Are you interested in starting a Pro Shop at your school or do you have one and need some more ideas on how to push some product out the door? As you can see from scrolling through an issue of Black Belt magazine, there is quite a bit more product out on the market than there was ten years ago. There are multiple ways to help push your sales up a bit.

Passive Selling

This is where you have your product displayed and that is really it. Imagine a scenario, after the student gets done sparring he notices that his gear will need some tape to fix it up. When he steps outside the classroom, he sees a set of sparring gear hanging from the wall, ready for purchase. Maybe it's this month's item of the month or whatever. Either way, he buys it. Why? Because it was there and he felt he needed some new gear.

In other words, if you have your Pro Shop behind the desk or in your office, passive selling isn't going to work as well. Sure, maybe a student or two will inquire about something and buy it from you, but you will miss quite a few impulse buyers.

Event Selling

This is done when you use an event, or even make an event, to create a reason for your students to purchase retail goods.

• Holidays: Create a sale around a holiday. Christmas is the best example and is one you can use well. Pull your merchandise from inventory, stock some extra seasonal products and add a few items that haven't been seen before and offer some end of the year discounts.
• Back-To-School: Hopefully your students in the children's class didn't take the summer off from training because they were on summer vacation. Either way, try to stock some extra backpacks, clothing and other items that can be used in school. If you have pencils and pens with your school name on them, try to sell them too.
• Seminars: So you have an escrima stylist coming to your school to teach a seminar? Good. Have a sale on escrima sticks a few weeks before hand for those who don't have the weapons.
• Summer T-Shirt Sale: remember to stock as many sizes as possible and to stock as many colors as possible. Not everyone likes black as much as you do.

When holding a sale, please organize it as well. If you think extra people will be required, get some volunteers or staff to help run your sale. You will also need to choose the correct date, which is usually around three weeks before the event to maximize sales. You also will want to advertise the sale by telling students at least a month or more in advance and creating flyers for them.

Program Selling

You can utilize program selling when you design a class or a set of classes around a particular product. Some easy examples of this would be a weapons class-- the student has to buy the weapon; and a cardio program where the student will probably have to purchase gloves of some sort.

You can also use this idea to do some product packaging of your own as well.

• Sparring gear with a gear bag
• Weapon with a weapons case
• Boxing gloves with wraps
• Punching bag or a Wavemaster with gloves
• Weapon with book or video
• For beginners: Uniform with two trial classes

Effective Product Displays

One of the keys to selling is also having an effective display. Of course the effective display does play a role in the success of your passive sales and impulsive buyers, but it can also play a role in other areas of having the Pro Shop.

• Keep it clean: Just like we discussed in professionalism, keep the place clean. An item with dust on it shows people it has been around for a while and has not been purchased for some reason.
• Less is More: Don't lay out 50 items. The amount of variety can hinder a buyer's focus.
• Stay Well Stocked: If you keep yourself well-stocked you won't have to tell a potential buyer that you can order the item. If it was an impulse buy, they may have a new impulse to say "No thanks." For bigger items like punching bags you may have to preorder because you may not have the room to store a half of a dozen five foot tall boxes.
• Novelty Items: For some reason inexpensive novelty items are extremely popular. They also spark some impulse buying as well.
• Advertise Prices: If it is not marked, how do you know the student will ask. Put a price tag on it. (The only thing you want to leave unmarked would be essential items they will need, like uniforms, etc.)
• Rotate: Don't leave the same merchandise always there. Every ten days or so rotate the items to change the appearance. A change in the appearance is new stimuli to get your students' attention and possibly an impulsive purchase.
• Spotlight: Have an item of the month with a reduction on its price.
• Colorful Signs: Pastels and flourescent colors really stand out and can also generate some impulsive purchases.
• Products from Class: If you plan to use practice knives in a class, put some on display. If you plan to use pads in the class, put some on display. The familiarity that a student will associate with a product can help generate purchases.
• The Time of the Year: This can help you rotate products too, but in September and October, begin stocking sweatshort and warmer items. During Christmat, decorate with lights and candy canes. In the summer, display water bottles, shorts, tanks, etc.

Works Consulted

• National Association of Professional Martial Artists- NAPMA