Build your tribe of athletes that live and breathe your brand

Hey guys! I’m Dallas Wicker, and I own Santa Rosa Fit Body Bootcamp with my partner, Katie Switzer. I’m so freaking excited that Cabel asked me to write a post today, I hope that you’ll be able to find something here that will help you with your business.

So, how do I start?

…Well, in the beginning, we sucked. We started out 5 years ago (under a different name before we adopted the FBBC model), and in the beginning, our intake process was totally disorganized. We all know that first impressions are everything, and we quickly realized that we had to systematize our process.

If you’re great at marketing, that’s a huge plus, but like Bedros says, at some point, you’re actually going to meet people. If you’re not delivering an A+ experience from the onset, you’re going to have a hard time retaining clients. There’s far too much competition for you to give anything but your best performance – every single day.

Marketing these days is easier than ever. Now we’ve got dozens of platforms to broadcast our USP (unique selling proposition). And as fitness pros, it’s easier to drum up new clients than in years past.

Now, if you don’t mind having a continuous stream of new people filtering in and out of your program, this might sounds great. But for me, I’d far prefer having a steady client base to build on and not have to worry about getting 40-60 new sign ups every month.

So how do you go about building a tribe of athletes who live and breathe your brand? It all boils down to the experience you deliver. If you’re part of an organization with a prescribed format, you might feel like you’ve got “client experience” dialed. But following a system doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re delivering an experience that people are going to want to write home about.

Going above and beyond with every client is what’s going to set you apart from your competition. Have you ever had a client tell you they are considering discontinuing your program to join the local gym because they offer a similar “class”? If so, you’re doing it wrong – you’re not delivering “the experience”.

It’s human nature to reciprocate positive behavior, so when you have an upbeat client who’s referring their friends and posting about you on Facebook, it’s only natural that you’d go out of your way to give them an outstanding experience. And that’s exactly what I’m talking about. It’s the client who comes to you clearly displaying their reservations and apprehensions to exercise – that’s the client you really need to “wow” if you want to be successful. At SR-FBBC, we refer to our members at Athletes – because if you have a body and you work it out, you’re an Athlete. Our clients feel a sense of pride when our coaches refer to them this way.

So, like I was saying, you can’t cater to only the friendly, hardworking people. You’ve got to find a way to key into the grumpy, overweight and not-so-hardworking client. This will clearly demonstrate to everyone in your program that you care and that you’re going to go the distance to ensure that every member gets the support they need to reach their goals.

Half the people in our program started because they hated working out so much that they gained dozens of pounds. Almost everyone has had some sort of failure with fitness. No wonder some people are grumpy when they get started. They’re in an uncomfortable situation with people they’ve never met and they’ve committed themselves to being put up on display (or so they feel) and be judged. They feel overweight, sluggish and more out of shape than anyone in the room. That’s why it’s important that you clue them in to the fact that everyone has been there.

Building a strong community of likeminded individuals is tantamount to keeping people committed to your program. There MUST be a strong sense of camaraderie in the group or people aren’t going to stick around. Your clients must be programmed to be supportive and encouraging to new members. Here are a few ideas on how we do that:

• Introduce first timers to one or two of your veterans and ask them to keep an eye on them during the workout.
• Call out for them to high-five their “workout partner” before switching workout stations and after the workout.
• Get the group to give a round of applause to the “newbie” after the workout.
• Use color-coded shirts or wristbands to establish certain levels of accomplishment within the group and have a ceremony when people graduate to the next level.
• Do partner workouts
• Reward a hard working athlete by allowing them to train the coach in front of everyone for 5 or 10 minutes of “pay back”.
• Put up a Rock Star board or designate an entire wall to athletes who’ve done something spectacular. This could be a list of the current record holders for certain exercises, (longest plank, most pushups in 2 minutes, most Burpees for time, etc.)
• Take photos of your athletes and their accomplishments (I’m Jody and I lost 28lbs since I started in February!) Post them on Facebook and start covering an entire wall with these types of success stories.
• Print out certificates for every challenge. When athletes complete the challenge, award them a certificate of completion. Frame the cert and cover a wall with these.
• Ask athletes what muscle group they want to work or what specific exercises have they been missing. Helps them feel like a bigger part of the organization.
• Bring a DJ in to mix up the music every few weeks.
• When you complete a Transformation Challenge, throw an “After Party” at a local nightclub or restaurant. Most local establishments will welcome you bringing all of your clients in to patronize their spot. See if you can get them to offer a skinny drink branded with a variation of your business name or get them to offer a shot that requires a certain exercise to be done when it’s ordered (example: floppy Burpee shot, gotta do 5 floppy Burpees to order). We were able to put a slide show up on their tv screens with before and after photos with our logo. They even did wristbands for drink discounts for all of our clients.

So, these are just a few of the ways we’ve worked to build culture into our program. People want to be a part of something bigger. If you can introduce even one of these types of culture builders, people will take notice and you’ll feel a higher sense of camaraderie within the group. Build on that success and continue improving. As entrepreneurs, we MUST be continuously innovating and creating. Don’t get comfortable and rest on your laurels because before you know it, your clients will move on to the next big thing.

#Boom