All instructors want their students to benefit from studying their art just as they have done and to be technically proficient. They want them to be able to generate amazing power when hitting the pads, be technically perfect when doing basic techniques, to be good at sparring, to have amazing flexibility, etc. You get the idea. I’ve even spoken to school owners who are obsessed with their logo – what mats to get – what vending machine company to use?
THAT IS ALL SECONDARY TO WHAT YOU SHOULD BE FOCUSSING ON!
Look at it this way – if you’re not earning a living from doing what you love then before you know it you will be forced to close your school, and you won’t be in a position to help students. How good is it having the best ever yellow and orange belts if they drop off without reaching Black Belt?
You owe it to yourself to keep hold of students and to earn money from your School.
If you’re not graduating a very high % of your students to Black Belt, then you have LOTS of holes in your bucket. I am in no way saying you should water down your standard, far from it, what I am saying though is that how good can you truly be if people are leaving after just a few months. It can be hard to swallow but RETENTION is a huge problem for school owners and often they think the problem is getting more white belts.
So, the question is – what do you need to focus on?
1. Attracting and enrolling a student ✅
2. Keeping them forever✅
I have written many articles before about how to attract and enrol a student, plus there is a large section on the topic in my book (How To Build A Highly Profitable Martial Arts School), plus there are videos on my You Tube channel. If you work on your retention rate (point 2) then your school will start to grow. The better you are at retention the more a student benefits from your tuition because they are staying around longer and the more cash flow (and profits hopefully) your school will have.
Getting a student enrolled is an amazing feeling but so many instructors think their job is done then – it’s not! You then need to guide and educate them during their orientation period on just how amazing a lifelong journey of studying martial arts is. If your parents just see you as another ‘after school club’ you are dead in the water. Never put yourself in the ‘after school sport’ bracket.
If you don’t know these figures then you need my help?
👉your retention rate
👉your net enrolment each month
👉your LTV Life Time Value of a student
👉number of leads/enquiries per month
👉number of 1st and 2nd lessons per month
👉your active count
If you don’t know any of the above or not all of them then don’t worry – I can help. I help SERIOUS Martial Arts School owners who want to build a Profitable Martial Arts School.
Hope you found some value in this post. Rather than sit on the fence like I did for the first 10 years of running my Karate School, invest in a mentor who has achieved what you wish to achieve. Contact me on hello@dervishdervish.com
Thanks for reading
Dervish Dervish🥋🏠
p.s. if you are committed to growth then invest a tiny amount of money on my book;
https://amzn.eu/d/2SyivQK
p.p.s. if you really want to grow your school then apply for my unique mentoring programme.