Tommy Lee's Automated Salesman
9-minute videos educate prospects

By Deborah Angus

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Ever visited Tommy Lee's school in Annapolis, Maryland during class time? Like most martial arts schools the front desk is swarming with parents and students, the classrooms are filled with the passionate noise of martial artists in training, and it's nearly impossible to hear anyone over all the noise. The phone is ringing constantly, and students, instructors and parents are all competing for Tommy Lee's time. Some have the usual questions and others are just looking for a few inspirational words. Of course, it's Tommy's pleasure to respond to as many people as he can. But, what about the prospect that just walked in the door.

The chaotic scene can be overwhelming for someone not used to the day-to-day fervor at East Coast Martial Arts. Donna's on the phone and an instructor is helping a student look at next week's schedule at the front desk. Elizabeth is helping someone out in the pro-shop, and Tommy and another instructor are fielding questions on the floor. It's
hard to break free.

Time constraints are a basic issue for the successful martial artist, where most businesses are solely owned proprietorships. Good salespeople are difficult to find, more difficult to retain, and training the entire staff to be effective salesmen is impossible. In addition, where staffing resources are limited and your client base is growing, there are times when you just can't field all the questions that are being thrown at you. It is at this critical time when new sales are most threatened:
often attention is given to existing students while prospects get lost in the shuffle. There are only so many "I'll be right with yous" and "just give me a minutes" that people can take before they throw their arms in the air and walk out the door. How to overcome this dilemma?

More and more martial artists are turning to video presentations to fill in the gaps, including the martial arts sales guru himself." It was back in 1994-1995 that I decided to develop a video because, as I figured it, if a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is worth a million," Lee said in a recent interview. For him, the video is an easy and nonthreatening way to educate prospects about the martial arts, and a way to overcome objections before they are even presented.

"Basically, when someone comes into the school they know they are going to get a sales pitch," Lee explained." When they are confronted with a video instead, it's a different approach that takes them off the offensive and gives them a real chance to learn what the martial arts are all about."

But Lee came to realize that many other benefits came with his video presentation. Not only do videos help to keep unfamiliar prospects constructively occupied, but they also help deliver a consistent message regardless of how busy he is, what emergency he has to deal with, or what mood he happens to be in.

"As far as the sales process is concerned, I know exactly what the prospect is going to see every time," Lee said. He doesn't have to wonder if a staff assistant covered each important detail or the tone in which it was delivered. And the amount of interruption can be held to a minimum. "Today was a good example," Lee explained. "I was at my
school when I wasn't expecting to be. A guy walked in off the street and I was just completely unprepared. So, while I was running around, I was able to sit him down in front of the video and he was able to get answers to a lot of questions."

" If I would have taken the time to go through the entire presentation, it would have taken me 25 minutes. This way, the guy got all the answers he was looking for, the presentation wasn't rushed or flawed in any way, and he went away with a really great feeling about what we had to offer him."

Tommy utilizes three unique 9-minute videos to educate different prospects: one video has been specifically developed for adults; another for teens; and the last one for children. Each video carefully describes why the prospect should join Martial Arts, then carefully highlights the benefits for each unique group. For kids, the video highlights how martial arts installs a new source of excitement in a child's life and helps build self-confidence, self-esteem and perseverance, among other positive life lessons. Also conveyed in the tape is how martial arts helps create and maintain a positive attitude and the idea that winning isn't everything. It’s the effort that counts!

Teens are an especially difficult market that Lee tackles by focusing on attitude. "Having a good attitude is more important than education and environment," Tommy said. " If you have a great education and family, it means nothing if your attitude is off. Likewise, you can be from a horrible family environment and poor education, but if you have a
great attitude, you can go far." Lee believes this is not only important for the teens to see, but also the parents, who are ultimately responsible for getting their teen to class. He is also keen on pointing out to parents that joining a martial arts program gives kids something constructive to do in a positive and safe environment and keeps them off the streets.

The video for adults also gets special attention by Lee whorealizes that busy adults want a program that integrates fun with fitness. "Adults enjoy the camaraderie much more and are usually pretty committed to being in a fitness program. They also get bored with the repetition of the gym," Tommy said. "So our message is that adults will get fit, improve flexibility, learn self-defense and do something with other people that share the same values and is enjoyable."

Because his videos put such a great emphasis on his mission statement along with highlights of the core programs, Tommy also likes to use his videos as part of continuing staff training efforts. He recognizes the importance of continuously reminding staff of how you want them to act and that it's easy for someone to forget to leave their personal life at home. Moodiness and personal dilemmas can easily change a person's entire demeanor, which can have adverse affects on everything else they do.

So, from time to time,Tommy likes to have his instructors sit down and watch the tape to remind them what they are selling. Tommy explained: "A difficult client can really irritate your staff. Sometimes staffers can get short with parents, students or children. Having them review the tape reminds them of how to present the important issues with a positive spin rather than a harried and tread-down type of attitude."

Video Production-An Expensive Endeavor

Tommy's first video took 3 days to shoot followed by several weeks in editing with his videographer. After a few rounds of reviewing and re-reviewing, he finally received a 12-minute video, 2 five-minute videos and about 6 thirty-second commercials. The total price tag? About $28,000, which breaks down to about $1,000 per finished minute.
"I used the original videos that I produced for 7 years," Tommy said. "At that time I had about 300 students. The tapes helped me grow to 500 and a larger location."

"I think the video was important to me because, in the early years, I was doing what most school owners do— everything. This can be a problem when people drop in unexpectedly. It can also be a problem when prospects are early for appointments or if they're running late. In any case I might simply be unavailable to meet immediately with
the prospect. In these instances, any untrained staffer can present the video. For walk-ins, the front desk just has to set up an appointment. The bottom line is that my closing ratio is greatly improved because prospects are dealt with more effectively, and I don't have to kill myself trying to be everywhere at once."

Tommy reflected on one of the biggest mistakes that he feels owners can make—giving new customers priority to existing students. He feels that if school owners walk off the floor to address a new person, the class feels alienated.

"They feel that they are not as important as the prospect. That's when people start quitting," he said, "when they realize new business is more important than they are." Using the video allows Tommy to stay on the floor with his students simultaneously addressing the prospect.

Tommy has lots of recommendations for people wanting to produce their own video that begin with scripting out the work. If you can't put your thoughts down in words, then chances are you won't be able to state them clearly either. In fully preparing for a shoot and carefully taking the time to script out everything you are trying to say, you will make much more efficient use of your videographer's time and, hopefully, save a little money. He also says that you should be conscious of the background music that you use and make sure that it's not copyrighted. More and more music companies are engaging in lawsuits for use of material where royalties were not paid. If you use copyrighted material and get caught, the costs could be overwhelming.

For those interested in using videos in their sales process, Tommy has created versions generic enough for any martial arts school that are available at an extremely reasonable cost. "Each video is 9 to 10 minutes in length," Lee said. "And the videos were designed to sell martial arts in general. It's not about any specific style, such as Tae Kwon Do, Judo or Kung Fu, it's about the benefits of participating in a martial arts program in general."

Reprinted with permission by BoardBreaker-Elite: Summer 2003. BoardBreaker-Elite is a product of Automated Payment Services, Inc.—the leader in Martial Arts billing. For billing information, call 888-277-4409 or visit APSBILLING.COM.