What Do I Charge?

Posted by Mike Massie on February 2, 2010

“But I Can’t Do That In My School Because Of…”

Your services are likely worth much more than you think they are. So long as you set your prices lower than your value, you will never experience the true potential of your success.

Last week I sent out an email that listed actual enrollment numbers for three members of the Martial Art School Alliance website.

These are three instructors who are kicking tail despite the down economy. And, one of them actually lives in an area where the unemployment level is 15%.

It just goes to show you can succeed in this economy, and that most of the things we think are holding us back from being successful are internal and self-imposed.

Which bring me to today’s topic…

What To Charge, What To Charge

Earlier today, I received the following question from a reader regarding that email:

“Even with their below average facilities, do you recommend them charging $99 a month?”

People quote me on that $99 a month figure all the time (and the 10% of your gross for marketing – it’s a guideline, people, not an unbreakable rule) and I have to remind them that was the absolute lowest I thought a school should charge…

Back in 2003.

Seven years later, your cost of doing business has increased significantly. You need to be charging at least 20 – 30 % more today than you were seven years ago. That is, you should if you want to have something left over after overhead, taxes, inflation, and the sinking value of the dollar are done with your revenues.

They Are Doing What With What?

For the record, two of those guys have nice schools. Jim is the one teaching out of a warehouse facility, and he is doing phenomenal at it due to having the right mindset and being an awesome teacher and coach. (And actually, I kind of like his school… it takes me back to when I first started training. Who needs heat and AC, anyway?)

But here’s the kicker – all three of these guys charge about $150 a month average in tuition.

Now, I know for some of you out there this isn’t a shocker. You’re already charging that much or more.

But for many of you, you’re thinking that’s an impossible figure to charge your students for lessons.

Some of you are outraged, thinking these guys are ripping their students off (baloney – every one of them is worth that and more). Others of you think they must have something you don’t in order to demand those rates. Still others of you are wondering if I’m even telling the truth.

And that’s why you’re always broke.

You Can Lead A Horse To Water…

I’ve argued and argued this point for years. Well, I’m finally sick of arguing and fighting with instructors about how much to charge.

For those of you who are willing to believe your value merits charging a premium for your services, outstanding. You deserve to be successful and well-respected. Just keep adding value to your services and bringing value to your communities and you’ll continue to be rewarded for it.

But for those of you who don’t want to believe you can charge a premium for your services, for whatever reason, that’s fine by me as well. You can stay broke, while instructors who know their value will have nicer schools, better equipment, higher salaries, and a better quality of living.

Not because they have something you don’t.

No, it’s because they have the proper mindset for success.

Until next time,

Michael D. Massie

P.S.: I am inundated with requests for “free” advice these days. I am simply too busy to give away my valuable time and knowledge for free, as it’s a disservice to my paying clients.

Remember, if you are a MASAI member you can almost always get your questions answered at no additional cost in the member forums. However, if you need to correspond with me by phone or email for help with a pressing business issue, please visit the MASAI online store and order phone or email coaching with me.

Thanks for your understanding!

Why Small Business Internet Marketing Makes Sense For Your School

Posted by Mike Massie on December 2, 2009

Investing in effective small business internet marketing just makes good sense.

A short while back a client forwarded an article to me that said SEO was a waste of money. (Note: In case you don’t know, SEO stands for “search engine optimization” – basically, fixing your website so it ranks well in search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing)

I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair – besides the fact that the article was a crock, I had a very good reason for doing so.  Immediately prior to receiving the email I just finished a meeting with a very successful local entrepreneur… and in that meeting we discussed (at length) the importance of SEO in the ongoing success of her business.

She informed me that she has spent something close to $25,000 on search engine optimization services over the last two years – which she credits (along with her social media marketing efforts) for her position as the dominant market leader in a very competitive field.

In fact, while approximately 20% of her competition bowed out last year (due to the recession) her business actually grew. She credits it all to her savvy use of online marketing technologies, which have allowed her to stay well ahead of her competition.

Now, I know most of you don’t have the cash to spend $12,000 a year on your online marketing. However, when small business owners overlook and ignore the importance of online marketing, I can only shake my head at the sheer ignorance of their decision.

So, if you’re still with me to this point, and you think you could use some help in this area, I’m going to provide you with some guidelines as to where you should be spending your online advertising and marketing dollars, and in what order of priority.

Pay close attention, because this is going to actually be the most cost-effective method of marketing your school in 2010. Feel free to print out this article for future reference and ignore me at your own peril…

Priority #1: Your Lead-Capture Website

(Cost: Anywhere from $500 to $2,500)

This is the first thing you should invest in when you start spending money for marketing online. Your lead generation website will work for you 24/7/365 to capture leads, whether you’re at work, answering the phones, or at home asleep or on the training floor.

Yes, you can DIY this one – but it probably won’t rank well because it won’t be optimized for Google and Yahoo, and you’ll just end up having it redone in the end anyway. Skip a few display ads and drop some money up front on this – you’ll only pay for it once, and it’ll keep paying for itself over and over for years to come.

Note: If you’re on a tight budget, you can combine this into your blog. I’ve been doing it for a lot of my clients recently, and they are still getting great results.

Priority #2: Search Engine Optimization and Website Promotion

(Cost: Anywhere from $500 to $3,000, depending on your market and competition)

Although I always include this service for all my web design clients, you’ll typically have to pay a separate fee for it when you’re dealing with other web design and SEO companies.

But, it’s worth it – because a website no one visits is like a billboard in the desert… absolutely worthless.

And, you get site visitors from getting a high search engine ranking (top five spots) in the local Google and Yahoo results for targeted, relevant, popular search terms.

Once again, this can be done DIY – but SEO is a lot more sophisticated than just optimizing your meta tags. You have to think about on-page factors and off-page factors, and know how each will affect your site’s trust and ranking with Google.

Messing up any of this stuff can have a negative result as minor as not getting a desirable ranking, or as serious as getting your site blackballed by Google (and good luck getting back in again).

Trust me, hire a pro – someone you can trust that has references – to do this for you.

Priority #3: A Custom Blog

(Cost: Anywhere from $500 to $5,000)

Once again, this is something I include with all my web design packages for my clients. However, other firms will charge you a separate fee for creating a custom blog theme to match your site, to install it and set it up, and to optimize the blog so your articles get indexed in Google and rank high in the search engine results.

Blogs are easy to DIY – in fact, a lot of businesses will try to use a free blog for their business website. However, this can be a big mistake… and here’s why.

Free isn’t necessarily cheap. The big issues with free blogs are that they are not very customizable, and you run the risk of the blog host losing all your data and posts.

In addition, a free blog is not going to be set up to effectively leverage the blogging technologies available to you right now. Blogs have come a long way in the last few years, and a properly optimized blog will basically promote itself in the search engines – all you have to do is add content on a regular basis.

Quick Shameless Plug: Quick sidebar here – I can do all of the above for any school owner who reads my blog for about $1,500, definitely on the low end of the cost scale. Despite the low cost, the results you’ll get will be worth many times your investment. And yes, I’ll allow you to make payments on your website. Feel free to contact me to order.

Final Thought – Any Small Business Internet Marketing Activity Is Better Than None!

It’s true… anything is better than nothing. So, if you have to start with a free blog, do it. And if you have to DIY your own website at first, that’s much better than having no website at all.

The bottom line is, internet marketing for small businesses is something sort of like gardening – it takes time and energy to start seeing results, and nothing happens until you start planting seeds. So, take action now so you can start seeing results from your internet marketing efforts and investment in 2010 and beyond.

Until next time,

Michael D. Massie
Blog: http://martialartsbusinessdaily.com/
Adult Curriculum: http://selfdefenseblackbelt.com/
Social Network for Martial Arts Instructors: http://www.masainetwork.com/
Business Manual: http://www.small-dojo-big-profits.com/
Resources: http://www.starting-a-martial-arts-school.com/
Summer Camp Manual: http://startingasummerdaycamp.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MartialArtsBusinessDaily
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mabizdaily

Software Vendors, and Why You Need to Answer Your Phones

Posted by Mike Massie on September 3, 2009

There’s Nothing More Frustrating Than…

Hey, it's not an interruption... it's a paycheck

When you need support on a piece of software, and can’t get in touch with anyone by email or by phone. Especially by phone.

Even my webhosts will take the odd support phone call now and then, and even though I know that I may get a snarky attitude from the support team (save that for another post) I’m willing to put up with a little attitude in exchange for prompt assistance.

But when you can’t contact anyone – that’s bad news. And that’s what happened to me today when a piece of software I installed to run my new SDBBP site went on the fritz.

So, I frantically started looking for another software solution. And guess what? I got the CEO of another company on the phone within five minutes of finding their site online. Now, to some that may just mean that the company is small.

But to me, it tells me they care about their customers and prospects. And that, my friends, makes all the difference in the world.

So, Why Don’t You Answer Your Phones?

With today’s technology, there’s simply no excuse for not answering your phones at your martial arts school all day long. Almost everyone carries a phone in their pocket everywhere they go. Call forwarding allows you to route calls from your school phone to your cell phone, and some VOIP services even allow you to have your calls ring to two phones at once.

So why wouldn’t you answer your phone?

Maybe you think it’s okay to let those calls hit your voice mail during the day. I’ve done it myself. But, one thing I’ve witnessed time and again is that the early bird gets the worm. Whomever the caller talks to first will usually set the appointment.

And here’s another thing… many people HATE voice mail. Those people don’t leave messages.

Ever.

So if someone like that hits your voice mail box, that’s a customer lost.

The Opportunity Cost of Missed Calls

Opportunity cost is an important concept in economics. Don’t worry about the fancy definition; just understand that every opportunity missed costs you something. The real question is whether what you gained instead worth passing up that opportunity.

In the case of missing phone calls, generally speaking the answer is a big fat NO…

Let’s look at it one way, in the money it cost to generate a single phone call to your school. This can be anywhere from $20 to $100 dollars, depending on how good your advertisement and marketing is, and how much it costs to run it (Note: If you want to drive the cost of advertising down, improve your marketing so the cost per lead is lower).

So, from that perspective, every lost call costs you an average of $60. That hurts, but not so much.

And That’s Just The Tip Of The Iceberg

Unfortunately, that’s not really all you’ve lost. Let’s say that for every ten people you talk to, you set 6 appointments, and out of those five show up. And let’s say four out of those five enroll, and the average student sticks around a year or more. At $150 a month tuition, each student is worth $1,800 minimum.

So, if you’re enrolling 40% of the people you actually get on the phone, each missed call is costing you approximately $720 in lost tuition… or $780 if you add in the cost-per-lead.

That’s an expensive habit, my friend. Makes me want to forward my phones to my cell AND my home.

So, here’s a way you can increase your income dramatically this very month – START ANSWERING YOUR PHONES from 8 AM until 9 PM, and return all phone calls the very same day, and within the hour if possible.

And About That Software Vendor…

Incidentally, they finally got back to me five-and-a-half hours later. Said the problem should be resolved within the hour. That was an hour and 45 minutes ago.

Needless to say, I am going with the other vendor, ASAP.

Until next time,

Michael D. Massie
Adult Curriculum: http://selfdefenseblackbelt.com/ (currently down for maintenance)
Social Network for Martial Arts Instructors: http://www.masainetwork.com/
Business Manual: http://www.small-dojo-big-profits.com/
Resources: http://www.starting-a-martial-arts-school.com/

How I Deal With School Owners Who Are Fiscally Lazy

Posted by Mike Massie on August 5, 2008

I get one or two emails like the following every week:

“plase call me i am ready to join”

That’s the entirety of the email. No greeting, no signature, nothing but a request for my time.

Here’s another one:

“sir,

X”

While this is as likely to be a phishing email as it is to be a real person asking for guidance, it’s basically the same thing as the first email – a request for something for nothing.

The thing that these types of people don’t get is this; I don’t look too favorably on people who ask for a piece of my time without being willing to give something up first.

Now, with the membership site, I’ve set the ante pretty darn low – $17.95 is not a lot to spend, even with the gas prices being high and what not right now.

So, when a person contacts me out of the blue and asks for my time for free, I look at it the same way as when someone walks in my school and asks for a free lesson.

That person is not qualified to be my student, because they don’t respect my time nor do they really value my expertise.

And, I know from experience that this type of client or student will get everything they can from me, sucking up all my valuable time and knowledge, while spending as little as possible and resenting that they had to pay me in the first place.

So, here’s my typical response when I get an email like the ones I shared with you earlier:

“Thanks for the email.

If you are looking for personal, one-on-one guidance, you’ll have to join the site. Besides, it’s only $17.95 – like I tell everyone who is sitting on the fence for one reason or another about joining our site, if you can’t bring yourself to spend $17.95 on your school, you deserve to fail.”

Am I being a little harsh?

Maybe.

But I know that until that person learns about the Law of Exchange (that everything worthwhile has its price) they’ll be doomed to failure.