AI Employee & Phone Numbers: The Smart Path for Martial Arts Schools

By Tracy Lee Thomas, Founder of Go2Karate, and Dr. Greg Moody, VP of Development

Why Your Phone Number Is Holding You Back

Every martial arts school has one thing in common: the phone rings at the worst possible times. Parents call while you’re on the mat. A new prospect calls right in the middle of testing week. A current student calls while your one staff member is tied up with enrollments.

Here’s the problem: most of those calls either go unanswered or to voicemail. And in today’s world, voicemail is the kiss of death for a new lead. Parents don’t wait around. They call the next school on Google and book a trial there.

Your phone number isn’t just a contact point. It’s your enrollment lifeline. If it’s not being managed properly, it’s costing you students every single week.

That’s why RevConnect360 created the AI Employee—to make sure no call goes unanswered, no lead slips away, and no opportunity is missed. But the way your number is set up determines whether the AI Employee is a true front-desk assistant or just a patch.

The Three Ways to Connect Your School’s Phone to the AI Employee

Option 1: Use the AI Employee Phone Number as Your Marketing Line

This is the simplest approach. You place the AI Employee’s number directly on your website, Google listing, Facebook ads, and business cards. Every new lead goes straight to the AI Employee.

But here’s what most owners don’t realize: Option 1 doesn’t just handle new leads. It can also fully support current student customer service. Imagine this:

• A parent calls about the upcoming belt testing. The AI Employee instantly sends them a link to the testing schedule or registration form.
• Another parent wants to know the date of the next tournament. The AI Employee provides details and even links them to the event registration page.
• A student wants to book a private lesson. The AI Employee checks availability, schedules the appointment, and even processes payment.
• A black belt parent asks about upgrading to your leadership program. The AI Employee can schedule an upgrade appointment with your staff, and plant the seeds of the benefits in advance.
• A busy parent needs to reschedule a class or wants the Google calendar link. The AI Employee provides the calendar instantly—no staff interruption needed.

When you add it up, Option 1 becomes limitless. It’s not just about answering the phone; it’s about automating everything that eats up your staff’s time, while giving parents the exact information they want, exactly when they want it.

Best for: Schools that want a dedicated “front desk assistant” that handles both marketing calls and current student service seamlessly. 

Option 2: Forward Your Existing School Number to the AI Employee

You keep your current business number with Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, or another carrier, and simply forward it to the AI Employee’s line. 

It sounds good, but there’s a catch. Forwarded calls often scramble caller ID. Instead of showing the parent’s number, it may just show your landline. That means:

• The AI Employee may not know who is calling.
• Missed-call text-back may fail.
• Automation workflows may not trigger properly.

Think of this option as dipping your toe in the water. It works, but it isn’t flawless.

Best for: Schools that want to test the AI Employee before committing fully to having everything handled by RevConnect360.

Option 3: Port Your Existing Number Directly Into RevConnect360

This is the gold standard. Porting means you move ownership of your school’s number into the AI Employee system. From then on, every call, text, and voicemail is tracked, logged, and automated. Caller ID is preserved, missed-call text-back works 100%, and every automation runs clean.

And here’s the key point: you can port either a landline or a cell phone number. It doesn’t matter which type of number you currently use for your school — the AI Employee can take it over and run it at full power.

There may be a short downtime during the porting process, but once it’s complete, you have one number that does it all: marketing, customer service, and automation.

Best for: Schools ready to take full advantage of the AI Employee and transform their phone into a complete enrollment system. Porting isn’t just about making sure a call gets answered — it’s about making sure every prospect is captured, tracked, and guided through a marketing campaign that brings them all the way to showing up for their first lesson. With a ported number, every missed call is automatically followed up with a text, every inquiry is added to the workflow, every reminder is sent, and every parent stays engaged until they walk through the door. This isn’t just a phone line anymore — it’s the foundation of your entire enrollment pipeline, ensuring no opportunity is lost and no lead falls through the cracks.

The Journey With Porting

• A parent sees your ad on Facebook or Google and calls.
• The AI Employee answers immediately, collects their information, and schedules a trial class.
• The parent is automatically placed into your workflow — they receive a confirmation text, a Google calendar invite, and a welcome email introducing your school.
• Two days before their trial, they receive a reminder text with directions and what to bring.
• The morning of their trial, they get a final reminder that makes showing up almost guaranteed.
• After the trial, the AI Employee follows up, checks in on how it went, and books the enrollment appointment.

Every step is handled. The parent never feels forgotten. Your staff never drops the ball. The pipeline carries them from curiosity to committed student.

The Journey Without Porting

• A parent sees your ad on Facebook or Google and calls your current number, which forwards to the AI Employee.
• Because of forwarding quirks, the caller ID doesn’t come through clean. The system doesn’t know who called.
• The AI Employee can answer the call, but can’t follow up by text — there’s no valid number tied to the record.
• The parent leaves the call without an appointment locked in.
• Later that day, they forget to call back. Or worse, they call the next school on Google, and that school books the trial.
• Your staff doesn’t even know the lead existed — they’re invisible.

Instead of being captured into your system, that parent is lost. The opportunity is gone, and your competitor gets the student you paid to reach.

Martial Arts Scenarios You’ll Recognize

• The Saturday Morning Parent: A mom sees your Google ad at 7:00 a.m. and calls to ask about starting her child in a trial class. Your front desk isn’t open yet, so it rolls to voicemail. She hangs up and calls the next school. With the AI Employee, she gets an immediate conversation, answers, and a booked trial before your staff even unlocks the door.
• The Mid-Class Prospect: A dad calls at 5:30 p.m. while you’re on the mat teaching white belts. No one can pick up, so the call is missed. With the AI Employee, he’s greeted instantly, learns about your intro program, and schedules his first lesson—all before class is over.
• The Customer Service Parent: A parent calls to confirm the testing date. Instead of waiting for a callback, the AI Employee provides the link to the testing calendar instantly, texts it for easy access, and ensures that parent is fully prepared.
• The Upsell Opportunity: A student calls asking about private lessons. The AI Employee doesn’t just schedule the appointment—it also explains the benefits of private coaching, creating more value before they ever step on the mat.
• The Tournament Enthusiast: A parent wants to sign their child up for an upcoming tournament but isn’t sure how. The AI Employee provides the registration link, the schedule, and even answers questions about costs and divisions.
• The Upgrade Path: A brown belt parent is curious about leadership training. The AI Employee can book an appointment with your program director to discuss upgrading, planting seeds of growth at the perfect time.

Case Study – KarateBuilt Martial Arts

We can give you a first hand story on how this worked. Dr. Moody’s martial arts school KarateBuilt Martial Arts has top notch staff members who answer the phone – but just like you, they can’t be everywhere all the time – he does let them sleep once in a while! Sometimes calls would go to voicemail until RevConnect360. You know what they found: 

• 90% of the calls that came through when the staff couldn’t answer were handled just as well as if it was answered live… which meant appointments were set (and showed) and student questions were answered with the correct answer!
• In the 10% of cases that weren’t “handled”, RevConnect360 took a message that was at least as good as if voicemail had picked up!

Compared to calls going to voicemail, they got more appointments, their students got what they need immediately and more upgrades got done! All of this equates to more Black Belts! 

Missing Calls = Missing Students = Missing Income

What’s one student worth to your school? Maybe you don’t know right now but for most schools, a new member is worth $4,000 to $6,000 over the course of their lifetime on average (of course some students stay 2 months but some stay 20 years!). If your average is even $4,000 and you miss 3 new members because you can’t be everywhere and answer the phone, that’s $12,000 in lost revenue… 

On the other hand, capturing these new students – $12,000 worth – didn’t cost you any more marketing money or effort! 

Here’s the scary part… Most of you are missing more than this each month.

The Paradigm Shift: From Phones to Pipelines

Most martial arts school owners think of the phone as a burden. It rings. It interrupts class. It adds stress.

But with the AI Employee managing your number, the phone becomes your most powerful enrollment and retention tool. Every call becomes a contact. Every contact becomes an appointment. Every appointment becomes a student. Every service call becomes a chance to deliver value and deepen loyalty.

The shift is clear: stop thinking of the phone as a problem, and start treating it as a growth engine.

The Choice Every School Owner Must Make

At the end of the day, this isn’t about phone numbers. It’s about students gained or lost. Every parent who calls your school is either going to become your student or someone else’s. The only variable is whether you’ve set up a system that guarantees they don’t slip away.

You’ve seen the difference:

• With a ported landline or cell phone number, the AI Employee doesn’t just answer calls — it pulls every prospect into your marketing pipeline, nurtures them with reminders, and carries them all the way to showing up for their first lesson. That’s where enrollments happen.
• Without porting, calls may forward, but details are lost. Caller ID fails. Follow-up breaks. And the parents you worked so hard (and paid so much) to attract drift to another school.

As school owners, we often talk about building discipline, creating structure, and teaching systems to our students. But are we running our own businesses with that same level of discipline and structure? Or are we still relying on chance, hoping that parents leave a voicemail or call back later?

The truth is simple: the schools that grow in today’s market are the ones that build systems where every call counts, every parent feels taken care of, and every opportunity is captured.

Porting your number into the AI Employee system — whether it’s your landline or your cell phone number — is the decision that separates those who keep struggling from those who scale.

So ask yourself: Do you want your phone to stay a source of stress, interruptions, and missed enrollments? Or are you ready to turn it into the front-line enrollment machine that works for you 24/7?

The choice is yours. The future of your school depends on it. Don’t let your competitors beat you to it.