Why are we in the business of martial arts?

Is it purely for the money? Is it because we want to spread the love of the art? Whatever your particular reason is, it’s the motivation that drives you to make it on time for those early classes, or drives you to put in the long hours doing what it takes to grow your business. The purpose of this article is to help you identify all those different triggers that motivated your students to take the plunge and decide to get sweaty with a bunch of strangers in pajamas at their first martial arts class. Knowing what motivates your students is a great way to keep them in classes  and will also help you when it comes to persuading that prospective student to take the plunge and join your school.

Just Ask - The simplest and most forward way of finding out someone's motivation is to ask - Maybe their first response is to lose weight. In that case ask them how would they feel if they achieved their goal. Their response could be anything from living longer for their children or to simply look and feel better about themselves. Whatever the first answer is there’s a more motivating answer underneath, this is their true motivation. The further you get down to the root reason that’s brought them to you, the more powerful that motivation will be in keeping your athletes coming back. 

A well planned out Martial Arts facility may expand to include different types of mats and flooring such as vinyl roll mats, rubber flooring or even turf. Providing customized zones for grappling, stretching, weight-training and more will assist in helping customers and athletes in amaking the most of their workouts every time they visit your facility. For assistance with planning your ideal, multi-use facility visit www.Dollamur.com.

What To Do With That Knowledge - In a sales situation getting down to the true motivation can help you make the sale. Finding their motivation and connecting jiu-jitsu to it will help turn them into students. The skills learned in jiu-jitsu translate into all aspects of life and better prepare us for so many of the obstacles we face daily.

Plan On Success - Studies have shown that the simple act of attaching a plan to a goal greatly improves the odds of success. When a student or prospect shares a motivation or a goal with you, take a few moments to help them put together a simple plan to help them achieve it. If the goal is to lose weight help them by analyzing their diet and eating habits. Maybe they indicate that they drink a soda with every meal or are on the road all the time and often eat fast food in which case you can prescribe that they try replacing those sodas for water for the rest of the month to see how that affects their weightloss. Five minutes of your time may be all the help a new client needs to keep their motivations up and coming to class. (Photo: Trophies - no caption needed)

The New Crop - The first burst in popularity of jiu-jitsu came with the UFC - Millions of people were exposed to the not-so-gentle side of the gentle art. Many of those who own schools and have a few stripes on your black belt, saw a VHS tape of the first UFC fights and decided that it called to you. Sure, “self-defense” is still a big driver for new students in the martial arts, but so many other benefits and factors are becoming known.

Let Them Know It’s An Art - In self-improvement circles one of the most popular forms of building one's self is meditation. Clearing the mind, becoming self-aware and gaining inner peace are all espoused benefits of meditation. You and I both know that there is nothing else that gives these benefits like fending off a mount attack from someone bigger, younger and faster than you. For some students, this might subconsciously be the reward that helps make attending class a lifetime habit.

We hope this article serves you well and provides you some motivation to be more conscious of what motivates your students. Uncovering this law of human nature may be the key to helping you impact even more lives and reaching greater success in your business.

For free quotes and design assistance for your Martial Arts dojo, contact Dollamur today!

Written by: Mike Velez