EFC – Educational Funding Company Ltd UK & Ireland

The famous EFC Spring Fling is a fun competition held each year where the four clients with the best growth between February and May each receive a prize of £1,000.00. This year the EFC Spring Fling winners are as follows:

Dave Pawson

The spring fling has been a motivator to do what we should always be doing by making us more proactive in getting new students and then looking at how we retain them. We are now more focussed on asking for referrals from our existing students and also asking for referrals when any prospective student comes in to ask about lessons.
After last year’s Spring Fling we decided to keep doing the same type of promotions and gradually refine what it is we are doing on a daily basis, and to implement ideas that we have picked up from attending Meeting of Minds, X-Factor and more importantly the EFC convention.
Retention has been an area we have focussed on by giving more exciting lessons, ensuring stats are kept on a daily basis and enquiries are chased up if they fail to show and reschedule the appointments. Text messaging is one area we have really focussed on to give confirmation of appointments made, and then the day before we text a quick confirmation that we are looking forward to seeing them the following day. We have also completely redone the reception area, highlighting the EFC awards we have won on the wall facing the entrance and giving the whole area a wow factor when new prospects come in. This has as a result given us new students, our existing students are now referring people to come down and experience what they are doing in a family run environment, where they can forget about the credit crunch, and get a good workout and mix with positive individuals.
We are now actively continuing with the same level of intent to increase our numbers and are looking forward to the Meeting of Minds and the EFC Conference in Miami.

Sifu Chris Edghill

Just a letter of thanks to the EFC and especially to my Accounts Manager Liz Jones.

Liz contacted me and asked if I wanted to join the Spring Fling, I said it’s not really worth it for me as I don’t really advertise and not done so for about fifteen years. Liz said go on give it a go, after a little more persuasion I decided to. I sent out letters to all of my students for bring a friend. I gave out posters and gradually new students started to join. The EFC gave me a lot of backing and also much pushing basically making me walk the extra mile. Not only have I increased my student numbers the kick off is great. The more students I have the more I seem to be getting. Some times you can become complacent with what you have, it’s always worth taking a step back get out of that whole and give yourself a good kick up the backside.

Don’t forget the upcoming Meeting of Minds this weekend at Nottingham.  This us an unmissable opportunity for your business!

It’s not too late to book your place, call or e-mail your Account Executive right away!

Ivan Kravitz

EFC USA Board Member, Master Ivan Kravitz will host the upcoming Meeting of Minds, in Nottingham. If you’re serious about growing your business, you must attend this meeting!

Date: 20th – 21st June 2009

Venue: Shudokan BBA, Nottingham, England

By Nicholas Cokinos, EFC Chairman

The EFC recommend that school owners pledge to follow the following basic rules:

1. My sincere and genuine interest in my students is absolutely imperative

2. Students come to my school because of needs: Building confidence, learning self-protection techniques, physical fitness and a high sense of progressive thinking.

3. I must assure that I am a totally qualified Martial Arts instructor, teaching with enthusiasm and high interest, motivating my students to reach the level of first-degree black belt.

4. I recognise that regular attendance is very important and that I take all steps to prevent dropouts by locking the back door

5. I never forget that in spite of any credentials and community reputation, I still need to promote my school in order to assume a constant flow of new enrollments. I recognise and accept that I should invest a minimum of 10% of my monthly gross on promotions, advertising, demonstartions, VIP passes, open houses and buddy days on an ongoing basis.

6. I must recognise that a well-trained staff is important to keep student interest at a high level using a strict schedule of belt testing to show and establish good progress.

7. I need to perfect the enrollment process with effective info calls, Intro 1 and Intro 2 and an effective extension conference resulting in solid paper, followed up by the “Half Moon” principle in developing the renewal process.

8. It goes without saying that the keeping of accurate statistics will ensure that I am managing in an efficient and successful manner, supported by sufficient contract amount.

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By Nicholas Cokinos, EFC Chairman

Let’s assume you’ve already conducted a highly motivating and energy filled intro class and you are now at the point of doing an extension conference.

First, is the analysis of the strong points or weak points that the intro lesson reveals. Coordination, learning speed, physical condition and flexibility are revised to establish a beginning and generally outlining a path of progress.

Now we turn to the 7.5 Magic Questions. The phrase is introduced by merely saying, “We need your cooperation answering questions so that we can qualify you for any of the programs you may be interested in.” The scene is now set.

Keep in mind that the questions are very carefully outlined, in specific order so that very quickly the receptivity of the student can be determined. It doesn’t make any difference whether we are talking about an adult or a child with a parent present. This is not a selling session. This is not a sales talk. Rather, it’s to be considered a low-pressure approach to affect a sale.

The beautiful part is that it is a series of questions allowing the student to respond and to express his own feelings. The interviewer needs to be listening carefully and asking questions to determine if this is the right activity for the student. All questions require a yes or no answer, with some discussion on the part of the student. The first four questions are:

* Will you be living in this area for at least the next year?
* Do you have any physical problems or take any medication?
* Do you have a place to practice what you will be learning in class?
* Is your schedule such that you can arrange to take your lessons at least twice a week?

When receiving the answers to these questions, do not take “maybe” as an acceptable answer. Any question answered, “no” terminates the interview, since a considerable amount of work is required from both parties. If the answer to all the questions is, “yes,” then you can proceed. As you can see, the answers to these questions indicate to yourself that you have an eager and cooperative potential student.

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