For the first 8 years of running my Karate school I just did what I thought might improve our gross (it was often the wrong thing). I read the occasional ‘generic’ business magazine and listened to ‘general’ business advice and some of it nudged the needle but nothing major happened. It wasn’t until I invested in Specific Martial Arts Business education did my School exponentially grow. I share LOTS of strategies in my book ‘How To Build A Highly Profitable Martial Arts School’, link below.
A HUGE step in your retention puzzle is getting students to commit to becoming Black Belts. I refer to this more in my book so if you haven’t invested in a copy yet then here is the link; https://amzn.eu/d/hjxpusK
If you are not enrolling enough new students or not keeping hold of your existing students then you need to work with me because I know exactly what to do.
When students enrolled into our Martial Arts School (notice that I didn’t say ‘joined our club’) they enrolled into a Trial Enrolment programme. This was a basic training programme that introduced them to our style and our Unique Character Development programme. When students decided they wanted to COMMIT to becoming Black Belts they followed a different belt structure. The syllabus was 75% the same but for those who wanted to be Black Belts there were additional elements covered.
All our Trial Enrolment programme students still took part in testing’s/gradings and on each grading they moved from 1 striped belt to another. On our ‘Learning Wall’ we had 2 main belt displays;
1. Trial Enrolment Belts
2. Black Belt Training Belts
We had many distinctions between the programmes but wearing white belts with differing-coloured stripes and a different colour suit were the main ones.
If you are looking to increase your retention, then you MUST keep hold of the students you enrol. You cannot build a sustainable business if you are not holding on to your students. I help my mentees with marketing, enrolment and retention – if you would like to work with me then get in touch.
Good luck
p.s. here is the link again to my book where I share insights and strategies on How To Build A Highly Profitable Martial Arts School; https://amzn.eu/d/hjxpusK