Inside a Bohaus Sprint: A Martial Arts School

The situation

An independent martial arts school with one location, an owner who is head instructor, a few assistant instructors and a part-time front desk. Kids and adults train toward belt ranks on monthly dues.

Members, schedules, attendance and billing already live in the school's membership software. Prospects find the school on Google Maps, the website, social media and through referrals, but its public presence is uneven: an old schedule online, unanswered reviews, no clear way to book a trial.

The bigger problem is a membership lifecycle leak. Trial inquiries wait until the owner is off the mat. Trial students who do not come back are never followed up. New students stall before their first belt test. Failed dues are noticed weeks late. Students who stop showing up are only missed when they cancel.

What the sprint finds

In Discover we sit at the front desk for an evening, review the school's Google Business Profile, website and social accounts, and trace a few recent families in the membership software from first search to today: where they found the school, how long they waited for an answer, whether they took a trial, joined, kept training or dropped off.

The software already holds most of the information: inquiries, trials, check-ins, rank, billing status. Nobody records where people came from, nobody has time to watch the rest, and each family's history is split across the inbox, the software and the owner's memory.

Diagnose ranks the leaks. The one live system is a member record inside the existing membership software that runs from first inquiry to reactivation. Each stage has an automation that watches it and an AI draft the owner or front desk approves before anything personal goes out.

What it builds

Discovery. Inquiries from the Google Business Profile, the website form, social messages and referrals all land in the member record, tagged with their first-touch source.

Digital footprint. The sprint cleans up what prospects see first: an accurate Google Business Profile with current hours and class times, a website schedule with one clear trial button, and regular profile posts about belt promotions and events. AI drafts replies to new reviews and answers to common questions about age groups, pricing and what to wear; the owner approves each one. Class photos are used only with parent permission.

Inquiry and trial. Every inquiry gets an immediate reply with open trial times and a booking link. The record captures the program, age group, goals and, for kids, the parent's contact details.

Trial follow-up. Trial no-shows get a rebooking message the same day. Students who attend get follow-ups that evening and a few days later with an enroll link. AI drafts each note from the record; the front desk approves and sends.

Onboarding and belt progress. New members get a welcome sequence: what to bring, class etiquette, how belt ranks work. The record tracks attendance streaks and classes since the last rank. When a student slips below their usual pace, the instructor gets a flag and a drafted check-in. When a student meets the attendance requirement for a test, they are flagged as test-ready. AI drafts short progress notes and class reminders for owner approval.

Dues. A failed payment starts a recovery sequence the same day: a polite notice with an update link, a reminder a few days later, and a front desk call task if it is still open.

Pause, cancel and reactivation. A cancel request opens a save step: a pause for injuries or travel, or a lighter plan. The reason is logged. Former members get a return invitation at set points, and rejoining students keep their rank and history.

Hand over

In Hand over, the front desk learns the inquiry queue, trial follow-ups, the dues list and the save step. Instructors learn the attendance and test-ready flags. The owner learns to approve AI drafts and review replies quickly. The playbook covers profile updates, photo permissions, replies that need a human and who owns each queue.

The dashboard shows inquiries by source, trials booked and converted, students re-engaged, payments recovered, pauses saved and members reactivated, against a baseline taken in Discover. The 30/60/90-day roadmap adds referral requests at belt promotions, a website refresh and a waitlist for full kids classes.

What changes

Parents who search find current information and an easy trial button. Inquiries get an answer while the family is still deciding. The owner knows which channels bring members. Instructors see who is drifting while there is still time to help. Members who want to cancel get a real alternative, and those who leave hear from the school again.

The business runs from one member record instead of an inbox and memory.

What this means for your business

In a membership business, keeping members matters as much as finding them. Start where people find you and where they quietly drop off, and put both in one record.

For a martial arts school, that is the first search, the trial, the first belt test and failed dues. For a yoga studio, the intro offer. For a dance school, the move between seasons.

That is a Bohaus Sprint: six weeks, fixed scope, four phases (Discover, Diagnose, Build, Hand over), and one live system inside the tools you already use, with a trained team, a playbook, a dashboard and a 30/60/90-day roadmap.