I'm treating these two things just like we did in the Army. Recruiting and Retention were linked together in the Army as they are in Karate. To us they are what keep us in business. Some months we do more Renewal Membership Agreements than we do New Membership Agreements and vice versa. Then there are upgrade agreements. As long as we are signing 10 total contracts a month we are making overhead plus profit. This year has been rough thus far. We finished April with 3 new, 2 upgrades and 2 renewals. We lost 5. Most of them it's economic. 2 it's because I refuse to lower my standards of performance and made that REAL clear in class with my Junior Advanced students. A mom that was rarely ever here to observe (and wasn't for that particular talk with the kids) took offence to that and yanked her kids. That's one I really struggle with. I'm a retired Army Officer. I do NOT lower my standards. I refuse to water down what we are teaching, especially not for an advanced class. I offered free private lessons to help the kid that was struggling; told the mom we do those for $100 an hour. I changed my entire class plan to do remedial drills to help all the Junior Advance kids see why I want them to get the details right. Part of me says brush it off, move on to the next family. Part of me agonizes about what I could have done differently.

@Sam Shawa We have seen a significant drop. Feb-Apr was around 15 leads per month. Last two years we'd average twice that. A good month for us sees 45-60 leads. Sent a note to my advertising agency asking what gives. We're pushing harder on Referrals because of it.

@Hernando Thola We always have a Prizes for Pals contest running. Whoever has the most referral enrollments at the end of the quarter Belt Promotion gets an additional prize. Any referral gets $50 of gear from the Century catalog. I've told people that if they get 5 friends in a quarter, I'll get them a full size Bob. Still waiting on someone to take that seriously. Most I've seen is 3 referrals from one student in a quarter.

@Hernando Thola How does your Referral Challenge work?

Last year we spent a lot of effort upgrading students into our Leadership Program. This year that is paying off by having trained Assistant Instructors that can take over sections of class so I can talk with parents when needed. One of those instructors has already taken over our Lil Ninjas (3-4 yr olds) classes and is preparing to take over the Kid Champs (5-7 yr olds) as well. This will leave me free to focus on the Juniors, Teens and Adults, my favorite classes.

@Lauren Johns We have three levels of Membership. I equate it to levels of involvement in both Martial Arts and in our School. Basic members are with us as an "activity." They may stay for a year, then move on or they may upgrade. We do our best to get upgrades within the first 3-6 months or at the latest at Membership Renewal. They are in White Uniforms. They get basic Self Defense, Karate and Jiu Jitsu training from us. Black Belt Training is for those that are in Martial Arts as an achievement, which is great given less than 5% that start make it to Black Belt. They are in Blue Uniforms. They get to add Point Sparring and Weapons to their curriculum. Black Belt Leadership are for those that see Martial Arts as a Lifestyle. They have decided they not only want to train, but help teach and like me, maybe open their own dojo someday. They are in Black Uniforms. They get Weapons disarms, more Judo and Jiu Jitsu added to their curriculum plus Instructor Training. These are the teens and adults that are leading kids classes or helping as assistant instructors. Our by line is "We teach Leadership Skills through the Discipline of Martial Arts." As Mr. Tholo has stated in his videos, THAT is what keep parents at our schools. That is the true social value we provide.

we are doing Buddy Week this week where students bring in a buddy and they can train for free. Most classes let us down, except the Adults, they brought 3 friends in! It sounds like all 3 will enroll with us, too! Traditionally, that is the hardest demographic for us to get new students in, so that's a win!

We just calculated our new pricing structure last night. We have a menu of options like Tony Ingram posted. We have three levels of students as well. Basic is someone that is here as an activity. Black Belt Training is someone who wants to achieve that rank. Black Belt Leadership is someone who looks at Martial Arts as a lifestyle. Leadership Students are also who we look to when hiring assistant and lead instructors. Each of those three levels has an menu of options to choose from. Option C is the baseline membership with no discounts. Option B has about 10% discount for a bigger down payment. Option A is a 15% discount for an even bigger down payment. This leaves us room to give a 25% discount for Seasonal Specials and the one day only Christmas Event Special of 30% discount. I haven't printed them up yet to post here, sorry. Essentially, our Basic Membership Option C was valued at $2000 for a 12 month membership. We are bumping that up to $2300. So it will be paid with $200 down and $175 per month. The sales psychology here is everyone likes feeling like they got a deal, so the options give them that. Every level of student follows this same convention. Oh, and we offer Family Discounts. First Student Full Price tuition, Second 25% off, Third 50% off and all others free after that. We're hoping we are targeting a good price range for everything we offer. Our American Karate system incorporates Standing Self Defense, Kick Boxing Combos, Judo Throws and Take Downs, Jiu Jitsu and of course Kicking Combos. We have to have students here minimum twice a week to get that full curriculum taught. A lot of our BBT and BBL students are here 3-5 times a week. Yeah, we're taking a leap of faith in this increase.