The First Word
Editorial
Randy Reid
How’s Yer
Hamburgers?
W
e have a hamburger joint
here in Madison Wisconsin called Dotty Dumplings
Dowry. It’s been voted the best
hamburger place in Madison for
the last 30 years or so. They don’t
advertise - no TV commercials, no
radio and no newspaper. It’s just
good hamburgers, really really good
hamburgers.
The owner spent many years figuring out the best recipe, the best
system for running his restaurant,
and what the people of Madison
want. He could have just made
mediocre hamburgers and spent
a bunch of money on advertising
hoping to bring in sales. That would
have been the “easy” way. And it
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Dojo Digest • April 2014
wouldn’t have worked. As soon as
they stopped paying for advertising,
or the ads didn’t work, or the competition opened up down the street
and spent more, they would be out
of business.
What does this have to do with
martial arts schools? Everything.
This profession has been fed a line
of BS for 30 years that the “key” to
success is more advertising, higher
prices (upgrades). It’s not.
And it’s wrong - dead wrong. The
new leaders in the martial arts profession are proving that the key to
long term success is providingworld
class student service combined with
an excellent customer experience.
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