Growth and Retention

How we figure attrition rate:

Beginning of January, the student count was 223

We enrolled 149 new students so far this year. Our total if we had never lost anyone would have been 372. Subtract the current active of 277 = 95 which is the total students lost this year.

The average students lost in the past 8 months was 11.875

Our average active count 233.75

11.875 divided by 233.75 = our attrition rate of 0.05 which is 5%

This is pretty average for the industry and is the highest it has ever been for us. This indicates that we need to work on retention. Typical of schools that grow above 250, attrition naturally gets worse because it is harder to keep great rapport with all the students. Schools with student counts over 250 often assign staff to a whole rank. That staff member is responsible for those ranked students. This way rapport building is divvied out. We, however, will work more as a team. The success of the school is everyone’s responsibility. The three “R’s” are Recruitment, Retention and Revenue and everyone should be capable of all tasks

Red Carpet Experience for Retention

We provide a great Red Carpet Experience when someone is on trial and at their intro, but then once they are enrolled, we sort of treat them like everyone else, which they are, but they haven’t made that connection yet so we need to keep up with that Red Carpet Experience, especially for their first 100 days.

• Practice how you teach, talk to parents and talk to students just like you practice your kata.
• Smile and laugh whenever possible
• Listen and be an active listener when needed
• Greet everyone by name, (parents too) at the door, not behind the desk
• Tie their belts and express enthusiasm that they are here
• Express enthusiasm about YOUR martial arts training
• SHOW OFF at the beginning of every class, showing your love of the arts
• Remember the rules of 3X3,
  • Say their name 3 times per student, per class
  • Make eye contact 3 times per student, per class
  • Give appropriate touch 3 times per student, per class
• SINCERE Praise, using “Praise-a-bet.”
• Spotlight and highlight students
• Teach Great Classes
  • Enthusiastically
  • With high energy
  • Make sure the students have fun
  • Make sure the parents see structure and organized training.
• End class with something fun
• Make sure to illustrate the values to the parents in class
  • While they are at attention, “Parents, look at the focus!”
  • After spotlighting a student, “Parents, give it up for that confidence.”
  • After a god set or form, “Parents give it up for their hard work.”
• At the end of class, have them bow to their parents and say, “I love you.”
• Have them all come and give you a high five at the end of class.
• Talk to parents after class. End one minute early if need be.
• Say goodbye to those going out the door.
• INSTRUCTORS – DAILY atta-boy phone calls, every student gets one every quarter
• INSTRUCTORS – Weekly AWESOME postcards, every student gets one every quarter
• Wednesday and Friday MIA Phone calls, SMS first, then call them, then call again if they don’t answer.

We must keep this momentum of enrolling 30+ students per month for us to maintain our numbers and keep growing. Follow the systems, follow these steps and let’s keep growing.