MA Business Success 51: How to Introduce a New Martial Arts Program to Your School

Watch the video below Listed to the podcast below Phil: And today our topic is on how, when and should you start a new program within your school. Graham, what have you got, man? Graham: All right, a can of worms. We've had a couple of our coaching clients. A big shout out to John Donahue. This one's sort of targeted at you, mate. Plus, also, quite a few others that have asked the questions. Income streams in your school. You've got your primary system that you operate with, and that's your bread and butter, the one that you've grown with through your entire history. But you're looking to potentially attract a new client, or a new type of group to your school. Should you do it? When's the right time and how do you go about it and all the rest of it. So, I know that in particular, John was talking about adding in kids curriculum. And that was something that they haven't had in their program before so, there were lots of questions in and around that. Plus I've got a couple of my other guys that I've asked questions about different styles of programs. Yes, they are operate kids and adults classes, but different styles. Both the benefits and also the challenges that go with it. So, let's talk about the pros. What have we got? What we have, oh goodness, how many styles do we have that we operate with here? We have our Zen Do Kai, is our primary style. We have our Muay Thai, again, which is a gull contact kick boxing style that's in there. We've got our Hyper that's mixed in with our Black Belt Club. And again, we've got some Jiu Jitzu, and MMA that's part of our program as well, too. We've got some weapons sporadically in there but not as a dedicated program. Phil: We also have IDS, which is a style that was created by Graham and myself. We've, for the last 10 years been training the special forces and we've basically together a program that is obviously not quite what they do, but utilizing the skills from Krav and all that other experiences and put together a real practical martial art called International Defensive Solutions, which basis, it's around all the things that Krav do but it also gives you the skills of your traditional style martial arts as well because if there was one thing that I felt that, I love Krav, I'm great in it. But if there's one thing that I found training with Krav students who have just done Krav is their proficiency with striking. And I know it's not a big point on it but if you can hone your striking. And I'm probably opening up another can of worms here. Getting some haters. But I just felt that if you had someone who was trained in martial arts and in Krav, then there was a superior martial artist there as well. So that's what IDS, and that's why we, we created an actual program for our own school. Graham: So to speak from our own experiences why we have these programs, we have a Zen Do Kai program which again incorporates your striking, your ground fighting, there's patterns and katas forms. There is some weapon in there. So it's kind of like your fruit salad. It's got a bit of everything in there. Then you've got your specialized classes, I guess. Or specialized pros. In Muay Thai, if you just want to do the striking aspect. Jiu Jitsu, if you want to just do the ground aspect. And then you've got the Krav, or the IDS program, which really is that rubber meets the road, street orientated. It doesn't have any patterns and whatnot. And then again you've got, for some of those younger guys, and even some of the young adults, that tricking program. So you'll see that we've definitely made sure that our primary, but we've got all these others to help with, not only retention, a different income stream that helps us with our school, and to be honest with you, just it's another way for our instructors to continually grow and stay sharp as well, too. So back to our audience that's listening in and watching, what if they want to add a new program to their school? What's some of the things they need to think about first and foremost? Phil: Well, I guess the first thing is are you qualified to teach the new style or the new program? So do you have the skill sets or does someone within your school have the skill set to do that? Because we've had experience, too, where you might have brought in a certain instructor to teach a particular program. While there, it was great. It was all high-fives, and then they go and start up another school, and take some of your students. But it happens. It's life. It's business. But that's a potential. That's a real life thing that if you're bringing someone in externally, that that partnership may not turn out the way you planned. And they may take your students, or whatever it may be. So, I would always, if you're looking at putting in a program within your school, personally, my preference would be to have homegrown staff, either who already know how to teach that stuff or be learning it. Because at the end of the day, you only have to be a few grades ahead of your current students. Don't pretend to know everything. That's the key. If you're starting a new program, just know, yeah, I've been doing this for a couple of years now, or a year, or six months, which is six months more than the new guys, and I'm learning as they're learning as well. Be open and honest about it. But I would definitely, if you're going to open up a new program, new curriculum, new style within your school, have your current guys teach it and learn it. Graham: Just going on, I guess the flip side of that. Some of the negatives that we've seen and heard of with some of the clients that we've had, and they're traveling around the world is people start a program because of the latest fad. And with MMA as a hot topic with UFC and whatnot, there's a lot of guys who are die hard traditionalists that threw in an MMA program, and were not qualified really to do that. And therefore, the program starts, it may survive a few months, it may survive a year, and then it folds. And what that does is it creates confusion with your students. It also pretty much erodes your, I guess your culture in your school, because you've almost got conflicting forces against each other. So it's really important that when you choose a program it actually aligns really well with your core values of your school, where you're heading, what you really want as an outcome for your school, because in previous podcasts, we talk a lot about our marketing. And if you've got a Kill, Die, Death as a program, and then you've got the complete opposite spectrum in there, hey, they may work, but sometimes you're definitely going to be confused in your marketing, and also maintaining those skill sets. Phil: I think one of the big lessons that I have for the listeners out there is we talk about having our main styles, our free style karate, Zen Do Kai. Now, if someone comes in and inquires about our program, and even if they're just interested in kick boxing or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I will always recommend they at least try our main program because I know statistically and looking at the past that our main program has the better retention because there's more skills, there's more lessons within there. It's our core product. So I say, try this out, because I know if they love, and then they can do that on the side. Or, hey, look, at the end of the day, if they want to just do Muay Thai or whatever, that's fine with me. But I want to try and direct them to what I know, what I think is the best program for them. And then, again, what Graham said, retention-wise as well is important because as kids grow up through your martial arts and they drift out, they've been doing it forever, like 6, 7, 10 years, well, what's next? They get a bit bored of the karate, or they're bored of this. So then you have the Muay Thai, the Teens Thai or something that's a little bit different, still complements what they do, but it's a bit different. It's a bit more sparing, so they're growing up now. They're adults. They're pulling the boots on, type of thing. Graham: Hey, it's almost like we're playing both sides here, because I'll be the one to just remind you, team, if you do open yourself up to more programs, ask the question, "Who's going to teach it?" And Phil, you touched on that before is if you have five or six different systems in your school as myself and Phil do, do you have any instructors to teach that? What if your main guy who's capable, leaves? What happens then? So make sure you set yourself up. Which almost brings me to the how. The when and the how. When should I do it? And how do I actually do it to make sure that it's going to be successful. And I guess something I like to make sure that we've done in our schools when we're introducing something is put it in your newsletter and trial if or a month to see what numbers you get. Maybe even trial it for two months and say it's just a test program. If you get good numbers after the fact, well, then you can actually start charging for that. So we do, and we have done in all of our schools a month, a month was fine for us, but a month free and you can bring in your friends, you can come and train in that. You're going to have a great taste test for that. But after that month, then it starts to become a pay program. So that way you really do get a good idea, do people want it? Are they actually really interested or is it just a floating fad? So make sure you're mindful in your time there. Phil: I think we've also had a few clients in the past that they've been running their business for quite some time. They've hit that glass ceiling. They're just can't quite grow anymore. They've used the pool of people in their area, in their suburbs, etc. So the introduction of a new program could quite well be that moment of adding that 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 members that might get them to that next level of results. So I know some of the more traditional schools, if you're traditional Tai Kwon Do, you might not have a real reality-based system. So that's why we had IDS, or Krav type stuff so that people could slot that in to their school. They can still teach their main product but then have this, the IDS or the Krav Maga style programs to teach that other aspect to it. Graham: And I know for a fact that a lot of the big schools both here and in the States are teaching a Krav-based free style martial arts program. A reality-based program. And you talk about some of the greats like Dave Kovar, some of his systems that he operates with, yes, he's got traditions in many different styles, but he kind of blends them together which is that no B.S., free style aspect. Again, a bunch of the guys we visit in the States are very successful in what they do, and they've got traditional aspects as programs. But their bread and butter for an adult's class is the reality-based. The no B.S. as we sort of point out. Phil: Cool, guys, well, look. That's almost a wrap for us. It's a short topic but I think it's something that you may think of at some point in time is are the programs that I have working? Or it could be, when's enough? When's it time to call quits on a program? We didn't even talk about that, because I know we've started up a teens program before and it didn't work. So we had to can it and that was after about 6 or 12 months. Graham: You kind of opened up there, Phil, when to start but when to can it. So what are your thoughts, because the ideal time and I guarantee you, I'm not sure what it's like where you guys are but the weather is starting to shift over here in WA. It's a little bit cooler. Therefore the numbers in classes are going to be a little bit smaller. Not the ideal time to start a new program. Wait til it's pumping. Wait til people are hungry. So spring, leading up to dare I say September, October, November. And generally when they come back from the Christmas break where everyone's wanting to lose a few kilos, a few pounds, whatever else, definitely something for you guys to have a look at. For our international guys, that may be mid-year for you, because summer and spring and everything are completely different on the other side of the world. So really, identifying your cold snaps, and I'll probably avoid, I'm not saying it's the hard, fast rule, but the success that we've had as been releasing new products, new programs when people are out training, looking, their active. It's a way to go. You want bums on seats, and you want people in your classes. So that's when to start it, but when to can it. At what point do you have that stop file? Phil: I would look at, and the honest thing would be if you've got an instructor, one instructor in that classroom, and let's just say they're worth $50/hour. If the student base is not supporting that, then it's a good time to start looking at it. Because if you keep holding on and just wait, and just wait, and just wait, it'll fizzle out. And that instructor's working really hard for that particular class, and it's not really getting any results. So I think once you know that the value of what that class time slot could be, so if it's a prime time class slot, 6:30 to 7:30 is an adult time, that's a go-getter time. That's a time where you want 20, 30, 40, 50 people on the floor. And if you've only got two or three, and one instructor teaching that, something's got to change. Graham: Well, look, team, as always, send us your comments. Like these podcasts, and whatnot. Without your reviews we can't start becoming more visible for the rest of the globe. That's our goal, is to share and help as many people as we possible can. And we need your help to make that a reality. So any questions, drop us a line, guys, at [email protected], and we will do our very best to get back to you promptly. Phil: And as always, guys, don't forget to believe, begin, become. Believe in yourself, begin the amazing journey, and become the business and the person of your dreams. We'll see you on the flip side, gang. Ciao.

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