How do you keep enrollment up?

[JohnASE]

Economically, things are tough right now. Many schools are having trouble maintaining a stable student base. To help each other out, what would you say was the single most important thing your school has done to either keep the students you have or to gain new students, and what was its affect?

Is it a Bring-A-Buddy day? Black belt club program? Contracts? The head instructor teaches every class? Karate parties? Weapon seminars? Participating in tournaments? What works best for you?

[Toptomcat]

This was at a college karate club, not anything for-profit, but our Friday night showings of kung fu movies where everyone chipped in for a bit of pizza were tremendously helpful in keeping people involved, interested, and involved in the club socially as well as for the activity itself.

[ps1]

This sounds really general but anything you can do to create an environment of inclusivism. That is, make the school a family of sorts. Martial arts schools can seem incredibly formal, making it easy not to come back. However, when you see the other students and instructor as close friends, you're more likely to stay. The programs you mention are nice, but ultimately something a school should have anyway.

The next thing you should do is keep an eye on who is and is not attending class. Be sure to always thank everyone who comes and call people who miss a class or two. Most of all, WORK WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE HAVING A HARD TIME!!!! Even if that means offering to forgo a student's dues for a month. If it keeps them coming, it's good for you. Not only that, but your willingness to work with and help your students will result in increased loyalty. You can guarantee they will pass the word that you are a great instructor.

Good luck.

Bill

[ninjanurse]

Good advice Bill. Taking care of the students you have will bring in new ones as the word spreads via internal referrals. You can also get your school involved in the community via demos, fundraisers, parades, local events, etc.

[JohnASE]

Developing a social aspect to the school is good. I've heard of many schools having pot lucks and things like that. That way people who don't train in the same class get to meet, and students can socialize with higher ranks in an informal setting, establishing bonds that benefit both the school and the individuals.

[DWx]

Definitely an extended-family social aspect is always good for keeping numbers up and getting people to bring along friends. If you don't mind teaching kids and teenagers, I think one of the biggest things that helped my instructor was to target the local schools. Once you get a certain proportion of the kids joining, it becomes the club all the kids have to join just because all their friends are doing it. He also did demos and lunch time/after school lessons for the local primary and high schools. Also getting in the local paper helps. After a big grading or competition or some other event just put a short write up and photo in the paper creates a lot of awareness about your school as well as the local kids see their friends in it and think its cool. Of course when you get the kids joining their parents may want to start too.

To get the revenue, unfortunately you may have to do stuff that seems a bit McDojo-ish but as long as you keep the quality and teaching

[sensei8]

Economically, things are tough right now. Many schools are having trouble maintaining a stable student base. To help each other out, what would you say was the single most important thing your school has done to either keep the students you have or to gain new students, and what was its affect?

Consistency across the board! Imho, it's just that easy...past/present/future!

[Patrick]

Good idea for a topic, JohnASE. Thanks for starting it.

Patrick

[Sibylla]

My own school is very socially inclusive, and we seem to keep a lot of the people who start. I think the main reasons for that is a) inclusive environment b) quality of instruction. c) Being visible

To elaborate on point a), my school has instructors that originally comes from another country, and the same goes for a lot of the students. We also have a growing percentage of women. I think that in itself contributes to getting and keeping students, an environment that isn't very homogenous is easier to "fit into" than for instance joining a club filled with white middle aged men. If your group of students is homogenous to start with, it takes more leadership to make it open for other people. A "boys club" going to the pub and patting themselves on the back, is only inculsive to some.

What matters the most imo is what goes on in class. Are beginners and "the odd ones", like women, or people who don't share your cultural background, fully welcome in class? Do you for instance make an effort to learn their name, say hello when they arrive, monitor their training properly so if anything goes on, you know about it?

b) I've trained with many highly ranked instructors. But not all are equipped to instruct, and/are just too flaky to instruct on a regular basis. This will negatively reflect upon enrollment but also on how many advanced students who quit. But this seems difficult to do somethimg about. I actually asked an isntructor in my new club whether he and the head instructor would be expected to run the club for the long haul and instruct regularily. He wasn't shocked about the question..

c) Be out there. If the local TKD club is in the newspaper and have demos, so should you.

[Jeffrey]

Our school is the largest in the area with about 130 students in total. We operate from 2 schools and the local community hall. We have one kid’s class on Monday and Thursday for one hour each. Another kid’s class on Tuesdays for 2 hours. There is a teen class on Wednesday. The adult classes are on Monday and Thursday for 2 hours each.

Since we operate from the 2 schools we always have a fresh number of kids who start up every year. By the end of the first year we lose about 60% of the beginners. But like always there is a fresh group to start again. The teen class is about the same with the same loss but always a new group starting. You always see a large group of white and yellow belts and than fewer orange and fewer still of the green, blue and maybe one or two brown belts. I’m pretty sure this is like most cases in other Dojo’s.

The biggest challenge is the adult class. It seems that we get 4-6 new white belts and by the end of 1st month there is maybe 1-2 still there. Sort of depressing sometimes.

How do you attract the Adults or better yet how do you keep them? The Head Sensei is always trying to figure out ways to keep people. Like Sibylla mentioned as members we have all tried to get to know the new people by name and help/encourage them learn and have fun. Is the work out to tough and then get discouraged? I’m not sure. Any advice is good and I can pass it on.