| Friend,
One thing I hear over and over again from martial art school owners is that they often feel like they have too much work and not enough day.
"There's always so much to do," they say. "I feel so overwhelmed."
Here's my take on overwhelm. If you're overwhelmed you're either working inefficiently, you're working on too many things at once, or you're trying to take on too much by yourself.
I think the solution to the third situation is pretty obvious (get some help and delegate), so we're going to focus on the first two causes of overwhelm - working inefficiently and working on too many things at once.
There really is only one solution to either situation, and that is to figure out what is the most important thing you could be doing at any given time, and focus on that.
Remember yesterday when I wrote about the 80/20 principle? Ignoring it is a great way to get overwhelmed in your business.
Here's why:
When you have no idea which tasks are high-priority and which are low-priority in your business, you are naturally going to gravitate to those things that are comfortable and that you enjoy most.
So, if you enjoy writing lessons plans, that's what you're going to do all day long. Or you're going to spend all day training instead of working on your business.
Or you're going to get caught up in doing a lot of low-priority tasks, like shopping for office, cleaning, and bathroom supplies, or placing orders for your Pro Shop.
Sure, those things need to be done, but they don't rank very high on the list of things that need to get done DAILY to grow a school and keep it in profit.
So what are the things that need to get done each and every day to grow a school and keep it in profit? Here they are, listed in order of importance: - Responding to prospect inquiries and following up on leads. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, but that bird is worth nothing until you close your hand. So, calling back inquiries and following leads (setting appointments) is priority #1.
- Generating new leads. I don't care how you get it done, so long as your methods are efficient and effective. Whether you do a crap-load of online marketing, or direct mail and door hangers, or face-to-face marketing in the form of VIP'ing people on the street, or a ton of public appearances, or a combination of methods... it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you generate leads and set appointments every single day.
- Teaching intros. It goes without saying that if you have leads and you don't take care of them, all that work is wasted. Make sure whoever is teaching intros is damned good at it, because it's a crucial step in the enrollment process.
- Enrolling students. This is the logical end result of priorities 1-3.
- Teaching awesome, high-energy classes. This is step #1 for retaining the students you already have.
- Servicing your current students. That means returning phone calls, attending to customer service issues, handling renewals and upgrades, sending out good job notes, and making MIA calls. This is something that ideally needs to be attended to daily, but remember that priorities 1-5 need to get done first. So, if you can't get to it every day, at least attend to it every other day, while striving to return phone calls and messages that are low on your priority list within 24 hours. Or, delegate it to someone who can see to it every day.
- Tracking your stats. This is an ongoing task that needs to be attended to constantly. I don't care what system you use, whether it's a cloud-based app, a spreadsheet on your computer, Evernote on your phone, or tick marks on your desk calendar (I knew one very successful school owner who used that method). Doesn't matter how you do it, you need to track your stats. (Note: Bookkeeping is separate from stat-tracking, and it's something you can and probably should outsource.)
- Tracking attendance.
- Collecting tuition and attending to late payers. If you automate this, you should be able to just look at a report every night and then delegate the task of following up on late pays.
- Cleaning the school. A dirty school does you no favors. Keep your school clean. It should be the last thing you do before you walk out the door at night.
That's it. That's the stuff that needs to be attended to on a daily or almost daily basis to grow a school and keep it in profit. Everything else can wait, be delegated, or be attended to at a time of the week when you have some breathing room.
And if you're feeling overwhelmed, I suggest you make a list and keep it next to your desk. Whenever you are feeling like you're drowning in a sea of activity, stop and assess the priority level of what you're doing.
Is it low-priority busy work, or is it something that is going to put more money in your pocket this week, and/or keep the money you already have coming in flowing?
If it's busy work, set it aside until you have time to spare on low-priority tasks, or delegate it to a subordinate. If it's a high-priority task, focus on it to the exclusion of all else until the task is complete.
That's how you become a more efficient school manager, and how you beat overwhelm.
Until next time,
Mike Massie
P.S. - Sometimes low-priority tasks can take over your schedule. Often this is due to a failure to set boundaries, or failing to guard your time. If you are getting overwhelmed by customer service issues (constant phone calls, texts, emails, and the like from students), then it's time to either hire someone to handle that for you. Or you need to set boundaries to limit the times and channels at and by which students have access to you. Or both.
|
