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Word of Mouth Marketing Basics for Martial Arts School Owners: One-to-Ones

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We established in the first section about Word of Mouth Marketing that people only refer those that they know, like, and trust. That being said, you have to take the time to cultivate those relationships to the point that they will refer people to you consistently. One of the ways that we’ve found to be effective is by doing one to one meetings with your clients and community partners. I originally got this idea from being a member of a strong contact networking group. It was part of the program, that in order to be successful in their group that you regularly met one on one with other members of the group to learn about their business and how to refer them business. I thought, why couldn’t it work for us?

What is a one to one?

It’s exactly like it sounds. You essentially have a one on one meeting with an adult student or with the parent of a child student. During this time, rather than just having no direction and just chatting you go into it with a specific plan of attack.

Your Objectives:

1) Find out how classes are going for them.

2) Resell them on the benefits of martial arts training and how they (or their child) has been working towards those goals.

3) Educate them on a few ways to get the most out of your program.

4) MOST IMPORTANT: Educate them on what makes a good referral and ask them if they know anyone that might make a good student.

Here’s the thing, we not only want them to tell us about people that they know so we can contact them. We want them out there recruiting people for us. So, we have to train them, just like you would any other sales person in how to prospect and set an appointment. Now of course, we’re not going to expect a parent or a student to set an appointment (that’d be really cool though). We can however, expect that they would know what to look for in what makes a good student and that they would be able to explain to someone the benefits of martial arts lessons and either give them a guest pass (good) or get their permission to give their contact information to us and we contact them.

Anatomy of a One to One meeting:

The idea of this meeting is for them to get to know you and for you to get to know them and then get to the education they need to identify and then make the referral.

The easiest way is, instead of making small talk the whole time is to split the time you have together in half. Half the time your eliciting from them how they’re doing in the program, what their family likes to do, what improvements or challenges they’ve been having in the program, if they’ve connected with any other families, or if they’re planning to come to any of the upcoming events at your school. The important thing is to, obviously, really listen to what they say and for the most part avoid taking over their “time” even though you’re really leading them through that part of the conversation.

When it’s your turn to talk spend the first part telling your story not with all the myriad details of your last 20 years in the martial arts, but the story of what your program is all about. Knowing that your reason for operating a school goes beyond just trying to make money will anchor them more to the program, help them like you more, and more more receptive to referring you or bringing referrals to them.

Also, in a way that doesn’t really put pressure on them, let them know what makes a good client for you. If you’re trying to make contacts with daycares, cub scouts, girl scouts, etc. let them know. Get that person’s number so you can call them and tell that person that your client said they may benefit from a free seminar for their group. The possibilities are really limitless as to what you could ask for if you really listen and are intent on helping.

Filed Under: Business Development, marketing, Referrals

Word of Mouth Marketing Event Basics for Martial Arts School Owners

January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Referral Events are you opportunity to recruit new students by giving your students the opportunity to invite people they know to specific events, for specific reasons, and often in a non-threatening way (they don’t come in with their guard up believing that you’re going to sell them something).

Many referral events can also be done as income generators. If you implement just one or two events a month, you can not only increase your bottom line but create a steady stream of new students into your school. In addition, many of these events are also good for retention, meaning that they help your students connect to the school outside of the class anchoring good feelings to your program. Over time, you’ll become more and more the hub of their families activity.

Below is a partial list of activities that can be done for children, adults, or the whole family. We’ll post How-to’s over the coming weeks.

  • Birthday parties
  • Christmas Party
  • Halloween Party
  • Bring-a-Buddy Class / Week
  • Annual Cook-Out
  • Independence Day event
  • Spring Break Camp
  • Parent’s Night Out
  • Defeat the Bully Class
  • Anti-Abduction, Stranger Danger Seminar
  • School talks
  • Show and tells
  • Teen Movie Night Outings
  • Fight Night at a Sports Bar
  • Summer Camp
  • Member Appreciation Days
  • New Year’s Eve Lock-In
  • School’s Out Party
  • Back-To school Bash
  • Open House
  • Day after Thanksgiving Camp
  • Break-a-board class
  • Academic Achievement Challenge
  • Karate in the Park
  • Karate on the Beach
  • Teen Lock-Ins
  • Teen Game Night

All of these are low impact events and relatively inexpensive (either for you or for clients if you pass the cost along). They can be done in one evening on Friday or Saturday for a few hours and everyone goes home happy and you have the contact information of the guests that come. In addition, they require very little martial arts or if they do, a variant of your trial lesson classes. The point isn’t to teach them a bunch of martial arts, but for them to come in get a little taste of class OR interact with you and your staff so that they have good impression of you and will be more apt to take advantage of your trial program when you invite them back.

When I think of these kind of events, I’m reminded of fellowship at a church. I’m not comparing us to church, but rather that one of the key things that makes churches good churches is that they give people opportunities to connect, not just in worship times. The more events your students attend and bring friends to, the more they’ll be anchored to the program. It becomes feedback loop of success. The more people are juiced about your program, the more events they attend, the more friends they bring, the more leads you have to work with. And ultimately, the more leads you capitalize on the more students you’ll sign up.

Filed Under: marketing, Referrals

Children that participate in character building programs achieve greater academic success, new study suggests.

January 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A new study by researchers, tracking the progress of 20 public elementary schools in Hawaii, may suggest what parents of children in the Powerful Words Character Development and Martial Arts training at Sidekicks Family Martial Arts Centers in Lithia, FL already know – that students participating in a “character-building” program may in fact perform better academically. The schools were randomly assigned to participate in a new “character-building” program that taught kids life-skills in managing your moods, getting along with others, and making choices that improve your sense of well-being very similar to the Powerful Words Character Development program used everyday in our martial arts classes. The schools that were assigned the character-building program for up to four consecutive years, and student achievement was tested at several points throughout the study. The results were compared with outcomes in control schools.

Initially, the schools without the character building program were better off than the ones that had the control schools happened to be better off. They had higher test scores overall. In fact, their scores were higher than the Hawaiian state average, which the schools participating in the study were not.  However, by the end of the study, the situation had flipped. The schools participating in the character-building program were now outperforming the control schools.

Maybe Benjamin Franklin had it right, “Taking charge of your emotional life, adopting a “can-do” attitude, and learning good people skills doesn’t just make you more popular. It can also improve your intellectual performance.”

For the past five years, Sidekicks Family Martial Arts Centers has made immense use of the Powerful Words Character Development Program. We strive to be more than just a punch and kick school.  We are always looking for ways to enhance the learning experience of children and teens here at Sidekicks Family Martial Arts Centers.  We feel that our students deserve a full curriculum that helps to develop  children socially and cognitively as well as physically.

This is why we teamed up with Child and Adolescent Development Specialist, Robyn J. A. Silverman, PhD.  Dr. Robyn provides us with a multitude of resources to the families of our school for the betterment of our children.

Dr. Robyn, as many call her, had developed a comprehensive character development curriculum called Powerful Words!  Powerful Words provides easy-to-follow lessons for children ages 4-6 and 7-12 years and teens–lessons that give each student the strength to explore and the foundation to succeed.  Here at Sidekicks Family Martial Arts Centers, such a character education program used within the context of our organized martial arts lessons, can invite students to listen, share, discover, and reflect on the ways to become upstanding members of our community as well as confident individuals in their own right.

You will notice some very exciting enhancements taking place at our academy.  Our bulletin boards will  offer our parents a one stop information center to keep you updated as to what the children will be learning, in addition, you’ll be receiving monthly editions of Parent’s Perch, Dear Dr. Robyn, and Powerful Projects (which are required for advancement).  The Parent’s Perch is a letter that describes the Powerful Word of the Month and how we will be teaching it at our academy.  this can serve as a great discussion starter for you and your kids!  The Dear Dr. Robyn column is kind of like “Dear Abby” for parents of the martial arts…I know you’ll find it helpful!  Each month our students will have the opportunity to be positively recognized for completeing a powerful Project.  These projects are age apporpriate, very educational, and fun to do!  You’ll also notice that at the end of every class our students will get to take part in a PowerChat that will help them to solidify their understanding of the Powerful Character Word of the Month.  Dr. Robyn has written this curriculum specifically for use in our martial arts academy, so our students will actually getting two world class programs for the price of one!

To learn more about how the instructors at Sidekicks Family Martial Arts in Lithia, FL teach character in children, please visit: http://www.kidslovemartialartslithiafl.com

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Word Of Mouth Marketing Basics for Martial Arts School Owners

January 17, 2012 By 1 Comment

If you were to ask many small school owners or probably the vast majority of small business owners in general what their number one source for leads and new students are, they are likely to say they came from word of mouth. Word of mouth is really another way of saying referral, however in the case of most people this means one thing: that they aren’t doing any marketing at all. They’re depending on the fact that on occasion, one of their clients (who likely just wandered in one day and stayed) is going to recommend them to a friend. They’re making the mistake of believing that one of the last three people they signed up in the last four months was a referral (or that when the new person came in, they happened to recognize someone in the business) that they’re marketing when a successful Word of Mouth Marketing Plan is much more than that. As such it has to be treated just as importantly and with as much discipline and deliberate action as any of the other channels for marketing your program.

What is a Word of Mouth Marketing Plan?

Word of Mouth Marketing is generating new business through referrals from others. They referrals can come from either clients or community partners that you’ve developed a relationship with. What makes the difference between an active and effective WOM plan and, as my Dad put it, the Oyster Method (you know, cause oysters have no propulsion and sit at the bottom of the water and eat whatever floats by—which isn’t usually the best stuff) is developing a systematic approach to generating consistent referrals. In the next few sections we’ll discuss different components of a good WOM program.

The Referral Continum:

It’s important to note that when someone refers a person, it’s the person that is making the referral, not the person receiving it that has the most to lose. This is because when someone refers someone else into your program they’re the one that is actually putting their reputation at risk because they have lent you their credibility by telling another person about your program. For this simple fact, people have a tendency to only refer people that they “know, like, and trust.” In order for your clients or community partners to be at all three they have to know you and what your program is all about (not necessarily have to be clients), they have to like you (because they’re referring YOU not your program), and finally they have to trust you enough that when they refer someone to you that you won’t damage their reputation by embarrassing them or dropping the ball on that referral.

So, the first step in developing a Word of Mouth program is a gut check—you have to ask yourself an important question and most importantly, be honest about the answer:

Am I referable?

Like me, your first reaction was “of course!” But, we can’t just be satisfied with that answer because it’s not about us. We’re already here. In order to get a true answer, you’re going to have to do a couple of things.

1) Examine every aspect of your facility and if you didn’t know what you know, would you want to train there? If you had no previous experience would you feel comfortable allowing your child to work out there? Is your training area clean? Like, really clean, I mean hospital disinfectant clean? Not just, is your equipment new or dilapidated, but is it safe too? Is it well lit or are their bulbs out? Is your space open and inviting and free of clutter or does it look one tep away from being one of those self-storage facility with an open space in the middle? Is your bathroom/changing areas clean? Do adult men and boys change in the same room at the same time? Does your ceiling have water stains where the roof previously leaks every rain storm?

All the time you have to be thinking “What impression would I get of this place if I had never been to a martial arts school and just walked in?” Many people that run club programs out of recreation centers, churches, the YMCA, health clubs etc. don’t have as much control over their training facilities as those that have their own place. If this is the case, you’re not off the hook. Get with the facilities manager and see what can be done about the upkeep. Anything that enhances their professionalism will only help you. If they’re uninterested or unwilling, find a new place for your program OR take it upon yourself to upkeep the place you train in. I once had a program attached to a daycare facility in a steel building at the back of the property. It was basically like training outdoors because to keep it from being like an oven we had to open the four large garage bay doors. We would get there two hours early every day before our classes. The first hour was spent cleaning, the second was spent prepping and getting ready for the actual classes.

2) Next, Examine your classes. This is where the rubber meets the road. Everything else is window draping but our classes are where we deliever on all the promises we’ve made. Again, taking away all of what you know and thinking about it from the perspective of yours students and someone who’s coming in and seeing it all of the first time. When you sit where the parents sit, do you classes look organized, orderly, and safe or does it look like the instructor is barely containing chaos? Is the class fun or could it qualify as lifeless and boring (regardless of how serious or important the information being taught is)? Is it a good workout? Do the students leave smiling and sweating? Is what’s being taught in each class related to what’s required to get to the next level? Is there variety? Would anyone call what comes out of your mouth during class (or any of the other instructors’ mouths) positive, negative, or verbally abusive? How would they characterize you? Do you seem bristly or friendly, focused or distracted, arrogant or passionate? How do the students interact? Are they friendly or cliquish? Are you cultivating a culture of inviting or one that’s closed off?

All of these factors and more, not only affect whether someone signs up with your school, but also whether they refer someone. Think about it. Have you ever been someplace because it was cheapest or because of some other unique place but wouldn’t recommend it to someone else because of how it would make you look? I’ll give you an example. I have a guy here in town that supplies t-shirts and other screen printing and embroidery items. He’s cheap, will let me order low quantities and is usually pretty fast. However, I have to ride him like Zorro. Otherwise, my order will be wrong or something else will be amiss. Consequently, I go to him because he’s cheap and we’re friendly, but I would NEVER recommend him to anyone because of the damage it would do to my credibility when he inevitably screwed up my referrals’ order. Your reputation is the most important thing and you wouldn’t just recommend anyone to your clients, similarly, they won’t just recommend you because they’re your clients or you’re friendly.

Beyond examining your program for yourself, you’ll need to bring your spouse or significant other through the school and ask them (especially if they’re not involved in martial arts) to give you their honest impression and what sort of things they would change or make better. Explain to them (and mean it, because they may be afraid of hurting your feelings) that you are committed to making your program better in all ways and need their honest opinion and advice. Get your mom, best friend or anyone else who can be honest with you. Don’t explain why or be defensive in any way. Simply take notes so that you can reflect on your own about how best to use the information. Of course, thank them for their help and take them out to lunch or something to let them know you’re not holding any kind of grudge. The reason I’m emphasizing all this last part is because this can be a very touchy subject for you (it is for me) and we don’t like hearing that what we’re investing our time, heart, and soul isn’t the best it can be. So, remove your emotions and really listen. If what others say makes sense, then take action. Don’t let fatigue be your excuse to not take action.

If you can do all of this, ask a few select clients or give everyone a parent survey that can not only get testimonials but give you vital info into how people see your program. Remember to be careful to not open the door for it to be a less funny version of a roast.

 

Required Reading: Business by Referral – Ivan Misner

Filed Under: Business Development, marketing, Referrals

Are you allowing self-limiting beliefs to shape your focus?

December 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Henry Ford said, “whether you believe you can or you believe you can’t, you’re right.” The power of your mind is nearly infinite, there is no computer that has the computing power that your brain because those are finite technologies, there’s no chance to “expanding your computer” the way you can expand your mine. However, computers were designed to function the way the brain does, making the brain the ultimate computer. Like a computer your brain processes inputs (your experiences) and produces outputs (your thoughts and beliefs). So, it stands to reason that if you put garbage in, you get garbage out. These things shape our focus.

What you focus on determines your outcome. If you stop and tell yourself that you’re not worthy, you’re just this way, you can’t do this, or any other limiting belief you’re right. Like what Henry Ford said, if you tell yourself that you can’t do something you’ve defeated yourself before you even get started. In my opinion we shouldn’t even go so far as to call ourselves normal, average, or even good. We shouldn’t want to be good, we should be OUTSTANDING and we should work within ourselves to lead outstanding lives.

Choongsil, our philosophy of Constant and Never-ending Improvement, begins with the focus that we as human beings have unlimited potential—that there is nothing that we can’t accomplish. The first step in developing this idea as the mantra of your life is by telling yourself two things: first, that you are a worthy person who deserves the rewards that come with hard work, strong values, and a deep spiritual life. The second thing you must tell yourself is that nothing is out of reach, that you CAN do anything you set out to do.

Obviously, as I’ve said before, you can’t just tell yourself these things you must back up what you’re telling yourself with your actions. Get up right now and do something that you’ve never thought you could do. If you want to run marathons start by focusing on the fact that you can run a marathon, that there is no reason you can’t run a marathon, and then go take a 30-minute walk around your neighborhood. Wait Mr. Cabrera, I can’t run a marathon because I have an injury, or I’m out of shape, or the one I fall prey to…I don’t have time. There’s those limiting beliefs again. When you back up what you tell yourself with your actions you begin to reinforce those things that you tell yourself and as you do it and do it and do it the I can’s begin to automatically replace the I cant’s.

What you focus on is the beginning of leading a Black Belt Life. I have to tell you, I’m not speaking from up high on the mountain either. For me, focusing on the idea that constant and never-ending improvement is possible and necessary is still a daily task that I must always work on and I’ve been doing the martial arts for my entire life and grew up in a world of I CAN. A lot of times I’ll focus on what I did wrong and completely ignore what I did right. Such as when a student leaves the school, I may stop and think about the last few times I interacted with that student and wonder what it is that we did to drive that student away when if may not be us at all, it could be them.

Another way that I place limiting ideas on myself, like I alluded to before is the “I don’t have time…” or the “I’m too tired…” excuse. The time when I get to do my own practicing is usually after all the other classes are over, or during the day before classes start. During the hours we hold class, as should be the case, we devote to fulfilling the needs of our students. However, there are times when I don’t practice because I’ve told myself that I don’t have time (during the day) because I have this newsletter to right, or this person to talk to or this business to visit. And other times I tell myself that I’m just too tired after teaching classes from 1:30 in the afternoon straight through until 7:30, because teaching does require a lot of energy.

The thing that I catch myself in is that there is always time. If I really don’t have time during the day, there’s certainly time when I can practice after classes. The point is that I change what I tell myself and focus on why I can, rather than why I can’t. You can do this too. It’s simply a matter of how you focus

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Problem With Awareness Campaigns

October 17, 2011 By 1 Comment

Tomorrow is the National Day of Silence to raise awareness about Abortion. My friend, Dan Segale, has been greatly impressed with the courage one of students in his high school ministry has had to take a stand.  She should be lauded for her courage to stand up for what she believes in.  No doubt, the purpose of the youth of America (because let’s face it, almost certainly it’s high schoolers and college kids carrying out the majority of this “silent protest”) is to get people to consider other options when it comes to unplanned pregnancy.  I do not wish to take anything away from the girl the Dan has lifted up, but it did raise some thoughts that I’ve had.  The problem with awareness campaigns is that rarely do they ever provide any actual benefit to those that are supposed to be a beneficiary of the campaign. 

Let’s set aside the National Day of Silence for a moment.  Recently on Facebook, women went around playing a game of sorts involved in posting their bra color one day, and their foot size the next.  It was meant to be provocative and get men (and women) in on guessing why a woman would post “mine’s 8” :( “  This was all designed to raise breast cancer awareness.  That’s all good spirited and all, but here’s the problem, what did it do to actually help in the fight against breast cancer?  Nothing. 

In business, the majority of people make the mistake of marketing their business in a way that only promotes brand awareness.  Brand awareness is important, but more important is that the business makes money.  What most marketing lacks is something very simple.  They forget to ASK for your money in a compelling way.  These awareness campaigns are generally suffering from the same problem.  First, they lack any educational component, because just going around and making people aware of breast cancer isn’t enough.  Second, they don’t ask for you to take action and do anything.  They don’t ask for you to do anything (like a self-examination of the breast for lumps) or donate (which is certainly a great need).  In the case of the national day of silence, the student in Dan’s high school ministry has presented more education and statistics to get people thinking than most.  Unfortunately, most of the time these types of things rarely do anything compelling to change people mind’s or get someone to take action.

So, what should you do if you want to raise awareness?

1) Provide some sort of compelling hook that encourages others to find out more. 

This could be a news article, or personal story. I was reading an article a few days ago about children starving in North Korea. The article outlined what the challenges the UN’s World Food Programme was having in getting vitally needed food to these orphanage where the kids were suffering from skin issues that were easily treatable with food. The article had a link to the WFP’s website. The article was so compelling that I was moved to click on the link and donated fifty dollars.

2) Provide a compelling argument that challenges conventional thought.

In the Bible, Jesus had this one down pretty good. He would start his teachings with “You have heard it said…” then follow up with some aspect of the Levitical law and then turn each statement on it’s head with “but I tell you the truth…” in which he’d present something completely counter culture to conventional thought while at the same exact time being true to the spirit of what the original law was expressing.

3) Provide an opportunity for your target to take action and then ask them to do it.

I have several friends online that walk in the 3-Day, 60-mile walk for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.  It’s a worthy cause that raises millions and millions of dollars across the US for breast cancer research to find a cure.  The difference in their case from the ones that play clever on the internet, is that these men and women ask you to take action.  They even challenge you to get on their team and do something.

There truly is nothing worse than passion that has nowhere to go.  Let’s be smarter about what we’re doing and ask others to take action when we bring a cause to their attention.  Most won’t take action, but if you at least ask you’ll up the percentage that do.

Filed Under: marketing, Rant, Social media

5 Ways to Combat the Bias of the Initiated, “Black Belt Eyes.”

August 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I had a great conversation on the phone, catching up with one of our community leaders here in Brandon.  She recently left her previous position to start a new venture here in the Brandon area for the same organization.  New startups, even if they’re part of established organizations are always fun, especially if it goes in a different direction from where the organization traditionally heads in.  It’s almost like being out there on the frontier or the wild, wild west.  It’s a lot of fun and scary at the same time.  If you’ve ever started a business or pioneered a new division, you know what I’m talking about.  It forces you to step out of your comfort zone and do things you’ve probably never done before.

During our conversation she mentioned how, even though she’s starting this new adventure, she was still working out of the same office and that it was a little weird seeing all the same people, but not really being involved in what they were doing.  She works in a membership based organization and there’s direct interaction with the members going on in the building every day.  Not being part of the program, she said, was different—but not a bad thing.  While she told me that it dawned on me what a great opportunity for her that was.  She, for the first time in years, had the opportunity to look at the organization she had been working in for years from the outside—in just the same way as someone that’s brand new would.  Over the years, we’ve come to call that in the martial arts industry, stepping outside of your “black belt eyes.”

Black belt eyes is a term that I heard first from John Graden, founder of the National Association of Professional Martial Artists, and later the Martial Arts Teachers Association.  Over the years, he has championed the idea of bringing professional business practices to the martial arts industry to be coupled with high level martial arts training.  Even if Master Graden didn’t come up with the term, he certainly has been the biggest proponent of making all the school owners and instructors he’s encountered over the years aware of the pitfalls of looking at your marketing or your business systems through “black belt eyes.”  In his own words:

Black Belt Eyes [is] making the assumption that the world sees the martial arts the same way we do, when in fact the public sees the arts and your school through Market Eyes.

- John Graden “Black Belt Eyes and MMA”

The problem with Black Belt Eyes is that we have been initiated into every aspect of our martial art through years of training, hard work, and indoctrination.  Not everyone has that same knowledge, especially those that are brand new to your program or are prospective students.  You look at the martial arts with the eyes of someone with a passion for the martial arts and in many cases there are things that you do in your program (and me too) that you don’t question because that’s the way you’ve done them for years and already understand the reasoning for it.  New people don’t have that luxury.  Black Belt Eyes even spill over into your marketing:

When Black Belt Eyes see an ad with a jump side kick, they are drawn to the most important aspect of the ad for black belts. It’s not the headline, the copy, or the offer. Black Belt Eyes will check to make sure the kid has his foot bladed and the other foot is tucked. That’s not a bad thing. It reflects your standards as a black belt. But if you choose not to run that ad because you don’t do jump kicks, then your Black Belt Eyes may have cost you 40 to 60 phone calls which should have converted to 20 to 30 new students.

- John Graden “Black Belt Eyes”

When your prospect views your ad, they don’t care really about any of the details of the ad (color of the uniform, if the technique is perfect).  What matters to their Market Eyes is, of course, What Can You Do For Me?  So, how do you bridge the gap between Black Belt Eyes and Market Eyes in your Marketing, Business Systems, and especially in your direct interaction with your clients?  Here are a few ways to step outside of yourself and your Black Belt Eyes to facilitate your new students and prospects to better connect to your martial arts school, or for any business or organization.

1. Ask Hard Questions of Yourself.

“Logic is the Beginning of Wisdom, Not the End.” – Spock, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

The first step in any evaluation is to start with yourself.  Ultimately, you have the most power over yourself to make changes.  Evaluate your daily habits, how you speak, how you write, what your introductions to people are like.  Everything.  Always asking yourself, “How does this look to someone that doesn’t know about martial arts?”  My wife has sometimes pointed out to me that I come off as though I’m dismissive of people, when that’s not actually the case, I’m just very busy.  However, the people I interact with don’t know that.  Even the people that know me best could feel slighted or less than valued, when I’m just lost in the thoughts of going through my day and all the plates I have spinning at any one time.

You have to take a look at what you’re doing and if necessary change it.  Is your conversations laced with techno babble?  Speaking to prospects about katas, or hyungs, or any other terms that only other martial artists would know is sometimes a turn off as well.  There are many different things that you can examine about yourself, but the real point is to be HONEST and change what needs to be changed.  Don’t let your martial arts cloud the point your trying to convey if the details of it are strictly relevant.  Learn to project and explain in a way that they will relate to.

2. Ask For Help from those you trust.

“He who is afraid of asking, is afraid of learning.” – Danish Proverb

Even harder than asking yourself the hard questions and being honest with yourself is asking someone else to evaluate your program.  I know, it can be hard to hear someone criticize your program even in a constructive way.  I sometimes feel myself become defensive because I’ve poured so much of myself and my effort into my program.  However, if you’re like me, then that’s exactly the reason you should be asking for someone’s help in evaluating your program, processes, and systems. 

In one of the articles I read of John Graden’s before writing this one, he explains our lack of objectivity, relating it back to an advertisement:

A Black Belt Eyes ad will have someone getting kicked in the head. The owner knows that one of life’s simple pleasures is wrapping your foot around someone’s head with a hook or round kick. The readers, however, with their Market Eyes, may translate that image into what will happen to them at that school. They can’t even imagine getting their leg up that high, so they are not identifying with the kicker.

Asking for help, however, is a tricky process.  You can do many things, but the biggest danger you could run into is having it turn into a XYZ Karate bashing fest.  The best thing to do is keep it positive and steer the conversation in the right direction.  Then, really listen.  If your close ones that you’re asking for help from are worried about you becoming defensive, then you’ll never get anythign that is useful.

When I mentioned this topic on Facebook, one instructor from a martial arts school in Maine wrote that his “significant other” double checks him.  This is often a very good way to go.  I remember having a conversation with my wife a few weeks ago in which she informed me that our martial arts school, of all the places that she goes, was the most “unfriendly” to her bringing our twin toddlers with her.  Not that anyone’s rude to them, we love kids around here, but because there was no place for them to be other than in the lobby which made it VERY difficult for her to participate in the iLoveKickboxing classes we have here.  My wife represents a prime demographic we are trying to reach with that program—young mothers with children.  In a community like ours, there’s a lot of them that have small kids that are too young to participate in any of our classes, yet (we typically don’t start kids until 4 years old).  At first I was defensive (not with her, in my chest I could feel the adrenaline pumping, like I was a bear protecting a cub).  However, once I pushed that down, you know what I realized?  She was right!  (She often is, don’t tell her I said that.)

Now, the process from there is what to do with that information?  In the case of the exchange with my wife, do we create a “kid’s club” for toddlers?  I’m not interested in making one that’s available to kids older than 3, because we want those kids enrolled and taking class if they’re here.  In any case, I don’t have a solution for that problem (opportunity!) yet.  However, the very fact that I am aware of it now is worth gold to me because I can overcome it as an obstacle.

3. Use Survey’s and After Action Reports at Every Level.

As a physician, I understand how important it is to collect data on people so we can understand what’s happening with them. I will be in the position to help enable that knowledge.

- Laurel Clark

One of the most brilliant martial arts schools I’ve had the chance to observe uses these to gather valuable data about the experience each one of their clients is having.  When I say they use them, I mean they use them multiple time per year with each category of students, including students coming to the end of their 30-Day Trial Program.  Then, unlike some schools I’ve seen, they actually compile the data and use it to notice trends and make plans or adjustments to the way they operate their programs.  The sheer volume of data they’ve managed to accumulate with regards to customer service, teaching methods, satisfaction, understanding why people quit, why people enroll, allows them to make decisions based upon real information instead of their best guess.  This eliminates a lot of the fog that sometimes can be created with black belt eyes.  If this is what large companies do, then it’s probably a good idea for us to do it as well.

In the case of survey’s, the structure matters.  You want to structure it in such a way that you get useful data.  Like asking for help, if you go about it wrong, it can turn into a XYZ Karate bashing event.  Which is not what you want because like using negative language in the classroom, that rarely encourages you or tells you how to adjust and make changes.

After-Action reports are small recaps of events and/or daily operations performed by the staff.  Sometimes this can include customer data, but for the most part it’s from the perspective of the staff and even the owner.  Some of the biggest questions that are answered by after-action reports are:

  • Was it successful? (By what criteria?)
  • What went well?
  • What went wrong?
  • What can be done better?
  • What can be eliminated?
  • What should be added?
  • What were some specific comment feedback from clients?

After-Action reports are important in getting rid of the black belt eyes, because you WANT to come up with things that can be improved.  So, like being honest with yourself, this is an exercise of setting aside your views on the way things should be and dealing with the way things are.  It’s also important to complete these, even if you are a one man operation, because the next time you go to do an event or something similar you’ll have data that was gathered fresh about what you guys thought of it ready for you to use.

4. Develop Specific Systems that Deal with the Perspective of New Students and Prospects Clearly

If your thinking is sloppy, your business will be sloppy. If you are disorganized, your business will be disorganized. If you are greedy, your employees will be greedy, giving you less and less of themselves and always asking for more.

- Michael Gerber

If I had to make a prediction, one of the main reasons people fail to get outside their black belt eyes is because it is simply too much work.  The previous three bullets could take you hours, days, maybe even weeks to complete and even longer to make all the changes or improvements that result from it.  Then, once a new line of thinking emerges that’s a little bit more in line with Market Eyes, it has to be implemented and a new habit of that thinking emerges.  When you’re in your school everyday, I understand how tired and burnt out you can get.  I feel it, too. 

However, developing a system—a standard operating procedure—that leads potential clients, new students, and even veteran members through the client fulfillment process will greatly improve your ability to avoid black belt eyes and be able to connect greater with your clients and prospective clients because they will be happier and more successful in your program.  Clearly defined parameters and objectives coupled with step-by-step process will help you avoid most of the pitfalls of your black belt eyes.  On Facebook, one school owner said:

The first thing you want to do is make sure your staff has a specific dialogue for teaching that includes what beginners need to know so it’s not overlooked. This is a way to be sure that it’s not missed.

We want to be specific and clear at every step.  Sure, there are going to be people that are only half listening and not reading the stuff you produce, however you can reduce the confusion and let people know exactly what they need to do, what you’re doing for them, and how to find you. 

5. Train on Your Systems Often and Consistently.

Good acting is consistency of performance.

Jim Dale

This point could be part of the previous section, however, I wanted to place emphasis on being consistent with the implementation of whatever policies or procedures you have. If you just produce a set of policies and procedures and then set them on the front desk.  They’ll never get followed.  You have to train and train and train on them.  Not just so that it becomes less like an awkward high school production of Annie, but so that your staff has confidence in what they’re doing and feel empowered to actually handle client and prospect events instead of running to you every five seconds for the answer.

It also creates accountability.  If you’ve trained on the procedures, you can expect (demand?) that your team follows the procedures because you’ve given them all the tools they need to succeed.  If they fail, it’s because of one of three things.  1) The disregarded your procedure/training, 2) The procedure doesn’t work the way you intended, 3) you didn’t give them a procedure or you didn’t train well enough on the procedures.  As one instructor put it:

Teaching my leadership team the basics of teaching and business skills helps me see where my blinders are. When they skip steps and leave a new student staring blankly at them, I realize where *I* skipped steps in teaching them to explain it.

Ultimately, you have to accept responsibility that every thing that happens in your school is probably your fault.  When your team is successful and creates excited and motivated students, you should praise THEM for their hard work and dedication.  When they screw up and someone’s unhappy, you should be looking for where you messed up in the creation of the system.  Yes, sometimes the person executing the system is the problem, but that’s still your fault because wasn’t it the management that hired that person in the first place? 

What do you think?  What are some other ways to combat “Black Belt Eyes”?  I’m really interested in hearing from you in the comments section.

Filed Under: Black Belt Eyes, Business Development, marketing, Uncategorized

Small churches, big churches. Small schools, big schools. Big Impact, greatest impact.

July 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A few days ago, while cruising the internet, I came across an article from the United Methodist Church’s Rethink Church website (see: http://www.rethinkchurch.org/article/little-church-prescribes-big-impact-clinics-uninsured).  The article describes a small church in Little Rock, AR that has taken up the task to minister to the poverty stricken in the surrounding area of their church’s facilities.  The article describes how a small church is doing big things by providing clinic services free of charge to the poor and uninsured.  I think it’s a powerful testimony to the amazing grace God gives everyone to create an impact that is far beyond their small numbers and I commend them greatly on their work.  Truly, when people work together, it’s not a sum of 1+1=2, but rather 1+1=200.

However, it got me thinking about churches and how the United Methodist Church, which is a denomination I’m a member of is actually in decline in the United States as far as sheer numbers of members.  I think that’s unfortunate, because I love much of the philosophy and tradition that makes the UMC different from other denominations (just to clarify, what makes all denominations the same is what really matters).  Many websites and forums greatly debate the reasons why and their isn’t a general consensus as to the reasons why.  For this post, I’m not here to debate those reasons other than to inform that I personally believe that besides a declining geographic location of the church, it has a lot to do with local churches not making recruitment of new members or new believers a priority.  Whatever the reason, whether church culture, not understanding what brings people in, etc., there are hundreds of churches in all denominations that are closing or dwindling in numbers to just a few hundred, a hundred, fifty, members.

It’s my belief, that with a church like Oak Forest UMC in Little Rock that is able to serve over 2,500 people in their community with free medical services, how much more of an impact could they have if the church was double its size, triple, quadruple?  Certainly, the fire that this small church has would have to be maintained as it grew and that would largely fall to the leadership of the church to maintain.

These thoughts pop in my head, not just because I’m concerned with the future of the denomination I grew up in and chose to remain with as an adult, but also because churches and martial arts schools are very similar in many respects because they are both membership based organizations.  As a martial arts school owner, I believe that our school and our students have a responsibility to impact the community in a positive way.  In fact, one of the lines from our student oath is that we will “build a more peaceful world.”  So, with these thoughts in mind, I took to my Google+ account to express some of these thoughts.

If your small congregation makes a big impact, imagine what the size of your impact would be if you worked hard and had a large congregation?

I think the same thing applies to martial arts schools. How much greater of an impact in the community could you have if you had 500 students out there doing good works rather than 50? I don’t mean to put down your school/club, but if you have a true black belt spirit you almost have a responsibility to multiply your numbers so you can multiply your efforts. Yes/no?

I still don’t have a ton of people following me in their circles on Google+, but Professor Larry Shealy of Jacksonville Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu (http://www.jaxbjj.com) chimed in that he agreed with me completely.  As long as you stay true to your mission, culture, and values of your school, the more people involved in your efforts the exponential impact you begin to have in the community.  In being honest with myself, I replied to Professor Shealy, again on Google+:

[Professor Shealy], I will be the first to admit that I don’t think Sidekicks is fully living up to its potential, both in terms of number of students we’re directly impacting and in terms of number of non-members we’re impacting with our works.

I got to thinking about this yesterday during the message portion of the youth service at church and then again when an article off the UMC newsline was talking about a small church that was making a big impact.

If we really are going to be all about what we’re trying to produce in our students, our schools (and churches) have to lead the way.  Recruiting new members into the school isn’t just a matter of increasing the bottom line, but ensuring that we’ll have the greatest impact in the community.  I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to network with many of the top martial arts school owners in the industry.  I’m proud to say that almost to the man or woman, each of them use their influence in the community to help others.  One such person is Shihan Randy Holeman of Seattle Washington.  His school has nearly 1,000 members and he’s leveraged that success into doing incredible charitable works in his community and around the world.  They even built, in the last year, a school for children in Africa, fully funded by his school, and their students and the work they’ve done to raise money in the community.

One of the things I’ve learned from Holeman is that there has to be a reason, beyond money, why you’re in business.  I think the ability to multiply the good and positive impact we have in our community is a great reason why.  I’m not just on a mission to increase enrollment so that all of the bills get paid (but that’s a good reason too!) we’re on a mission to change the world.  And people on missions are unstoppable.

Filed Under: Life, marketing, Motivation/Inspiration, The Why

How I Know You Don’t Care About Me (as a consumer).

February 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As part of my day to day routine, I visit web pages of things that I hear about and interest me or things I’m searching out.  Often, I come across websites or receive e-mail where it’s clear that the person sending the message or creating the site doesn’t actually care about whether they’re really going to help me or not or that they really value our relationship.

Email:

Recently, I received an email from someone I actually know, who was broadcasting about some event that he was trying to refer to his “network.”  The problem with it however is that it was basically like email terrorism complete with color highlighted text, lots of bold face, italics, an annoying background image, and no less than nine links in his email signature.  On top of that, his wording for the event (which was for a jewelry party) was mildly sexist towards women.  Basically, his email broadcast was crafted in such a way that he’s giving the intentioned appearance that he’s not really interested in dialog or conversation with the intended target.

Email is a great medium and even though the numbers of youth that use email is beginning to decline, it’s still one of the most powerful communication tools in business and among decision makers (you know, the people who have the check books).  However, like television and radio ads, we’ve become desensitized to email that screams “look at me! Look at me!”  Why would I click on your link simply because you put all that text emphasis on it? 

Your communication with someone even if you are trying to sell them something should make it almost compulsory that they take the next step.  If it’s a sales letter make your copy so engaging and relevant to their life that they WANT to click on your link and take the next step.  Don’t jump up and down about it.  Some will, some won’t, so what.

Pop-Up submission forms:

Imagine this for one second.  I know nothing about you or your product, but I come across your site while I’m searching for your product.  I click on the link in the search screen and we’re off to your website.  The first thing that pops up is a lightbox with a submission form for your free report or to join your email newsletter.

Let’s be serious for a second.  Why on earth would I EVER submit?  I know NOTHING about you or your product.  You have to build a relationship with your potential client and establish a need to take the next step.  In a side note, as instant preview becomes more important on Google, those popups will probably prevent clicks from search engines altogether because it has a hunter mentality.  Go instead for the farmer mentality and cultivate a harvest of leads and referrals that place you where your customers are when they’ want to be your customers.

Filed Under: marketing, Web design

On Perserverance

December 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

As children, we were taught the saying, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” In its most basic form this is the key success principle of perseverance. Perseverance is the persistence to continue with what you’re doing, until such time as you have succeeded or finished. As martial artists, we know all about perseverance on the training floor, had any one of our black belts quit when they realized it would take a while to master a side kick they would never have benefited from the full benefit of the martial arts. However, beyond just what we do in Taekwon-Do, the ability to persevere is one of the paramount tools for success, so much so it is a tenet we ask our students to live by.

The reasons to persevere are based upon some simple truth’s about life that each of us must encounter and master to lead a Black Belt Life. First, rarely does anything worthwhile in life comes easily or quickly. Second, people who persevere understand that follow through and the work put into achieving something is just as rewarding as the achievement itself and creates a greater appreciation for that thing. Third, those who persevere have the greatest impact on the world around them because they persevere through to hold to convictions.

To be successful you have to stick with it. The most rewarding things in life aren’t without some sacrifice or struggle. The most successful businesses, churches, nations, and relationships took time, effort and had their ups and downs. During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington and his troops spent a very cold, very beleaguered winter encamped at Valley Forge. They were poorly supplied, poorly clothed, and many didn’t even have anything that would pass as shoes. It wasn’t uncommon to see bloody footprints left in the snow. The harsh weather had nearly crippled the supply line of the already struggling Continental Army. I certainly won’t be able to do justice to the sad state these brave soldiers in this e-mail. While Washington and his men had faced defeat at the hands of the British this was nearly the straw that broke the camel’s back.

It would have been easy at this point to pack it in and go home to their farms, towns, warm fires, and food. However, Washington, who always put his men first and suffered alongside them, was able to get his men through the winter a large part based on convincing them of the belief that living and dieing as free men was the ultimate reward. I believe that this winter where the army fought an enemy far greater than the British and persevered galvanized the army and enabled them to go on to the success and freedom you and I enjoy right now. Had they cut and run, this great nation would be very different from what it is today.

A war like the one for independence is a very big example of the power of perseverance because it was long, many soldiers died on both sides, and more than once the future of the American colonies came down to the will of a few brave men and women who put it all on the line to achieve the goal of freedom. My hope is that your need for perseverance won’t come down to a life and death struggle, but at the root, that’s the most basic type of perseverance—survival.

Perhaps you heard the story of Colonel Sanders who took his chicken recipe to thousands of restaurants receiving a “no” so many times everyone thought he was crazy to continually set himself up for failure and disappointment. However, Sanders knew that if he continued on his path until someone said yes, that would make all the difference in the world. Today, even after his death, Kentucky Fried Chicken is still a powerhouse in the fast food industry. A similar story of perseverance can be said of the late Dave Thomas who founded Wendy’s.

I’m sure, just like me, you can think of dozens of examples, no matter how small, where persevering for something made it more rewarding than had it just been given to you. What many people find as perseverance becomes a staple in their life is that the path they took was in its own way as rewarding as the goal itself. Take for instance the journey to black belt. Students go through many times of discovery, learning, trials, satisfaction and experience belonging to the martial arts spirit, long before they ever tie the black belt around their waist.

Several years ago, we took a group of students to the Grand Nationals tournament of the organization we were a member of; they were held that year in Hot Springs, AR. We went up there in two vans, pulling a U-Haul trailer filled with our sparring gear and luggage. To this day, rather than be a simple trip to a tournament, it’s know amongst our group as the legendary journey to the Grand Nationals. During this trip we encountered one hilarious anecdote after another from the sad state of one of our hotel rooms (the walls were wet); the greatest pizza in the state of Arkansas (they were after all $26 each and we ordered 9—we ate off those pizzas for a while); the big greasy short order cook who stole Elvis’s hair and was almost angry when one of our party had as much memorabilia as he did; and finally the intrepid trip home, where we were stuck on the side of the road for six hours on a two lane highway surrounded only be cotton fields in Louisiana because one of the U-Haul Specific tires had a flat. Each odd situation could have derailed our trip and sent us down the path of a terrible time, but it wasn’t. Almost everyone who went was a black belt or red belt, so we had plenty of practice with perseverance. Everything that happened we knew we could get through so it didn’t damper our spirits and the trip there and back was as much fun as the tournament (we won some trophies as well). This is a rather comical example but certainly applies to the principle of perseverance.

As I said before, I could go into a great many examples from my own life, just like you could from yours. It is, after all, the journey that matters, not the destination and perseverance helps us to develop our attitude of gratitude. Ask any black belt and they will tell you about how much more their achievement means to them because they worked hard to earn it.

Any person of conviction, will have to persevere. The very nature of having a definite belief in something means that you’ll have to remain steadfast in the face of opposition. Contrary to what you may have learned in philosophy class there is right and there is wrong. As my grandmother used to say, “right is right and wrong don’t belong to nobody.” It’s basic principles, such as the tenets of Taekwon-Do, that help us decide what is right and what is wrong to clarify what that tiny voice is shouting at us. If we did not persevere in times of difficulty and remain true to our core belief system, what good was that belief system in the first place? The people who stick to their value system, no matter what, are the ones we look to as shining examples of humanity. Take for example, Mother Theresa. Her simple belief was that all people deserve compassion and caring. Her life’s mission in the church was to bring aid to the suffering and now the whole world over, both Christians and non-Christians, know who she is. That’s because her compassion for others is an admirable trait. Had she decided to help sometimes and not others, I don’t think anyone outside of her order would know her name.

In the business world the compromising of values for a quick sale occur everyday. That’s why there’s no company loyalty, everyone is distrustful of their co-workers, money is wasted, and management is indicted. Can you think of a time when someone pressured you to do something contrary to your moral barometer? Let me give a quick example. While my entire workforce experience has been mostly in the martial arts field, my first few years of college I did a little work for one of the administrative offices at USF. The group’s mission, that I was a member of, was to provide resources and success coaching for student organizations on campus. Mrs. Cabrera and I felt this was a good opportunity to put some of the skills we’ve learned in the martial arts into practice for other college kids. Some groups on campus only had three or four members and desperately wanted to break out to the next level.

Well, this group and I went to work planning events, training seminars, one-on-one consulting programs and even a basic skills school on money management, people management and marketing called BULListic Training (USF’s mascot is the Bulls). Mrs. Cabrera, myself, and a group of about 12 people were pretty juiced about our mission and really wanted to help others. However, after we had completed a few of the tasks the office had for us we began to encounter a lot of runaround on the stuff that was our goals. We had designed it in such a way that it didn’t cost any money, so that couldn’t be the problem. We made sure that all the presenters and consultants underwent intense training so that they could be considered experts. For some reason we just couldn’t get it together.

So we had a meeting, at the time I had just been elected president of this group. During the course of the meeting we managed to get a hold of the Director for the entire department to sit down with us and explain to us why we weren’t being successful. She told us very plainly that our group wasn’t to do any of the things that were assigned to us that we felt were the important things. We were to do things like answer phones, give directions, make copies—the stuff they had paid students and staff for. She said, and I’ll never forget it, “maybe it’s my fault. I tend to tell students what they want to hear because I want to attract a certain type of person to this group.” Right then and there I realized that I had been flat out lied to, and I had stuck with this group for two years!

Well, after that I haven’t set foot in the student union there at USF except to buy my books for class. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth because I hold integrity and honesty very high and to associate with others who don’t would be the same, in my opinion, as condoning what they do even at the cost of a leadership minor that I was enjoying (the same office ran it). But, holding to my principle of integrity and persevering in times when it is tested is an example to my students whom I also want to be trustworthy and honest. If I wasn’t, I’d have no credibility to tell them to have integrity.

If you understand that rarely anything in life comes quickly or easily—then you’ll persevere and be happier because you’ve learned patience. If you understand that many times the journey is more important than the destination—then you won’t become frustrated when obstacles are set in your path. And if you stick to your guns and abide by your morals—then the perseverance you used will be a shining example to others.

Let’s all live a Black Belt Life,

Manny Cabrera III

Filed Under: Uncategorized
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