Let's Negotiate

[sensei8]

Many things in a MA school are negotiable...

* Buy a uniform; I'll give you a free _____!!

* Bring in a family member or a friend(s) for lessons: I'll take a handsome percentage off the regular monthly tuition!!

*Be a loyal student; I'll reward your loyalty with/by ________!!

These are some examples that one might find within the walls of their school of the MA throughout the world. Rewards and incentives abound for one reason(s) or another; that's business 101.

HOWEVER...I'll negotiate almost everything and anything that I've the power to do so. EXCEPT...my integrity; rank must be earned...NO EXCEPTIONS!!

My students know this about me before I even let them join and I remind them, if needed, that rank is NOT FOR SALE!! There's not enough money to even cause me to even entertain the notion, albeit, I'll ban them from my dojo for even suggesting it directly and/or indirectly.

[Wastelander]

I would never expect rank to be negotiated! As you said, it is standard business practice to provide incentives to promote your business, but those incentives must have some value to the person you are marketing to:

A free uniform means they do not have to spend extra money to buy one.

A discount on tuition because they bring in a friend saves them money and means they can keep learning.

A free rank doesn't really save them anything--they will probably still pay some sort of testing fee if there was going to be one to begin with--and it doesn't come with anything useful to them (knowledge). Rank has no value in and of itself, because the value of rank is the experience and knowledge that lead to it, not the rank itself. The only time someone will want rank as an incentive is when it has been offered to them in the first place, because that offer is implying that the rank has value in and of itself.

[sensei8]

I would never expect rank to be negotiated! As you said, it is standard business practice to provide incentives to promote your business, but those incentives must have some value to the person you are marketing to:

A free uniform means they do not have to spend extra money to buy one.

A discount on tuition because they bring in a friend saves them money and means they can keep learning.

A free rank doesn't really save them anything--they will probably still pay some sort of testing fee if there was going to be one to begin with--and it doesn't come with anything useful to them (knowledge). Rank has no value in and of itself, because the value of rank is the experience and knowledge that lead to it, not the rank itself. The only time someone will want rank as an incentive is when it has been offered to them in the first place, because that offer is implying that the rank has value in and of itself.

The bold type above...It happens everyday somewhere in some school of the MA.

Your last paragraph; very solid post!!

[bushido_man96]

Good words, Bob. Rank is only earned through hard work and dedication. Have the students negotiate that!