Black Belts Didn't Quit... or Cancel...

You've done their first lesson, explained the program, and the parent asks, "Can we just go month to month?"

When a parent asks that, it's usually not about billing. They're worried about making the wrong choice for their child, and month to month looks like an exit door.

Print the script below and run it in your next enrollment conference!

Why parents ask

A lot of the time people put off a decision because they're anxious about getting it wrong (not because they've done the math). In one study, simply adding a second attractive option made more people put the whole decision off (Tversky & Shafir, 1992). When the choices feel hard to separate, the "no choice" option gets more popular (Dhar, 1997).

A parent at an enrollment conference is often in exactly that spot. They cannot know yet whether their child will love it, stick with it, or quit early. Month to month feels like a way to buy the program and still keep the decision open.

Losses also feel bigger than gains of the same size (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). The tuition they might "waste" feels bigger to them right then than what their child might gain. This is a form of negativity bias.

Negativity bias means bad things get more attention and carry more weight than good things of the same size. Across many kinds of studies, bad events, bad feedback and bad first impressions had a stronger and longer-lasting effect than good ones (Baumeister et al., 2001). When good and bad details are mixed together, people's overall judgment is often more negative than the details add up to (Rozin & Royzman, 2001). A parent can hear a lot of great things about the program and still go home thinking about what could go wrong.

Parents like flexibility. The big gyms advertise no contracts. Some owners figure that if they make it easy to leave, more families will say yes, and it's understandable.

In our sales framework, cancel anytime creates doubt, because it implies failure is likely. Lowering the price does the same thing, because it signals the first price was wrong. Neither one makes the parent feel safe. (For the full framework, see my article on the enrollment conversation.)

On to Practical Matters...

Where the objection really starts

When I hear about a month-to-month fight at the close, I start earlier in the appointment.

Before anything the checklist is:

• ☐Did you get an agreement with the family that they wanted to work towards Black Belt? If NOT, then that’s the problem…
• ☐Did you do an amazing lesson and engage the parents (or better yet the parent takes class)? If NOT, then that’s the problem…
• ☐Do they have a solid plan for taking class (did they pick 2x a week for classes) and agree on when they were coming in? If NOT, then that’s the problem…
• ☐Did you engage them on what the OUTCOMES are going to be (they are buying the confidence they are going to excel in school and later as an adult, not kicking and punching and 2 times a week)? If NOT, then that’s the problem…

SECRET: Most of the time the above checklist is the issue. Other things:

• ☐Did the term get presented BEFORE asking for the initial and first month? If so that's the problem.
• ☐If not, but they asked about term, did you use "As I mentioned this is about a third of the way till Black Belt"
• ☐If they push back (ex: "Yeah but what if he wants to quit, what am I obligated for?"): "As we talked about it's about 12 months of training in the Black Belt Qualifying Program" THEN

The order matters. The term is always explained after they've paid the initial and first month but remember that’s not a surprise. It’s tied to the goal up front (a third of the way to Black Belt or whatever equivalent for yours that is about a year).

As an aside: This is for a longer discussion but understand when you’re asking someone to enroll (or buy) anything, we want to make it as simple as possible. What’s simpler: a page of numbers and months and months to train and maybe gear costs and more… or a page with just one or two numbers? The new student has to decide three things: is the initial payment ok? Is the monthly payment ok? Is the term ok? The best way to present when you get to money is to ask for the initial and first month, complete the transaction and the next step is the agreement. That way you're separating the decision so it's less confusing. Confused people don't buy.

The script

We don't offer month-to-month or cancel-anytime, and we don't lower the price. When a family asks for that, they're usually nervous about making the wrong choice. We take the risk off them instead:

1. Agree with the feeling: "Just to clarify my thinking, what are your specific concerns about that?" Get response and dig into it "I definitely understand". Often other concerns come up and you can solve the real one.
2. Respond to the specific concern: "You're going to know after 30 days if this is the best thing you have ever done for NAME and you're comfortable making a year commitment"
3. Offer the guarantee: "That's why we have a 30-day money-back guarantee. That way there is zero risk for you, you can save the money now and, if it's not the best thing you've ever done for your child you get 100% of your money back."
4. Respond to the specific concern: "Again if you don't think you're fully on board in that first 30 days there is no cost or obligation to you."

DON'T say: "Sure, we can do month to month if that makes you more comfortable."

SAY: "That's why we have a 30-day money-back guarantee."

Which one sounds safer to a nervous parent?

Practice the script out loud with your staff before your next conference, until it sounds like you.

Two rules that make it work

Offer the guarantee 5x minimum, and make sure both parents are there for the decision.

Five times can feel like a lot at first. A nervous parent often doesn't hear the guarantee the first time, because they're still running the worst case in their head.

I coached an owner who kept caving and offering trial memberships, and my advice was to offer the 30-day guarantee or a belt guarantee (by the first belt) at least five times. If you fold the first time, they didn’t really hear or understand the guarantee. You have to reiterate that your school is taking on the risk so they feel safe.

If you've done that, it doesn't mean you're bad at sales. A lot of owners who fold just hate feeling pushy. The script gives you something to say that is not pushy at all, because it's built around the parent's concern and helping them feel safe.

Both parents being there matters because family decisions are often shared, and who decides varies from one purchase to the next (Davis, 1976). The parent who wasn't there didn't see the child's face during the intro lesson. Get everyone in charge of finances, schedule, transportation and custody at the conference, and the "let me check with my spouse" objection goes away.

When they still say no

If they persist after all this (again most of the time you guys didn’t get this far), just let them know "It's OK. KarateBuilt Martial Arts isn't for everybody. We only work with families comfortable making a commitment to train and of course, as we discussed, have the intention to train to Black Belt and Beyond once accepted. Maybe it's not for you?"

It takes the pressure off, because you're no longer chasing the parent. You also have integrity by being serious about only working with people who are serious about training. It tells the family the program has standards. People tend to value something more when it's harder to get. In a classic study, the same cookie was rated more desirable when it came from a nearly empty jar than from a full one (Worchel et al., 1975)… which is a different psychology from Grand Theft Potato (that’s just fun to read).

Use it as the last step and only after the guarantee has been offered five times at a minimum. Some families will still walk, and that is fine, but you’re catching most of them because you helped them feel safe with the decision.

What month to month costs the school

Here are three cases from school owners I've worked with.

Month to month also costs the student. Kids want to quit when it gets hard, and that often happens before a habit is built. In one study of adults building a new daily habit, it took a median of 66 days for the habit to become automatic, with a range of 18 to 254 days (Lally et al., 2010).

Two more studies found similar numbers. Adults building a nutrition habit took a median of 59 days to reach peak automaticity (Keller et al., 2021). New gym members needed at least four workouts a week for about six weeks (42 days) to build an exercise habit (Kaushal & Rhodes, 2015). The three numbers average out to about 56 days. They measured slightly different things, and the gym members were training four times a week, so treat that as a rough guide.

That's what the agreement is for… not to take someone to court but to represent a goal. People often choose commitments on purpose because they know their future self may want to quit (Bryan et al., 2010). The term helps the family keep their child training through the months when they're most likely to quit.

Tom Hanks put it this way as Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own: "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. It's the hard that makes it great."

Regret also changes over time. In the short run, people regret what they did, and over the long run they regret what they didn't do (Gilovich & Medvec, 1995). The parent who waits may end up regretting the year their child didn't train more than they'd ever regret the tuition.

The summary

The target in our enrollment conference training is 80% of families enrolled. If the month-to-month question is costing you families, run this script in your next five conferences and count how many say yes. If you want help with it, you can always reach out to us.

References