by cabelmcelderry | Feb 19, 2013 | Personal Trainer Marketing, Personal Training Business Tips, Selling Personal Training
Over these next few weeks I’ll be posting this entire series detailing my strategies on effectively developing strategic partnerships in your community.
I believe that developing strategic partnerships is one of the fastest and most cost effective ways of building your business. It should be one of the foundation elements that receive continual focus with direct goals in every quarter.
Now one of the big problems with strategic partnerships is that local businesses are constantly approached or solicited by others to do things, display things or post things that help other people grow their business. For the business being approached this generally just takes up valuable space and is a waste of time with little to no reciprocal benefit which is why so many businesses won’t talk to you or have a standard practice of saying no.
Here are my five steps to overcoming this. Go with a giving hand and deliver real value that leads to mutually beneficial relationships.
- Interview the Expert
- Sponsor Your Community
- The Charity Lunch & Learn
- Cross Promotion
- Revenue Share Programs
In this post we’re going to cover the second step, which is to Sponsor Your Community.
Ok in this step you’re going to re-approach the interviewed experts from step 1.
We’re going to further enhance our relationship with them by “sponsoring them.” There’s a couple different ways we can do this, but the premise will be a low-cost (or free can often be better) trial offered to them or a select group of their customers as a reward and recognition for being someone doing something great in the community.
Generate materials to give it the right feel. For example I recommend generating a certificate and even putting it in a frame to recognize that you feel they stand out in the community. Then generate some small vouchers that explain the trial program. An example might be the “21 Day Hairdresser Boot Camp” where if the sponsored business was a salon you would invite each of the stylists to try your boot camp for 21 days as a reward for being awesome.
A program like this may have immediate value for the business owner as it’s a perk or reward for their team that had no cost to them, something that provides them additional value just for working there. In addition even if none of these stylists did anything other than attend your trial you know this audience converses with people all day long and by virtue should provide you with referrals (more on this in a future post.) Truly if you over deliver in that 21 days it should be easy to convert a few of the staff to ongoing customers.
Your offer could also be extended to provide so many vouchers to be given to top or favourite customers, further enhancing the value in the form of a thank you or an appreciation. With no cost to the business this is a high value way for them to want to send you customers.
At this stage you really have pushed the envelope of creatively creating a mutual win-win. Businesses are skeptical and reluctant so be persistent. This is why this is step 2 as first completing the interviews will ensure a stronger positive response as each steps comes closer to direct cross promotion.
Next time we’ll discuss The Charity Lunch & Learn.
by cabelmcelderry | Feb 9, 2013 | Personal Training Business Tips, Selling Personal Training
Running a successful business requires having a sound sales funnel. A sales funnel describes how you get, keep and grow the lifetime value of your customers. It is a great way to describe the way that people move through your personal training business and the strategies that you can use to increase the lifetime value of each customer.
If you are able to sign a customer up for a six-month block of training sessions, then they are far more valuable then someone trying a one-time teaser session. This occurs due to the difference in the approach that you create as part of your marketing strategy. The smart personal trainers know how to sell their services and promote themselves. They also know how to make it very easy for people to get into their sales funnel.
As an example, they can do this by offering a very simple way to get started in the sales funnel. This could be signing up to the free newsletter, or buying a low priced report. Whatever the first step in your sales funnel is, you need to have it laid out so that you can measure how effective it is.
From here, you then offer your prospects the chance to move further down the sales funnel. This could be an interview, or a free introductory session. In the case of a personal trainer, you need to have contact with the prospect and convince them into a buying decision. It is a good idea to have a number of different options for the prospect to choose from.
You could have a starter training pack, consisting of 4 sessions. This could be used for first time clients as a way to give them a measureable result in one month. You can also have a 3 and 6-month training program designed with specific results in mind. You can then match the prospects desires to the programs you offer. There are many variations that personal trainers can offer, so you can be flexible in the approach.
You need to be confident in your sales approach and explain exactly why prospects should sign up for a long duration of training sessions with you. You also need to explain the results clients can gain and set achievable goals that will motivate the prospects. If you can show them these things, then you will be much more likely to increase your sales rate.
Remember that having a clearly defined sales funnel is very important as it makes your marketing strategy much more scientific and measurable. You can then change parts of the offer and see which generates the best response.
Remember that you need to have different price points in your sales funnel. Never assume that everyone is conditioned by price. That is not the case. There are many people who only want to buy the very best. As such, you should have a high-end program that caters to these people. You will find that a small percentage of people will take this option, and this will bring in a substantial source of income.
by cabelmcelderry | Feb 7, 2013 | Personal Training Business Tips, Selling Personal Training
My coaching group has really grown and as it’s grown I’ve continually been exposed to more situations, entrepreneurs starting out, those with big teams, and a variety of types of organizational structure.
Through each situation I seem to always come back to two different types of sales situations.
1) Primary sales person meets with every single prospect face-to-face and one-on-one.
This is certainly the least efficient method time wise but in truth if I were starting over it’s what I’d do, and is what I encourage most of my coaching clients to do until they are too busy to practically continue in this fashion.
By meeting with each prospect one-on-one you are in the best position to rapidly improve your language, your ability to identify hot buttons and to effectively fill the role of assistant buyer. In my opinion our version of sales is not really about selling but rather assisting the customer to gain the knowledge and trust they need to make it “really easy to try.”
Your end goal may be automation (which it should be) but for the fastest growth with the best conversion you will grow faster doing it this way.
Develop static components:
- Emotional questions to help people identify why they’re here and why they should make a decision today.
- Features and benefits that overcome their potential objections and increase their trust and comfort with what you offer.
- Risk reversal through guarantee.
- Continually ask for “yes’s” and affirmations throughout your conversation.
- Don’t present too many options (no more than 3 ideally) before asking for the sale, it has to be easy and comfortable for them to make a decision.
I’d recommend this process in pretty much every sales situation until you are too busy to do otherwise, whether it’s a consult or a trial of any kind. If it can’t be done face-to-face you can do some on the phone but this will in turn reduce the effectiveness.
When it’s no longer reasonable to do this (which we still do many this way even after 6 years, a strong reason we have so much control and understanding on our lead generation and conversion) begin to automate through standardized conversion systems.
2) Run aggressive short-term promotions with standardized upfront offers to immediately convert.
In this mechanism you can attain amazing results if you can fully dial in the language that’s used to explain, validate, justify and upsell leads coming in on a high interest trial. If you try this early and can’t maintain 70+% conversion I strongly urge you to continue to do as many sales appointments face-to-face as possible to continue to dial in your system.
In this approach we’re simply focusing on consumer logic and behaviour. The primary challenge with upfront conversion is a lack of trust. The logical way to overcome this is strong risk reversal and upfront value.
In this approach each prospect is qualified by their interest in buying a short term program such as our recent 10 Class Pass. Upon inquiry the interest in purchasing is first solidified and validated, at that point they’re offered a logical upgrade to a full month of unlimited service for a marginal additional fee. This sets the stage of “exceeding expectations” with tremendous value and lends a little to overcoming the lack of trust since we don’t have a prior relationship.
The next step is to lay out the risk reversal, explaining that for the duration of the service there is a full money back guarantee so their investment, even discounted, is truly risk free.
Now we rely on win-win logic to ensure continuation. Upon acceptance of the risk reversal we inquire whether they’d like to save even more money, which of course we all want to save money. By providing a discount an immediate discount on the next month and a small token discount on all months of service and re-affirming the risk free guarantee we create a situation for the consumer where logic suggests they may as well take advantage because they can change their mind later with no penalty and minor inconvenience. This is the reason for the discount, that discount has to make the inconvenience of changing their mind seem small.
With the right language this all makes sense to the consumer. I may only want to try but if I like it, it makes sense to choose my continuation service now because the savings are big, the risk is small, and the inconvenience of changing my mind is acceptable. All that’s left is to do what you’re good at and over deliver on the training experience you provide.
By combining these two systems it opens the door for delegation to key employs. It creates opportunity to systemize lead generation and improve customer service through a consistent method of making it easy for each prospect to want to convert. When we stop continually creating the problems that arise are continually minimizes as there are not too many new problems when we’re always doing the same thing.
by cabelmcelderry | Nov 27, 2012 | Personal Trainer Marketing, Personal Training Business Tips, Selling Personal Training
I know we’re just heading into Christmas but have you considered your personal training marketing for January? If not truly now is an ideal time. We all know there is not a bigger opportunity in the fitness industry than the first portion of each new year. With consumer awareness at an all time high you would think it would be easy, but our services are expensive.
If you think about it logically the consumer behaviours make perfect sense, in fact you yourself are likely much the same in your own actions. Watch this short video to learn what I call “clean slate” mentality and how it may affect your the success of your personal trainer marketing in the new year.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/XbrbWRAsF4E [/youtube]
by cabelmcelderry | Nov 13, 2012 | Personal Trainer Marketing, Personal Training Business Tips, Selling Personal Training
The average adult over 35 in North America is carrying around this extra 20lbs of fat why not help them lose it?
This is a great fitness marketing promotion to run as a “gap stop” at those times between promotions or when you’re not on target for monthly objectives. It follows a consistent email promotion sequence to grab the attention of the impulse buyer, the analytical consumer and the procrastinator.
The final sold out email should be a valuable component of most if not all of your campaigns, if things fall short of plan and it’s not any where near full (doesn’t happen often but can) then don’t send the sold out email otherwise we may as well end on a note of conditioning the consumer to more promptly respond to the next promotion.
I’ve written the emails in a way that I hope most people can use them as is, just a simple cut and paste. It can always help to add more personal relevant details so don’t be afraid to edit those areas as well. Good things to add might be: projected workout session times, make sure they’re during peak times and always try to run the program as small group (like 3-4 participants per session). If you’re a brand new trainer trying to grow quickly flexibility is the key so in that situation I personally would even use it in a one-on-one training environment. You’re not going to make a lot of money in that situation but the end goal is to work toward converting the prospect to a long-term paying client rather than short-term gain.
As I write this it’s November heading into the Christmas season. I find this is the ideal time of year to run a promotion like this, even a little earlier like the week immediately following Halloween. Many people begin to feel guilty about eating candy in and around Halloween. Additionally they’re not yet distracted by Christmas shopping, Christmas bills or Christmas parties but might be thinking about that little black dress that doesn’t fit the way they’d like.
The one thing that is for certain if we push for a long-term commitment at this time of year we’re likely to be met with disinterest. In the back of their mind they’ll be thinking about all the missed appointments and the difficulties of eating well etc. during the holiday season. To the consumer this just feels like a wasted investment.
Instead let’s focus on making it an exciting holiday season by getting them in shape for those holiday events to come so they can enjoy them with peace of mind and guilt free. By really showing them the value of what you offer you will have their trust to make it easy to convert them prior to the holidays for a commitment starting early in the new year when fitness will be at the forefront of their mind.
But that’s just this situation; beta programs like this can be used at a variety of other times throughout the year and can form a great foundation piece for your fitness marketing calendar.
Email 1: Monday AM week prior to start.
Subject: Secret Project 515 (Are you in?)
I’m writing you today to let you in on a little secret. As people we’re all the same we all want the best results in the shortest time and we’re always looking for an easier way still.
As a trainer I’m always learning, and just like you I always want to figure out how I can help you get “there” faster and easier. Recently I stumbled across something that will do just that. In fact I began applying it with a few of my clients immediately, the improvements were immediately clear.
(If you can include names and results of recent clients here could be even more powerful.)
I’m so excited about this I want to give it a real unbiased test (you know very scientific and all) so I need your help. In fact I need the help of a small group of people to help me fully test this idea. Are you in? All you have to do is be excited about losing between 5 and 15 lbs (that’s why it’s Project 515) in the next 28 days, willing to follow my specific instructions and really put this new little training secret to the test.
Can I count on you?
Here’s the deal.
Since this isn’t 100% tested and proven (that’s what you’re gonna help me do) that’s why I need people not within my current training program. Additionally to make it a win-win you won’t pay my regular price, instead it’s only going to cost you a measly $97 bucks! Just like everything I do it’s guaranteed, so if it doesn’t work or your not happy with the result I’ll 100% refund your money.
Now because this is a test project I’m going to keep the group small so you can have my maximum attention. I’m looking for only 9 committed individuals that are serious about losing 5-15lbs in the next 28 days.
- Training will be 3 days a week.
- You may be required to complete additional workouts on your own that I’ll provide.
- You must be super committed.
- You must not have any specific travel plans that could cause you to miss sessions or make eating consistently really difficult.
- You must not be a current client.
- And to be fair to everyone so I can help as many people as possible you must not have taken advantage of any sale promotion in the last 60 days. (Sorry.)
If this sounds like you then hit reply right away because Project 515 is going to start next Monday and I suspect these spots are going to fill pretty quickly!
Always here to help,
(your name)
Email 2: Send Wed morning.
Subject: Project 515 Nearly Full! (wow!)
Wow! Ok I didn’t quite expect that kind of response. Within a few hours Project 515 caused a ruckus. It seems a lot of people love the idea of testing out this new belly-busting secret to lose between 5 and 15lbs in the next 28 days.
I did get a couple of questions though…
Many people are wondering if it requires they have a certain level of fitness to start this program. The answer, no, it’s good for all levels.
Others have been asking what exactly the workout secret is. Honestly, I’m sorry I can’t tell you; it would actually ruin the test. It’s 100% safe no crazy gimmick, not a supplement or anything like that. In fact it’s so simple you may not even realize it’s different at first so you just have to trust me. In 28 days I promise you will both see and feel the difference.
So here’s the skinny, at this point 6 of the 9 available spots for Project 515 are filled. If you missed the last email definitely hit reply right now or call (your number) and let’s get you registered before the last couple spots are gone.
If you did miss the last email here’s the details again:
- Starts next Monday (insert the date)
- Runs for 28 days, 3 workouts a week.
- You may be required to do a few additional things at home, which I’ll detail.
- You must not be a current client. I need this to be independent of my current training methods to really judge its effect.
- You won’t pay anywhere near full price, it’s a fraction of the normal cost at $97 and still covered by my full money back guarantee for the whole program. (What on earth do you have to lose?)
- You must be excited about the idea of losing 5-15lbs in 28 days.
- You must not have any specific plans that will cause you to miss workouts or make it difficult to eat consistently. (I understand things can change so just no 2 week vacations please.)
- If you were part of a recent promotion (in the last 60 days) sorry you’re not eligible, I want to help as many people as possible.
So with just 3 spots remaining hit reply or call (your number) and I’ll get you setup right away.
Always here to help,
(Your name)
P.S. (Add a comment about timing, as I write this we’re heading to the Christmas season so my PS might be “Project 515 is the perfect solution for fitting into that little black Christmas party dress, and it’s guaranteed, are you crazy? What are you waiting for? Just kidding, hit reply if you’re ready for change.”)
Email 3: Send Thursday afternoon.
Subject: Last chance (Urgent, attn. required)
There’s just 1 spot left for Project 515 for some dedicated and determined person to lose 5-15lbs in the next 28 days. Is that you?
I need just one more person to add to my special test group for this new workout strategy that I’ve already seen melt fat like crazy in some of my current clients.
Here’s the details of the program from the last email one more time:
- Starts next Monday (insert the date)
- Runs for 28 days, 3 workouts a week.
- You may be required to do a few additional things at home, which I’ll detail.
- You must not be a current client. I need this to be independent of my current training methods to really judge its effect.
- You won’t pay anywhere near full price, it’s a fraction of the normal cost at $97 and still covered by my full money back guarantee for the whole program. (What on earth do you have to lose?)
- You must be excited about the idea of losing 5-15lbs in 28 days.
- You must not have any specific plans that will cause you to miss workouts or make it difficult to eat consistently. (I understand things can change so just no 2 week vacations please.)
- If you were part of a recent promotion (in the last 60 days) sorry you’re not eligible, I want to help as many people as possible.
With just one spot remaining this is totally first come first serve, so hit reply immediately, I’ll be looking at the time the email came in to see who gets the spot or you can call me directly at (your number.)
For everyone else already registered I’m pumped to see you on Monday!
Always here to help,
(your name)
Email 4: Send latish Friday evening
Subject: Project 515 Sold Out!
It’s official Project 515 is totally sold out! Thank you to everyone who has jumped on board, I look forward to seeing you all next week and we’re gonna kick butt!
If you missed out on Project 515 I am so sorry (I had a few additional emails after that were sent after the final spot was filled) but don’t worry I’ll be in touch.
I always want to help everyone if I can and though this program is completely full I might be able to squeeze a few more people into my other programs. I’ll be in touch with something special for you or if you thinking now you’d really like to get started just hit reply and I can fill you in on the details.
Thanks everyone, you’re awesome!
(your name)
by cabelmcelderry | Sep 24, 2012 | Personal Training Business Tips, Selling Personal Training
I find so many fitness professionals are really afraid to talk to their clients about automatic billing for services. Because they are afraid to talk to them about it when they do the results are just as bad as they imagined, people resist, say no, question them and more.
Automatic billing is essentially for the longevity of your business and more importantly it’s even better service for your clients. You see every month (if you’re not billing automatically) you’re spending time focusing on when people need to pay, invoicing, record keeping, and re-selling when what you should be focused on is THEIR GOALS.
Let’s face it, no one is going to reach their goals in a few sessions, and you have no idea when you start with them just how long it will take because that’s primarily decided by your relationship with them and ultimately their consistency, commitment, all as a measure of your support and accountability.
Your clients shouldn’t be worried about their billing, they should be focused on their goals, you shouldn’t be worried about billing them, you should be focused on their goals, ultimately with EFT your goals are the same. The video below will help you with that conversation.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/M0e2IhLdHPU[/youtube]
