MA Business Success 84: Leads Prospects & Join Ups

podcast Apr 18, 2017

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Transcription 

Graham M. :
Hey everyone, welcome to Martial Arts Business Success, episode 84. We've actually got a [inaudible 00:00:15]. I'm Graham McDonnell, as always. We've got ...

 

Phil Britten:
Phil Britten, here as always, handsome as always.

 

Graham M. :
Now, what are we talking about today? Let's get straight into it.

 

Phil Britten:
Yeah well look, we're talking about, it keeps coming across a lot with questions online, offline, with our coaching clients and stuff, is what do we do with leads, prospects, trials and join ups? Especially there's sort of now a new way and an old way of doing it. The old way was more like people would do a website inquiry or they'd call you, but now the new way with all the social media, we've got Facebook and Instagram and promos and lots of stuff. That's really what we're going to dig into and look in the difference between the two, how we overcome and battle that, and how you can do the same.

 

 

Before we get started, I just want to do a quick shout out to one of our sponsors, Hyper, who always do a fantastic job for us. We have Hyper Fight Club and Hyper trains within our clubs. It really has given us an extra curriculum, extra event plans, bully buster stuff that we use in our school all the time. Because they're partners and sponsors of ours, they've given us a chance to give all our viewers who are here on our podcast $100.00 off, which is great. All you need to do is go to their link, wherever that may be. Go to the Hyper Pro School, enter the promo code TIMA, and you'll get $100.00 off every single month to get access to the Hyper Pro School curriculum, which is fantastic.

 

Graham M. :
Hey guys, just to add to that, what we got is we're going to be partnering with the guys later this year and having an event that we run from a TIMA and a Hyper event. Some business development, instructor development, and also great for your students as well, too. Keep you a bit posted closer to the time on where, when, how, and who and all the above, but stay tuned, too. There's plenty of really exciting stuff there.

 

Phil Britten:
Yeah, and before we get started into the meat and potatoes of today's podcast, I just want to let you all know about a new feature that we have in TIMA. What I was figuring out as people were involving themselves in our paid online course, The Complete Martial Arts Business Solution, which is fantastic. It's $99.00 a month yet the kitchen sink in there, videos, courses, downloads, event check lists. I mean it's all in there. But, I think what was missing potentially is a bit of accountability. So what I've created right now, Graham and I created TIMA Masterminds. It's a new feature, which means anyone and everyone who joins up on their $99.00 a month programme, they get access to a closed, private Facebook group called TIMA Mastermind.

 

 

Within there we will couple you up with like-minded business owners who are non-competing, and you're gonna get access to us on a weekly basis. Today we did a live 30 minute Q and A and we'll be doing that every single week. We'll be answering all the questions that are pressing you right now. So if anything's come up. It's like having Phil and Graham in your corner at the fight. So whatever it may be. I think that's important when it comes mentoring, when it comes to trying to implement. There's so much information. You guys are fantastic. We're getting so much awesome feedback from the podcast, but it's just information.

 

Graham M. :
Yeah.

 

Phil Britten:
At least virtually you just enter information. The difference that makes a difference is what you do with the information. What we thought we'd do is offer another level of ability to connect with us on a very sort of face to face level. Every person was fantastic and answer any questions that you might have. That's TIMA Mastermind and you'll only get access to that if you join up on our $99.00 a month programme there.

 

Graham M. :
All right. Let's start here. It's all about capturing the leads, the old way, the new ways. But then what do you do once you have them? How do qualify them? How do you sift them? And then how do you convert them to the paying clients. Really that's gonna be key. Look, I've known that over the many years of seeing the online presence evolve, now you've got really quite smart ways of Facebook and different ways to get a lot leads. Getting a lot doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna get a lot of students from it. So it's that put it into that sale funnel, then it's up to you to make sure, "Yes, they may come in. They may pay for a trial for example, but how do you make sure they convert past that?" We'll get to that very, very shortly. But what about what's the old ways, what's the new ways, Phil?

 

Phil Britten:
Well, I guess like I said before. The old way was someone was interested. They'd sort of look you up on the website or dare I say Yellow Pages or whatever it may be. That was really, really old. But they were interested in martial arts so they sought you out. They connected to you. They sent an email. They phoned you up, and if you weren't able to take that phone call right there, you would actually get back to them. They'd leave their details. You would call them. That's really where we want to have that first connexion. We want to speak to the real person-

 

Graham M. :
Yeah.

 

Phil Britten:
Who's not hidden behind an email or social media channel. So even if someone did send an email, which is always hard even in the environment that used to be. Someone sends an email, "I'm interested in martial arts. How much is it?" The trick to all email and all that type of stuff and even the new way is to get them off of online and get them offline as quick as you can. But in saying that, the old way was get that phone call and then your sales process and your programme director or whoever was gifted in that skillset to be able to find out what they want and give it to them and, I guess, share the values and benefits of that school to have them then come in and start the trial.

 

 

That was sort of the old way. The new way is this social media revolution with Facebook and Instagram and all that type of stuff. What you need to remember, what you should be doing is being content machines, content-giving machines. So all those channels should be giving great content to add value to future clients. Then what's gonna happen is someone's gonna send a comment or send a direct message or whatever it may be. In that messaging there is sort of like the pre-phone call. You can't go, if you call this number, it's too early in the relationship. It's like meeting someone for the first time out with your friends. They introduce you to a female. You know, there's got to be a bit of wining and dining first before you hand over the phone number.

 

 

Same thing happens on DM, direct messages and private messages on Facebook and Instagram. There has to be some sort of relationship building. We've got a set person who does all that for us, and she's been doing an amazing job. Some people are sending comments or messages. She's just communicating with them for a while. She's wining and dining with them saying, "Hey, how are you? What are you interested in? Da da da da. Etc, etc." And then eventually without too much time passing getting them on the phone or getting them to give her [inaudible 00:06:48] phone number to take them from online to offline.

 

Graham M. :
So let's start even further than that step. We've been able to make contact. They're interested in coming to the business. Again, it's kind of different process. They may have just bought a trial already. So they've committed to paying. You still want to build that relationship. Let's say they've come in and they've paid for a trial, however long that may be. It could be a two weeks trial. It could be a six week trial. I know there's definitely different variances there. I know what we look to do is make sure that we build that rapport as soon as we possibly can. That is not only the instructors, because at the end of the day they're not yet a committed member to your school.

 

 

So you very much need to add that value. They have an initial bite. They're definitely judging you guys to see if you're gonna bring your A game and you can turn up and put up what you say you were gonna do, so it's important to do that. I know that what we do, not only do we call, not only do we speak to the guys. We will send them some material about what they're gonna expect over the next few weeks, how they potentially are gonna feel. Those questions that I'm sure they probably haven't had the confidence yet to come up and ask you. Some may, some may not, but for example throughout the first week of training, "Hey guys, is not unusual to feel a little bit sort of tight. You know, we're here to help you out. If you've got any queries or questions, don't hesitate."

 

 

Again, little things like this that help them go, "You know what? That's exactly how I feel. Thank goodness I'm not the only one who goes through that." But also, let's say they are on a trial. At what point do you start talking about becoming a member? What is that value? So what we like to do is make sure that you don't leave that to the last day, the last week of that particular trial period, because you know what? You probably missed the boat. So I know that we have some great success. We've got some courses that we do. One in particular that runs for six week programme, and I know that week four we are definitely making sure that we've made it two weeks to say that you've set a goal. You've accomplished four weeks of that six week goal. Let's not finish at that. Let's set another goal, another six or 12 weeks, two years, five years, whatever that may be.

 

Phil Britten:
Think about looking for where to go next. I think that's important. If you are doing a paid six week trial or a paid certain trial, you want to capture them and let them know there's way more ahead of time than leaving them at the alter. You know like, "Where am I going now?" So we want to make sure we capture them. Also, I think in the early on stage is when they are that prospect and they're coming in, we want to make sure, Graham had mentioned it before. We try and contact them and let them know how they're feeling, etc. Everyone learns and takes information differently. So, yeah, they should come in. They will feel the [dojo 00:09:25]. They'll feel the environment. They should walk away with something in their hand and they should find something in their email box as well and even a text message. So you want to be able to sort of, not attack them and bombard them, but at certain times they want to come in, feel the amazing environment, and I want to walk out with this nice, awesome package of information.

 

 

Not everyone gets that there. What happens? They get home. There's an email, bing. We'd just like to welcome you and tell a little a welcome video. And then tomorrow might be a text message saying, "Thank you so much for coming in." If you can be a cut above the rest and do things a little bit different and unique and be the innovators in your industry, if they are shopping around and even if you are more expensive, you're outweighing the value by how much you care.

 

Graham M. :
I guess the biggest thing of a self fulfiller trying to really reach right here is you've gotta build a relationship with them as soon as you can and that rapport and that relationship, because they'll stick around a lot longer for that. So there's probably many, many, many different ways you've spoke about on many podcasts how we develop relationships, but because they've come from a space where they're looking for quick wins and it's very quick to make a decision, to keep them as a long term client you've gotta build that rapport. I know that this is where some of the challenges we face with online marketing and online offers. They come in quickly, but they leave just as quick. So how do you make sure the retention side of things improved? Relationships.

 

 

Really, that's probably the [inaudible 00:10:48]. It's great to bring them in. it's great to get numbers so that you've got X number of people come through that sales funnel, but if they're leaving just as quick, well, it's a hamster where you'll go around in circles. So relationship is a big one.

 

Phil Britten:
Yeah. Just to recap as we finish here. There's plenty in this whole process of [leg 00:11:06], prospect, trial, and member and we're really only focusing on the first couple ... Just to recap member, we want to get them offline as quick as we can. The old way of doing it works really well because there wasn't that much online, and we could get them off quite quickly. Now, with Facebook, Instagram and all that, build that relationship in the messages. There's also the facility within Facebook to do record voice so that's also another level rather than just text messaging. I've been doing that a lot lately. Rather than doing a reply verse text is just press the record button, say, "Hey, Phil Britten here. Just thought I'd reach out and say thank you for contacting me. We'll be in touch real, real soon." Or a quick little video.

 

 

It's just that nother little touch point you can do. Build a relationship online and then take them offline, and then when they're at your school continue that relationship. Just know that we don't want to surprise them at the end or leave them at the alter, but we want to be able to guide them and say, "There is plenty more you can go when you get to this point, and we're here to hold your hand every step of the journey.

 

Graham M. :
Awesome, team, as always we love your feedback. We love for you guys to send them some hot topics that you may be faced with, challenges, whatnot. Even better is to share this with your friends and get it out there because our goal is to serve and assist and help [inaudible 00:12:15] possible. Hence why, as Phil talked about at the very start, the TIMA Mastermind podcast is great. We deliver great content, but having a conversation is what we love. We love to hear from you guys direct. So don't forget [email protected]. If you've got any topic choices or even questions for our TIMA Mastermind. If you're not on that yet and you've haven't subscribed, guys, again, TIMA.com.au. Get over there. Get online.

 

Phil Britten:
Well, an actual fact, Graham, funny you mentioned that because as always for you podcast and viewers here we have the try five for five. So no strings attached. Five days access for $5.00. Get in there. Check it out. I'll let you jump on the TIMA Mastermind for those five days so you can see what that's all about and be involved in that and just check out the value that's there. Last but not least, we've been getting tonnes and tonnes of questions about this CRM thing we've been talking about. Graham, what's going on with the CRM? Where are we at? What's going on? What's our involvement?

 

Graham M. :
We've got a handful of really big schools and small schools that are testing things out for us and trial and test just so that when we give it to guys there's no bumps. The last thing we want to do is give you a product that has issues. Like anything, the feedback that we're getting, when is coming? Really, again, guys, I guess we've been able to work with a couple of guys that'll help you out or create this sort of stuff. They are absolutely phenomenal. It really is just making a system that works for you. And think about Lego blocks. You know, you can start with one or two little bits and you can build whatever you want. For us, that's our goal is to be able to provide a service where you guys can customise depending on your needs of your schools. So team, don't forget. Drop us a line. I know there's a few questions [inaudible 00:13:48]. We got a couple of the basic modules done, but at the end of the day we want to be able to give you a whole package.

 

Phil Britten:
If you're interested, send us an email like most of you have. I'll send you back a link which we can log in your details. So as it's ready to launch in [inaudible 00:14:01] community, you'll be one of the first adopters.

 

Graham M. :
Yep. Cool, guys. We'll see you on the next podcast. Don't forget to drop us a line if you need to.

 

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