Creating A Killer Trial Introduction Session For Your Martial Arts Academy

Having a killer trial introduction session for your academy is possibly one of the most important things that you can do to grow and scale your business. It is the first time that potential new members will interact with your academy and get a feel for what you are about. After all, first impressions count. Being able to present who you are, what you do, and how you do it in a coherent, professional manner will likely help you to convert more prospects at their trial introduction session. 

The introduction session is a vastly overlooked aspect of your sales process that many martial arts academies simply don’t even realise is a thing. Rest assured, if you can orchestrate an incredible trial introduction session and make sure the experience is consistent with every new prospect that turns up, you will be well on your way to closing more members and growing your academy.

Why Your Current Trial Introduction Session Isn’t Working.

The number one reason why your trial introduction session isn’t working for you is that you simply don’t have one. When a new prospect comes to take a look around, they might be met by someone from the membership or admin team and given a brief introduction. Then just as quickly their child will be rushed on to the mats; no discussion, no preparation, nothing.

The parent of said child may be sat alone to watch what is happening but no discussion, no introduction, no insight is given to them. What you have to remember is that parents are coming to a martial arts trial introduction session to learn more about the programme. It is also highly likely they have no experience in martial arts either, so they have walked into a situation where they have no knowledge and no explanation. As a business you are completely reliant on the child’s experience in class as to whether or not they will come back. 

Ultimately, your current trial introduction session isn’t working because you don’t currently have a defined experience for potential new members.

What A Killer Trial Introduction Session Looks Like

Welcome To The Venue

There are several parts to delivering an incredible trial introduction session. This is your big chance to blow potential new members away and show off all of the amazing things you do. This is your sales pitch.

Unsurprisingly, your trial experience starts long before they even get to your academy location. The day of the event your membership team should be reaching out to them to give a friendly reminder of timings, location, directions and parking. Give them a little bit of insight into what will be happening when they arrive and what the plan of action for the class will be. 

As with most things in life, it’s the little things that make a huge difference. Make sure that there is someone at the entrance waiting for them, who greets both parent and child by name. Not only is this highly unusual but immediately gives the impression that you are excited to see them and are focused on details. You immediately make them feel welcomed into a new community that will want to be a part of.

Tour And Introduction

As part of the trial introduction session you should show the whole facility. Now, your venue may be small and not much to show off, but you should certainly be introducing everyone on staff to your prospects. Ensure there is a comfortable place for them to sit and watch the session (they won’t be allowed to watch any more in the future, but that’s a different article altogether), it’s important to make them feel like you are giving them the same attention that you give to existing members.

The key part to delivering a killer trial introduction session is the explanation of the programme and demonstration of the brochure or guide you have (If you don’t have one of these, we will cover this in the next section). Here you will be able to have a conversation with your prospect, and get a feel of what they are looking for in a martial arts club. It will help you to build a personal connection with them and make them feel as though you understand their needs and objectives.

This is perhaps the most important action you will take at this stage of the trial introduction session. This is where you are actually selling. This is when your prospect is able to connect the dots and understand what they are seeing on the mats and how that translates to the development of their child. During this conversation you are able to give them an in-depth understanding of the programme and answer any questions they may have. 

 

 

The Session

This is happening simultaneously to the conversation you are having. We don’t recommend that you have a separate introduction class specifically designed for trail students. The reason for this is that you want your prospects to see exactly what it is they will be participating in as part of their regular sessions. If the class they are in is super fun and exciting and is positioned as something that is the norm as part of your syllabus, it is further proof for your prospect that they are in the right place. 

This is where your instructors should shine. Following a set class pattern, being able to control the class by bringing the energy up and down as well as being able to clearly and concisely explain not only techniques but principles. Your instructors should be able to demonstrate they have a clear grasp of martial arts and character development principles alike.

Post Session

Immediately after the trial session you may want to offer the option to sign up to your academy immediately. This is usually a good time to do it as they should be impressed by their experience. You will find a good number of people will be happy to sign up there and then, so don’t be afraid to ask. A tip we can share that we have had a great deal of success with over the years is when asking people to sign up and pay on the spot it is best to take them to one side away from the hubbub of class change overs. People don’t like to feel rushed or crowded when dealing with money. 

Quite often you will find that people will want to have a conversation with significant others and give feedback to make sure that everyone is happy to become members. After the session, regardless if they have signed up or not, send a thank you email letting them know you appreciate their time and to have met them.

If they haven’t signed up, include a payment link with class timings and schedules. Ensure you have a full pricing breakdown included to make it easy for them. A phone call within 48 hours goes a long way to closing the deal and signing them as a new member.

The Sales Tools You Need

As part of a professional trial introduction session you need to have at least one essential item. Your introductory brochure. This provides an overview of the programme and is something tangible people can refer back to. It also positions you as a professional organisation that is thinking seriously about your aims and objectives as a business.

Your brochure should include things about your organisation such as:

• Your mission statement
• The martial arts you are teaching and belt structure
• Your methodology
• Your philosophy
• What your programme actually focuses on
• Results you have achieved

Now, these are only suggestions. You can have whatever you like in your brochure, but there should definitely be a focus on the programme and an explanation of how it works in there.

A Word On Pitching

There is an art and craft to selling properly. Something that you would do well to learn professionally. There are plenty of courses out there and we would recommend Jordan Belfort’s Straight Line Persuasion system. 

There is so much fine detail in selling. Body language, tonality, pitch, the list goes on and become adept at utilising all of these tools within a sales pitch will help to increase your sales conversion rates massively.

However, we don’t have time to cover all of these in this article. What we do want to point out is that when someone comes to your trial introduction session they have something in mind they want to learn more about, as well as hear. Your marketing has sold a particular story and they want to confirm that this is what is being offered on the mats.

If your programme helps students to grow in confidence, make sure you talk about how your programme has helped students grow in confidence! It might sound a bit strange, but if you don’t talk about what you do your prospect will feel as though there is a disconnect between what has been advertised and what they are actually experiencing. 

Conclusion

Your trial introduction session needs to be a refined process. One that you teach all of your team to be able to execute. It is the single most powerful aspect of your sales process and a great deal of attention needs to be paid to it to making it as slick and effective as possible. 

It’s unlikely that you will be able to have a well oiled machine in place from the get go and will take some time to develop, depending on your specific requirements.

Developing your trial introduction session will be the single biggest change of conversions in the shortest possible time. Take some time and think about how a potential new member currently experiences a trial session with your academy, then start thinking about how you can improve that.