Student Retention Beats Paid Trials.

A simple trick.

Something that is seemingly lost these days in the Martial Arts industry.

Student retention. 

When did it become cool to focus only on new prospects and forget about the people who have been riding with you from the start? 

The people who actually PAY your bills... 

I've heard schools having an attrition rates of almost 15%! Wow. 

These schools are the same schools focused more on getting new students than anything else. 

Of course getting new leads is important. But current student morale is WAY more important because current students are more profitable than new ones. 

Let's break it down.

A paid trial is nothing more than a free plus shipping offer. Old as time. 

Problem is most people running with this don't know their micro numbers.

And unless your numbers are dialed in really well you are probably losing money.

They look at macro numbers. Paid trials are loss leaders. Free plus shipping is a loss leader.

It is created to get a result and then in one fell swoop up-sell them to a higher priced program. Usually while their wallet is open. NOT 4 weeks later. 

And without knowing your cost to create that lead, the cost of the loss, the cost of the ad spend and your conversion rate and the cost of staff percentage to process that lead you really don't know anything except a number. Without the micro numbers you can't know the macro numbers like ROI. 

It's probably not a good one either.

I recently had a conversation with a well intentioned school owner who touted his paid trial numbers. 

But couldn't tell me the cost of acquisition or better the cost per lead.

Without those numbers you have no idea if you are losing money by the boat load. 

And I have to think that if you are getting 40 a month and signing up 20, you'd need a new school every 2 years if you kept most of them.

Problem is the focus is on racing to the bottom in this industry. 

lately the focus isn't on servicing your customer it's simply about getting them in the door.

And then getting more in the door while the people who are IN your door aren't being serviced as best as they can. 

And there is only 1 way to find out if they are. Ask yourself if you are asking them what could improve. I know this is about laying your ego aside but that is what you need to do to really best serve your customers.

If you don't like making money then of course don't listen to your customers complaints only listen to their praises, only do what you want and only make yourself right.

But of course if you do like to grow and make money then listen up! 

If you don't want people to leave your school you need to take all the steps to treat them like people and like family. 

You need to praise them. Listen to their needs. And serve them. 

You need to lead by example. You need to do exactly what you want them to do yourself. 

If you don't want people to be late, don't run late classes! 

If you want people to be consistent and show up, you better not be calling out every 3 days. 

If you want people to take you seriously it's not just about what you say, it's about what you do. Small things matter. 

A t shirt, a hoodie, a party a postcard in the mail. Go the extra mile. 

Speaking of which these cards right here have sold so many times to schools all across the world. 

They are a simple card you send to students to make them feel good. To make them feel like you really care. 

Because you do! Small things create big feelings.  

Anytime someone gets promoted, send them one, they have great attended sence them a hand written note. It goes a long way. 

Believe me, as silly as it sounds people LOVE getting tangible items in the mail. 

It's why books never died and why print marketing will always have a better conversion rate than email and online marketing.

Because it's real and you can hold it, and people LOVE real in a world that's not so real anymore. 

Click this link to grab retention cards and make your students feel special. https://www.dojomuscle.com/products/great-job-cards-1a