martial arts business marketing tips to turn leads into students

I.F.I.P. System for turning leads into students and Marketing your Martial Arts Business

Here’s one more solid “Follow Up” tip for you.

When following up with leads that you meet when you’re “out and about” or leads that come through your martial arts marketing website…

Keep in Mind The IFIP Formula…

Let’s show this by starting with a question I often get…

“Mike, I’ll be renting a table at (xyz community event), I’m wondering what is the best way to follow up on leads that I meet there?”

Answer: There are 2 ways…

It’s all gonna come down to being proactive rather than reactive.

So the big take away is to have your follow up DONE BEFORE you go to the event.

Then – you work two angles.

Remember, you’ll have 2 kinds of leads.

1. Those leads that are “half-way interested” and willing to set an intro appointment.
2. Those leads who are “not really sure” but are happy to “learn more about you.”

The “intro leads” go into one system and the “not really sure” leads go into another.

Of course both systems should include email, direct mail and a reminder to you or your program director to make a call.

Then, you can use the IFIP formula to build it.

It stands for…

Information – Feedback (testimonials from students) – Information – Pitch

Getting more information into their hands is priority number 1. (after an intro is booked)

People today are naturally inclined to “do a little research” on your martial arts business before they come in anyway. So why not help them “cross something off their list?”

The testimonial element is pretty self-explanatory. Then, a little more info and finally (but not really “finally” as in you’re done) a straight forward offer to get them off the fence. The “P” stands for “Pitch.”

I’m interviewing a few potential new clients for three of the openings in my “Martial Arts Marketing Mega Follow Up System.”

If you want to find out more information the only way to do so right now is send me an email and arrange a private time to chat via phone.

OK,

Go follow up – it’s the winner’s edge in our “tougher economy.”

how to waste 100 good prospects for your martial arts business

How to Waste 100 Leads

I guess that wouldn’t make a great title for an article on marketing huh? A Better title might be– “8 Step Follow Up System?”

But the truth is – It happens all the time. Leads get wasted!

• Guests that show up for special events.
• Prospects you meet when you’re out an about running a booth at some community event.
• Birthday Party Leads
• Self-Defense classes.
• Etc, etc.

It really is sad.

What do you hear all the time? Right!

You have to follow up. You have to call, email and send physical mail.

Yes– it could get over-whelming!

The key is to have your follow up done before you go about your lead gen activities.

Here’s an example…

Lets say you are going to run a special event for students and buddies.

Promotion goes well so so you end up with 15 Students and 15 non-students at the event. (modest– yes)

So now you have 15 special event guests that need follow up.

You collected all their info of course.

Step 1 is you pre-arranged a time for them to come back as a group and handed them an invitation before they left your event.

Step 2 is old-fashioned: You call the morning of the “come back class” to confirm. If you’re lucky you will reach about half of them. But prepare to reach less!

Step 3 is a numbers game. Meaning, not all of them will show up to your special class. If 5 show up those are the hot ones and the ones you can enroll right away. Within a few days you will have converted a few.

The rest of the steps focus on the last 10. (You know the ones you have would have forgotten in the past)

Step 4 is the ten who did not come to the special extra class for event guests get an email to the effect of “thanks for being our guest” with a gentle reminder of the special class for guests. This would invite them to call you to make arrangements for this special class while they still can.

Step 5 is mail piece one. Mail piece one thanks them again and reminds them of their invite to come in and check out classes.

Step 6 is another email that gives them information that is useful to them. This depends on the market.

It also suggests they check out your blog and website.

Step 7 is mail piece two: Mail piece two is a postcard with a great headline, good copy and an excellent offer.

Step 8 is one more phone call from your program director or you.

These eight steps will turn a few of those guests who would have not joined other wise into new students.

The rest simply stay in your “special event lead” list for future follow up. More will join.

Now– if you’re saying… “Mike, this seems like a lot of work.” You’re correct, but the truth is you don’t really have to do any of it.

Here’s what I mean…

For a few select clients we have put these systems in place.

All the client has to do is enter those 10 special event guests one time.

The systems send the emails. The system tells the fulfillment company to print and mail the letters and postcards.

And the system ques the reminders to the staff to make the calls.

So now your only problem becomes having special events and filling your funnel.

It makes life a lot better.

And whether you get 10 leads or 100 none will be wasted.

summer martial arts marketing tips

Martial Arts Business Summer Enrollments

We’re quickly approaching another summer season.

Quite often the question we get around here is…

“How do I keep a steady flow of enrollments over the summer?”

An additional question that should follow up the first question is…

“How can I keep my current students from dropping out?”

Let’s try to answer both – briefly right here…

“How do I keep a steady flow of enrollments over the summer?”

I encourage folks to be careful with “paid marketing” in the summer.

Easing up on certain direct mail and community newspapers (yes, people still read local print publications) is a good idea. Why? Because most people put life on hold in the summer so there’s no point reaching them when they are not even remotely receptive.

I’m talking – mid July – Early August. Aggressive recruitment before and after this time window is a must.

The key to getting summer enrollments…

It’s to “Interupt Your Prospects.”

Here’s what I mean…

We’ve found (and so have our members) that working with community groups… Kids groups – Adult groups – Camps, etc is key to a steady flow of enrollments.

There’s still time to book yourself solid when you take action.

If you visit at least 8 groups during the course of the summer you can easily enroll 20 fresh faces.

Plus, when you play your cards right you can build a huge list to market to in the fall via email and direct mail. This is something so many martial arts business owners miss and so many martial arts business marketing groups don’t understand.

The approach is key…

Using the correct words with group leaders gets you in.

Never – ever call what you want to do with them – “martial arts” or “karate” they will tune you out.

Then – don’t agree to teach their group more than ONCE over the course the summer – our tests have shown over and over that less is more.

Then – you must have a good system for getting them back to your school and enrolling them.

Next – question…

Dropouts.

We love to use the “Crazy Weeks of Summer Program”

Basically, there’s something new each week for students to look forward to.

This includes…

Soaking instructors with water balloons (yes– adults get into this too).

Outside classes.

And this year–

Making a Martial Arts Movie and Social Media Week.

I wish you the best for the summer.

If you want some help I’ve arranged a really cool chance for you.

You can get access to everything you need for a great summer and spectacular fall for just…

49 bucks.

Here’s the link…

Click Here for Summer Martial Arts Marketing