Free or Fee? Should School Owners Offer Free Introductory Lessons?

The first goal of any martial arts school is to get a potential student interested in training at your school. The next step is getting them to try out a lesson and of course, finally enrolling. However, there are as many ways to do this as there are martial arts styles out there today. Many schools offer a free introductory lesson, while other schools charge a very small fee. Still other schools will charge a slightly higher fee, but give a free uniform as an incentive or give a longer trial period. Finally, there are some schools that don't give anything for free, and don't offer trial lessons or introductory programs at all. Which method is right for your school depends on many factors, and really boils down to a personal decision that should be based on cost versus benefit. The following is a breakdown of some pros and cons to offering free intro lessons that you should be aware of before deciding which method your school will go with.

The Free Intro Lesson

The idea behind the free introductory lesson, and anything free for that matter, is that people will jump at any opportunity to get something free. Offering free trial lessons has helped many martial arts schools bring in many potential students that may not have otherwise been convinced to try the martial arts. Offering a free lesson tends to break down the barriers that students may have. Since the lesson is free, they feel no pressure and tend to be more willing to give the classes a try.

There are a few problems that come along with offering free lessons. One problem is that of perceived value. One prevalent train of thought is that people tend to attach value and judgements of quality with the price of something. In other words, if you are giving it away for free, it can't be that good or valuable. Another problem with free intro lessons is that since it is free, it might not be a big deal for a potential student to cancel the lesson or just not show up. There may be an attitude amongst some potential students that since it is "just" a free class, that it is not that big of a deal, therefore it isn't really that important for them to stick to their appointment. Another concern with free intro lessons is also one of its greatest strengths. The free trial lesson has the ability to generate a large amount of leads. However, there will be a high percentage of low quality leads in the amount that you generate. By low quality leads I mean people who are not serious and were just looking for something free to do, people who can not afford lessons to begin with, or people who are not interested in your school for its own sake, but rather were just enticed by "free" and not by the style you teach, or your instructors, facility or qualifications.

The bottom line with free intro lessons is time. Do you have the time and/or staff to handle a full schedule of intros? If not, then you need to be more selective and bring in more high quality leads. If, however, you do have the time or staff to handle as many intro lessons as possible, as well as a strong sales staff, then your efforts can be richly rewarded using the free lesson approach.