Martial Arts Professional Magazine

One of the marketing techniques I borrowed from the fitness industry is the 5-for-1-referral theory. The theory is that each new student you enroll in your fitness program will tell at least five other people about it. You probably have heard similar ideas in martial arts marketing, but I think it works especially well in martial arts fitness, considering the majority of students in martial arts fitness are women.

This became very clear to me when I first started teaching fitness at my school. A woman is much more likely than a man to tell her friends. Most women enjoy telling their friends about new activities. I include gloves and hand wraps in all of my fitness programs, so new students can show them to their friends, as they are telling them about the course.

My referral programs have always featured prizes that referring students could earn, starting with a T-shirt for one referral to four Disney World tickets (I’m located near Orlando, Florida) for five referrals.

I’ve revised my referral programs slightly, so now there is a time limit to receive referrals from new students, and we’ve increased the rewards. Like me, you want to take full advantage of the fact that your new students are excited about your program. If you add to that excitement a referral program that benefits new students to bring their friends, then you’ll have very motivated sellers of your martial arts fitness programming.

I’ve set up my referral program, so that as soon as a student enrolls in one of my programs (10 week UBC, 5-week guaranteed weight loss or maintenance), he or she is given a referral sheet with five complementary passes that can easily be detached to give to their friends. The sheet includes space to write the friends’ names and phone numbers. The referral benefits are explained to the left of the list of names:

“FITNESS FOR THE 21^ST CENTURY: For each person that you refer, who enrolls in the UBC, within 30 days, we add one FREE MONTH of maintenance training to your membership. Or, refer 5 people who enroll, and you will receive ONE FREE YEAR!

“Encourage your friends to visit us by using the five complimentary guest passes. All you need to do is provide the names and phone numbers of the 5 people you believe would most benefit from the Ultimate Bodyshaping Courses.

As an added bonus, we will give you a UBC APPARREL ITEM of your choice for just giving us five referral names within one month of enrolling.”

After distributing all of the passes, the referring students gives the top part of the referral sheet to our manager, who then follows up with a phone call, inviting the referrals to a free class.

I highly recommend that you schedule each prospect or referral to a free class in which his or her friend will participate. Your current or referring student will feel obligated to make it a positive experience. Think about the last time you recommended a restaurant or a movie. Didn’t it mean more to you that your friend enjoyed it also? You can take advantage of this concept of mutual enjoyment when the prospect and his or her referring friend are in the same class. Your current student will do all the selling for you.

This type of incentive program has helped me more than double my referrals, and I had already obtains the majority of my students from referrals. You must take advantage of the student’s excitement when he or she first starts your course. The newness of the activity wears off quickly, so present your referral card program to each new student right after he or she enrolls. Not only will your new students leave your school with gloves and wraps, but also a referral sheet.