Since summer has been a little slower for the club I was excited last Thursday when I had 12 new karate students enrol in my intro program…

Woohoo!

And the thing was I didn’t do anything recently to create this influx of students.

I didn’t do any kind of special promotion…

Nor actively look for these new students.

The phone rang and I answered.

Email arrived and I replied.

People walked in and I helped give them what they wanted.

Because of the way my martial arts business is set up, I get a steady flow of students over the year from a variety of sources, and then every now and again I get a wave of new students, and when this wave hits, I’m so glad I’m organized. I just punch in the data into my martial arts software, and avoid drowing in the paperwork.

It allows me to stay on top of things. It allows me to *remember* details about people that I speak to, or who try class. It allows me to get to know my prospects before they become students. This helps me to build a relationship with them – and when people become emotionally invovled the decision making process is easy.

This is a key point that many martial arts instructors miss – they are lazy when it comes to returning phone calls, replying to email and taking the time to help prospective members discover why they should choose their school. They are lazy when it comes to building relationships.

Don’t be one of them.

Take time to help your prospects choose you and not your competition, and your karate school will thrive.

– Jason