Posted by Member Solutions on Thu, Sep 02, 2010 @ 12:00 PM
On August 20th, Member Solutions said “Thank You” to its employees in a big way. Closing its headquarters at 1pm, Member Solutions employees had the afternoon off and a celebration to attend at Camden, New Jersey’s Campbell’s Field.
Member Solutions employees and their families enjoyed an afternoon of gourmet picnic fare, access to the entire Campbell’s facility, and entry into the field’s Fun Zone.
“We’re a small company with big goals – critical to our success is our ability to recruit, develop and retain a core group of dedicated professionals. We’re doing that by creating a safe and positive environment that celebrates personal responsibility and recognizes every employee for a job well done.” says Member Solutions CEO, Steve Pinado.
The afternoon included activities such as rock climbing, moon bounces, a carousel and a pick-up game of kickball.
“It was a fantastic day! What I loved most were the personal conversations I had with our staff and their families. Normally, I’m very active playing ball, but with a fractured foot I had the time to sit back and really get to know people. What a remarkable group! This was a great way to show our team how much we appreciate their daily efforts.” says Member Solutions Chief Operating Officer, Dina Engel.
Be sure to check out our complete photo album on Facebook!
Posted by Member Solutions on Tue, Aug 31, 2010 @ 12:00 PM
QUESTION: Can you suggest a few ways to motivate students to return to training after taking the summer off?
The real issue you face when students have taken a break from training is that they get out of the habit or routine of coming to your school two or three times per week. Of course, the key is not just getting them to return, but in getting them back into the habit of training.
One of the vital keys to getting students to return to training after a summer break, or any break, is communications. It's very important to have frequent contact with students while they are gone. This can be done via phone messages, "We Miss You!" cards, etc. Not only does it make the transition to returning easier for the students, it is great customer service as well.
Typically, we send cards to students at the midway point of the break, letting them know we miss them. If a student is on an extended vacation, the card might include a message that says we hope he or she is having a great time at the beach, or wherever the vacation destination may be. (This does wonders for giving the card a very personal feeling!)
Approximately one week before students are scheduled to return to class, we call and leave very upbeat messages on the answering machines, letting them know we can't wait to see them back in class. In addition, we suggest they schedule a complimentary private extra help class to get them back into the swing of things. This is important to get them off to a good start. Once students are back, though, you need to watch them closely for a few weeks to make sure they have redeveloped that habit or consistency of training.
Answer provided by John Bussard
Photo Credit: lifeasart
Posted by Member Solutions on Thu, Aug 26, 2010 @ 03:30 PM
Mixed Martial Arts is becoming a subject of contention in Canada. Read the following post from the Associated Press and let us know your thoughts on the issue.
Do you agree with the arguments of Canadian Medical Association? Do you think this is something that could spread south to the U.S.? What effect do you think this will have on school owners?
Read full article here.
Posted by Member Solutions on Thu, Aug 26, 2010 @ 12:00 PM
How we market every student birthday:
- We send out letters to parents six weeks prior to their children’s birthdays, telling them we host birthday parties.
- Two weeks prior to each birthday, we send the birthday student a card and a lollipop in the mail.
- We have a poster in our Dojo saying we host birthday parties.
- We put the pictures of previous birthday parties on our student board.
- We advertise on our web page and in the Yellow Pages about our birthday parties.
- Finally, we talk about birthday parties in our classes.
Note: It’s very important to continuously market birthday parties within your organization. The best way to do this is by having all assistant instructors, and staff, talk about birthday parties as often as they talk about your other programs.
Tips to run a successful birthday party:
- Have high-energy staff members conduct the party.
- The Dojo must be neat and tidy and decorated.
- Have everything organized for the birthday party (balloons, music, games, all planned out)
- Give away gift vouchers as prizes. (We once gave chocolate bars or lollipops. Now we give away gift vouchers to the birthday boy’s or girl’s friends, inviting them to our Martial Arts program.)
- Have the birthday boy or girl cut the birthday cake with a sword.
- Break a board.
- Have the birthday students wear their Black Belt at their parties and have the students’ photo taken with every friend. This is a good way to collect new lead information as you can send this picture to the friends.
- The party should not be longer than two hours.
- We limit the numbers of attendees to a maximum of 15 and have two staff members conduct the party.
- When you present a gift to the birthday boy or girl (the gift can be a t-shirt, pullover, cap, etc.), make sure it’s an item with your club logo on it.
We charge a flat fee of $220.00 per birthday party and do not supply any food or drinks. We do, however, serve the food and drinks if they are supplied by the parents.
Answer provided by, Bill Wakefield
Posted by Member Solutions on Tue, Aug 24, 2010 @ 02:00 PM
Using Your Website to Build Your Martial Arts Business, SEO 101 – Search Engines & The All-Important Key Phrase
The most important question when it comes to your Internet marketing is; “How will my prospective students find my website?” Early on in the construction of your website is the time to employ strategies that ensure your site will be found over your competition. Search Engine Optimization starts with the “blue-prints” of your website.
A Review and Technical Definition
Simply put, search engines provide an interface to help you find information on the Internet. This info is made up of text, images, video and other types of files. To provide organized and relevant information about the myriad of subjects on the Internet, search engines organize and prioritize websites by relevance. Search engines do this by sending their agents (called spiders) to “read” through the content of billions of pages to find “hints” as to how to categorize them. One of your first search engine strategies is to provide those “hints.” When you do, your site will be placed in the correct category and ranked appropriately.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the “cyber-speak” process that is used to make your site search-engine friendly. In fact, when you create your site you have two main audiences: your prospects and the search engines. Your prospects visit your site to learn the many benefits of your products or service. Search engines visit your site regularly looking for information to provide your prospect with the best search results. Remember, search engines still place a very high value on text. Your job is to use your text to tell the search engine your site has the most valuable and relevant information for their end user.
Search Engines are Like High School
When an Internet surfer wants to find a Martial Arts school in your area the search engine's job is to list relevant information and websites in order of importance. Just like in high school when the popular kids got all the attention - a page 1 ranking for your website is like being one of the popular kids.
How search engines rank websites is sometimes a point of contention among Internet marketers. It's also in a constant state of change. However, there are certain rules-of-thumb you can follow, so your site will be search-engine friendly and maybe even become one of the popular kids...
The first step is to choose a key phrase that best describes your business. A key phrase (also commonly, albeit incorrectly, known as a key word) is composed of 3-4 words that describe your product or service most accurately.
Ideally, this key phrase will repeat in different areas of your website. It should be contained in your domain name, as in “yourkeyphrase.com.” It needs to be in the title of your main page and included in the main heading. It must also be used in the text throughout your site. If you're in the process of launching a new site or updating an old one, be sure to choose a phrase your prospects and those “spiders” will clearly understand. Then you must use it often in the text. Always remember your key phrase should be straightforward – if you confuse 'em, you lose 'em.
Michael “Mike D.” Dolpies is the author of two books. He opened is first martial arts business when he was just 18 years old. He has been a regular contributor to Member Solutions since 2007. Visit http://www.martialartsbusinesssystem.com for Free audios including: The Insider Secrets of Six Figure School Owners & The Upgrade System That Never Fails.
Photo Credit: danardvincente
Posted by Member Solutions on Thu, Aug 19, 2010 @ 11:00 AM
Question: What were the best and worst decisions you made when opening your Dojo?
There are many responses I could give to this question. But I will keep it simple and answer the question regarding my logo as one of my worst decisions.
Coming from a Kyokushin background, I thought it would be cool to have my logo be a picture of somebody chopping a bull’s horn off. It looked really cool to me (but that's about it!). Nobody was able to tell what kind of business I was running from my logo. It looked more like I was running a butcher shop. After about a year, I opened my eyes to this mistake, and quickly changed our logo to an American-style Yin/Yang symbol with the name of the school around it.
I have now had the same logo for nearly 20 years, and people can easily identify what we do.
I'm sure there are quite a few more best versus worst answers I could give, but this one is at the top of my list.
Now on to the best …
Besides my selection of Member Solutions as my management and billing company, the other important decision I made for my business was relocating back to a main street location. For 16 years we were located in a strip mall right on a main street. We were then forced to relocate to an “off the beaten path” space. We managed to survive there for three years, but just surviving is not enough for me. I need to thrive! So the first opportunity we had to move back to “Main Street,” we jumped on it. We made the move in February 2010, and have since grown by nearly 100 students.
Answer provided by, Gary Meyer
Posted by Member Solutions on Tue, Aug 17, 2010 @ 11:30 AM
I have the pleasure of speaking with school owners daily. When I ask whether they need the most help signing up new students or retaining existing ones, the most frequent response I hear is, "Signing up new students!" I imagine most of you are nodding your heads in agreement. And why not? Your primary expertise of providing quality classes, a skill directly related to teaching, results in retention success.
Learning to sell was not a skill required to open your school, earn your black belt, or even graduate high school! It's no wonder so many school owners struggle for ways to increase sales.
Although this blog post isn’t going to teach you how to sell (there’s insufficient space for that), I do hope it changes the way you think about selling and thereby enables you to be more comfortable and confident.
Some background. . .
When business owners discuss selling, they often refer specifically to the time they spend sitting with their potential new students hoping to fill out membership paperwork. While this is certainly part of selling, it's critical to understand that selling comprises all areas of your business.
I find it helpful to categorize selling into the following four areas of your business, which should also serve as steps in the selling process: Market Research; Marketing; Sales; and Retention.
Market Research
Before you can efficiently sell anything, you need to have something that others want. This understanding begins with market research. Big businesses spend millions of dollars analyzing their markets before brochures are created and salespeople are trained.
Ask yourself if your community wants what you are offering. How do you know? If you teach it, will they come? If the answer is not a resounding “Yes!” success may be minimal (if any) and not likely sustainable.
Start a simple list of what your community needs and wants in a Martial Arts school. You can ask existing students to provide some feedback, but be sure you have strong input from non-students, such as community leaders (those connected to the groups you serve, like teachers, organizations, business groups, etc.) as well as individuals. For example, talk with members of the Parent Teachers Association. The goal of market research is to give you a strong understanding of what people want.
Marketing
Marketing utilizes the results of your market research and develops a message to effectively communicate your offering. It also decides through what channels the message will be disseminated. Marketing has two primary goals: to establish your brand and reputation, and to generate leads.
Both market research and marketing are key components to the overall sales process. If you’re trying to sell without having invested time in these areas, you may never reach your potential. These initial steps provide the guidelines your salespeople will use as resources throughout the selling process.
Sales
Sales is the next and often most difficult step for school owners. All too often, owners will "wing it" when working with prospects, and they find themselves talking about the price of tuition instead of the compelling reasons why the prospects should join.
In order to be effective, you need a system to follow, a coordinated plan that ensures that you are educating your prospects about your services. And by educating, aren’t you really teaching?
I often advise our clients to approach selling from a consulting perspective. This is my approach to selling and I find that it is more rewarding, more comfortable and achieves the best results. This is why many of your sales are really made in the introductory lesson rather than at the desk thereafter.
Retention
And finally I’ll briefly discuss retention, where many of you already have success naturally. Retention means re-selling and delivering on the promise you made at the time of sale. If students joined because they wanted to get into shape, they’ll want to be sweating at the end of class. If they joined to achieve their black belts, they’ll need to see that they are progressing. Most school owners and instructors are in their comfort zones when teaching is the means to the end, and, let’s face it, good retention starts and ends with good teaching!
Photo Credit: gunnsi
Posted by Member Solutions on Thu, Aug 12, 2010 @ 02:30 PM
Millennium Training has been working with thousands of Martial Arts school owners across the world for over 10 years. When it comes to running a successful Martial Arts school, there are very important mistakes that you do not want to make.
1. Working without a proven Martial Arts Business Success Formula and Blueprint.
There are very important business strategies that you want to use and then apply to Martial Arts. Too many people try to start with Martial Arts and come up with business concepts to go with it. Then they try many different ideas and struggle, or many times, fail. To become successful quickly, you want to role model people who have done it and find the formula they use. One tool we use is a Structured Budget. We help Martial Arts schools net up to 50% of their gross income by following this budget:
Structured Budget
Rent: 17%-18%
Payroll: 17%-18%
Marketing: 5%Billing: 3%-5%
Utilities/Insurance: 3%-5%
50% Profit Margin
Alarming Statistic… 1/3 of Martial Arts schools will close between 2008 and 2011.
Randy Holeman, one of the largest and most successful school owners in the world, coaches clients to high profit levels with the Business Systems and the 6 Month School Makeover programs found on the Millennium Training (MT) website. Randy also shares his marketing strategies and business tips on coaching calls each month. He belongs to an elite brain trust of business-minded millionaires and shares his knowledge with the MT clients monthly.
2. Most instructors have never been formally trained on how to teach. Schools with great curriculum struggle or close all the time because of poor instructors.
Martial arts classes are the main thing that you sell. If the classes are bad, the school will not prosper. There are very important teaching strategies that will help you communicate your style to the students in a way that is motivating and rewarding at the same time.
The average school loses 7% or 86 students per year. Improving your attrition to 3% can help you save 46 students or $92,000 per year! Make sure and highlight Progress in every class and give all students Positive Attention.
The Millennium Training Instructor Dream Team Course shows you how to build a team of highly-skilled instructors that are trained to develop Martial Arts athletes and champions in the game of life. Your school will have a high energy and highly-disciplined floor that students will be excited to come to every day.
3. School owners spend too much money on marketing and do not get the results they want.
There are standard Martial Arts marketing systems that you need to implement and standardize right away. These are simple and once these are in place, it’s time to get outside the box and take over your community. You already know word of mouth and retention are the least expensive and best marketing strategies but what are you giving your clients to talk about? The Personal Achievement Academy power events fill your school with hundreds of appreciative clients and families from the community. They help you reach your two biggest clients: Kids and Parents.
You can fill your school with over 100 families, get your school in the newspaper, and have a flyer in every students hand in the school district for under $500.
Our non-profit program and community events get you into the school district to work with all of the kids living near your school. Our programs help you team up with large retail grocery stores, clothing stores and businesses in your community where parent shop. Your goal is to become the top of mind brand in your community and when someone thinks of Martial Arts, your name pops up in their mind immediately.
4. Outdated curriculum! Over 65% of students quit between 90 days and 6 months.
The Martial Arts were created by military men to teach military men under extreme conditions to kill other men. Today’s times are different and basic Martial Arts principles are used in classes but the teaching methods and curriculum have evolved. There are three main types of curriculum that are important:
Black Belt Curriculum
Character Development Curriculum
Upgrade Curriculum
Millennium Training helps schools develop a fusion of modern Martial Arts with traditional Martial Arts to have a curriculum that is powerful. The Dynamic Curriculum and Video training section of the website has over 100 streaming videos to create exciting warm ups, extreme and traditional forms, weapons training, modern sparring and self defense techniques, and more.
The Personal Achievement Academy monthly Character Development handouts make learning positive life skills fun, cool and a family affair. Each monthly handout has four lessons of the week with fun missions that the students can earn champion for life points with. This powerful tool gets the family talking about Martial Arts at home and talking about your facility. With this program you will separate yourself from every other sport.
Enhance your Upgrade Curriculum and get 80%-90% of your students training in your highest level programs. With an incredible upgrade curriculum you will have better students while generating more revenue.
Make Martial Arts Success Simple
After working with thousands of school owners around the world, we have brought you the very best of the best materials to help your Martial Arts school thrive. The information and training tools are available 24 hours a day for you and staff members to view. Our goal is to help your school thrive for a very small affordable investment for anyone. School owners leverage this small monthly investment into a large fortune for themselves, their families and staff members. For less than one student’s tuition each month, you can have access to the information that has turned ordinary school owners into Martial Arts millionaires.
Millennium Training Website
Posted by Member Solutions on Tue, Aug 10, 2010 @ 11:00 AM
Member Solutions has been in business for 20 years. Not only have we become expert at member billing and servicing, we’ve discovered that there are ways to alter member payment behaviors to ensure prompt and predictable cash flow to your facility. Here are 10 tips to reduce your delinquencies and facilitate collections.
- Avoid statement or coupon billing methods whenever possible. Customers that pay by statement or coupon are 23% more likely to become delinquent than those who sign up for auto-pay. Enroll customers for bank draft or a credit card option. It’s a double win for you. Customers are more likely to pay on time and electronic payment options save you money.
- Acquire e-mail addresses for every customer. E-mail is one of the fastest ways to communicate with your customers. It has become an effective tool in delinquency management. Every e-mail we send provides a direct link to our customer only website where your members can make payments and update their billing information.
- Provide a contract copy promptly when requested. Your agreement is legal proof of the customer’s obligation to pay. The quicker we receive the agreement, the better chance we have in recovering your funds.
- Select due dates early in the month. If a customer does miss a payment or has a declined or returned payment, Member Solutions has a better chance to recover your funds within the same billing cycle. We recommend setting the 1st or 5th of the month as the due date for all of your members.
- Know who’s delinquent. Our most successful clients know how and where to find this information online. Here are ways to stay informed:
- Review the delinquency report at least twice per month.
- Sign up for E-mail Alerts. We’ll e-mail you and any staff member you designate whenever a customer has a returned or declined payment.
- Examine the Activity Report on a weekly basis. Not only will it provide you with a list of new accounts and funding activity, it will also list any customers with an active follow up that is preventing or delaying billing.
Work together with Member Solutions. Clients that have the lowest delinquency percentages, work together with Member Solutions. Some clients prefer to take the direct route and others prefer the subtle. Either approach will increase collection results. Now that you know who is past due, you can simply hand your customer a Member Solutions’ Customer Service Card and say “Member Solutions has informed us that they have been unable to contact you. Here’s a card with their website and contact information”. Once a customer is aware that you may know that they have a billing issue, they are more likely to pay on time to avoid embarrassment.
- Ask your customer to provide you with their most accurate billing information. Have them provide it to you directly, rather than obtaining it from a driver's license or previous billing account which may be outdated. Ask the customer to verify their vital billing information when they are signing the agreement.
- Make sure that your customer knows that Member Solutions is servicing the billing portion of their agreement to avoid having payments charged back. Your endorsement of Member Solutions provides your customers with a reassurance of your professionalism and commitment to quality service. Place the Member Solutions Decal in your business and hand out Contact Cards, both provided free of charge. Talk about our Customer Account Access Website, designed specifically for your customers to make payments, update their billing information, print payment history, or contact our Customer Service Team.
- Offer settlements. The longer an account remains delinquent, the less likely you are to receive payment. When a customer is no longer attending class or using your facility, they are more likely to stop paying altogether. Once an account reaches 90 days delinquent, we recommend automatically offering the customer a settlement for a percentage of the remaining balance. This could bring you income in the form of a lump sum payment, and leave the customer on better terms which could result in new customer referrals or re-enrollment in the future.
- Don’t accept payments at your business. Member Solutions discourages the acceptance of payments at your place of business. Accepting payments creates more work for you and increases the likelihood that your customer will receive delinquency phone calls and correspondence when they are not past-due. Worse yet, it also increases the chance of double billing your customer when the payment is not reported immediately to Member Solutions. Finally, once you accept that first payment, chances are it will occur again and diminish our authority when the customer decides not to pay.
For more tips on how to effectively run your business, take advance of the Member Solutions’ Business Building Blog. Get essential information from the experts who have "walked in your shoes" and know the importance of staying on top of delinquent customers. To join is simple. Visit http://blog.membersolutions.com/
Posted by Member Solutions on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 @ 11:00 AM
Back-to-school time for Martial Arts schools is similar to retail during Christmas — a busy and profitable time. This is the time to ramp up your enrollments, get those summer campers to convert, and boost your overall bottom line.
In fact, Frank Silverman, Executive Director of the Martial Arts Industry Association (MAIA) says “80% of Martial Arts schools LIVE or DIE based on fall enrollment results.”
Will you live or die this Back-to-School Season? How can you make sure you thrive and stay alive?
One great step is taking advantage of Member Solutions’ consulting program. On 7/22, we took a different approach to the usual webinar. Member Solutions’ President, Joe Galea, interviewed Frank Silverman to find out just what Martial Arts school owners can do to flourish this fall. Mr. Silverman also answered Back-to-School-related questions submitted by the webinar participants.
Some key take-aways from the webinar:
- Most people are sitting around in July focused on summer camps and their summer specials. Mr. Silverman recommends you establish a well laid-out plan NOW to capture as many new students as possible. Lay out a plan, put that plan on paper, and share it with your team.
- Mr. Silverman focuses on three items during his planning phase. He takes a piece of paper and writes down number one: getting new students. Number two: retaining his existing members. And number three: upgrading his current students. He then writes down all the ways he can accomplish those goals.
- Mr. Silverman suggests you hold a Back-to-School party, a free event to get better participation. This event will help to get your students back on page with your facility. Ask your students to bring their friends. This will be a great source of referrals. The Back-to-School party is also great retention strategy.
This is just a sampling of the great advice Mr. Silverman shares in his interview.
CLICK HERE to listen to the entire recording!
FREE FALL ENROLLMENT KIT
Member Solutions has also put together a comprehensive Fall Enrollment Kit including a Back-to-School video, teleseminars and marketing materials.
CLICK HERE to sign up for your FREE Kit today!