When you are trying to attract new students, you need an offer to sell them. People don't want to buy never ending training, so you sell the black belt, a seminar, a free/paid trial, or a boot camp/challenge. When it comes to new students I have seen the trial or boot camp/challenge work best.

Why I Pick A Boot Camp/Challenge

In my experience, people do not want a never ending commitment. They don't want to start something they might not be able to finish. That makes the years it will take to reach black belt a problem, your trial feel like trap, it real hard for you to sell them on anything.

What people want is a fast win, an easy off ramp if they don't like it, and an end date that they will be able to say "I did it!".

A boot camp/challenge has an end date, a clear goal, and plenty of chance to show them progress and improvement.  This makes these types of programs great for attracting new students.

Creating A Boot Camp/Challenge

A good boot camp/challenge has a clear goal your customers want to achieve (Feel safe in the parking lot at night), a timeline that feels manageable (4-6 weeks), and a few bonuses to increase the value (5 Tips For A Safer Walk To Your Car)

The Goal

The goal of the program should speak to your customers. Don't focus on weight loss when you want to attract kids being bullied. The trick to this is to come up with something they will get by coming to your normal classes. If they can just come to your normal classes, you don't have to do any extra work to give these people what they paid for.

Bonus points is you charge more than your standard membership so turning them into recurring students is easier later.

The Timeline

You will need a timeline that is both short enough people won't feel overwhelmed and long enough they believe the goal can be achieved. 6 weeks seems to be the sweet spot, but maybe yours can shorter or longer depending on what you are offering.

Bonuses

Alex Hormozi talks about having a core offer and bonuses. The core offer is what they are paying for and the bonuses are the things you are throwing in to overcome challenges along the way or give a bunch of extra value. These are things they would be willing to pay for, but don't have too because you are so nice!

Creating these can be a challenge and take time so don't start with a bunch. Get one good one then as more people come across different challenges create new bonuses for them. Examples could be:

• • Tips or tools they can use: "5 Tips For A Safer Walk To Your Car"
  • Equipment the will need to training or feel like they are part of the group: Gloves, uniform, t-shirt
  • A private lesson to build confidence

The more valuable these are perceived the better your boot camp/challenge will seem.

An Example Boot Camp/Challenge

The 6 Week Self Defense Challenge
- It is good to have a bunch of names and test which works best. This could also be "The Walk Safe Boot Camp" "6 Week Safer At Night Intensive" the possibilities are endless and you won't know which works best if you don't test.

Goal: To feel safer while walking to your car in a dark parking lot.

Timeline: 6 weeks of 2 classes per week

Core Offer: 2 Classes/ week. These people will join one of the Kenpo, kickboxing, or BJJ classes we are already offering so it doesn't add to my workload.

Bonuses: I will provide them with 6 bonus classes they can use at any time during the 6 weeks, 1 private lesson where we can focus on the scenarios they are most worried about, and a short video where I talk about some practical tactics to use while walking to their car at night. (ex: keys ready, checking the back seat, etc.)

Guarantees and Selling Them On Membership

A strong guarantee can talk someone off the fence. If you are confident in you ability you can promise big and not worry about the consequences of failing to meet the expectation.

As for selling them on a continues membership there are some small things you can do that will increase the chance the sign up.

First, ask them after their first class. If they loved it ( and we know they will), they could be willing to commit right then there, especially if your continued payments are less than what they paid for the boot camp/challenge.

Second, have a check-in meeting with them half way through the program and talk about the progress they have made so far and point out how much more they can learn if they continue their training with you.

Third, do a wrap up meeting where you can find out if they hit their goal or not. Admittedly, if they didn't become a recurring member before now they probably won't sign up, but it's worth the ask and if nothing else, you will find out how to improve the program for the next people.

Finally, you can pay them for doing something that will help them reach the goal. $5 for every class they show up to that they can use toward future tuition or give them a check at the end of the program.

This is different way to attract new students than many are using but when it is done correctly it works wonders.

If you want more information so you can try this on your own Alex Hormozi's book $100 Million Offers is a great reference. You will have to adapt some of the ideas from weight loss gym to martial arts studio, but it is filled with gold for you. CLICK HERE to use my affiliate link and get it on amazon.