"It is a wretched taste to be gratified with mediocrity when the excellent lies before us." ~Isaac D'Israeli
To this point in this email series on student retention, I think we've pretty well established that if you want to grow your school, you have to maintain low attrition.
Now, I know that seems like common sense to a lot of you who are reading this, but until you see
the numbers that I shared yesterday, you don't really have an appreciation for how just a slight improvement in retention can make a huge difference in your school's growth.
So now that we know how important retention is to the growth of your school, how then do we go about retaining more students?
Of course, there are "mechanical" things you can do to keep students around. Everybody knows those, and just about everyone who is serious about this business uses them.
However, things like contracts, autorenewal agreements and the like won't do diddly-squat for your retention if your clients don't like you.
Let me say that again - if your clients don't like you, they aren't going to stick around.
"Well, duh Mike," you say. "Of course my students would leave if they hated me."
Hold your horses there, my friend. I'm not talking about your students hating your guts. I'm talking about students who simply don't have much of an opinion about you one way or another.
You know, students who are INDIFFERENT to you. Because let me tell you, being a person or a business who inspires indifference in people is absolutely the worst position you can be in as a brand.
Better that you should be hated by some of your clients, because if you have people who hate you then you're likely to be controversial. And if you're controversial, that means people will be talking about you.
However, no one talks about something or someone they're indifferent about, because without an opinion one way or the other, there's nothing really to be said.
Just look at Donald Trump. That man has made a career out of being an ass. Not that he's not a good businessman, but the "Trump brand" is really not about quality, or integrity, or even about service.
Nope. It's about controversy, plain and simple. Because Donald Trump knows that if people are talking about him, that means he's in the public eye, and that also means that he has a high level of brand recognition.
And, he's been able to leverage that into expanding his empire far beyond real estate, especially into entertainment (worth hundreds of millions in income) and licensing (estimated to be worth $3.3 BILLION).
Here's another thing to think about when it comes to being a controversial brand. The law of averages will tell you that if there are people who hate you, then you're also going to have people who love you and who are absolutely loyal to your business.
Now, I'm not saying that you should try to be controversial in order to build your business. However, I am saying that it's much better to be hated by some and loved by others, than to be nearly anonymous to all.
Because, if you're simply a "meh" business? Well, you can kiss your clients goodbye.
If you really want to grow a successful, profitable dojo with a stable clientele and a healthy referral network, then you need to be the type of instructor who inspires trust, confidence, and excellence in others.
So, what I'm going to do for you over the next several emails is to take you step-by-step through the process of making your business a standout brand. Furthermore, I'm going to show you how to make yourself the type of instructor that your students are proud and eager to refer their friends to.
And, I'm going to show you how to have the type of martial art school that students hate to leave.
Keep your eyes peeled for tomorrow's email, because I'm going to start by revealing how you can become the most trustworthy brand in your local market.
Until next time,
Mike Massie
P.S. - Can a dojo survive without being a standout brand? Sure, lots do. But if you want to become a thriving business and not have to worry about how you're going to pay your bills two times a year (those times when students traditionally "want to take a break"), then you MUST become a brand that stands out among your competition.
P.S.S. - Mediocrity is the wheelhouse of the destitute. If you really want to be free from your financial worries in your dojo, then you must refuse to be mediocre.
