Even for schools, getting clients is one of the top priorities, but sometimes, getting students to enroll is a challenge. We’ve seen a lot of schools get students through digital marketing, Facebook ads, handing out flyers on the streets, and many more. This may work but allow us to give you a much better way – something we’ve been doing for years and has proven to be effective.
As the owner of your business, be the ambassador. Go out there and meet people face to face – be an Evangelist to your business wherever you go. You must be a strong advocate of the results that your community can get by attending your classes. Compel people to come into your school and take part in the benefits. Therefore, we believe that building rapport is the best way to get clients. This method is something that we’ve been using for years.
The best way to build rapport is to smile and make eye contact with people. If this is something you haven’t done before or don’t often do, start with smiling and making eye contact with strangers. Through this, your confidence will slowly get built until you find yourself making small talk with people you’ve never met before. It might take some practice but once you get the hang of it, it will be worth it. Once you feel comfortable enough, you can now take the next step.
Building rapport is a process, it’s not something where you just randomly jump and go “hi, we have a promo going on” and hand them a flier because doing that might turn them off and make them leave. Instead, start talking about anything else except for Martial Arts. Maybe start by asking how they’re doing, how old their kid is, or about the weather. Build that connection slowly until you finally establish it then start introducing Martial Arts – tell them how you’re in Martial Arts, how you help a lot of kids, etc. Pique their interest by asking them what benefits they or their kids would like to get out of Martial Arts. Once they tell you what they want to benefit from, you can tell them what you do in the school to help them get it and then invite them to come into the school.
Building rapport might be something that requires you to be proactive but it’s a method that is very effective and something that we can strongly testify to. If you are having doubts, why not give it a try and see for yourself? If it’s not your cup of tea, then it’s fine. At the end of the day, what’s important is that you gave it a try.
