Selling Martial Arts… Without Selling Out

Martial Arts Sales Tips For Selling Without Being “Salesy”

If you haven’t figured it out yet, you have to sell your services in order to make money. Yes, I am stating the obvious here, but please read that sentence again.

You have to sell your services to make money. That’s not anyone else’s responsibility but your own, and if you’re pawning this responsibility off on someone else because selling makes you queasy, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

For starters, a successful studio owner must be able to do any and every job in the dojo at a reasonable level of competency. Sure, there might be people you can hire who are better at sales than you, but what happens when they leave?

You have to be willing to learn to excel at every single task in the school that makes it click and hum on a daily basis, especially enrolling new students. Otherwise, you will constantly be at the mercy of others for your own success.

So, resolve to learn the art of sales (and marketing) just as you would a difficult and challenging martial arts technique… by breaking it down one step at a time and mastering each step before moving on to the next.

Selling Starts With The Phone

I don’t care how much technology we have, you are always going to have to speak with people on the phone to sell your services. Most people want some information before they commit to even an introductory lesson. So, your phone skills have to be on point if you want to learn how to sell your services.

And, the great thing is that it’s a lot easier to talk to someone on the phone. It’s a much more of a low-pressure environment than a face-to-face conversation. So, focusing on your phone sales skills first is a great way to learn the rhythm and flow necessary to gently guide a conversation so it results in a sale.

What you have to remember though is that on the phone you lose about 50% of your ability to communicate, since the other person can’t see you and pick up on non-verbal cues. So, your choice of words (what you say) and voice quality (how you say it) are of the utmost importance in selling martial arts lessons and setting appointments over the phone.

With that in mind, here are a few phone sales tips to help you smooth out the rough edges in your phone skills:

• Speak slowly enough to enunciate in a natural manner, but try to match the pace of the caller’s speech as well.
• Avoid the use of slang and off-color language or jokes. Speak proper English, always.
• Speak with a smile. It’ll come through in your vocal quality as warmth and openness over the phone.
• Listen. The caller will often tell you what they’re looking for within the first few seconds of the conversation.
• Follow a script, without being scripted. The script is like a music sheet you’ll follow during your conversation, but you should play it like jazz, knowing the piece well enough to improvise each time you play it.

Next, You Need To Know How To Close

Making sales means closing sales, and closing is nothing more than making sure the client gets what they want. If you think about it, they came to you because you have what they want. All you need to do is get out of their way so they can get it.

So, my advice to you is to keep the selling process as uncomplicated as possible. Avoid making things difficult or confusing for the buyer. That old saying, “A confused mind never buys”, is a good point to remember when it comes to closing sales.

With that in mind, here are some sales tips to help you make the buying process simpler for the client:

• Give them choices, but keep the number minimal. Too many choices and options complicates the selling process. Have three different membership packages at different price points, and allow the client to choose the one that fits their budget best.
• Listen to objections, and have a plan for making the objection a non-issue. Things like money-back guarantees and reasonable terms of cancellation will go a long way to assuaging the client’s fears and reservations. Use them.
• When you get a buying signal, stop talking and let them give you a check. If the person has already told you they are ready to buy, there’s no need to keep trying to sell them on your services. Doing so will cause them to question why you are giving them the hard sell, so learn when to be quiet and let the sale commence.

Final Advice

Selling is a process that requires planning and orchestration. However, once you learn all the steps it will become quite natural and your numbers will improve immensely. For this reason, I suggest you follow a simple system that has proven to lead to sales success.

And if you’d like to find out how I’ve consistently closed up to 90% of my trial members onto long-term memberships, go right now to MartialArtsSalesBook.com to get my course on selling in the dojo so you can learn how to sell your services… without being a sellout.