Hollywood1340
2nd Black Belt
One might say that keeping your school the way it is but more people through the door is mutually exclusive. Change may be necessarily to get more people through the door. And that's not a bad thing.
What make a successful TKD school
- Thread starter terryl965
- Start date
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
It may not be a bad thing, but then it might, depending on your POV, and what is changed.
You need to determine why you aren't getting more people in the door. Is it an advertising issue or a content issue? Maybe both? Maybe something else.
Daniel
OP
OP
Well one thing that is killing me is the timeframe for my BB's, with me it is more like 4-6 years. Most and I should say 98% of them are BB's withen 2-3 years, but so many people do not understand the big difference in programs. Those that have stayed and learn what I truely teach love it, but those that see every child recieving a BB in a couple of years do not understand my program. I have a big problem with bashing other schools so I kind of just do not say anything negative about them but what is positive about me and my school.
Here is an example of a feature. Now, you need to make the customers realize the benefits. In order to do that, you need to be able to lay them out concisely so that the customer can see them.
Kids around them are getting black belts in two to three years. You can tell them the benefits to the extra time without bashing the other school. For instance, if you teach additional curriculum to the minimums that the Kukkiwon requires, you need to make that known; 'Yes, Mrs. Jones, that school does generally promote within two to three years, however, they are teaching primarilly sport taekwondo. There's nothing wrong with that, and we teach it here, but in addition, students are also learning... ' and then enumerate from there.
Or, you can illustrate that most students need four years to complete high school. Can the curriculum be streamlined to include only the essentials and fast track students to graduate in two years? Sure. Would those students be able to function in most ordinary jobs? Sure. Would they have as complete an education? Of course not. Would they need to take extra credit courses in college in order to make up the deficit in their knowledge? Absolutely. Does that make the teachers or the other school inherently bad? No, but it is not a teaching philosophy that you would adhere to.
Daniel
miguksaram
Master of Arts
Insanity: To continue doing what you are doing expecting different results.
Though I think I understand what you are saying...you don't want to change your curriculum just change the amount of people that are showing up to learn it. I would still recommend taking a look at what you offer and start repricing yourself. Then look at different venues of marketing.
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
terry
School #2 has the following additional groups
A Black Belt Class - which costs more and apparently speeds the Blackbelt process
A Leadership Class - which costs more and leads to an internship (unpaid of course) to become a teacher
A Performance Group - which...well I don't know if that cost more or not
Also Theme Weeks
And a Children’s class with a different belt structure that eventually leads to a solid Yellow belt and the older kids (regular Class). That way they can hand out new belts to the younger kids (6 and under) every 20 weeks and keep the parents happy.
But then after that…well it’s still quick since they are a belt factory
oh and contracts
Regular = 1 year
Blackbelt = 5 or 6 years
granfire
Sr. Grandmaster
Had words with a school owner of my (now old) organization. he insisted his people were happy with it, I insisted he made good money off it (I can direct you to the exchange if so desired, the 'leadership club' was his internship program)
Earl Weiss
Senior Master
I don't think they are mutualy exclusive.
I am in a similar situation. I can't show people what I have to offer unless they walk in the door. That's where lead boxes and gift certificates and referral rewards come in. Most every form of advertising I have tried has been a dismal failure.
The pie of prospective students is only so big. If you have more people trying to get pieces, inevitably the slices get smaller. The key is exposure. A sign on a busy street is good. Being near schools is good. Other than that your exposure is thru various forms of advertising and word of mouth.
Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
Terry, I understand the desire to earn a reasonable income thru doing what you love. I also believe that in theory it should be possible to do this by teaching martial arts.
You've got to honestly answer a question for yourself: if you got fifty newbies every three months, and enough stayed thru the long term to make your school grow in the way you want it to, how many of them could you teach to a high standard, before you become spread too thin?
When you have too many students, you cannot give them all the attention that they need, in order to keep standards high. Quality begins to suffer.
I do not know what is that magic number of students. It is probably different for different people. It depends on how many assistant instructors you have on staff, and how good they are at teaching as well.
but you've got to really consider this. If you have too many students for you and your staff to handle, and you can no longer keep a high level of quality control in the instruction and the training, then you have become a belt factory. If that happens, will the income justify it? Will you be able to look yourself in the face every morning when you look in the mirror, knowing that you have done this?
bluewaveschool
2nd Black Belt
back when i first started training all the Y had was a candy machine and a RC Cola machine.
granfire
Sr. Grandmaster
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81466
one of the more classic threads...and one of my less than helpful moments
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Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
QUICK, hide in here
No I do not think anyone mentioned that but school #2 in my fist post has a juice\water\soda vending machine and the sell ice crème too.
And I suppose I should also mention the MA supply store they have to get more cash from their students and parents of their students
oh and the afterschool/daycare program that they arranged to have the public school drop kids off at his school if the parents say it is ok.
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granfire
Sr. Grandmaster
well, depending on the location having avending machine with sportsdrinks and water and a few snacks is a good thing. our old building was close to a gas station and a shopping center (if you braved a 4 lane highway by the intersection)
but the new location is a few miles down the road with no stores near by.
The school always provided the option to buy gear (with the organization going with 'co-branded gear, then a yucky custom orange color exclusive to the group) but the owner never insisted you buy from him. But he did provide deals on the stuff. I priced uniforms and found I got a better deal from him than from the company itself.
The other junk he offered didn't fly off the shelves much, the organizational TKD shirts, or plushies...
He does offer T-shirts though we can wear to work out in (the old school had lousy air conditioning and it got grandfathered in)
I am not opposed to vending machines, they are a service that I greatly appreciate some times.
making money is not a bad thing. At least not when the product is good and priced fair.
but the new location is a few miles down the road with no stores near by.
The school always provided the option to buy gear (with the organization going with 'co-branded gear, then a yucky custom orange color exclusive to the group) but the owner never insisted you buy from him. But he did provide deals on the stuff. I priced uniforms and found I got a better deal from him than from the company itself.
The other junk he offered didn't fly off the shelves much, the organizational TKD shirts, or plushies...
He does offer T-shirts though we can wear to work out in (the old school had lousy air conditioning and it got grandfathered in)
I am not opposed to vending machines, they are a service that I greatly appreciate some times.
making money is not a bad thing. At least not when the product is good and priced fair.
ralphmcpherson
Senior Master
In my opinion having a MA supply store to "get more cash from their students" is a good thing. If they dont buy their MA gear from you they are only going to go to a martial arts store and spend their money there. Vending machines are also a great idea, if students are going to roll up to class with a gatorade in their hand they may as well be purchasing it from the club and you pocket the money. Again, if they dont buy it from you they have to buy it somewhere.In winter the students are going to wear a jacket to class and they may as well purchase one from the club with your dojang name on it because everywhere they wear it they are giving you free advertising. There are plenty of ways of making the extra dollars out of your dojand and you shouldnt think your school is any less reputable if you take advantage of these things. Its your living and you should try to make as good money as you can providing the quality of instruction doesnt suffer and your fees remain in line with your competitors.QUICK, hide in here
No I do not think anyone mentioned that but school #2 in my fist post has a juice\water\soda vending machine and the sell ice crème too.
And I suppose I should also mention the MA supply store they have to get more cash from their students and parents of their students
oh and the afterschool/daycare program that they arranged to have the public school drop kids off at his school if the parents say it is ok.
bluewaveschool
2nd Black Belt
I have been working out with a guy that all of his student do buy their sparring gear through him, and all of it has his schools name and logo on it. It looks to be some of the better Century stuff, I'm sure there are other places that you can get the same for a better price. He is also doing t-shirts and hoodies. I'm sure he's making a bit off it. The first batch of shirts isn't in yet, so I haven't seen them, but the gear is certainly nice. Though honestly, I would never wear anything that would ID me as a martial artist. Met too many dumbasses just from finding out I know, how many more would I meet if I advertised?
granfire
Sr. Grandmaster
LOl, yeah, there is that...I got a few weird looks when I opted (against better knowledge) to walk into the grocery store after class, in full uniform, patches and BB and all that jazz...
I suppose being a smallish female, I didn't get the usual tough talk...(the 'I bet you can beat up your husband' thing got old the 2nd time I heard it tho)
I suppose being a smallish female, I didn't get the usual tough talk...(the 'I bet you can beat up your husband' thing got old the 2nd time I heard it tho)
ralphmcpherson
Senior Master
All the students at our club (except a very small percentage) purchase their sparring gear from the club. We are required to have all sparring gear by blue belt and the club sells good quality stuff at a reasonable price and you can purchase it straight after class rather than driving around looking for a martial arts shop. Even if the club only makes a few bucks out of each set of pads, it really starts to add up when there are thousands of students. The club also sells tkd shoes, kicking pads, cheap and expensive uniforms, club jackets, belts (plain or embroided with hangul or english), tracksuits and more and has pictures of a lot of the stuff with prices on the website. I would assume they make a tidy profit from all this stuff before a training fee is even paid.
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