The keyword is paying.
Unfortunately, if you survey martial arts school owners they’ll often tell you that collecting monies owed is not nearly as easy as you’d think it might be. In fact, dealing with non-paying customers they interact with on a regular basis is one of the least comfortable things they do.
So here are some things to consider that might help you collect funds for your martial arts school.
Contracts: A contract can do more than you think. Sure it gives you legal leverage with students when it comes to payments. However, a contract can also help to set an expectation for students. In other words, signing a long-term agreement may actually compel the signee to stay on and continue their martial arts training where they might not have without a contract.
On the flip side, students who sign contracts may still choose to not pay for their martial arts education. In addition, contracts could scare away potential students from taking classes at your school.
Third Party Billing: It’s no fun asking students that you have relationships with for money. In fact, it’s downright uncomfortable. Thus, setting up third party billing, such as with the Educational Funding Company, is an excellent alternative for some. While they’re taking care of collecting monies, you can be doing what you love: teaching martial arts.
The negatives are that signing up with third party billing costs money (you’ll likely be giving away 5-10% of your revenue). Also, you will lose some power over how monies are collected and how your students are treated from a money collections end. Finally, if the company can’t collect everything owed to you, some of the problem may still fall back on you.
Still, if you’re an established school, third party billing may be a viable alternative.
Automatic Payments: This is a very solid suggestion for collecting funds that is worthy of exploration by most martial arts school owners. If automatic payments are made from a student’s bank account or credit card, then it takes a good deal of the weight off of your back as an instructor/ owner in collecting such funds. After all, this will force students to speak to you if they want to stop paying and not the other way around.
Automatic payments will also help you maintain a more consistent cash flow, as it won’t allow students to forego payment for a month. In other words, if a student doesn’t show up one month but was supposed to pay you, then an automatic payment will still come in whether they showed up for class or not.
The negative to this method is that the whole idea of automatic payments may cause some people to shy away from signing up in the first place.
Paypal or Something Similar: You could also set up a Paypal account (or similar account) at your school. Why? Simple. If a student comes in and hasn’t paid—all you have to do is ask them to transfer funds to you before class via Paypal. Even consider placing a sign over a PC at the school that says something like—“Forgot to pay? No problem. Send it to us at (blank) via Paypal before class.”
Of course, this method hardly guarantees payment. But it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
