Downtrend for new students?

[troubleenuf]

So we have already established that tournaments and tournament participation is down, how about your student count?
I talked with several instructors and they are struggling this year. Some were very successful but their area has been hit hard and there student count has dropped to almost 1/2. One who had 250 students is down to 80 some and close to closing his doors.
the question I have is this: Is the economy hitting that hard or is it that MMA schools are popping up all over and they are taking a piece of the pie?

 

[bluekey88]

We went down a couple of years ago. There has been a small rebound, but we just aren't back to where we were.

I think it has less to do with MMA gyms popping up (there aren't all that many MMA gyms in our area...a few schools that have added MMA programs, but no exclusive gyms)...it's definitely the economy.

Martial arts lessons are a luxury (I know, for those of us on the MA addict side...that seems like an alien concept ) and most folks will not invest money for their kids training (or their training) when they have to put food on the table. In fact, I would bet that for most families, MA lessons are going to be one of the first expenses cut ahead of other luxury expenses.

Peace,
Erik

 

[SahBumNimRush]

I live in small town U.S.A. a town of less than 40,000. In the 1980's our one school had 150+ students, and state-wide our association was more than 10x that. Now the school is only around 40 students. The difference between now and then, IMHO, is many fold.

1. Today's society doesn't see as much value in what traditional martial arts offer. Today the majority of parents are more friends of their children than parents, they don't want to see their kids reprimanded or disciplined.

2. Today many people want instant gratification. Why work hard for something when they can do something that comes easy?

3. MMA is popular, I cannot say whether this detracts from all martial arts due to the perceived violence in the cage or because of the gratification of the violence in the cage. Maybe a little of both.

4. The economy is down, many have less discretionary income and extra-curriculars like martial arts can be the first thing to be sacrificed.

5. Kids aren't as active as they were a decade or two ago. Why work hard to learn how to kick, when they can "kick" on Tekken or Mortal Kombat?

All of this combined equates to a down turn in school attendance. BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, as long as there is a service that is worth what traditional martial arts offer, there will be those who seek it out. The hard part is marketing something that not everyone knows they would benefit from. Traditional martial arts aren't flashy, glamorous, or instantly gratifying, but many of us would hang it all up if we didn't see the worth that it provides society. I am grateful that my instructors never gave up, and now they have passed this blessing and responsibility to me.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

I know Im in a diferent country, but numbers seem pretty steady but Ive heard overall that martial arts numbers have declined a bit. I dont see MMA as having much to do with this because people tend to either want the structured type of traditional art with the belts, the gradings, the uniforms etc or they want to really get down and dirty and start doing some real full contact stuff that MMA clubs provide. Most people I know that do MMA would never have had any interest in a traditional style art just as the people I know who do traditional arts would never have been interested in MMA, its horses for courses. I have found that just as many people are getting into MA as ever before, but Ive found the drop out rate to be higher. People these days seem obsessed with getting things quickly and with as little effort as possible. There seems an increasing number of people who roll up to their first class and the first thing they want to know is how long it takes to get a black belt. When they find out you can almost see them doing the calculations in their head, they then usually ask if there is any way to 'fast track' it. Today's society is just not set up for people taking their time to learn something properly by taking their time. In saying that, there is still a huge market out there for MA and its important to market the club appropriately, usually by proving the misconceptions to be wrong. We had a new student start the other night and the first thing he said to me after class was that his arms were aching from all the punching, he had been told there is 'no punching in tkd' and was skeptical about starting, a solid hour of punching drills soon proved that theory to be false. Its important to listen to what misconceptions there are out there regarding tkd and go out of your way to prove them wrong, because in many ways tkd is getting a bad name and its our job to prove the generalisations about our art to be wrong.

 

[ATC]

Our numbers are steady if not up.

 

[terryl965]

Well so far for this month we are up 8 new students five adults. So this has been the best month so far this year.

 

[StudentCarl]

Our numbers are up. We've got some turnover, but the new ones are trending younger. Word of mouth is helping as our programs for young kids are doing well, I think largely because we've got a growing group of willing older kids and adults to help with them. I don't see MMA as an issue because the demographic is so different. Our comp team is pretty stable, though the economy is affecting travel budgets of competitors.

 

[Master Dan]

I live in small town U.S.A. a town of less than 40,000. In the 1980's our one school had 150+ students, and state-wide our association was more than 10x that. Now the school is only around 40 students. The difference between now and then, IMHO, is many fold.

1. Today's society doesn't see as much value in what traditional martial arts offer. Today the majority of parents are more friends of their children than parents, they don't want to see their kids reprimanded or disciplined.

2. Today many people want instant gratification. Why work hard for something when they can do something that comes easy?

3. MMA is popular, I cannot say whether this detracts from all martial arts due to the perceived violence in the cage or because of the gratification of the violence in the cage. Maybe a little of both.

4. The economy is down, many have less discretionary income and extra-curriculars like martial arts can be the first thing to be sacrificed.

5. Kids aren't as active as they were a decade or two ago. Why work hard to learn how to kick, when they can "kick" on Tekken or Mortal Kombat?

All of this combined equates to a down turn in school attendance. BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, as long as there is a service that is worth what traditional martial arts offer, there will be those who seek it out. The hard part is marketing something that not everyone knows they would benefit from. Traditional martial arts aren't flashy, glamorous, or instantly gratifying, but many of us would hang it all up if we didn't see the worth that it provides society. I am grateful that my instructors never gave up, and now they have passed this blessing and responsibility to me.

You certainly hit it on the head. I have one freind who even in this down turn still outperforms all the other DoJangs even building a new facility. His marketing targeting after school programs including pick up and delivery back to the home with insured vans and drivers is a real cash cow.

I know the sports only minds say MA is only sport? but in fact traditional MA serves the whole person. The real future market is in supporting traditonal methods of healing, people with mental and substance issues, children with developmental and learning disabilities, the overweight young and old. There is a complete way to network to gain students and referals. If you do not know how then partner with health professionals who will give you referals.

 

[miguksaram]

I just checked our numbers today and was surprised that we are actually up in numbers. Not by much but better than this time last year. I biggest problem is we do not market enough. The vast majority come in do to referrals. The next biggest is finding us on the internet followed by drive by's.

What is it like for most of you? Also, what, if any, billing/marketing company do you use for your school? Currently we are using Champions Way, but we are in the market to find something new.

 

[SahBumNimRush]

I just checked our numbers today and was surprised that we are actually up in numbers. Not by much but better than this time last year. I biggest problem is we do not market enough. The vast majority come in do to referrals. The next biggest is finding us on the internet followed by drive by's.

What is it like for most of you? Also, what, if any, billing/marketing company do you use for your school? Currently we are using Champions Way, but we are in the market to find something new.

I will be taking over our branch school in April, and in the past 35 years the school has never been run like a business. In the 1980's we had 150-250 students, now it's much less. Zero marketing other than the yellow pages, and the occasional demonstration. Low membership cost, no proshop, no extra charge for demo team, weapons, seminars, etc.. . All of the instructors do it for the love of the art, all of them have day jobs, and no one ever took home a paycheck from the school (not even the sahbumnim).

I do not plan on changing the business side radically, BUT it does need to be run like a business. I'd like to see the school actually turn a profit instead of just keeping its head above water.

We now have a web page and a fb page, which can be great marketing. We do not use a marketing or billing agency, and I don't think we ever will. Business management groups are only concerned with the bottom dollar, and may sacrifice your integrity to get a bigger paycheck (thus a larger chunk of commission). There may be ethical agencies out there, but my experience has been poor.

You must identify who your target population is. Do you want kids, teens, adults, seniors, families? What is your target curriculum? SD? Sport? Traditional? Modern? Well-rounded?

You cannot bring in what you have not identified. Dan hit the nail on the head with referrals. Find out who can provide you with referrals and set up a good professional relationship with them. Physicians, PT's, fitness pro's, sports teams (for cross training), and even various orgs (i.e. boy scouts, YMCA, etc) are great avenues to get referrals. We had a local kid that was really involved in soccer that is now an MLS player, and he credits his kicking skills to his years of training in TKD. That's some powerful marketing!

 

[Manny]

Well. I think in my dojang we have lost some students,not too many, maybe 8 people or 10, (my sambonim has to had around 70 students, right now we are maybe 50-60) some are kids that reached fisrt poom and took a rest from TKD, some others simply can not pay the tkd classes.

However I have two friends who had to close their dojos, one is my kenpo sensei he has to close his own dojo because economics, very simple kids stop coming. My other friend a tkd/hkd sambonim has to close his dojang because economics too.

Now let me tell you about me, I want to do some crosstraining again, however economics does not allow me in this moment, I am strugling paying the bills,food,home,school for the girls,ballet classes,english classe (for the girls) and I am barely coming trought this.

If you have economic issues up there please imagine how bad economics are down here. In my country the average worker has not the money to take one or two kids to martial arts classes, barely can feed his family.

I run a family bussiness and can tell you the recesation here in my country is very high, sells are floor level and we strugle everymonth to pay the workers and fullfilling our family needs.

Manny