Martial Arts World News Magazine - Volume 22 | Special Edition

PRO SHOP POWER
Back to School Fever
Pro-Shop sales are an effective way to generate income!
By Mr. Sun Kang
Pro-Shop sales are an effective way to generate income!
The new school year is about to begin for all of your students.
Just like any other school, they need to have the supplies and gear
to participate in all the fun activities. Help your students prepare
for your classes with the gear
they will need by having a proshop
sale. One option is to hold
the sale before school starts so
that they buy from you before
they spend all their money at the
mall. The other option is to wait
until after school has started and
you have a fairly large group of
new students.
In order to get them thinking
about the things they will need
for class, you will need to make
a detailed list of items for each
class, each art, or each belt level.
Make a checklist that is available
to each person with the prices of
each item, both regular and sale price, so they can see how much
they’re saving. This way, they can create a budget for themselves
and know how much they will be spending. For those who can’t
pay for everything at one time, set up an automatic payment in
ATLAS so they get their supplies right away and get them at the
sale price.
Be sure to hang a poster in the lobby promoting the
pro-shop sale to get everyone excited about all the
new things they can get for class while saving
money.
Have each staff member start promoting
items in the pro-shop at the beginning or end of
every class, maybe even both. As it gets closer
to the pro-shop sale, have the staff members wear
and suggest items from the pro-shop to as
many students as possible.
Your pro-shop sale will have even better results if you give
your staff incentives. Let them know that they will receive a bonus
based on the number of sales for that month compared to the rest
of the months. You will surely
see a significant difference for
this promotion if you use this
method.
Another way to use incentives
is to offer coupons and discounts
to the students. Give discount
certificates away as a sign of
recognition for hard work like the
student of the month, classroom
hero, most improved student,
honor roll, or any other positive
form of reinforcement. You
may also choose to do an extra
percentage off on their next
purchase. Another suggestion is
to play certain games or have a
specific contest, like a VIP promotion where the winners get a gift
certificate or an extra discount on the pro-shop sale.
The only thing missing is your inventory list. You may want to
double up on your inventory for this promotion, so go through your
inventory checklist to make sure you have more than enough supplies
for your students. You can lose many sales by being under
stocked, and there is no guarantee that they will come back to get
the item they wish to purchase at a later date, so whenever possible
take a deposit on the order with the understanding they will
pay the rest when the product arrives.
The main focus in a pro-shop sale is to increase revenue in your
school while getting your students more involved in their training
with supplies and equipment. By having your students and staff
use or wear your products, they create the perfect marketing tool
without even knowing it. So, start planning your pro-shop sale with
your staff now.
MR. SUN KANG is the President of Vision Martial Arts Supply, Los Angeles Branch, who helps school owners all over
the US maximize their retail sales and drive more revenue into their schools.
86 MARTIAL ARTS WORLD NEWS VOLUME 22 | SPECIAL EDITION
Photograph by SerhiiBobyk