How Zen Planner Can Drive More Leads to Your School

Fitness businesses need a steady stream of new leads to thrive and grow. Martial arts schools in particular depend on a constant influx of new leads to help combat student turnover. Thankfully, Zen Planner’s martial arts software has many features that can assist in generating new leads for you!

Facebook Embedding

Chances are that you already use a Facebook Business page as a way to connect with your students. This means that you are also connecting with their family, friends and schoolmates every time that they interact with your posts. Why not set up this page to directly collect leads when someone visits?

By using the embedding capabilities of Zen Planner’s student portal, Member Connect, you can create interactive sign-up forms, class calendars and more. These pages are useful for both current and potential students. Check out our quick tutorial on how to add any Zen Planner member Connect page to your Facebook Business page.

Automations

Automated messages are most commonly used for reminders related to classes or billing, but they are easily configured for almost any situation. When it comes to generating leads, automations used to reach out to existing students can be super effective.

Simply pick a timeframe unique to the student – six weeks after signing up, one week after a rank promotion, the day of their 20th class attendance – and send them a polite request for a referral or review. If you prefer the personal touch of a phone call or hand-written card, use the automation settings to send a reminder to yourself to reach out when the student encounters one of these milestones.

The importance of reviews in today’s competitive market cannot be overstated, as they hold great significance when students (and parents) are evaluating where to train. Referral programs also help to constantly drive in new students, and these leads have the added bonus of making your existing students more likely to stick around. Automation, when set up correctly, can supercharge both of these lead sources in a short amount of time.

Free Classes

Any class in Zen Planner can be configured to offer a free trial. While the free trial format doesn’t fit for every type of class, or even every business, it can be a great way to get some fresh faces through the door.

If you don’t like the idea of less experienced participants showing up for a class that will only serve to intimidate them, try starting a single free trial class during a gap in your normal schedule. Weekends work great for this tactic. If you focus your new students and fresh leads into a class together, they will have the opportunity to bond and grow together. This emotional attachment makes a huge impact when they consider the cost of signing up for a full membership. Just make sure to give the students a chance to interact with each other during the class!

Groups

Groups are one of the simplest tools at your disposal for targeted marketing in Zen Planner. Did you collect a bunch of leads at a conference or tournament? Did you find some others through an after-school program? These are two totally different groups of leads, and they deserve different messaging.

If you take the time to group leads based on interest, age, referral source or any other differentiator you can come up with, you can hone your message to speak to them much more effectively. Customers today can spot a generic marketing message a mile away, so do yourself a favor and give them something a little more customized. It takes only a few seconds to group dozens or even hundreds of leads together, and that small bit of extra effort often pays enormous dividends.

Experiment!

Whether you try one of these things, or try them all, make sure to track your results. Marketing experimentation is only worthwhile if you know what works – and what doesn’t.

Did one of these methods work for you, or did we miss something that had a big impact on your business? Sound off in the comments below and let us know! And as always, give us a call if you need any help implementing these ideas in Zen Planner!

If you’re researching martial arts software providers, it’s important to make sure they offer key marketing tools such as embedded forms and Integrated Websites. Get your copy of our free checklist, 9 Things Your Martial Arts Software Must Have to help you ask the right questions when you’re demoing software.