Running a successful martial arts school involves more than teaching techniques. It also requires effective salespeople if you’re not looking to be a 1 man or woman team forever.
Your staff plays a crucial role in attracting and retaining students, which means you have to prioritize making their sales skills as important as their martial arts expertise.
By providing ongoing training, you can empower your team to grow in sales while upholding your school’s values.
Oftentimes when school owners hear the word “sales” they put a negative connotation to the word and often think of a used-car salesman.
One mindset shift to help is to look at sales as serving – because that’s ultimately what you are doing.
Here are some key strategies for training your staff to be effective salespeople, who serve.
Understanding the Basics of Sales:
Before diving into specific techniques, it’s essential to grasp the fundamentals of sales.
It starts with simplifying the concept by helping your team and the prospect understand what your martial arts school offers.
A great way to look at this is through the “customer journey”. Teaching your team the different stages your prospects are in will allow them to serve them better.
Beginning with the awareness stage, where prospects become acquainted with your brand.
As prospects move through the funnel, transitioning to the interest and consideration stages, sales professionals play a pivotal role in nurturing leads, addressing concerns, and highlighting the value proposition.
Depending on how you structure your organizational chart, more than like the person who is handling the sales is a Program Director or Front Desk Administrator.
Once your prospect gains awareness that your school exists and has shown interest, you’ve got to move them to the desired stage
This is where your staff can give them information on what offers or trials you have going on.
The key to this is finding out what benefits your prospects are looking to achieve, so you can customize the booking appointment to fit their specific needs.
Finally, in the action stage, the focus shifts to converting leads into customers by closing the deal of making them members.
Your staff can effectively guide prospects toward making the right decision of choosing your school – and the best way to do this is through communication and connection.
Emphasize Listening Skills:
Effective sales begin with understanding the needs and desires of potential students.
Teach your staff the importance of active listening.
Explain that by listening to prospects, your staff can tailor their approach to address individual concerns and motivations.
Highlight Benefits, Not Just Features:
Rather than focusing on the features of your martial arts classes, train your staff to emphasize the benefits.
Help them understand how practicing martial arts can improve students’ confidence, discipline, physical fitness, and well-being.
Encourage them to communicate these benefits in simple, relatable language.
Role-playing Exercises:
Role-playing is a valuable tool for honing sales skills in a supportive environment.
Create scenarios where staff members take turns playing the role of both salesperson and potential student.
Provide constructive feedback afterward to help them refine their approach.
This is a major missing puzzle piece most schools are lacking.
Role-Playing exercises should be a part of their on-going weekly training.
Building Trust and Rapport:
Trust is essential in any sales interaction.
Teach your staff strategies for building rapport with potential students. Finding common ground, demonstrating empathy, and maintaining a positive attitude.
Emphasize the importance of honesty and transparency in all communications.
Handling Objections:
Equip your staff with techniques for addressing common objections.
Teach them not to view objections as obstacles but as opportunities to provide further clarification and address concerns.
Ideally, we want to overcome these objections before they even occur.
Encourage them to remain patient and empathetic throughout the process.
Follow-up and Persistence:
Many sales are not made on the first interaction but through persistent follow-up.
Stress the importance of following up with prospects. These prospects have expressed interest but haven’t yet enrolled.
Provide your staff with templates or scripts for follow-up communications. Ensuring consistency and professionalism.
Your team should have daily timeblocks on their calendar where they are solely focusing on follow-up.
Imagine how many more students you could enroll if your team spent 1 hour a day on follow-up.
If you are a Grow Pro client, you can find these scripts in the Grow Pro Online Academy 😉
You can also check out our webinar on how to follow up with your leads and why is it so important. “Let’s Cut to the Chase…Follow-up is Everything.”
Continuous Training and Improvement:
Sales skills, like martial arts techniques, need ongoing practice and refinement.
Offer regular training to keep your staff updated on best practices and new approaches.
Encourage them to share successes and challenges with other staff members. This not only helps with sales training but fosters a culture of continuous learning.
Setting Realistic Goals:
Help your staff set achievable sales goals to motivate them and track their progress.
At Grow Pro, we always say, “Math is the Path.”
Break down larger objectives into smaller, manageable tasks to prevent overwhelm.
Celebrate milestones and successes along the way to reinforce positive behavior.
These should be reviewed during your weekly team meeting.
Find the Gap:
Using a KPI tracker will help you find the gaps in your school and show you where to make the most improvements.
Do this by tracking how many leads you get, how many of these leads become appointments, how many of those appointments show, and how many of those that showed become students.
Our recommendation is to aim for 50%-60% of your leads turning into appointments.
70-80% of those appointments showing up (if you offer paid trials – this number will be higher).
And then converting 80-90% of those showed appointments into new students.
A great book to read is “
Leading by Example:
As the owner or manager of the martial arts school, your actions speak louder than words.
Remember to lead by example.
Show exemplary salesmanship in your own interactions with potential students and parents.
Your staff will look to you for guidance and inspiration.
Conclusion:
Training your staff to be effective salespeople is essential for your martial arts school’s success.
By focusing on listening skills, highlighting benefits, role-playing, building trust, handling objections, and continuous improvement, you can empower your team to excel in sales while maintaining the integrity of your school’s values.
Remember to lead by example and provide ongoing support and training to help your staff reach their full potential.
With dedication and commitment, you can create a thriving martial arts school.
