When martial arts school owners inquire about offering my Ultimate Bodyshaping Courses (UBC) at their schools, they’re usually focused on the added tuition the UBC can generate. This, of course, is where the majority of money is made, with many school owners doubling, or even tripling, their tuition revenue. What most school owners don’t realize is how much additional revenue can be generated in fitness merchandising. They are pleasantly surprised at the amount of merchandise they can move with an effective martial arts fitness program.
I’ve been saying for a long time that one of the best qualities of martial arts fitness programming is that the market perceives it differently than traditional martial arts. The majority of martial arts fitness students are adults, not children. A martial arts fitness program is often successful because you can schedule classes during morning hours, which would never occur in traditional martial arts. This contrast also applies to merchandising. For the most part, traditional martial arts is limited to uniforms and gear and maybe some instructional videos and T-shirts. By contrast, fitness students will buy nutritional bars, supplements, meal replacement shakes, apparel, training videos, home workout equipment and any other allied or complementary products that you can present to them when they first start training with you. Realize that the average fitness student is an adult woman.
Did you know that women buy 80% of the consumer goods in this country? Men buy the big items, such as cars and houses. Women typically buy clothes and food. Just as a woman is much more likely to tell her friends about your program and bring her friends to you than a man is, women are also far more likely to buy whatever you are selling to support their new fitness adventure. When you introduce a martial arts fitness program, not only will you add additional tuition revenue, but also you’ll create a new revenue stream in fitness merchandising. You’ll be able to expand your retail display are to support your growing fitness clientele. Many schools have doubled or tripled their merchandise sales, since they introduced the UBC.
At my UBC studio, I have developed a complete structure to maximize the opportunities for students to buy additional products. I have even created a system with my new Guaranteed Weight Loss course that generates residual income even if the student doesn’t continue to train at the studio. If this becomes the case, then the nutritional products are still shipped directly to their homes.
