One of the best things you can do to gain and retain new martial arts students is make people feel welcome when they enter your school. To do that, try following the mantra: ‘Be friendly on purpose.’
Have you ever walked into an establishment and felt like the person who was supposed to be helping you didn’t care about you or your business? They may not have been mean or surly, but they certainly didn’t make you feel like they were glad to see you or were happy to serve you. While rarely intentional, this can happen within our schools too when we deal with our students, fellow instructors, or others if we don’t take steps to guard against it. Anyone who walks into our school – our business – plays a role in allowing us to live the life we do. It's important to keep that in mind and put a “friendly on purpose” mindset into our daily practice.
Here are the three habits of "friendly on purpose":
- Be the first to say “hello” or “good morning.” If you can’t help someone right away, let them know that you will be with them right away.
- Smile, even when you’re on the phone. People can hear the smile in your voice!
- Be sincerely interested in them. Make eye contact. Shake hands if appropriate. Let your customers (internal or external) know you are very glad to see them.
Remember that your students have choices about where to spend their time and money---and who to hire as a martial arts instructor. Being friendly shows respect to those with whom you interact and do business. People will continue to do business where they feel respected. Make the effort to put your best foot forward when dealing with everyone. Be friendly on purpose!
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Did you know? We have a FREE eBook about student retention available for you to download! "Creating Special Moments: A Retention Case Study." CLICK HERE to download now.
