Teach Great Martial Arts Classes

The keystone of good student retention has always been, and will always be, running great martial arts classes. Without a rock solid class experience, all further student retention efforts fall apart.

Imagine a restaurant with great service, where the staff always seem glad to see you, are very
helpful and attentive, and call you by name; with great ambiance and decor; that's always clean and tidy; and it's conveniently located close to home... But the food is bad. Every time.
It's going to be tough getting customers to return to that restaurant. If the core experience is
poor, then it doesn't matter what kind of other features exist.

Or imagine a car that looks great, has a lot of creature comforts and cool features, but has an
engine that runs poorly, or faulty breaks. If the car doesn't run (it doesn't do the core thing it's
supposed to do), then all those bells and whistles don't matter. You'd need to fix what's wrong or get a new car.

Your classes are the core experience of your martial arts school. They have to be great!
Remember one of The Five Core Beliefs is "We only teach great classes, never just good classes," meaning:

• Every class is taught by motivated, enthusiastic and well-trained instructors who have the
  students’ best interest in mind
• Every class is a great workout
• Every class teaches age and rank appropriate curriculum
• Every class teaches quality life skills
• Every class stresses student camaraderie

Think about a typical martial arts class at your school... Are your classes typically "firing on all cylinders?" Are all of the above points addressed?

All other strategies and tactics assume that this is all true. It's assumed that you, the martial arts instructor, are doing what you do best and you are already running great classes. If you are not confident that your classes are great, address that first, and then move on to further strategies.