2020 Armor Tips: Make The Most Out Of Your Demos

The founders of 20/20 Armor are school owners with six schools and over 2000 students. We build our products to help school owners succeed. We know how important it is to get expert advice. We are lucky to have an incredibly active social community full of professional athletes, experienced coaches and successful school owners.  We want to use this incredible resource to provide you with advice that will help make your school more successful, your practice more fulfilling and connect you to people in your industry that need your expertise. Every week we ask our community questions on our Facebook page and we feature some of the best answers on our website.  

This post focuses on how your school can make the most out of martial arts demonstrations

“Flashy kicks and board breaks is a great crowd gatherer, but parents want to see what is doable at a beginner stage too,” says Viresh Mistry, Master Instructor at ACE Taekwondo Academy. “I always get kids of all ages and ranks to demonstrate their levels so parents can see the variety and progress and then relate to their kids. Adding in ALL elements is a must i.e. target kicking, self defence, poomsae and sparring (non contact lower belts) and more light contact with Hogu. This shows the broad element of the sport as well as capturing a broader audience interest i.e. no everyone wants to spar etc. Music is key as well as flyer handouts with “Limited time” sign up at a special price.”
 

We asked how many recruits you can expect from demonstrations like this Mistry pointed out that it depends on many variables. 

“It’s hard to say – depends on where it is and time of year,” says Mistry. “We did a mid summer one at local MP BBQ but turnout was poor due to heat and summer vacations. Did a late spring one and response was amazing. It was a 15 min demo in a mall and got double digit signups. We did a ballot draw for a month of free classes and captured emails for future follow up on promos. People are dripping in from there still. The other change was as it was indoor with lots of parents and kids, we got the spectators/kids to take part and do like 5 mins of kicking and have fun.”

Hayk Amirbekyan, Head Instructor at Champion Taekwondo, stressed that it’s important you know what your goal is at the outset of doing your demonstration.  For recruiting purposes he stressed the key was, “Board breaks, flashy kicks, a speech by the master/instructor , and a same day sign up discount!”

Want to Take Your Demonstrations to the Next Level?

There are three reasons you have to be using 20/20 Armor to level up your demos. The first is that you’ll get access to an untapped market. There are more kids who are interested in video games than martial arts. You can convert them into your students by letting them play video games in real life. Second you will differentiate your school from others within your town by offering this state of the art technology. And the third reason is that any time you use 20/20 Armor at a demonstration you will get massive line ups. People want to know what the equipment is and they want to try it.

The Key is to Turn Those Line-Ups into Sign Ups

Like Master Mistry said you need to have a good limited time offer such as a month of free classes on hand. 

We have had the most success with making your limited time offer into something the attendees win, rather than are simply given. Put the vests on Hitmeter on an age appropriate setting.

The game is simple. You show the student how hard they hit. They try to beat their previous best! It’s a game that teaches students about power. If the attendee can get it into the yellow they win a free month of classes. If they don’t on their first try, give them a few pointers and then they’ll be able to do it. And you’ve proven they can learn martial arts which is a huge stumbling block all school owners inevitably face. With 20/20 Armor you give them a sense of accomplishment with their free month of your amazing classes!

For more information on using 20/20 Armor’s in your demonstrations check out these two links: 20/20armor.com/attract to learn how you can use our technology to recruit more students to  your school and 2020armor.com/payback to learn how with a few simple tactics you can make your investment back within three months. 

Take Aways

• Make sure to interact with parents at demos as they are the decision makers
• Have a limited  time offer available to everyone at the demonstration. A month of free classes can be a highly effective incentive. 
• Music is important to get people pumped up  
• Demonstrate a wide spectrum of different skills students can learn because not everyone is interested in sparring.
• 20/20 Armor will help you attract untapped market of students who are passionate about video games but not martial arts. 20/20 Armor also provide a key differentiator between your schools and your competitors.

Get in contact with us in the chat and we can give you pointers on using 20/20 Armor in your demonstrations to maximize your recruiting. Join our Facebook group and become a part of these conversations and help our community with your insights!