the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

So I have an idea to promote locally by going around to the luxury apartment complexes and seeing if I could give a free one or two hour workshop in their on site club houses.

What types of materials should I put together in order to appear as professional as possible when I approach the management?

Suit, tie, put the papers in a leather folio or briefcase or similar.

Make sure that you have a copy of your qualifications, i.e: first aid and any relevant fitness stuff. If the States are anything like here to teach in a 'fitness centre' you will need some recognised certification in the fitness industry.

I think the biggest thing you can do though is sell yourself well with confidence and identify what angle you are going to take (self defence, fitness, relaxation ect) as your avenue to get in the door.

ashe wrote:So I have an idea to promote locally by going around to the luxury apartment complexes and seeing if I could give a free one or two hour workshop in their on site club houses.

What types of materials should I put together in order to appear as professional as possible when I approach the management?

Who are you and why would they want you to do that? Or to say it another way, what's the need that you are servicing by teaching your stuff to their residents? And what's in it for you? (Just in case they ask.)

As for collateral materials, a flyer would be good, or a stack of flyers if they want them. Obviously, the more professional your flyer looks, the more professional you look. Make it general enough that you can use it again later for something else should the opportunity arise. Business cards are good. Anything you give anyone should have your name, phone, email, website, etc. on it.

Suits are always nice, but not absolutely necessary. You want to look like you embody what you're selling-- so if you want to convert everyone to hippies, dress like a hippy. If you want to promote the health benefits of your art, look clean cut and healthy. If you want to turn their complex into an armed compound, then look tough. And so on...

if you have some kind of testimonials to put on your material that might be helpful, especially if it relates to the apartments' concerns directly or indirectly. i think they may be concerned with safety and insurance and legal protection. ideally you'd have "users"' comments as well as some comment from an apt manager about how the tenants loved the workshop or something, maybe that they gained some useful insight, had fun, met some of their neighbors.

Make a double-sided flyer on a letter sized (8.5 x 11 inches), and then have it bi or tri-folded on light blue or goldenrod paper.

You might want to check out http://www.scribus.net/ for a DTP tool.

Find out who the management company is for the complexes. They should be able to tell you who to contact at the complexes.

Prepare an outline on what you intend to present. Cater a presentation to the prospective clients. If it is a retirement community then stress the health benefits. If it's yuppies then use terms that would appeal to the "new age" professionals.

(New age increasingly seems to mean MILFs with plenty of time on their hands and money to throw around in my experience)

Attach any newspaper clippings or magazine articles that have been published on I Liq Chuang so that they might read about it. You can also reference youtube video and website info in your introduction letter.

It sounds like your complexes might be condominiums or townhouses in which case you will probably have to address the board directly or make a proposal for them to peruse and discuss at their monthly meeting.

If you address the board in person don't go in a suit. Go in your uniform or some sort of traditional garb so you are not just coming across as another salesman with a pitch.

My advise would be
1. decide what you want to get from this free seminar. (students for your studio, regular classes at their place, gauging interest for seminar topics?)

2. Have some written material that explains you and what you have to offer and how the residents and the management benefit from your services. nothing fancy unless money is no object

3. have two options for how the person in charge would best get this set this up. make it easy for them to get this off the ground, show them how it would work with limited effort on their part

4. Be polite, professional, and relaxed ( which it seems like that is not a problem for you judging from your post)

Good luck
Aaron

jjy5016 wrote:Find out who the management company is for the complexes. They should be able to tell you who to contact at the complexes.

Prepare an outline on what you intend to present. Cater a presentation to the prospective clients. If it is a retirement community then stress the health benefits. If it's yuppies then use terms that would appeal to the "new age" professionals.

(New age increasingly seems to mean MILFs with plenty of time on their hands and money to throw around in my experience)

Attach any newspaper clippings or magazine articles that have been published on I Liq Chuang so that they might read about it. You can also reference youtube video and website info in your introduction letter.

It sounds like your complexes might be condominiums or townhouses in which case you will probably have to address the board directly or make a proposal for them to peruse and discuss at their monthly meeting.

If you address the board in person don't go in a suit. Go in your uniform or some sort of traditional garb so you are not just coming across as another salesman with a pitch.

probably the best answer so far. more to the point of what i'm looking for. i think it's a bad idea to show up in your silk jammies though. a full suit might no be necessary but i think it's important to look professional when approaching the management.

Maybe a nice golf shirt (polo), loose slacks (in case you might want to demo something just to let them see or feel in person), and a blazer to go over/be removed easily, would be appropriate. It more or less has the polo tone down the blazer without losing the feel of dressing up a bit.

This might even work:



But that might not really be your style (and for good reason ). Either way what you've shown through clips and have done in competition show you've got your stuff down, so with some dressed up casual type stuff that isn't restrictive movement wise, doing a demo (solo or light work with a partner/one of the members) might clinch it.

PlanoTaiChi wrote:My advise would be
1. decide what you want to get from this free seminar. (students for your studio, regular classes at their place, gauging interest for seminar topics?)

i already know i just want to promote my regular classes via the free workshop. i know of some folks who have regular taiji classes at hospital and other similar facilities and they pay you jack. like $30 and hour no matter how many students they have.

PlanoTaiChi wrote:2. Have some written material that explains you and what you have to offer and how the residents and the management benefit from your services. nothing fancy unless money is no object

this is more like what i was looking for advice on. what do you think, would it be worth it to print out some studies from pubmed or something that show the health benefits of practicing form as meditation?

WujiRob wrote:You might want to check out http://www.scribus.net/ for a DTP tool.

damn that's a cool OS program.

ashe wrote:So I have an idea to promote locally by going around to the luxury apartment complexes and seeing if I could give a free one or two hour workshop in their on site club houses.

What types of materials should I put together in order to appear as professional as possible when I approach the management?

So what's your goal?

No, I dont think you need the pubmed references. Out where we are it is relatively well accepted that meditation & exercise can & should be combined. I think most people in AZ would recognize "Chi Gung" or failing that another chinese reference.

I think the advice on selling yourself to suit the need - health, fitness, etc.... Is the best.

Good luck
JC

I think a nice-looking folder containing some some studies would not hurt, or just have them on hand if the conversations turns that way.
My opinion is main stream material would have more appeal than medical studies.
I know a few years back time magazine had a small one page article about Tai Chi as the perfect exercise, not the best article but the title is good and catchy.
Also you could pick out the least desired locations and go in on a test run and see where the conversations go , and this would give you a better idea what would be needed.
Good Luck,
Aaron