Special Guest: Steve Hochman “The Boot Camp Dominator”
My colleague and buddy the crazy Steve Hochman took the time to send me this video to amp you up to go get lot’s of new personal training and fitness boot camp clients. This is perfect timing for this, while you’re at it you may really want to check out Steve’s Boot Camp Formula 5 for more ways to take yout boot camp over the top!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqj5yEzgxMg[/youtube]
How to instantly earn an extra $5760 a year or more.
Today we had our monthly team meeting. Our discussion had a very important focus for everyone to consider, is it easier to attract new clients or retain the ones you have? You guessed it, keep the ones you have, but have you ever considered the math behind it?
In any given geographical area there are only so many people. Of those people it’s generally accepted that 8-13% of the total population will possibly be looking or using a service like ours. For easy numbers use 10%. Now list out all of your competition, it’s easy to see these numbers dwindle.
Now consider how many people are left for you to draw from and attract as personal training clients. People are going to come and go but the question becomes can you keep them longer? It may not seem like much to lose 1-3 clients a month but when you start to do the mat it can be pretty staggering. Let’s use the average of 2 per month. On average the majority of our clients see us 3 times per week for 30 minute sessions, let’s assume your training rates are the national average of about a $1/min. So each client lost is costing you about $360/month or a grand total of $8640 over the course of the year! ($30X3X2X12)
Now you won’t prevent everyone from quitting but let me tell you, and we know this from tracking within our facility, that only about 1/3 of people quit for reasons other than they are not getting enough value. Sure they may tell they can’t afford it or they are just ready to work on their own but in truth all they are saying is that your services are no longer providing enough value for them to justify the cost. A classic example of this is that thing you want so bad you scrimp, save, cut corners and get it anyways. We all do it, and we will all do it again.
Simple steps to retaining clients:
- Recognize their successes more often. Not just during their sessions, make a point to give them a quick call, send them an email, congratulate them on Facebook or make some kind of simple silly little award.
- Ask yourself can you feel 100% sincere and comfortable and believe that you deserve to mention at the end of every session, “great job today! By the way I am never too busy for referrals, I’d really like to train more people like you.” You might think it weird to say this all the time but in truth you need to because your clients are talking about you or thinking about what they are doing but many won’t actively think to refer if you don’t remind them.
- Deliver over the top service, the next time a client cancels suddenly just take 1/3 of the time you had planned to be with them to call, email, or Facebook them and other clients to tell them how great they are and how much you appreciate them. If you just invested these few precious minutes all the time you will be the busiest trainer in your area in no time.
- As my buddy Steve Hochman says go “APE” shit in every session with your clients. Appreciate them, be Passionate and Enthusiastic.
It’s really that simple, we always make things harder than they are. I see the numbers and the math behind our business every day; I know if you just work on these things and make them habit you will retain more clients longer. After all wouldn’t you like to instantly increase your earnings by $5760 a year? ($8460 less the 1/3 of client cancels for reasons beyond your control.)
Business Ignition Workshop – What Did You Learn?
Always meet new challenges head on!
Man what a weekend, first rafting down the Kicking Horse on Saturday with Apline Rafting and then spending the day with North America’s top fitness marketer Bedros Keuilian at my Personal Trainer Business Ignition Workshop in Calgary.
38 of Canada’s soon to be top fitness experts were drenched with nearly 8 hours of super valuable content ranging from getting going as a solo trainer, to expanding to operate your own studio, to every dirty little trade secret used by the world’s top internet marketers to dominate the search engines, out position, out perform, and out earn just about anyone in your path.
I’ve been coaching with Bedros for over 3 years; I’m part of his elite seven figure mastermind group. It was an honour to speak alongside him for the second time but it’s truly amazing how many new ideas and how much I learn still every single time I hear him speak.
Bedros Keuilian comes to Canada.
My favourite parts are still always the list building and conversion tactics, your list is so critical to rapid physical growth. For those of you that weren’t there this weekend I will share something with you that only my elite coaching clients have known or talked about to this point that was shared this weekend.
A little while ago working with one of my elite coaching clients we discovered something. Recipes are powerful list builders. By posting a simple classified with a catch title and the instruction to simply reply to the ad he has been growing his email list by as much as a 100 new contacts a week. By using ongoing contacts you can quickly grow a big list of warm prospects in as little as 30 days. A list of 500 people can easily produce a $100,000+ income for a personal trainer. So far he’s taken a list of a couple hundred to nearly a thousand in roughly 60 days.
Here’s a sample of what your ad might look like:
Mouth Water, Good For You, Chocolate Muffins
Everyone has a sweet tooth, satisfy yours while still getting in great shape. Simply reply to this ad with your name and email and I will send you this recipe and others like it for free. Recipes provided by (your area)’s top personal trainers.
This can be run on electronic classifieds; it could even be run in print. It has been one of our absolute best list building, high converting classifieds.
What were some of the “big” items you learned this weekend? If there’s enough interest I may make the workshop video available. Leave your comments let me know the big take away items for you and if you’d like to get your hands on the workshop video.
The Conversion Pitch
Yes Star Wars is my favorite all time movie!
If you’ve been reading Profitable Personal Trainer at all you know that the fitness marketing strategies I like to employ the most are the ones that revolve around giving over the top value to your prospects. It’s not rocket science, its simple rapport, invest in people and they in turn will invest in you. As Zig Zigler so profoundly says, “the more you help others get what they want the more likely you will get what you want.”
Now it is that simple, and yet it isn’t. If you’ve been planning re-packaged short term free programs to massively attract new leads, if you’ve been offering up blockbuster high value trial packages so it’s a no brainer for people to try your services, don’t forget you still have to ask them or present them with an offer to continue. In other words at some point you still have to sell.
High value marketing systems will continually allow you to create a steady influx of new prospects and will rapidly position you as the good guy expert in your community. But without a conversion plan you will only see about 10-15% of your clients turn over into loyal paying clients with little to no effort.
Each time you execute a high value free program (like a 21 day rapid fat loss bootcamp) at just over the half way mark you should be converting clients. Now here’s the easy steps to making sure 80-90% of your people stay:
1) Make sure your service is over the top, they have to absolutely love what they are doing when they are training with you. (duh)
2) Make sure they get results. Give them all your best stuff and go the extra mile with accountability to ensure rapid results do happen. (duh #2)
3) Present them an irresistible offer. Discount their first month, offer them extra bonuses that cost you nothing. (An Infrared Sauna works so wonderful for this, in Red Deer a sauna drop-in cost like $15, but 10 sessions in the sauna costs me about $1.00 worth of power.) Free bonuses from professional partners. The e-book you recently wrote. The 100 healthy recipes you compiled from all across the internet. It doesn’t take much to really crank up the value.
4) Present everything to them with emotion.
Mrs. Jones you came to me 50 lbs overweight, you are on high blood pressure medication and type II diabetes runs in your family. It’s been just 2 weeks and you have already dropped 11 lbs, and just last week I noticed you were able to complete 40 squats and on day 1 you could only do 2. You mentioned you are sleeping better and your clothes are getting loose. I know you’re not yet done your trial but I am so proud of your results I wanted to give you this…(insert high value offer). There is no pressure at all to continue but man your results are going so good, I really want to see you lose that 50lbs in no time, don’t you agree things are going well?
How can she really say no? The only likely objection might be a financial one which means either the value you are providing isn’t high enough or she can’t afford it.
5) The secret weapon, the downsell. – Some clients may genuinely not be able to afford your most typical program, so offer them something for $97 a month. Even if it’s a nutritional meeting once a week, or a couple of bootcamps and a follow up call. The point is if they’re getting results and having fun they will continue but they are not going to tell you how much they are willing to pay.
Bottom line is you have to close, I see too many trainers lately applying some of the great fitness marketing strategies that have been listed here but they are not booking the sales consults to convert their leads to paying clients. Your goal has to be at least 1 new sales appointment per day.
Your Own Personal Training Studio – The Grass is Greener Part 3
In 2007 One-to-1 Fitness came to be, 2000 square feet, every penny we had to our names on the line and nothing but hopes, dreams and healthy dose of fear for the future. What a ride it has been, from 3 trainers and no staff, barely 100 appointments a week to now 11 trainers, 2 support staff, 2 massage therapists and routinely over 500 appointments a week in double the space. Last year I am proud to say we were a strong finalist for the local chamber awards for Small Business of the Year.
The question on your mind might be would I recommend opening your own studio to everyone? That’s an easy answer, no.
I wouldn’t change for a moment any decision we have made (even though there are plenty we could have done better or done without.) the experience we’ve gained at every step has been invaluable and will shape multiple new opportunities in the future.
The main advantages of owning your own studio are:
1) Leverage – You may now hopefully leverage your time and the time of others to produce bigger results, higher volume leading to greater sales and a very predictable income.
2) Flexibility – If you focus on building a proper business plan and work to systemize your business throughout you enjoy the flexibility of being away when you wish, possibly for extended periods, or being able to leave on a moment’s notice always knowing your clients will be taken care of.
3) Assets – All the money you have tied up in equipment, your regular volume of sales (if you use EFT) will provide value to financial institutions allowing you to continue to grow fast than you could without.
4) Income Potential – Within a system you now have the opportunity to earn significantly more income. To a degree your income potential is only limited by your ability to push the business forward but this potential also comes with a price, sometimes worry and responsibility.
5) Something Saleable – And of course the big goal for any business owner, someday being able to sell your product to someone else and finally enjoy the fruits of your labours monetarily.
Now before you go sign the lease on your studio location and open up shop don’t forget to review the potential obstacles in your way.
1) You are the last to eat – Heaven forbid business or the economy takes a down turn. As an employer you now have a responsibility to your staff all their needs must often be met before your own.
2) Does risk bother you? – Expect to sign general security agreements that tie every asset you own to the business, are you prepared to risk your home and every asset you own on your new venture?
3) Start up costs – Even a successful business will often owe its owners or shareholders a significant amount of money for years. Are you comfortable with the idea of tying up tens of thousands of dollars in your new venture?
4) Your success will be limited by the strength of your team. – Unfortunately your vision or opinion may not always be shared by others. Yes you are the boss but you can’t force anybody to do anything. Company culture is more important than you will ever know and not entirely in your control. How will you balance the social structure of a growing team?
5) You are the owner, manager, trainer, boss, crook, janitor, chief marketer, systems analyst, and nearly any other role, title or comment you can imagine. As soon as you apply director to your name you are the one that ever aspect of your business must matter the most to. To how clean your sinks and toilets are to when the vacuuming was last done, to how you will track and outpace rising employee costs (EI, CPP, holiday pay etc, on average every dollar you pay an employee will cost you 15-20 cents more. How money do you currently earn each month? Apply that math for a moment.), to customer service and quality control. Be prepared to make late night journeys for when the alarm goes off or the roof decides to leak, plan on dealing with any unhappy customer when someone makes a mistake, and be prepared to receive the least amount of appreciation.
Hmmm, after looking at just some of the aspects of the good and the bad how do you feel about the idea of owning your own personal training studio?
If you are now wondering, would Cabel do it all over again? The answer is a resounding yes, there are still far many more days I wake up excited about the potential before me than there are days I cringe in the corner in fear. Just be prepared for both!
Why I Think You Should Use WordPress
Whether you are a personal trainer or not you may find this post helpful when it comes to setting up your first website.
Just about every hosting company out there offers some kind of simple tool to quickly build an attractive website and maybe even have it operational in the next 60 minutes. Though I am not intensely familiar with all of these basic HTML editors I can tell you that their ease of use may seem appealing but over the long term they will require far more knowledge and time commitment to produce a website that works the way you want it to.
The problem with the HTML editors is they are not made to provide easy optimization for the less tech savvy individual. If you understand the ins and outs of website coding and optimization you can easily overcome this but I would still argue that WordPress will handle it easier, faster, and better. If you are not familiar with the term Search Engine Optimization understand that an optimized website will be more likely to be found on the first search page and will typically drive visitors to your website that you didn’t send there by word of mouth.
Personal trainer websites should be on wordpress in my opinion.
Using WordPress makes adding new pages and items to your website nearly as easy as writing an email. Visually it can be reconfigured with drag and drop widgets and only the smallest amount of direct HTML knowledge is really required.
Now when you combine WordPress with a number of powerful plugins it really goes to work for you. Starting with All in One SEO Pack you will be given the opportunity to give each new post a search engine crawler friendly keyword title, description and even a list of specific key words. Additionally you can also configure a number of options like to create meta tags from your post tags for instance. Meta tags are placed specifically for the search engine crawlers to read, identify and categorize your website and its content. None of these happen with a website builder included in most host packages unless you do it all manually.
Other plugins like SEO Images and SEO smart links will create automatic keyword links within your content, allow you to apply keyword titles to your images and so on. All these little things will likely go unnoticed to you for a time but you will see the effect they soon have in your site rank and its ability to generate traffic (ie. Potential customers) to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are thousands of plugins available and not just for better ranking but also for time saving features like posting video content as well as all kinds of elements to utilize social networking to its fullest.
In my opinion WordPress is far superior if your goal is to build a website that brings you customers rather than one you like the look of but nobody ever sees.
Personal Training Inside a Public Gym – The Grass is Greener Part 2
This scenario can take on many forms. In many ways the in the gym trainer may have the greatest opportunity to organize and grow their business in just about any direction. Initially most trainers will become employees of the gym. In this scenario they will dictate your hours, your dress, possibly how you run your programming, your session rates, your wage (or portion of the session rate) and if you sell they will likely dictate how you sell and how much you sell it for.
The business within a business model can be the most flexible with the least risk, though there is one drawback...control
Of all the training scenarios, you can count on this employee position being the lowest per hour rate. Now the lower rate is really not as bad as many may seem to think as essentially think of it like the income tax we all pay to cover the costs of the social programs we enjoy. In the world of the employee personal trainer the portion of the session rate retained by your employer affords you things like the following: in house marketing and lead attraction, all overhead and expenses to stock, maintain and clean the training areas, often liability insurance, independent sales that are hopefully better at closing clients than you are, operational systems, payment and debt collection and maybe even appointment booking. If you are a solo trainer trying to do all of this on your own you likely have some measure of appreciation as to how nice it might be to be able to rely on others to handle these items for you. The downside to being an employee is your employer of course would like to make as much profit as possible which also means it’s going to be the most difficult for you to drastically increase your earning potential in a short period of time.
Now the big advantage I see to working inside of a gym is for the entrepreneurial trainer. Within a franchise this is likely difficult to impossible, but in an independent gym after establishing yourself as an employee it’s time to talk to your employer. You may be able to negotiate a position where any clients you attract through your own marketing you can retain a much higher percentage of session rates. Most employers understand that quality people may not stay long term and this is a position where working for your own gain will also benefit them, far more than if you were to open your own business. Or you may try to negotiate control of the whole personal training department so you move to begin developing and managing the systems of that end of the business providing the business owner with a steady predictable income stream with little effort or risk. These situations provide varying amount of risk to yourself but also substantial reward to the business owner. In this situation you would have many of the benefits (and headaches) of having your own studio without the huge opening costs or fixed overhead of your own brick and mortar location. The business within a business model is likely one of the lowest risk and highest reward scenarios for any personal trainer, the one factor you may find too limiting is you are still operating within someone else’s environment and for the most part they will dictate how you run your business which can be a real challenge if you don’t see entirely eye to eye. Next week I will complete this series with my own experiences of running your own stand a lone training studio.
Happy Birthday Canada and a FREE Gift For You!
Another birthday for the greatest country in the world, and an oddball day off in the middle of the week. Today’s post will be short as today is an RnR day and should be for you too. However I figured since our great country is celebrating a birthday that is as good a reason as any to give some of you a gift.
Where would you like your business to go? What could you do today that will make a world of difference tomorrow? How much would it help to know now what some of the most successful people in the industry know?
Here’s what I’d like you to do, write down 5-6 pressing questions or concerns you have about your business and email them to me. In celebration of Canada day I will be awarding the 4 people who respond with the best questions with a 30 minute phone coaching session. We will record this call and you will get a copy of your call (and with the permission of the others) a copy of their calls also. 30 minutes is enough time to easily discuss multiple high income generating strategies, in fact with the right questions 30 minutes can easily change the whole picture of your business in the next 90 days.
Pretty simple, all you need to do is think about what are the 5-6 things in your business right now that you struggle or need help with and send them in. Deadline to enter is a week from today, July 8, 2010. If you don’t already have my email address simply submit through the contact form here. (Never post your email on your site, spammers love it when you do.)
The Grass is Greener on the Other Side – Part 1
The Grass Always Seems Greener on the Other Side
How much money does a personal trainer make? This is a common question, in fact how much money does a personal trainer make is one of the most popular internet search terms for our profession. I think many people finish their education and certification with the idea of earning immediate substantial income from the hobby that they have become so passionate about, often to be disappointed. Usually this disappointment can be validated with assumptions like, “if I worked in a gym I could easily get lots of clients and make more money.” Or, “if I owned my own studio I would make more money by employing other trainers.” This three part post is dedicated to helping you understand the differences between these scenarios and what it might mean for your personal training income.
The Solo Personal Trainer
Ok one of the biggest downfalls of being a personal trainer is the hours. The peak times are 5:00 AM – 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM – 9:00 PM. So be prepared to work a lot of split shifts early in your career. In my opinion if you are personal trainer in Canada you should never charge much less than $1/minute as your base session price. Sure you can offer promotions, packages and discounts but if your rate is much less than $1/min you are likely undervaluing yourself, are undereducated, and hurting the overall market for your services in your area. As a solo trainer you have the lowest amount of additional business expense but most trainers at this point also don’t realize the cost and need for business expenses such as marketing, materials, equipment, insurance, etc. It doesn’t take long to eat up a chunk of that base session rate, but the good news is compared to a trainer working for a gym or studio, or owning a bigger business of your own you should be able to place a much higher percentage of that hourly rate right into your pocket. The solo trainer hands down has the highest per hour earning potential for individual sessions, but of course that comes with a price.
As a solo trainer be prepared to wear a number of hats; you now have to be the chief marketer, salesman, administrator and heaven forbid, debt collector. You trade your higher wage for the support of a team which of course means your ability to attract and train clients may be lessened as you are tied up with other business duties. However if I have made this sound bleak it is my opinion that if you master all the strategies of Profitable Personal Training you can easily earn a six figure income as a solo personal trainer. Does that sound reasonable to you? You will be busy, a high income solo trainer will undoubtedly work 40-60 hours a week, you will maintain a strong point of independence and truly be your own boss. There is only one real drawback of this scenario if you ask me, you will not have the freedom to leave the business the same way if you could simply delegate tasks to others. Your ability to grow will be limited to the time and attention you can dedicate to your business day in and day out for as long as you can avoid burnout. Each time you take an extended absence you will have to come back and work that much harder to make up ground as no one is there to stoke the fire when you are away. For solo trainers with families, I highly recommend disability insurance. This is where most of you will start; the question is where will you go? I think it’s really important to understand the dynamics of all scenarios for proper business/career planning. Next week we’ll discuss what business inside of another business may look like.
Are You a Crappy Trainer? (15 Point Self Assessment)
How many of these things are you already doing well?
June and the summer months are some of the toughest months for many personal trainers. I’ve been receiving all kinds of emails from trainers asking what they need to do differently to survive these difficult months. In the main time we’ve had a near record breaking month at One-to-1 Fitness for new business, the formula is simpler than you think. Below is a 15 point checklist, read each one and then ask yourself if you are doing this effectively, if not spend a few minutes jotting down how you might implement this or do it better, commit to this for the next 60 days and by September you will never believe the summer is bad for personal training again.
- Always Build the List. Your most important marketing task for successful anything (in this case personal training) is the campaigns that build your list. The list is king, the bigger it the easier, and more importantly, the more predictable sales/client attraction is.
- Recognize and reward. Every living being on the face of the earth emotionally thrives on recognition and reward; we are hard wired for it. Recognize your clients and your staff as often as possible. Build a cult following by providing reward, this can be as simple as a thank you card or a big gold star.
- Remember that success likes speed. Don’t wait too long on ideas, develop a plan and take immediate action. As one idea or campaign blends to the next the momentum will carry you to massively grow your business.
- Continually ask for testimonials. Social proof will allow you to sell anything. Results are an incredibly powerful tool, share those results with others and your services will sell themselves.
- Get out of your comfort zone. Volunteer, join social clubs, attend networking functions, book free seminar sessions and lunch and learns. Try to talk to at least 10 new people in your community each day. Get out there and get known.
- Deliver, big time. Call your clients, see how they are doing. Email them or send them text messages. Remember you are building a relationship, strong client relationships will keep them with you forever. These little things provide so much additional value your clients will make you the talk of the town.
- Always be asking for referrals. Find subtle and creative ways to ask for referrals and make sure it’s always on your clients minds.
- Use email marketing for constant contact. Email marketing is one of the most powerful cost effective tools available to you (and why your list building is so important.) Keep your list warm by constantly providing them value through killer content. This maintains and elevates your expert status and ensures business longevity.
- Sell the lifestyle not the session. Selling packages of sessions is dead, automated monthly billing (EFT) is the key to success, get it in action immediately, and at first even as simple as post-dated cheques while you work through the steps with your bank.
- Use high value free programs and special repackage offers to quickly attract tonnes of new customers.
- Develop win-win relationships with local businesses and develop a large scale bonus program for clients and prospects. Use these bonuses and special offers to convert new prospects to new EFT agreements.
- Write specific goals. Just like you tell your clients set your own goals and then work backwards week by week to develop your plan to achieve that goal and hold yourself accountable.
- Don’t re-invent the wheel. Use the tools of others, attend conferences, get a coach, look at a franchise.
- Systemize everything. Think of each process like you are going to have to complete it a 100 times or more, develop a system around each action, process, or marketing campaign. Soon situations are just a repeat process and planning becomes what system to engage next. You will soon be able to see weeks and months ahead.
- Most importantly, never give up!
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