For example, when students enroll they may need to purchase some special training DVDs to make sure they get started on the right foot. This results in a built-in product sale. When a student earns his Blue Belt he may need to purchase a Bo staff and other items to participate in the classes being taught at that particular level. There’s another built-in sale. When this student is promoted to Brown Belt he may need to purchase a set of kamas, a special carrying bag, another training DVD or book, and so on. Those are some more built-in product sales. Get the idea? The way the Hensleys have systematized and maximized built-in product sales is both clever and impressive. It has resulted in a nice bump in their monthly gross income, rock-solid consistency in their monthly product sales and a substantial improvement in their school’s student retention. It sure beats putting out a bunch of products and wondering if anyone will buy them. Amazingly, to achieve these phenomenal results, the Hensleys do very little selling. Mr. Hensley, in particular, is a highly experienced, old school Black Belt under Chuck Norris. He has also earned multiple, high-ranking Black Belts in other arts and is a veteran tournament competitor. He’s not a “salesperson;” he’s an authentic martial artist. The key is that the system he and his wife have created actually removes much of the need for selling. The system does most of the sales work for them, automatically. The phenomenal results they achieve are a by-product of their system’s effective design. Even more, the Hensleys operate what could very well be the most successful Holiday Shopping Spree our industry has ever seen. They consistently average $33,000 of product sales during a three-day, annual holiday shopping event. That’s more than the total monthly gross of many schools! Again, it’s all in the design of their system, the incorporation of built-in product sales and their passion for quality service to their students and their families.
I want you to take away these three main points from this chapter: 1. Product sales can be a main pillar of revenue for your school and should not be neglected. 2. Built-in product sales are the best method I’ve seen for selling products in a martial arts school. They pretty much guarantee the sale of products during the term of a student’s training at your school. 3. You really should create effective systems for each area of your school, including product sales.
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Chapter Thirty-Two
Rob Colasanti