We've hit the end of this current email series, so it's time to wrap things up with one final concept... one that will help you:
I have to admit, when a parent comes to me and says those six words, I get a little slap-happy... and not in a good way.
Typically, it comes out of the blue. Just the previous week, the same parent was telling you how great martial arts classes have been for their child, and how much they've changed for the better since they started, blah, blah, blah.
So if they're so gung-ho on their kid being in your classes, then why does this happen?
Remember earlier in this series when I talked about customer satisfaction? If you'll recall, I said that to keep your customers happy, you need to do three things:
- Give them what they want,
- How they want it,
- And at a price they are willing to pay for it.
Honestly, sometimes when a client says they need to take a break, it's because of factor #3 on that list, price. Maybe a parent is looking at being laid off or furloughed at work, or they got an unexpected bill, or something to that effect.
But in most cases, it has to do with item #2, "how they want it." In other words, convenience.
Value Perception and Wowing Your Clients
As I've said before many times, value is an entirely subjective concept. Meaning, the value of anything is determined by what the market is willing to pay for it.
You've also heard me speak before about the economic concept of the price elasticity of demand, which is the relationship between price and demand. In our business, our services tend to be inelastic, meaning changes in price do not increase or decrease demand much.
What I'm saying here is that there will always be people who want to take martial arts lessons, and so long as your prices are not astronomically high, if you know how to market your dojo you'll always have customers.
However, one thing we have to take into account is the value perception of what we offer. In other words, how much customers value our services.
When someone is first introduced to martial arts training, typically their value perception of the service is quite low. They think it's a commodity, something they can get anywhere.
However, if you're doing your job right, over time their value perception of your services should increase dramatically, so that eventually they can't imagine life without training at your dojo.
When you routinely convert new customers to raving fans, you know that you're doing your job properly. And by wowing them, you've more or less made yourself indispensable in their lives.
That is... to a point.
Convenience vs. Value
However, one factor we have to take into account when determining perceived value is convenience. To illustrate this, consider the concept of a "convenience store."
The convenience store is exactly what it says, a store that offers convenience. Typically here in the States, gas stations are also convenience stores that offer a variety of goods that someone might want or need, everything from soda to lottery tickets (a voluntary tax on the poor and stupid), from Fix-a-flat to Fritos.
These stores are designed to capture sales that are either impulse sales, or desperation sales:
- An example of an impulse sale would be grabbing a pack of gum and a magazine on the way to the counter.
- A desperation sale is paying $10 bucks for a can of Fix-a-flat, because you're on your way to a job interview and "I don't have time for this crap on today of all days."
And because they offer convenience (the shopper is right there in the store, buying gas), prices are usually 25% to 100% higher than a shopper would pay for the same item just a few blocks down the road at the local grocery or department store.
This makes one thing very, very clear... that people will pay a premium for convenience.
When Convenient Things Are No Longer Convenient
Ah, but this also tells us that, when things are no longer convenient to a customer, the perceived value goes down, and often significantly.
When mom and dad only had to take little Katie or Bobby to karate class twice a week, they didn't feel inconvenienced at all. But now that the kid has decided they also want to play the flute, play soccer, or take dance lessons, and mom and dad are running their asses ragged playing chauffeur six days a week (a self-inflicted injury, I might add), suddenly the blush is off the rose.
If you've done your job - and that's a BIG if - then the parents will decide that martial arts training is too beneficial of an activity to sacrifice, and they will be willing to inconvenience themselves in order to continue training.
But if the kid wants to do another activity that conflicts with the TIME they attend martial arts classes, and one is more or less free (sports) and the other is $150 a month, which do you think is going to get jettisoned?
You guessed it: Soon it's gonna be "we need to take a break" time... and you just lost a client that was worth two-grand a year.
The Solution
The solution to this issue is to never put parents in a position where they have to choose between your services and another activity. And the way to do that is to give them maximal convenience and choice in when they can attend your classes.
Now, this doesn't mean that you let parents bring their kids willy-nilly to whatever class they want... uh-uh, nope.
But it does mean that you are going to structure your schedule so that, when necessary, parents can bring their kids at a different time on a different day, so they don't have to drop out of classes when there's a scheduling conflict.
And that's where an Early/Late schedule comes in.
The Early/Late Schedule
An early/late schedule is nothing more than a class schedule that offers students at every level an early class time and a later class time to attend classes each week.
*Here's how that might look...
Mon/Wed Classes:
4:00 pm - Ages 4 to 6 beginners
4:30 pm - Ages 7 to 12 beginners
6:00 pm - Ages 4 to 6 advanced
6:30 pm - Ages 7 to 12 advanced
Tues/Thurs Classes:
4:00 pm - Ages 4 to 6 advanced
4:30 pm - Ages 7 to 12 advanced
6:00 pm - Ages 4 to 6 beginners
6:30 pm - Ages 7 to 12 beginners
As you can see, parents have the option to attend either early classes or late classes when they enroll (more on that in a minute). So, let's say Sally decides she wants to do soccer, and soccer practice directly conflicts with her 4:30 beginner's class on Mondays and Wednesdays.
When mom and dad come in saying that they need to take a break until soccer practice is over, you tell them the following:
- "Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I know you have every intention of continuing martial arts classes after soccer season is over. But, it's my experience that, when children take a break from training, their enthusiasm for martial often wanes and they rarely return to training."
- If the child is present: "And, I don't want to see Sally get behind her friends in rank, because I know how hard she's worked for her current belt, and I'd hate to see her friends get ahead of her in training."
- "Now, I know you've expressed to me many times how much you value Sally's martial arts training, and how much her ___________ has improved since she started attending classes here at __________________."
- "So, I have a better solution... what if Sally were to attend class at 6:00 pm for a few months, instead of at 4:30? Now, I normally don't allow students to jump around from class to class, but I am willing to make an exception in order to help Sally maintain her martial arts training."
Sure, you're pulling on their heart strings a little. But the bottom line is, if you really think Sally is better off continuing martial arts instead of dropping out, then it's your job to convince her parents to keep her in your classes.**
The Early/Late Schedule as a Sales Tool
As I explain in the
Martial Arts Sales Success System, scheduling conflicts fall under one of the major categories of objections you will get when enrolling students.
However, the early/late schedule allows you to handle that objection in the majority of cases with parents. Being able to offer that level of convenience helps you enroll more students, more easily.
Keeping a Finger on the Pulse of Your Dojo
This falls more under the topic of hiring and training staff, but I think it's an important issue to note. Once you have staff teaching classes for you, it's easy to get out of step with what's happening on the floor.
Let me just say that I think you should be interacting with every student in your school on the floor every week, regardless of whether or not you have enough staff to cover every class.
To do that, you have to be on the floor in every class, which is tough to do.
However, with the early/late schedule, you can actually do this AND get off work early a few nights a week, by stepping into your early classes one day and your late classes another day of the week, each and every week.
This means that, if you wish, you can teach a few classes twice a week and have one-to-one contact with every student in your school, AND go home early three days a week, if you so choose.
If you have small children at home and you tire of spending nights away from them, hiring good staff and implementing an early/late schedule can help you reclaim some of that missed time with your loved ones.
For this reason alone, I think it's an invaluable strategy for school owners.
Final Thoughts: Implementation
I want to reemphasize (because I know someone with ten students is going to try to implement the entire schedule all at once) that you should NOT start out by implementing this entire schedule.
Instead, it should be implemented in stages:
- Stage I: At less than fifty students, stick with four "primary" class slots a week until you fill those classes -
- Stage II: From 50 to 100 students, stick with eight "primary" class slots a week until you fill those classes -
- Stage III: After 100 students, and after you have trained assistants on staff, consider adding morning and daytime classes, adding after-school class slots for your children's programs, and implementing the early/late schedule -
