every day isn’t easy, but it will make your school stand out from all the other schools in your city.  And it will clearly differentiate your program from all the other after school activities out there. 

And it will make your school a very popular place to train for kids, teens, and adults.

With that said, the majority of my students (and probably yours as well) come from the referrals by existing members.  We all know how much easier it is to enroll someone when their friend is already in the program.  This month, I want to focus on how to maximize your referrals.

To begin with, we need to remember that to get a referral two things have to happen.  First off, the student must believe in our program.  They need to be a raving fan.  No one will referral friend to a program that they view as mediocre.  Next, you have to be willing to ask your students for referrals.  I am amazed by the fact that, however simple this may seem, many instructors just simply forget to do this or don’t feel comfortable doing it.

Now let’s review a few guidelines that will help you in your quest for referrals.  I like to keep the following acronym in mind – ABTR.  This stands for “Always Be Thinking Referrals.”  When you have this mindset you’ll be surprised at how many referral opportunities will present themselves to you.

Next, make sure to constantly work on developing relationships with parents and students.  First, you should do this because it is the right thing to do.  Secondly, it makes asking for referrals much easier when you already have a relationship in place.  Whenever possible, ask leading questions regarding their experience, “How has your training benefited you / your family / your child, etc.?”

 If you get a lukewarm answer, don’t ask for a referral.  Instead, find out what the challenge is and then do your best to turn them back into a raving fan.  On the other hand, if you get an enthusiastic response then the referral conversation will be much easier.

 Here are a couple of referral guidelines to work with:

 Ask permission: “Would you mind talking about the possibility of you referring a friend?”  Or “Do you have a friend or family member who would benefit from the program?”  If yes, then ask, “Great, who would that be?  Can I give you a guest pass to share with them?”  Finally, make sure to follow up the next time you see them by saying, “By the way, did you ever get a chance to give _______ a guest pass?”

Another important thing to remember is that whenever you find yourself conversing in the stands with parents, make sure to ask them if they have ever been interested in training themselves someday.  Make sure not to bug them if they’re not interested in personally training.  Instead thank them for their family’s participation in the program.  On the other hand, if they say they’re interested but they are not ready to enroll at that moment, just politely ask them for permission to bug them in the future.  If they say yes, remind them every now and then that you have a uniform that will fit them perfectly.

If you’ve never had a referral system in place, this concept can seem quite overwhelming.  It might seem hard to figure out where to start.  An easy way to begin is to simply ask one student or parent a day for a referral.  Within a few months you will talk to everyone and then you simply start the process over again.

Finally, remember that although we want to always be thinking referrals, we never want to be too pushy.  Soft selling is always a better long-term approach.  And we’re all in this for the long haul.

I remember being in line with my father to buy tickets for a movie one time when I was a kid. I was fourteen years old, but I looked about eleven.  I mentioned to my father that if he said I was twelve, we could save a couple of bucks off the price of admission (I had a friend whose father did that all the time and it seemed like a logical thing to do).  I will never forget what happened next…he looked at me and said, “My honesty is worth a whole lot more than the two dollars I’ll save from lying about your age”. 

I still hear those words repeated in my head every time I think about cutting a corner.

1)  Start by acknowledging and accepting where you are – This is pretty easy when it’s about something that can be quantified like student count.  Start with your current enrollment.

2)  Know where you want to be – Again, it’s pretty easy to set a goal for increasing your student count.  The tricky part is to determine a realistic but reasonably aggressive timeframe in which to set this goal.

3)  Believe you can improve your situation.   What this means is that you know for sure that you can improve your situation (in this case, add more students), if you focus on it and work hard for it.

4)  Take action.  This seems so simple and obvious, but it’s amazing how often people won’t change their behavior.  If you want better results, you have to take new and more effective actions.    

5)  Stay the course.  Persevere.  Don’t give up. Sometimes you need to keep at it for a while before you see the results you’re after.

6)  Keep your center.  In other words, stay cool.  Don’t panic when things get tough.  And don’t throw in the towel in frustration.    

7)  Value your relationships above all.  This is and will always be a “people business.”  Maintaining great relationships with your students and staff will always help as you set out to increase your enrollment.

That’s the philosophical side.  Now with the help of Kovar Systems General Manager, Mark Seidman here’s the practical side:

Know how many inquiries you need to get the enrollments you need to hit your goal.  Here’s a simple formula that will tell you how many inquiries you’ll need.  Let’s say that you have 102 students and that you want to grow to 150 in one year.  That means you need to add exactly four net new students to your enrollment each month. 

If you’re starting at 102 students and you want to add four this month, it’s obvious that your goal is to end the month at 106 students. So let’s look at the first month of this growth plan:

1)   First, estimate how many students you expect will quit this month.  Looking back over your recently history, let’s say that you estimate that 4 of your 102 students will likely quit this month.  Before any new students enroll, this will drop you down to 98 students. 

2)  Next, determine the number of new enrollments you’ll need.  With a goal to end the month with 106 students, this means you’ll need to add eight new students to hit your goal.  (102 at the beginning of the month – 4 quits + 8 new students = 106 at the end of the month.)

3)   Then, determine your inquiry conversion rate. Count the number of inquiries you’ve had in the last few months and then count the number of new students that have enrolled from those inquiries.  The formula here is enrollments divided by inquiries = inquiry conversion rate. 

4)  Finally, divide the number of new students you need to enroll (8) by the inquiry conversion rate (40%) to determine the number of inquiries you’ll need.  On a calculator, you would take 8 divided by .4 which would give you 20.  This is the number of inquiries you’ll need to achieve your goal of ending the month at 106 students.

This may seem a little complicated, but it all makes sense when you apply it.  Remember, you’re starting a month with 102 students and you want to get to 106 by the end of the month.  If you generate 20 inquiries and 40% of these enroll, that results in 8 new students.  If you then subtract the 4 that you anticipate will quit, you achieve your goal of ending the month with 106 students.

I remember witnessing another classic example of one-upmanship while attending a funeral – fortunately it wasn’t done by me this time.  I was having a heartfelt moment with the spouse of the deceased when we were approached by a casual acquaintance that stepped in and said, “I know exactly how you feel.  A good friend’s father just passed away a couple months ago and it has been pretty hard on me.  Don’t worry, it’ll get easier.”  I’m not sure what this person’s intent was, but I do know instead of just supporting the spouse and letting her grieve, this person found it necessary to let her know that she wasn’t the only one who has been through a recent heartache.  And I just can’t help thinking that your good friend’s dad is a bit different than a spouse

However inappropriate the comment was at the time, it was really beneficial for me to hear.  I vowed to myself at that moment to NEVER be a one-upper again.  Since then, I’ve caught myself many times wanting to say something like, “That’s nothing – you know what happened to me?”  Or, “That’s pretty cool, but you know what’s really cool?  One time I…”

 I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t swap stories with our friends or enjoy sharing an occasional anecdote when appropriate.  However, we should try to be mindful of the reason for sharing our story.  If it adds value to the conversation, great.  But if it really is just a subtle way of competing with someone, keep quiet and simply appreciate the story or offer support for a difficult situation.  And for goodness sake, don’t be a one-upper.

To be a successful martial arts instructor in this day and age, I believe that you must have these two attributes. They are….The Will and the Skill.

The “Will” refers to the fact that you have to WANT to teach. You must enjoy the process. That doesn’t mean that you are not happy when class is over, or not excited when the weekend comes. It just means that, in general, you look forward to your classes. It means that relish the challenge of helping your students to thrive in their martial arts quest. I think the “Will” is by far the most important attribute. I would much rather employ an instructor with boundless enthusiasm and novice teaching skills than a seasoned veteran that is just trying to get through the week.

The “Skill” refers to knowing how to teach. Of course martial arts skills are important, but what I’m referring to here is teaching skill. Martial arts skills and teaching skills are both extremely important, but very different. We all know talented Black Belts that have no clue as to how to run a class.

One of my favorite quotes is “Once you stop trying to be better, you quit being good.” I think this concept can be applied to many things but it certainly can be applied to teaching martial arts. I don’t know about you, but I find that it is very easy for me to fall into a comfort zone. After all, I have been teaching martial arts for the better part of 40 years and I have had a full time school since 1978. I have learned a lot over the years. However, in my better moments, I know that I am just scratching the surface.  I know that when I stay mindful of how impactful martial arts can be for people, I am able to keep my “Will” to teach strong. And when I keep an open mind to new and different teaching methodologies, I am able to add new skills to my teaching arsenal. 

Happy Teaching

 As a child, I spent a lot of time down the street at the Gray family’s  house. They had a pool, a billiards table and a whole lot of ice cream in the freezer. The only drawback was Mrs. Gray. All the kids referred to her as the “neighborhood nag.” She was constantly on both of her boys and, for that matter, her boys’ friends.   Nothing was ever done well enough to suit her.   She constantly found fault.  

One day, Mr. Gray asked his sons and me to clean up the kitchen before Mrs. Gray got home. We went to it, almost excited as we anticipated Mrs. Gray’s compliment on a job well done. Upon her return, the boys raced out to meet her, excited to show her what we had accomplished.  Instead of appreciating our efforts, she complained that the floor hadn’t been swept and the garbage had not been emptied. I remained friends with the Gray boys for years to come. I didn’t see them try to please their mother after that incident. After all, pleasing her was impossible. Why even try?

Over the years, their relationship with their mother continued to deteriorate until, last I heard, they no longer had contact with her. I know she loved her boys, but in her attempt to “make them better,” she never praised their efforts or caught them doing things right.  Mrs. Gray taught me a lot of what not to do as a parent. Correcting my children is necessary at times, but I spend more time looking for what they’re doing right.   The more I look, the more I discover.

1)  Believe they will train with you for 10 years.  This is essential.  If you don’t believe it, it won’t happen.  Yes, you’ll be “putting the cart before the horse” if you believe this before it actually happens, but this is the first step.  And it’s absolutely necessary.  So take the leap of faith and imprint this in your belief system.

2)  Pay close attention to your internal resistance to this.  Say out loud, “Students will train at our school for 10 years or more.”  If you’re like most people, a skeptical voice in your head will quickly tell you all the reasons this won’t happen.  There can be all kinds of reasons why you may be skeptical of this.  Listing to these objections will give you some ideas for things you might want to adjust.  For example, one reason may be that they’ll be bored long before then.  This may be true now.  But if you believe this is true, that’s your signal to put extra effort into making every class fun, interesting, challenging etc.  Perhaps a refresher on disguising repetition and maybe some exciting new drills. 

Be sure to separate your resistance into things you can’t address and things you can. Obviously, if someone starts your program with they’re 14, there is a strong chance that you’ll lose them four years later when they move away to college.  There’s not much you can do about this.  But if you focus on students that start at eight or younger, the reasons they might leave within 10 years are more within your control.

3)  Get them off to a great start.  Here’s the perfect formula for their first several weeks:

• Find out what they’re hoping for and what their concerns are in your intro.  Develop a plan to give them more than what they’re hoping for and be sure to address their concerns quickly and thoroughly.
• Orchestrate their first class so that they LOVE the experience and can’t wait to come back.
• By the end of their second week, they should feel completely comfortable with the instructor and the other students in the class.
• They feel that their efforts and accomplishments are acknowledged.
• You find just the right moment to tell them that you can look ahead and see them as an awesome black belt in your program.
• They start sharing that vision and get excited about the prospect of actually earning their black belt.
• They happily make a commitment to earning their black belt.
• Students realize that they love training at your school and parents are thrilled because you gave them exactly what they were hoping for and more.  (This didn’t happen by accident.  See the first bullet in this set.)

4)  Communication in their first several weeks is vital.  The only way to know for sure if they’re getting off to a great start is to get feedback.  It’s easy to make “course corrections” early, before small concerns become major issues… but only if you know what they’re thinking.

5)  Get them over their first obstacle.  This can come in many different forms, but it’s going to come so be ready.  And after they’ve overcome it, be sure to make them feel great about it.  (So the next time they encounter an obstacle, they’ll expect that they’ll persevere through it.)

6)  If the student is a child, be sure to invest similar energy in the satisfaction of the parent.  Go out of your way to engage with them.  Compliment and appreciate their child.  Every parent loves this!

7)  Make your school a genuine community.  Starbucks refers to their stores as being “their third place.”  Their home is their first place.  Their work or school is their second place.  And your martial arts school is their third place.  It’s the place they love to be when they’re not at home, school or work.  Think about ways to make your school a social hub for your students and parents.  Your martial arts program is always the core of what goes on at your school, but your goal is to have your school be your students’ favorite place to be.

8)  Never underestimate the power of the personal touch:  Take a moment to look a student in the eye and tell them you’re proud of them.  Send handwritten “Awesome” cards, birthday cards, etc. 

There are lots of variations to all of this, but the underlying theme is this:  If they love coming to class, if they can’t wait to come back, if they feel like they’re an integral part of the school, if your school is their favorite place to be, if they feel acknowledged, appreciated and heard, if they have positive relationships with their instructor and their fellow students, they’ll never want to quit.  And as long as the person paying feels that what they’re getting is priceless, they’ll do anything to keep the student coming back for more.

Compliments of Mark Seidman, General Manager of Kovar’s Systems

Do we add AM classes to our schedule?

We believe the answer is yes.  With school out for summer, AM classes make it easy for kids to keep coming to classes consistently.  If you choose not to go this route, you may find that many kids start missing classes because they got started on something else in the morning.  If martial arts class isn’t until later in the afternoon, there’s a good chance that the kids will be doing something else when it’s time to come to class.  Imagine a mom who goes out to tell her kids to get out of the pool because it’s time to go to martial arts classes.  It’s easy to envision the kids begging her to let them stay in the pool (or playing ball, or doing any other fun activity).  

And even if they’re done with whatever they did in the morning, when it’s time for class, they may complain that they’re too tired to go.  So mom gives in and tells them that they don’t have to.  One week they skip a class.  The next week, they don’t come at all.  And next thing you know, the student that was coming consistently is about to become a quit.

But if you have morning classes, it’s much more likely to get the kids to attend classes consistently through the summer.

Family Events:  Summer is a fantastic time to have family events at your school.  We kick off our “Super Summer Series” with a Family Fun Night.  This typically runs from 6-9PM and includes all kinds of fun events for everyone in the family.  It has a carnival feel.  We have prize drawings, a pot luck dinner, demonstrations, family games etc. 

By starting our summer with a Family Fun Night, we make sure that everyone knows about all our fun summer events.  It’s a great opportunity for parents to mingle with our staff informally and we always enroll a few younger siblings as well. 

A Good Summer Goal:  We all have students that want to take a break for the summer.  We do everything in our power to minimize this.  Even with AM classes and all our fun summer events, we still have a few students that take summer off.  And some of these students never return.  So Summer presents a real retention challenge.  To keep our staff focused on this, we set a goal to have as many students on September 1 as we did on June 1.  If we anticipate a few extra quits in summer, we know that we need to step up our student acquisition efforts so we don’t lose ground.  Here’s how the numbers might work:

NORMAL MONTH – You enroll 10 students, but you have 7 quits, for a net gain of 3 students.

SUMMER MONTH – You enroll 7 students, but you have 10 quits, for a net loss of 3 students.

In this case, it’s clear that you’ll need to enroll 10 students during the summer months if you want to maintain your enrollment.  But if your typical summer pattern is to have only 7 enrollments, you’ll need to work with your team to find ways to enroll at least three additional students each month in the summer to combat the increase in quits that may come. 

A Plan for Summer:  Your summer plan should have three components:

• Set quantifyable goals for enrollment.  (Example:  Our goal is to end the summer with as many students as we started)
• Develop a plan to keep students coming to class consistently and to minimize quits duing the summer (Examples: AM classes, summer events, etc.)
• Make plans for some additional student acquisition efforts to ensure that you meet your goals.

A solid plan that includes fun activities and some additional acquisition efforts will make for a great summer for your school and your students. 

Compliments of Mark Seidman

General Manager of Kovar Systems