Do you struggle with keeping your students? You’re not alone. This is based on just two factors: 1) They quit before the end of your agreement and 2) You do not have a renewal or upgrade option in place.
Many factors and stats are used to monitor retention and renewals. This ranges from Stick Rates to Quit percentages. Some are complicated, others are easy. The easiest stat to look at though is how many students did you have in the beginning of the year and how many do you have at the end of the year. In other words, if you start with 100 students and at the end of the year you have 100 students, you have a good idea of your retention rate. In this case zero.
The typical martial arts school keeps their students approximately 9 months. This is probably better than most health clubs. However, they rely on thousand of members that pay smaller fees. Martial arts schools do not have that luxury. If you’re above 9 months, you are doing better than the average school.
Rather than write a book, I decided just to list many of the factors that can affect your renewal and retention.
- Month-to-Month Agreements (this never works. See my previous article on Agreements)
- Not using 12-month Agreements
- Not offering an Upgrade path or renewing clients early
- Not calling them on the phone when they miss class
- Not texting them when they miss a class
- Not emailing them when they miss a class
- Not calling them just to see how their classes are
- Classes are too long
- Classes are boring
- Classes do not offer what they want to do or learn
- Kids classes teach punch and kick rather than the principles for life (confidence and focus)
- Clear understanding of requirements and how they advance
- Curriculum too hard
- School is dirty and smelly
- Instructors are mean
- Members do not have fun in class
- Not greeted with enthusiasm when they come in
These are some of the major ones. There are many more. You must look at each one and make sure you do not have these problems.
