My friend, Jim, has 850 active students. I asked if he could give me any tips that could help Martial Arts Group schools grow. Jim told me that he gets almost all his new students from community networking. Jim’s networking has been so successful, that he rarely pays for any marketing or advertising. He gave me a very easy way to get started networking. I tried it and found that it does work!
Jim told me that he is so well networked that most people within a 10 mile radius of his school (sometimes even farther) know who he is and where his school is located. He said “I want everyone to know about my school even if they don’t want to train. You never know when they will change their mind.” You have to give potential students a reason to drive past other schools to attend yours. Name recognition is a good reason.
I said to Jim, “I am sure all Martial Arts Group members would love to be networked as well as you. How do they get started?” He recalled the time when he had only 10 students and hardly anyone knew of his school. He then gave me the following starting point.
You should make a list of all the charitable and similar organizations in your community. This will take some time because there are more than you think. Do your research. It will pay off. Call every organization on your list and introduce yourself. Tell them that you want to give back to the community and you are offering your services to them. Tell them that you will perform a demo at their events. Further, that you will donate several memberships to their fundraisers (like auctions). You can’t pay for this kind of exposure. You need to get out in front of the community and this is a great no cost way to do it. In three days I set up 4 promotional demos. It only took me 9 calls. I have more calls to make.
Jim said it takes a while to get going but is well worth the time. Jim says now that he is established, organizations call him. Now, he spends a lot less time networking, his students are doing it for him. The time invested at the beginning really pays off in the end!