by cabelmcelderry | Dec 21, 2010 | Personal Trainer Marketing, Personal Training Business Tips, Selling Personal Training
Well it’s almost that time, that time of year where everyone begins with a clean slate. Unusually motivated, ready to dive in and commit, and unfortunately fiscally compromised from Christmas festivities and holiday spending.
In the twelve years I’ve been a personal trainer here in Red Deer, January has always been a little anti-climatic. You kind of think and hope that you are going to be swamped, and I mean there is a steady stream of traffic to the health club’s door and endless chatter about your co-worker’s “resolutionary” weight loss program.
The cold reality is though that as a one-on-one personal trainer your appeal is not at its strongest come January 1st. I mean after all why do people need you? Support, accountability, they don’t need that, I mean this is the year, you and everyone else is so fired up you can single-handedly take on the world, right? With all this motivation and willpower why would anyone need an expensive personal trainer? Being so motivated and determined a space to workout in for $20-30/month is sufficient. Forget paying a professional hundreds of dollars per month for all that common sense knowledge.
Fast forward 3-4 weeks…
Determination has fizzled; motivation has turned to frustration or worse…desperation. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde, just a few weeks ago there is nothing our resolutionist wasn’t ready for or couldn’t do when it comes to their weight loss goals, now that same person often winds up feeling so low they just want to push that belly under a shirt and tuck it in all the way until the next year.
This is when our BIG rush comes, end of January, February. The time to pick up the pieces, the time for everyone to put it in perspective and succeed…the realization that they just can’t do it alone after all. Unfortunately you still have a very big problem, or perhaps often just one very big objection.
“I’d love to start your program but I’m stuck in this gym membership, if only I had known.”
January personal trainer marketing has to be very calculated. It’s a time where you must consider the emotional state of your prospect. (Highly motivated, confident, self-assured and generally on a tighter budget.) Once you understand this you can acknowledge that your offer has to appeal to this unusual situation. You need to meet their financial objectives of the “best bang for their buck.” If you don’t than you wind up losing them later because the gyms sink their claws in ensuring they think twice about committing financial resources somewhere else. (Which is what they should be doing, afterall come January 1 they are at their strongest appeal.)
If you don’t have a group program this is a good time to start one, leverage your time so you can financially compete with the major fitness centres. If you’ve been nervous about trying aggressive low/no cost trials now is a good time to execute these strategies to get your prospects onboard before they let their misguided emotion commit their financial fitness resources elsewhere.
Essentially what I am trying to say is that if you are newer to this industry you may be thinking that January is going to be easy. Truth is; it is the busiest time of year for fitness but if you don’t understand the psychology of who’s buying YOU won’t be as busy as you could be.
Merry Christmas, and May 2011 be the year where you realize all your dreams will come true.
by cabelmcelderry | Dec 14, 2010 | Personal Trainer Marketing
2010 is coming to a close, with Christmas just a couple weeks away it’s safe to say I won’t be thinking about business for too much longer in 2010, and you shouldn’t be either.
If you haven’t already you should reflect on 2010, are you happy with all that you have achieved? How will 2010 impact 2011? What will you accomplish in the year to come?
It’s important to write goals, but you’ve heard that before. If you just take a little time to reflect, ponder and record I can promise you, even if you only remember to read or think about them once in a while, many will most certainly come true in the year to come.
2010 for me has been a very important year. In 2010 I
Our clients signatures on this flag and contributions to www.thewaterschool.org carried me to 19,341 ft.
seen our business mature, it went from rapid growth to controlled systematic growth. With more and more things fully systemized it allowed us to turn our attention to the “holes in the bucket” and strengthen our already solid foundation. We now have our largest and happiest team ever. I’ve went from spending 50+ hours a week at our studio to working from home more than 80% of the time. On two occasions I was gone from the facility for nearly a month with no major decline in operations. (One of which I was busy climbing one of the world’s highest mountains raising nearly $200,000 USD for charity www.thewaterschool.org) I started Profitable Personal Trainer almost a year ago and have in turn learned as much as I’ve shared, grown a list of hundreds of trainers nationwide, and am on my way to another six-figure income stream on a hobby part-time basis.
Just 4 weeks ago we celebrated the completion of our new home, the almost dream home. Having been here for a few weeks and beginning to feel settled we both still experience moments that we can’t believe it’s ours, from just five years ago when I was declined for a $140,000 mortgage and we struggled to buy our very first home.
Most importantly as 2010 concludes I reflect and am inspired by the thought that a full time effort to help others get what they want (whether that’s losing weight and feeling great, growing a business of their own, or an employee knowing that I am committed to see their dreams come true) has pushed Wendy and I further down the path of living the life we’ve dreamt about.
As entrepreneurs what we do often isn’t easy but when times are tough know that it is 100% worth it.
2011 is going to be an amazing year, you must continue to push and build momentum as I am, as you do a snowball of opportunity will ultimately appear.
What will I be up to in 2011?
Expect to hear about me travelling a lot and teaching many. I predict our little studio will begin the transition to becoming a brand in 2011. I expect that One-to-1 will also be nearly 100% self sustaining needing very little direct attention. I’m certain you will see specific instructions on how you can duplicate what I’ve done sometime soon. I predict some of my top employees will find ways to launch ideas of their own that will build our business and theirs. And most importantly if you are reading this, and continue reading my blog, I predict you are going to experience an “ah ha” and realize your true potential and experience a giant leap forward toward your own dreams. It’s impossible for you not to as in 2011 my full time effort will continue to be on helping you and others like you as by doing so I know it will keep leading me closer to my dreams. Thank you all so very much!
What will you do in 2011?
by cabelmcelderry | Nov 30, 2010 | Personal Trainer Marketing
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyEwV-L654s[/youtube]
My good friend and colleague Leanne Ellington (www.NotYourAverageBootCamp.com) weighs in on the importance of “creating community.” This is a great follow up to last weeks post on “True Service” and how critical these both our to a successful fitness marketing strategy.
by cabelmcelderry | Nov 23, 2010 | Personal Trainer Marketing, Personal Training Business Tips, Selling Personal Training
Let’s face it, true service (what a brilliant tag line Kal Tire has adopted, a whole mission statement in two words) is very, very rare in our society today. Last weekend I gave the example of going to Home Depot, having only the self checkouts open and then the machine asking me how many bags I used and wished to purchase. I understand the argument the company hides behind in that reducing bag use is good for the environment; however it’s sad that I now have to shop in an understaffed warehouse, ring in my own items, bag them myself and pay for them without any feeling of added value. They rely on a brand and recognition and never earn any amount of true loyalty because the customer doesn’t leave feeling valuable. Soon they won’t even take the items off the truck (which generated a business idea this weekend.) As a fitness professional you will never be able to afford to rely on your brand image so you must condition yourself to provide over the top service. When you do people notice because it’s a rarity that slips further away each day as more and more mom and pop outlets fade from our mainstream shopping. If you make your clients feel valued they will stay with you forever. It’s critical that you call your clients instead of always relying on electronic means, send them random text or email affirmations, a thank you card and giving them your 100% best in every session is a recipe for long term success. I know this sounds like common sense but it’s continually amazing to me how many trainers are seriously missing the boat or just plain don’t understand the mechanics of true service.
On the flip side before moving into our new home my wife and I purchased a new dining room set from a local furniture store, I was amazed that the salesperson took the time to call me and said the following, “I know you and Wendy have a lot on your mind with the construction of your new home and you were concerned about your furniture arriving before Christmas. It’s going to be a little bit yet but I’ve just learned it should arrive before the end of November and I just wanted you to know as you have enough to think about already. Have a great day.”
She didn’t have to do that, we had already felt she had given us good service and were pleased with the result, but what she didn’t know is that we’ve also been looking at other furniture and were kind of on the fence about a few pieces and where we would get them from, it’s safe to say we’ll be back to see her the moment we’re ready to buy. See how simple that was for her to earn our absolute loyalty? One additional phone call.
by cabelmcelderry | Nov 9, 2010 | Personal Trainer Marketing, Personal Training Business Tips, Selling Personal Training
In the last couple posts I’ve talked about the mechanics of building your personal trainer marketing funnel. Still for most the big key task is continually growing the steady in stream of new prospects into your marketing funnel. At some point though, you need to be able to systematically move people from potential buyers to buyers who are ready to commit.
Truth is this is a much simpler equation than you might expect, it must include three parts. Any time a marketing campaign fails the underlying reason why is always a consideration of one of the following three components.
1) Value – Now by value I’m not talking about the offer, the cost or any kind of pitch. I am talking about your (or the image of your company’s) perceived value to the consumer. This is essentially the by-product of your efforts to build a relationship with them through any means or point of contact. Quite simply the content, information, education or investment you have made in them without ever asking for anything in return.
2) The Pitch – The high value, irresistible offer or deal you have presented to try to catch their attention or to encourage them to take action. All good pitches will include a service or package that represents above average value (such as a service package including some bonuses of some sort), a measure of scarcity or limited availability, and a tight deadline.
3) A Close – A close is simply the final push to the point of action. It’s the moment past the pitch where you connect the emotions and desires of the prospect to the offer or pitch presented. It’s human nature, the majority of our decisions are based on emotion and ultimately how we feel about them or how we commit to them is a product of how strongly we feel about that decision. It’s critical you learn how to align your services with the emotions of your prospects. (search for posts on selecting your niche if you are completely confused.
Any marketing campaign you run, any attempt to attract more customers can be analyzed by these three factors. The value you present to your prospects prior to, during and in between pitches will have the biggest effect on the outcome of each. Remember what zig Ziglar says, “you help enough people get what they want and you will get what you want.” It’s true, you truly have to be ready, willing to invest in people fully, really make a difference in their lives, if you maintain that relationship with the prospects in your personal trainer marketing funnel and I guarantee they will reward you with their business.
by cabelmcelderry | Nov 4, 2010 | Personal Trainer Marketing, Personal Training Business Tips, Selling Personal Training
How long a period has elapsed since your last 10 inquiries for your service? Of those 10 how many did you get to meet with and spend any amount of time with? And of those how many became paying clients? If you can’t answer this off the top of your head you should be able to within 30 seconds (or however long it takes you to open that spreadsheet.)
This small series of stats can have a profound effect on your business. Without knowing these numbers you really have no idea what people may or may not like about your service or if the majority are buying. As a Profitable Personal Trainer next to training clients and producing great results you have a very important job, that job is to master set, show, close.
We’ve been talking a lot about your personal trainer marketing funnel, specifically how to create it. As your website establishes itself, as you get more involved in the community and so on you will find that the flywheel for generating new prospects and leads will begin to turn on its own. Your next responsibility is then to begin providing offers to your now loyal listeners that will encourage them to take the next step and contact or meet with you. You are now in the phase of developing systems to set targets and goals for new appointments set. A great bench mark is to just simply try to set one new potential client meeting per weekday. Achieving this alone will easily have you on track to earn six or multiple six figure incomes.
The show portion becomes the loosely scripted, mostly repeatable presentation or information that is provided to your potential clients. Now I’m not saying you need to have something ready to go word for word, but you need to have a pattern to follow. For instance we begin each new consultation with a series of questions to understand the wants, needs, emotions, and experiences of our guest. From there our program manager may show all of or focus on specific parts of our programming presentation more relative the emotions and interests of that potential client. By using a similar pattern to each new meeting it allows you to test new ideas and improve it as you go to ensure you are maintaining the highest possible conversion rate.
The close portion will be the hard statistic of how many did buy versus those that didn’t Again you could track this for particular promotions as well as broad across the board. Either way you can see which offers potential clients are the most receptive to and begin to make adjustments. Sometimes it’s just how the offer is presented or the total perceived value but either way you now have a simple way to validate your outcomes with new potential clients.
So with your marketing funnel in place begin working on being able to set one new potential client meeting per weekday or an average of twenty per month. Divide the number that show by the number set and you know your show percentage, typically we find about 80% show in our area and the industry norm would be about 60%. Next divide the number that close or buy by the number that show up and this will be your close percentage, for this you want to aim to be 80% as a minimum or above. These simple metrics will create a rock solid foundation under your business.
