Eagle Express Nov 2008

NOVEMBER 2008

The Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

Also featuring:Ë Teaching Safety to Kids

Ë Using Stealth Stats

Ë Answers for New School Owners

EAGLE EXPRESS | NOVEMBER 2008 1

Are you making any of these 5 mistakes in managing your martial arts school?å Failure to have in place an effective

internal and external marketing system that generates at least 20 new members per month

ç Lack of a deep understanding of how to have excellent student retention

é Not charging the correct tuition amount

è Not owning your own school building

ê Wearing the hats of both martial artist and bill collector

Many Educational Funding Company clients

started with only 50 students in their schools.

Today, they are teaching 300 students and more!

Call today to order your free audio CD entitled

“Double Your Gross at No Additional Cost”

EFC USA/ Canada4740 Chevy Chase DriveSuite 200Chevy Chase, MD 20815

301-654-8677

or visit us at www.efconline.com

Call today to begin solving these problems

Dependability

Trustworthiness

Rock Solid Integrity

EFC UK/ Ireland6 Barton Cour†11-12 High Street, HighworthSwindon, England SN6 7AG

01793-764550

EFC Australia/ New ZealandLevel2, Suite 205,451 Pitt Street,Sydney, NSW 2000

02-9211-4719

Nicholas CokinosEFC Chairman

EFC Tuition Billing Rate

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CONTENTSEAGLE EXPRESS | NOVEMBER 2008

COVER STORY

6 Medley of Past Summits

FEATURES

18 Transform Your School From 50 to 250 By Kathy Olevsky

20 Stealth Stats By Mark Seidman

24 Incorporating Child Safety Training in Your School By Phil Sage

26 Dimensions of Student Retention By Bridget Johnson

28 Success With a New School? Interview with Garland Johnson by Daniel Diaz-cervo

IN EVERY ISSUE

4 Inside Scoop

29 Take a Minute With the Chairman

32 Did You Know

34 Staff Training Dojo Drills & Skills

620

34

24

32


PublisherEditor-In-Chief

Executive EditorTalking Newsletter Host

Talking Newsletter EditorEditor/Writer

Graphics ManagerGraphic Artist

Web/Graphic Designers

EFC Publications TeamNicholas Cokinos, EFC ChairmanMark Cokinos, EFC Vice PresidentJohn Cokinos, EFC PresidentNed Muffley, General ManagerJoe Guiton Ananya BhattacharyyaShavanthi MendisSuchandra MaityJairo RodriguezSumana Samanta

Contributing Writers & Consultants

EFC BOARD OF DIRECTORSDennis BrownJim ClappDavid DeatonBuzz DurkinGarland JohnsonSteve LaValleeNick PatakosChris RobinsonJoyce SantamariaGreg TearneyKeith Thompson

EFC UK ADVISORY BOARDJohn LynnKen Pankiewicz Ken Robson

EFC ADVISORY BOARDAnthony ArangoTim BarchardCharles ChiKathy FaustJohn GodwinIvan Kravitz Teri LeeSteve Sohn Bill Taylor Debbie ThompsonAngelo Vitale

EFC HeadquartersEFC USA/CANADA4740 Chevy Chase Dr. Suite 200 Chevy Chase, MD 20815Tel: 301-654-8677 Fax: 301-654-7750E-mail: [email protected] Manager: Ned Muffley

EFC UNITED KINGDOM/IRELANDUnit 6 Barton Court11-12 High Street Highworth Swindon,England SN6 7AGTel: 01793-764550Fax: 01793-764557Email: [email protected] Manager: Mike Allen

EFC AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALANDLevel 2, Suite 205451 Pitt StreetSydney, NSW 2000Tel: 02-9211-4719Fax: 02-9211-0970Email: [email protected]

OUR MISSIONOur job is to make people more successful. We recognize that each job in our day-to-day operation contributes to the success of others. We pledge ourselves to the pursuit of excellence. By consistent example, we develop the passion for excellence in others. The Eagle Express is published monthly by the Educational Funding Company.

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SATORI ROCKS!

All EFC Gold Package Premiumsubscribers can access two trainingvideos—covering business and staff training—via the web every week.

“I always appreciate the knowledge I receive from you, includ-ing the Satori System. I want to grow my school and help many people in their lives. One of the things I have noticed is that you seem to understand my goals. All the information not only helps to make better martial artists, but also better people. Thanks for all of your help.”

—Larry H. Adams

INSIDE SCOOP

4 EAGLE EXPRESS | NOVEMBER 2008

YEAR-END ‘TO DO’ LISTBY KEITH HAFNER

Ó Fall is a great time for getting people back together. Schedule a “class reunion” for former members. Provide refreshments; have your demo team perform; give a little “State of the School” talk. Take some group photos. Give everybody an opportunity to visit. This can easily turn into an annual event that will eventually encourage former students to reactivate their memberships.

Ó Get your personal and school calendar organized for the months ahead.

Ó Set a year-end goal and a new enroll-ment goal for your staff. Create some prizes, bonuses, or other incentives for reaching different numbers of enroll-ments. Set aside time in each staff meeting, between now and the end of the year, to work on this goal. If you focus on this tip, you will be very pleased when 2008 comes to a close.

Ó Review all attendance keeping proce-

According to our Senior Account Executives an important way EFC makes clients happy is by providing excellent service to their students.

Our motto: We build client confidence through the students! You must believe in the power of our EFC Account Executive mantra!

“Every student call is our chance to promote the continuing education of martial arts training! To us ʻI want to cancelʼ means we ʻmustʼ find a way to get this student back into your class! We practice every day the art of saving courses. When we offer to your canceling student a private lesson please be ready to jump in and reactivate this student!”

Clients only have to talk to their students to be reassured that their businesses are in truly trust-worthy hands.

dures. Whether you use an attendance book, a card system, or a computer method, review all steps with each staff member. Emphasize the impor-tance of keeping accurate records. Let your staff know that you will be paying close attention to the accuracy of these records, and that you want to see 90% of all active students attend-ing each week.

Ó Make a wall display called “The Wall of Gratitude.” Put up photos and articles about people who have had a hand in the success of your school. As time goes by, rotate the pictures and arti-cles. Update it by adding people who have made more recent contributions to your school.

Ó Do a little “fitness checkup” of all full-time employees, part-time employees and SWAT volunteers. They will make a more serious commitment to their fitness training when they know you are paying attention.

YOUR STUDENT WHO WANTS TO CANCEL IS OUR OPPORTUNITYSNIPPET FROM EFC’S NERVE CENTER

EFC Account Executives say Hi!


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medley

1995 Good times! Board of direc-tors in full sarto-rial splendor.

1995 A young Mike Swain (bronze medalist in Judo at the 1988 Olympic Games) is tempo-rarily subdued by the Chairman.

1995 EFC clients care! A $128,000 check

to Kick Drugs Out of America.

1995 Senior Account Executive Aruna Silva with top gun Louis Hurtado.

of past summits

Olympian Fellowship

Long-term friends around Louis


1996 “Let the power protect you.”

1996 An unrehearsed moment on Nov. 24, 1996. CDR Ned Muffley is overwhelmed by the surprising announcement that he is the father of a son while on stage at the Summit.

1998 Gala night at the convention.

Scenes from a spectacular demo.

of past summits

Ned gets surprising news


1999 An excerpt from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer’s speech in the 1999 EFC Summit: “When you understand that the ancestor to every action is a thought, you get real care-ful about what you think. The thing that distinguishes people living at higher levels of consciousness from all the rest of us, is that they never put their energy, that is, their inner world, into anything that they do not want, and that is what expands, and the things we don’t want and despise shows up continually in our lives.”

1998 Ernest McPeek: a life of dedication to the martial arts.

1998 Stephen K. Hayes, captures the imagination of the EFC crowd.

2000 Superman: Faster than a speeding bullet.

More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up

in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s… Ned!

1999 General Patton: Mobilized to globalize.


2000 An excerpt from Jay Abraham’s speech in

the 2000 EFC Summit: “All marketing is the

process of astutely identifying and target-

ing your most viable and highest qualified

prospective audience, informing and educat-

ing them to clearly see the benefit and advan-

tage that will accrue in their lives by availing

themselves of your product or service, and

then to desire it from you more than your

competitors, and from you more than the

alternatives—either no training or some other

type of athletic endeavor. Innovating means

to bring a greater advantage to the market,

to humanity, to people. I challenge you to

become an innovator or value provider of

the highest magnitude because perception

of value, innovation, advantage and benefit

is the whole core reason why people make

buying decisions.”

2000 This was an exciting Summit for all heavy hitters on the All-Stars Journal. Record-breaking batting averages (high grosses) earned these sluggers their own engraved Louisville Sluggers.

2000 The Tran brothers showed fellow-Coloradoans that they are a force to be reckoned with.

EFC Heavy Hitters


2000 Ernie Reyes’ super-sonic, superlative, demo team.

Kevin Ruby—Let the show begin.

Ernie Reyes Sr.—Follow the drum.

Ernie Reyes: I put out an APB on my shirt. Did anyone find it?

Tony Thompson: Snoop Dogg called… wants his wig back.

Cher and Tony. Good times.


2000 The internationally-known evangelist and highest-ranked non-Asian in Taekwondo shares a passionate benediction.

2000 At this Summit, the Chairman attempts to put the EFC audience in a trance.

2001 Fresh Prince of Laurel. Bam Johnson infuses martial arts with hip hop.

2000 John and Ned take a breather at the famous Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.

Benediction

“Breath”


2001 & 2003 Famous ventriloquist Todd Oliver had the EFC audience on its knees laughing. 2003

Terrence Webster Doyle brings understanding on handling bullying through the martial arts at the 2003 Summit.

2003 The Last Samurai: Bobby LaMattina, always dramatic, always surprising and always the ultimate showman.

So Funny!

Power and Theater

No Bullying Here!


2005 EFC Vice President Mark Cokinos with U.K. heavyweights John Lynn, Ken Pankiewicz and Ken Robson (left to right).

2005 EFC Chairman Nicholas Cokinos with Rob Colasanti (NAPMA).

2005 Candadian client Mark Gildemeester with Senior Account Executive Saiqa and the Chairman.

2005 Sharing a moment with his mentor Nick Adler is 26-year-old Angelo Vitale from Long Island.

NAPMA visits EFC

Young and Restless

Party and Smile


2005 U.K. clients dressed to the nines.

2005 Holy cow, Batman. We’re at the Summit.

2006 Assembly of Martial Arts Brilliance. Commander Ned introduces the panel of speakers.

Power Team


2007 The following is Debbie Thompson’s account of her presentation in the 2007 EFC Summit on turning weaknesses into strengths: “But having a weakness is OK. It is good to know your weaknesses. My staff is never afraid to show us their stats or their weaknesses. You need to let your staff know that the great thing about weaknesses is that you can make them better. If your staff is afraid to tell you about their weaknesses, then you are probably doing something wrong. You too need to be good at everything that your staff needs to be good at, so that you can train them well. If your phone script is a problem, you need to find a few schools that are better than you at this, then take their phone script and rehearse it. This practicing of the script over and over again till one gets good at it is the dirt work. After you get better at each weakness, you need to move on and get better at your next weakness. It’s important to remember that weak-nesses may change. You need to revisit all your strengths too, to make sure they remain strengths. Also, at our school, we believe in cross training and we have several people who can do one job, which is a big advantage for the school.”

2006 Teamwork on display—Garland and Bridget Johnson.

2007 Circle of fitness—the Key Biscayne Beach Workout.

2007 Fists of fury. Dennis Brown; CDR Ned; Ernie Reyes, Sr.; Dave Kovar.

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transform

BY KATHY OLEVSKYKARATE INTERNATIONAL

We bring to you an outline of Kathy Olevsky’s session at the EFC Summit 2008. For clients who are attend-ing the Summit, this detailed outline will reveal the quality and content of the session (the actual session will be much more detailed), and for those not attending, this is an opportunity for us to bring you a morsel from the Summit. (We hope you will consider attending next year.)

your school from

50

250to

Kathy Olevsky with husband, Rob Olevsky


å The first rule of growth is to know where you are right now. a. How many members do you have?b. How many new enrollments did you

do last month?c. How many renewals did you do last

month?d. Getting people in the door does

not mean that you will have more students. If you let some go out the back door, the new people only catch you up to where you have been. You wind up on a constant revolving situation where you lose some and then get some new ones, which results in zero growth.

ç The second rule of growth is to set goals and know how to achieve them. You should have a vision board for what your ultimate goal is and smaller goals to achieve the ultimate goal. Make your ultimate goal reasonable. Let’s say your goal is school growth. If you are at 50 members, your ultimate goal right now might be 100. If you are at 100, your ultimate goal might be 150 or even 200. What amount of time do you need to achieve that goal? Well, let’s break it down into how many a month you need. a. If you start with 50 students—how

do you get to 100? If you can get new people in the door and add 5 new members a month for a year, that will net you 60 new people at the end of one year. Have you achieved your goal? NO. If you calculate the average attrition rate of 10%, with 50 members, in the first month you might lose 5 members, so if you enroll 5 new, you have only maintained your student body number of 50. The larger your school gets, the larger this problem becomes. When you have a school of 300, if you have a 10% attrition rate, you will need to enroll more than 30 new members per month to grow.

b. So, what if you set a goal of 8 new members per month for a year. With 50 students, and an attrition rate of 10%, at the end of the year you would be at 72 students. So, either

you have to realize now that your goal should be to get to 72 students in a year, or you ought to set your new enrollment goal even higher, and possibly adjust it half-way through the year.

é So, with these figures in mind, you need to work on two areas to achieve your goal. You need to close the back door, thereby reducing your attrition rate. You need to increase the number

of marketing strategies you have going to get the right number of people in the door.a. So back to the original example—

you have 50 students and you want to grow to 100. Reduce the attrition rate to 5% and get 8 new members a month. At this attrition rate, you will have 100 students at the end of a year! Sometimes, growth is not just about finding new members, but more importantly keeping old ones. Close the back door!

è Closing the back door all boils down to customer service. What do you do to keep your customers coming back? Is it as simple as teaching good classes? No, that is a small part. You need to examine your entire package and see what will guarantee you that your students will stay for more than the national average of two years. You need to give your customers so many reasons not to quit that it will be hard for them to quit. The Summit session will take a thorough look at customer service from A to Z.

ê Now—how do we get those new students in the front door?

Internal Marketing

Ó Birthday partiesÓ Bring a buddy dayÓ Bring a Parent Buddy DayÓ VIP passes

External Marketing

Ó Internet, Internet, InternetÓ NewspaperÓ Direct MailÓ Drop BoxesÓ Demonstrations/Health Fairs

(There are many experts within EFC who can tell you much more about external advertising.)

ë Growth Managementa. Complaints occur if you plan your

growth but don’t manage it.b. Testing and promotionsc. Floor managerd. Office staffe. Teaching staff—bench strengthf. Space/class size, locker rooms,

chairs

í Retailinga. Use displays, change around

displaysb. Offer product packages for each belt

levelc. Offer seminars and include a new

weapon in cost of seminard. Summer t-shirt uniforme. Understand how retail sales can

help produce income for your school.

f. Plan your sales at Christmas time—two by Thanksgiving

g. Custom Catalogs from Century, Holiday Catalogs by Century

h. Custom embroidery—fleece jackets, demo uniforms, staff shirts

When you have a school of 300, if you have a 10% attrition rate, you will need to enroll more than 30 new members per month to grow.

Almost all martial arts schools track their basic stats like inquiries, new enrollments and quits. But there are a number of statistics that are less obvious that can be very beneficial for schools to track as well. At Kovar’s

Satori Academy we refer to these as “Stealth Stats.” As the name implies, a stealth stat is usually invisible to a school operator unless they know to look for them. In this article, we’ll take a close look at two useful stealth stats.

When we speak to school operators, they generally have a pretty good idea about the age and rank distribution of their students. These two stats are very easily measured, so they don’t fall into the category of “stealth stats.” Many school owners invest time, money and effort to recruit students that are the same ages as the students that they see on their mats. But just because you have a lot of 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds training, doesn’t meant that you’ll have your best success target-ing this same age group for new enrollments.

So, an important stealth stat to track is the age your students are when they enroll. Monitoring this less obvious statistic will help you do a better job pinpoint-ing your marketing to prospects that have the highest probability to enroll. Consider this graph of girls training at a school:

stealth BY MARK SEIDMANKOVAR’S SATORI ACADEMY stats



What you see is that most of the girls who train at this school are between eight and eleven. But what you also see is that when these same girls enrolled, they were between the ages of six and eight. This is important to understand as you determine where to invest your marketing dollars and your time. If this graph reflects the pattern at your school, you would be wise to invest your time and money recruiting girls in, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades, but you would focus less effort on students in higher grades.

Here is a great example of why this matters. Let’s say you’ve decided to pursue Girl Scout troops to recruit new students. If you targeted the age group you see on your mat, you’d naturally focus on Junior Girl Scouts, who are 8 to 11 years old. But you’d probably be wiser to focus on the 6- to 8-year-old Brownies who are the same age as most of the girls you actually enroll.

Paying very close attention to the ages of your students when they enroll enables you to make highly informed marketing decisions. And this will have a positive impact on your new enrollment figures.

Now let’s look at another stealth stat that can help you identify if you need to make adjustments in your program or your procedures. Analyzing quits by belt ranks can give you some valuable insight into why your students leave, but the real stealth stat that can provide valu-able insight to track quit reasons by belt rank. You might have four white belts quit and four students at an advanced rank quit and if so, you can be virtually certain that they didn’t quit for the same reasons.

If you look for trends in quit reasons at each belt rank, you’ll get valu-able insights that can help you refine your program. Here’s an example. In our program, the first part of our belt progression goes white, gold, orange. We detected a small spike in quits at orange belt. But we were unsure why. When we examined the reasons why students were quitting at this level, we discovered two trends:1. When students advance to orange belt, they move from our beginner

class to our intermediate class. A number of students were intimidated by the more challenging curriculum which included sparring.

2. Another group of students were challenged by the change in class time, which caused conflicts for them.

While there were other reasons stated, these two were mentioned more often than the others. We gathered our senior team and worked out a plan to address each of these two issues. We improved our preframing on sparring to make it more exciting and we introduced new students to sparring more gradually so they weren’t jolted by the experience. We also began planning farther in advance to handle the issue of the class time change. We began discussing this several weeks in advance of their promotion to orange belt.

When we discover potential conflicts, we now have time to work on creative solutions in advance so we can help students find ways to make the transition to their new class a more positive experience than before.

By closely studying the stealth stat of quit reasons by belt rank, you’ll be able to identify trends. And knowing these trends, you can make small adjustments that can make a big difference in your retention.

There are several other stealth stats that will give you valuable insights into your business. Ultimately, there are only two major metrics that matter: the number of students you enroll and the number that quit. But if you look closely at the enrollment trends and develop a detailed understanding of why students quit and then use that knowledge to make effective adjustments, you’ll maximize your new enrollments and mini-mize your quits.

If you think you cannot afford to go, then that is the precise reason why you need to go. The benefits you will receive from the Summit are networking, staff development, curriculum development. Itʼs your chance to be in breakouts with some of the most awesome martial arts business owners in the country, like Kyoshi LaVallee, Garland Johnson, Ernie Reyes, etc. Everything that EFC has to offer is at the Summit. When I went to my first convention, my EFC check was just $5,000. We started with just myself going, then my wife and I going, and now we have fundraisers throughout the year—private lesson marathons, movie nights—so that we can take our entire staff with us now. They come back energized and the weeks after the Summit, our enrollments, renewals and retention all increase. —Tom HouldRed Dragon Karate

YOU’VE GOTTA GO!Here’s why....

I think itʼs good for stimulating great ideas. Whether youʼve heard it in the past or not, you see it from a different perspective—and you can go back and apply it in your school. When you look through the eyes of experience, the same things tend to have a different meaning. Going to the Summit is like investing in your school. —Al BartlinskiBartlinskiʼs Karate Supercenter


BY ANANYA BHATTACHARYYA

Because in order for you to stay on top of the martial arts game, you have to go to the best confer-ence. For instance, when we are talking about 45 minute classes, where did we get that idea from? EFC. Did it work well? Yes. When we first started our business and talked about contract amount vs. people taking money in each day, it gives us longevity, because we know that the contract amount will be there. Where did we learn this from? EFC. So if you donʼt want to go to the EFC Summit, it is almost like you donʼt want to be in the martial arts business for a long time. —Tony ThompsonWest Coast Tae Kwon Do

November 13,14 & 15Gaylord Hotel, OprylandNashville, TN

EFC SUMMIT 2008

Room reservations: Call 1-866-972-6779 or 615-889-1000 and ask for “EFC Summit Room Rates” to qualify for $179 per room rate.Hurry! This special offer expires on October 7th, 2008.

Iʼm going to the Summit for the networking, and for the amount of knowledge that is there to learn from, from people who have been in my place before me. Mr. C. says you should learn from experi-ence, but it shouldnʼt always be from your own painful experience! As Garland Johnson would say, “By hanging out with smart people, you can learn from their mistakes.” The best business minds in the martial arts industry in the world will be there in Nashville, TN. When EFC says they will double your growth, they truly mean that they will double your growth and double your knowledge. All of the great leaders are there to network with and the level of energy and enthusiasm must be experienced in person; it cannot be captured at the same level by recordings. It is always an amazing experience to meet Steve LaVallee, John Godwin, the Kovars and the EFC team.—Mary TreacyEagle Academy of Martial Arts

The banquet will be held at the General Jackson Showboat featured here.

Because in order for you to stay on top of the martial arts game, you have to go to the best confer-ence. For instance, when we are talking about 45 minute classes, where did we get that idea from? EFC. Did it work well? Yes. When we first started our business and talked about contract amount vs. people taking money in each day, it gives us longevity, because we know that the contract amount will be there. Where did we learn this from? EFC. So if you donʼt want to go to the EFC Summit, it is almost like you donʼt want to be in the martial arts business for a long time. —Tony ThompsonWest Coast Tae Kwon Do

Iʼm going to the Summit for the networking, and for the amount of knowledge that is there to learn from, from people who have been in my place before me. Mr. C. says you should learn from experi-ence, but it shouldnʼt always be from your own painful experience! As Garland Johnson would say, “By hanging out with smart people, you can learn from their mistakes.” The best business minds in the martial arts industry in the world will be there in Nashville, TN. When EFC says they will double your growth, they truly mean that they will double your growth and double your knowledge. All of the great leaders are there to network with and the level of energy and enthusiasm must be experienced in person; it cannot be captured at the same level by recordings. It is always an amazing experience to meet Steve LaVallee, John Godwin, the Kovars and the EFC team.—Mary TreacyEagle Academy of Martial Arts

November 13,14 & 15Gaylord Hotel, OprylandNashville, TN

EFC SUMMIT 2008

The banquet will be held at the General Jackson Showboat featured here.



PREPARED BY PHIL SAGEABILENE MARTIAL ART CENTER

incorporating

child safety

in your school

A police officer and martial arts school owner talks about implementing child safety in his martial arts program.

training

Phil Sage with daughter Niko Sage


I started training in the martial arts at a very young age, and I have been a police officer for the

past nine years. One of the things I remember most about my martial art training is all of the tools and tips my teacher gave me to protect myself from strangers and bad situations. Our training incorporated drills, games, and role playing and that informa-tion stuck with me over the years. My police training opened my eyes to the dangers that lurk in every community and provided me with an insight on how to make my community safer. I decided to incorporate the information I have learned and we have created an awesome child safety program at our martial art center, but keep in mind that it is ever evolving.

First of all it is important for us to realize that not all strangers are bad and we definitely do not want to raise children that live in a constant state of fear. Some strangers can prove to be very helpful if we are in trouble and in need of immediate assistance. Some examples of good strangers would be fire fighters, police officers, and para-medics that are on duty. These three groups of individuals work closely together and can usually communicate through the same channels. Can you think of another good stranger?

According to missingkids.com, over 40 percent of those who experienced one of the most serious forms of child abduction were victims of opportunity. Therefore we have to take the opportu-nity away from the “bad guy.” We need to educate our children on a regular basis on the dangers of strangers and other hazardous situations.

When I was a patrol officer I would often observe children at play in the community. These children may have been at the park or simply riding their bike, but more often than not I noticed that they were alone. Taking into consideration that some of them were considerably young, I thought it could have created an opportunity for foul play. Here are some safety rules for you to remember and teach to your children and students to keep them safe and sound:

Rule #1: Children should never go places alone. Children should always take a sibling or friend whenever they go anywhere.Rule #2: Children should always inform parents and care givers of exactly where they are going and who they will be with. Parents should keep close tabs on their children and know who they are hanging out with.Rule #3: It is important to teach children to run away from strangers when there is danger present. Not only should they run, they should yell for help. This will let other people know that they are in trouble. Running is not enough because children run while playing everyday.

Rule #3: Families should create a safety password. This password can be used if a babysitter or relative picks children up from school or any other place. Many predators are people that kids already know. Sometimes they are close friends of the family. It is necessary to teach children not to go with them if they do not know the password. Be sure to change the pass-word occasionally.Rule #4: Teach children to be aware of their surroundings and of any poten-tial dangers. Some of those dangers include: strangers, traffic, electricity, and fire. Children should tell adults whenever they see anything suspicious or dangerous.Rule #5: Teach children that it is OK to say ‘no’ if someone is trying to do something that is bad or makes them feel uncomfortable. We teach our chil-dren to mind and respect their elders, but at the same time they need to know that it is OK to say no when necessary for their own protection.

Rule #6: Make sure children know their home address and phone number. This can prove to very useful if a child is lost. I recently had a child tell me that his father’s phone number was *4. Although it was amusing it was not very helpful.

We teach these basic rules to our chil-dren and we review them regularly. We also perform drills and scenario based activities to help our children remember these basic rules. One of the drills we perform involves role playing. We set up a mini obstacle course and approach the children as a stranger. When we attempt to grab the children they must escape by running the obstacle

course and yell, “Help! Stranger!” We also teach them to, “bite, scratch, kick, punch, scream, and run” if a bad person gets a hold of them. These are just a few tips and tools we use at our martial art center.

Incorporate a good child safety program in your school. It will help keep our children safe and the parents will love it. We have learned the awesome benefit of networking with other EFC clients so feel free to call or e-mail me or my staff if you have any questions.

Sa Bum Nim Phil Sage is the owner of Abilene Martial Art Center (AMAC) in Abilene, TX and a member of the Abilene Police Department. AMAC has been a member of the EFC since 2005 and has approximately 100 students. Sa Bum Nim Sage is currently preparing to make the transition to a full-time school owner. Phone: 325 692-0100, Email: [email protected]

Incorporate a good child safety program in your school. It will help keep our children safe and the parents will love it.

She elaborated on the areas she concentrates on in order to improve customer service:

1. DNS calls. When students don’t show up for one week, “Did Not Show” calls need to be made. This is what differentiates a martial arts school from a gym, which makes no such calls. According to Bridget Johnson, this is one of the most important retention tools.

2. Birthday calls. As soon as staff members log in to the computers at Universal Kempo Karate schools in the morning, the SgarWare program opens up showing birthday dates of students for each month. The staff members then make birthday calls on appropriate dates.

3. Testing calls. This is to remind students about their monthly testings, along with an inquiry on whether they would be needing any additional equipment and who they will be bring-ing to watch their graduation.

7dimensions of

Bridget Johnson’s

Bridget Johnson was in our headquarters recently and she told us that the issue that preoccupied her the most was customer service. Her husband, Garland Johnson, and she have decided to have distinctive roles in their schools: he focuses on marketing and new enrollments and she focuses on customer service and retention.

student retention

4. Motivational workshops. Universal Kempo Karate offers motiva-tional workshops on a monthly basis, with weapons of choice.

5. Sell of the month. This varies from month to month, and may be a product such as a t-shirt.

6. Academic achievement. Universal Kempo Karate requires kids to bring in report cards, and instructors are looking for improvements in these. (Parents love this.)

7. Talks about character building. This is done frequently by instructors by way of our parables and storytelling focused on the inspirational words of the week.

Other than these important steps, what is necessary to improve customer service and retention is a group of skilled and motivated instructors that deeply care about the students and are teaching outstanding martial arts.




A CONVERSATION BETWEEN DANIEL DIAZ-CERVO AND GARLAND JOHNSON

What is the best marketing tool to use in advertising our school? We are finding that our referral programs are the best. Print, TV and radio are good for top-of-mind aware-ness. However, our number one form of getting new students has always been referrals. We have a small ad in the Yellow Pages and do a cable show twice a week. However, both of those are for top-of-mind awareness. If we do advertise it will be in August (getting ready for the new school year) and in December (getting ready for the New Year). However, word of mouth is still our best.

As far as running a new school, is it best to pack two days of the week full of classes in our sched-ule? Or is it better to spread them out during the week? I like spreading them out during the week. It provides more individual instruction, especially at the beginning. That is where we develop the future instructors of the school, by anchoring

times throughout a year should we hold a buddy day? We have found best success with offer-ing a buddy week. This is the week that students are allowed and encouraged to bring in their buddies and family members to introduce them to our instructors and martial arts school. We have had best success with doing two of those per month, with one to follow the week after testing graduations in which we have encouraged students to bring their buddies and family members to their belt graduation here at the school. I know that growing is important, but so is retention. What do you do to make sure you have a high student retention percentage? There are many ways to do so. Welcome Aboard Calls, DNS Calls, 2-4-6 Calls, testing students on time, providing great student service, stay-ing in contact and talking often with the students and their families are just a few.

Daniel Diaz-Cervo, a new EFC client, had some questions for EFC Board of Directors member Garland Johnson, who gladly answered them (in a welcome display of EFC’s ideology of networking and cooperation). We thought this exchange might be an interesting one for the rest of our clients, especially our new ones:

in a great relationship with them from the very start. Is it good to start with a 6-month program for a lower cost than normal tuition to bring people through the door? At the beginning I find it best to start with and stay with what we are going to go with. Meaning that, we do a one-year basic program at $299 registration fee and then 12 month of tuition at $139 a month. They always get a VIP Pass that will take off $100 from the $299 registration fee. The registration fee includes their basic equipment safety package, a black uniform and their first month of tuition. When opening a new school we do a special of $99 registration fee (no equipment package) and $99 a month for the first 50 that sign up. After the first 50, we go into our regu-lar basic program. Is the buddy day system a good event to use? If so, how many

success with a

new school


TAKE A MINUTE WITH THE CHAIRMAN

Nicholas CokinosChairman, EFC

Do you still feel firmly against asking for a lot of money up front? Chairman Cokinos: I do, and I think this is a self-defeating purpose. Hereʼs why: often a discount is offered as an incentive for the cash. There goes a big bite out of the profit. You have received money which you have yet to earn. That means you have established an I.O.U. Also with this money in your bank account, you are tempted to spend it. The result is a disaster because in the future you are faced with expenses, with no money coming in. The bigger schools and the successful ones rely on that fat monthly check coming in to take care of their expenses, leaving a nice surplus, which is totally theirs.

Will I hear more about this at the 2008 EFC Summit? Chairman Cokinos: Yes, and you will get convincing arguments on how this practice will substantially add to your bottom line.

Does asking for this kind of money and the upgrades with additional tuition requirements smack of high pressure selling? Chairman Cokinos: Absolutely. You canʼt hide it.

But it is so nice to have cash. Chairman Cokinos: Getting that big monthly check doesnʼt

reduce your cash but rather enhances it. You have complete control over earnings vs. spendings. Think about it. I must say again and again getting a large check better helps you to allocate P.R. money, expense money, miscellaneous and personal income. It is so helpful to be able to meet these obligations on a monthly basis.

What about the Summit? Chairman Cokinos: Be sure to be there. The staff has been diligently working on a great program. There will be special meetings with owners and a very educational program in staff members. The fellowship and camaraderie generated by this gath-ering has a very long and positive effect on everyone.


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In this regular Eagle Express feature, we bring to you information about our clients that’s sure to be astonishing to many of our readers. DID YOU

KNOW…

EFC STAFF

SPECIAL

EFC STAFF SPECIAL

EFC

STAFF FOR8

YEARS

Ó

Did you know that martial arts school owner Dr. Frank LoPinto has an MBA, a PhD, and is a Professor of Business Management and Information Systems? Did you also know that his Kaizen Martial Arts School is a family affair? His wife Stacie and their four sons, Frankie, Dominic, Vincent, and Joseph, all help out around the school.

Did you know that Leonce (Assistant Resource Manager) plays soccer and basketball? He was a state soccer cham-pion in high school. He is originally from Haiti and is involved in humanitarian work there.

Did you know that Nayani (EFC Receptionist), the face behind the pretty voice, has been a volun-teer artist for the last nine years in an assisted living facility? She has a diploma in designing from UK and has designed clothes for film stars in Sri Lanka. Her husband, Aruna, is a Senior Account Executive.

Ó

Ó

EFC

STAFF FOR17

YEARS

Did you know that Rod Sanford loves hot rods? He bought his first hot rod in 1962. Today he is having his dream show car built. Itʼs a 1940 Ford deluxe coupe. Every nut, bolt and piece of wire is new except that it has an original all-steel body. It has a custom built chassis, front end and suspension, a GM 383 stroker, 425-horse power engine that is running 3-2ʼs and is polished and chromed. It has all the modern conve-niences: air conditioning, power seats with seat heaters, navigation, backup camera, CD/DVD and an incredible sound system. The car is being painted a 4-stage candy apple red with some candy brandy-wine in it. He has been invited to show it at the National Roadster Show in January and he hopes it will be done by then.

His family has joined him in his car madness. His son has a beautiful 1966 Mustang. And his 15-year old daughter has a 1969 Camaro SS that is gorgeous. They both won first place in their divisions at a recent car show. And his son-in-law has a 1979 limited edition TransAm that is pristine. You can often find the family at a car show or taking a cruise along the beautiful Monterey Bay coastline.

Did you know that Peter Polander has ten locations in Poland and 300 students who follow his teaching? He travels to Poland three times a year in order to oversee these schools. He organizes summer camps in the land next to the two 800-year-old castles (one of which can be seen in this photograph) in the south of Poland for all the students from Poland and U.S. This medieval location with its unbelievable view of the snowcapped Tatry Mountains is an ideal spot as it motivates students to perform better.

Ó

Ó


STAFF TRAINING: DOJO DRILLS & SKILLS


Here’s a classic article by EFC Chairman Nicholas Cokinos about how to deal with disgruntled parents.

Many ears are still ringing from the raucous complaints of a mother who was unhappy with the way her child was treated in his karate class. I listened very carefully for a long time to this tirade. I eventu-ally saw that she was an overly protective mother who apparently felt her child was being picked on.

It turns out that the child was spoiled, over active, disobedient and willful. I had a long talk with the director of the school and heard all the gruesome details. It was difficult to work with the child when obviously we have a problem mother—over-protec-tive and defensive and for whatever reason has failed to control her childʼs behavior. How do we treat the matter? How do we treat the child?

The director and I decided to start with the mother. An appointment was made to discuss the matter. The mother arrived promptly as scheduled, with her arms folded across the chest and a fierce look in her eyes. We decided to be more relaxed, understanding and compassionate when approaching the mother.

The director went on to say discipline in the class-room was an essential part of the schoolʼs rules and regulations. Discipline, especially self-discipline, was imperative. It was explained that when the child was out of line and disruptive, he would be sharply reminded to conform. It was also pointed out that when he did something well, he would be profusely complimented and recognized.

The belt exam was explained in many ways as a positive affirmation of work well done. The directorʼs intention was to use every incentive he could to make sure the child was prepared to do well on the test.

The director then explained to the mother who appeared to have relaxed somewhat that he had taught children for many years who were lethargic, slow, defiant, boisterous and misbehaved. He pointed out that teaching martial arts for a number of years has enabled him to establish an outstanding record. If given a chance, he will train the child to become an outstanding citizen.

It was clear that it was the mother who needed some adjustment. He summed it up by saying, “I need

COMPLAINING MOTHER BY CHAIRMAN NICHOLAS COKINOS

your support and cooperation to prepare your son for a wonderful experience with us. As long as he is obedient and conforming to the rules of the class, we will be glad to have him among us.” He added, “We need you to put a positive spin on attending classes and expecting a wonderful, interesting and fun expe-rience.” He also added that it is important for the mother to explain to her child what is to be expected.

Finally, he explained two or three months were needed to set a good pattern and he was sure that he could do it. He then told her that after three months, if she was not thrilled with the results, she could terminate the agreement.

Later, during my follow-up call with the mother, she was filled with profuse gratitude. It made my day!


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AUTHORITY VS. INFLUENCECOURTESY OF KOVARS, INC.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. Buddha

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction. Albert Einstein

You can do it if you believe you can! Napoleon Hill

And in the end, itʼs not the years in your life that count. Itʼs the life in your years. Abraham Lincoln

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obliga-tion to be one. Eleanor Roosevelt

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And thatʼs not

and then does it. They are internally motivated and therefore much easier to teach.

Example:If you push someone, their natural reaction is to push back, to fight you. On the other hand, if you gently take them by the hand and guide them, they will gladly go your way. This can be demonstrated by role-playing in class.

Positive influenceHow can you use your influence instead of your authority while

teaching? One of the most impor-tant ways is by using positive reinforcement. Look for the good in your students and then tell them about it. This may seem too ideal-istic, but it is incredibly effective. Donʼt tell them what they shouldnʼt do; it is impossible to concentrate on the negative of an idea. Instead, show them what they should do.

Example:Saying, “Donʼt strike out!” forces the ball player to think about striking out. Saying, “Get a Hit!” would be a better phrase to get the results needed.

because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They donʼt think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and donʼt sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. Peter Drucker

You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give. Winston Churchill

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word - excellence. To know how to do some-thing well is to enjoy it. Pearl S. Buck

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. Henry Ford

The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle. Anais Nin

In teaching martial arts, hopefully, we are not disciplining our students as much as we are teaching them self-discipline. When we discipline our students, we are using author-ity to get them to take action. This usually works in the short term but does little to cultivate the studentsʼ desire to be self-motivated. Instead, it can create resentment, laziness or perhaps even divide their spirit.

On the other hand, using your ability to influence students into action, rather than forcing them into action creates self-discipline. A self-disciplined person knows what to do

http://www.inspirationalquotes4u.com/hillquotes/index.html


HOP please use the same page from last issue with SWAIN and MBI ads.

Thank you.


Itʼs happening again. We are adding more value to the Gold Package. Added to your Gold Package will be the spectacular new Sgarware Customer and Statistical programs. With the Customer Program, reports are designed the way you like them. At the click of a button, you can access an Exam List, Deposit List, Active Count, Renewal Targets, and many more. The Statistical Program is designed to keep track of the vital statistics necessary in the daily opera-tion of a martial arts school. With easy to read and easy to compare reports, this program will help you track and manage the growth of your school.

The EFC Gold Package subscription rate including this new addition will be a total of $97.50/month. The date when this will take effect will be announced shortly. Your account will be automatically debited just as before. EFC provides you with a 100% satisfaction commitment. (customization of Sgarware is not included)

News About Your Gold Package Subscription!

Here’s what will be included in your Gold Package subscription:• Sgarware Statistical and

Customer program

• Dave Kovar’s Satori Systems

• Eagle Express

• Marketing CD and Marketing Campaign

• Talking Newsletter

• Allstars Journal

• Student Express Newsletter

• EFC audio and video streams

Here are some great testimonials for Sgarware:

“For years, we tried several different software products before Sgarware was created. The Sgarware program has met all of our needs and more. Operating 10 locations and preparing to run 10 more, Sgarware allows me to monitor each location 24/7 and itʼs extremely user friendly for our staff. Most important, the stats program is absolutely the best Iʼve ever seen!”—Kyoshi Steve LaValleeLaVallee’s USA Black Belt Champions

“I love Sgarware. We have tried many martial arts software products to help us manage our student information and Sgarware is by far the easiest to under-stand, with very little learning curve and the customer service and response time to request are “best in breed” as they would say in the corporate world. If you have not invested in the Sgarware Software Product, then my advice is to invest. It will be well worth your time and money.”—Assistant Professor Garland R. JohnsonUniversal Kempo-Karate Schools Association

“There is only one word that I can use to describe Sgarware and itʼs ʻwowʼ! Who would have thought that keeping stats could be so fun! It has made our transi-tion from two schools to four a dream come true. I spend less time monitoring my stats of four schools than I did when I only had two. The customers program has been a gem as well. To be able to access student information from the other locations has been great! The Sgarware customer service and ability to be there during the set up and beyond has been wonderful. Keep up the great work!”—Sensei Jason GabrieleGabrieles Karate Inc.


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Eagle Express Nov 2008