How We Went From Being a “Gym” to Being a “Community”
Competition is fierce these days, having a strong point of differentiation is continually growing to be more difficult. Our approach is simple, help our clients develop such strong relationships not only with us but with one another that they never want to leave!
This isn’t as difficult as you think, this video will explain some of the systematic practices that have helped us do this (and some just so happen to really enhance your online authority and make all of your digital marketing efforts work better!)
What’s your story?
Want to know my secret to getting handfuls of prospects from my email campaigns and Facebook campaigns?
There’s lots we can all learn about copywriting, in fact I’d argue you and I will spend our whole life learning. Just to be so-so copywriter’s at best.
We’re trainers, coaches, we understand the body. But we also understand people.
“Business” often intimidates us, sales is scary, and we negatively reinforce ourselves with fear thinking, “I don’t know what to do to get more clients.”
The curse I find is most of us way over think things when it comes to business. We’re worried about the right sale, the best offer to run at this time of year, what offer to run after we’ve done, this, this and that.
The list goes one.
Unfortunately it seems we wind up not seeing the forest for the trees.
Ever feel like that?
Here’s a little secret.
And you’re experiencing it right now in this blog post. What, huh?
I’ve found my best and most consistent marketing results by considering the following before I ever start writing the promotion.
What is my prospect likely to be feeling right now?
What are they likely to be thinking about at this point in time?
Example. As I write this it’s November, two weeks before US Thanksgiving.
My American colleagues are likely thinking about the coming holiday, the food they’ll eat, the shopping and deals on Black Friday, and all the exciting times to come with Christmas.
In Canada we’re beginning to think about the coming Christmas holidays, those Christmas parties, the late nights, the great food, the “little black dress” and how out of shape we’re going to be come January.
So that’s what I’m going to write my promotion about.
The offer is the least important part, it’s more important to think about, “how will I connect with the reader?”
Can I get them nodding their head in agreement or thinking about how they relate?
Does this make sense to you?
Gotcha!
If I can connect with them, if I can give them the feeling that I understand them or the feeling that I can peer into their mind I can get them to the next line.
It’s through this relationship on the page that I only hope to keep reinforcing in their own mind the thoughts they’ve already had.
That it’s time to change, it’s time to take control.
That it would feel great to look great in that “little black dress,” that by taking action now the New Year’s Resolution will stick and be a success for once.
The offer is the least important, if all of these other things make sense to them then the offer only needs to “fit” and feel good too.
Adding the elements of social proof, schedule information, directions, and of course a money back guarantee will further the cause but none of that matters if they don’t read past the first line.
i=EAS the “Better Life Equation”
November 2014 I was honoured with the opportunity to speak at the local TEDx event. I was super excited to share this short equation which has been a big part of my life for more than 20 years (though I didn’t realize that until just a couple years ago.)
You see I kind of always had this philosophy with my training clients who always said they, “struggled to stay motivated.”
Imagine that, difficulty staying motivated dieting and working out?
I learned early in my career that my training success with clients was only partially (and the smaller part) due to my training and nutrition knowledge, my ability to “motivate” them was the true difference maker.
Years later as I grew as a trainer and ultimately became a fitness entrepreneur my reputation for some consistent success in the industry lead me to new clients, eager fitness professionals struggling to figure out how to connect with their clients.
So my equation was born, though it was just simply “EAS.”
This short acronym has since helped many fitness professionals use natural conversation strategies to create deeper connections with their clients, ultimately allowing them to help many more people.
As I explained it to many more people I began to realize that I had used this same strategy in my own life for many many years, and in fact I had begun to apply this principle to many relationships.
With this realization I became more aware, and that awareness has only made it more effective.
We’re human we can’t help they way we think, and our behaviours are in many ways pre-programmed, to understand the methodology of your own behaviour is empowering.
I just want you and all the people you care about to live the best life they can, whether that’s because the finally conquered the battle of the bulge or because the achieved all of their dreams.
If you are openminded to consider I know i=EAS can help you!
Please I’d love to hear your comments or experiences as a result of applying i=EAS.
Cabel
Sometimes the key to success ISN’T more revenue
As trainers we’re still people and as people we have certain behaviours that are consistent no matter what. First we live in an instant gratification world. Our clients are looking for a near instant solution and without immediate success coaching them becomes a lot more difficult. That need for instant gratification becomes a huge factor for trust with our clients.
I’ve learned that as entrepreneurs we’re much the same, and unfortunately for many entrepreneurs acknowledging this in an effort to keep it in balance can be their undoing.
You see most fitness professionals I talk to or begin coaching are always looking for that next big marketing idea, the one that will produce massive sales overnight. Even though this may be possible that immediate success, much like your fitness clients, has little bearing on long term success other than a sense of trust from mentor to client or a smile of satisfied instant gratification.
Much like the success of your fitness clients your success as an entrepreneur is about long-term sustainable practices that yield consistent and measurable results.
I know when I was still training clients I insisted that they weigh and measure their food and keep a food journal. I used to joke that we could diet on chicken and Froot Loops if we had to; but they had to measure and keep a journal. The point is that as trainers we know that consistency of behaviour is a key element to long-term fitness success for our clients, yet often we don’t adhere to the same logic within our businesses.
Since most immediately think of fitness marketing when we think of growing our businesses let’s start there. Every month you should have a consistency of behaviour when it comes to marketing, an example would be an online offer and an offline offer each month.
Your online offer might be a facebook campaign designed to generate new leads. That doesn’t mean it has to be the same offer each month. Specifically we’re discussing one online channel in which we can present an offer, though I do suggest focus on that one channel for a few consecutive months to be able to better measure the results. What I mean by that is it’s not enough to just run an offer, you must also be able to measure the results (just like fitness clients measuring their food.) I want to be able to determine how many people seen it, how many people interacted with it and ultimately how many people inquired further and/or bought something from me as a result.
Each month we have a goal of an average of 45 new qualified leads (20 is a good place to start for smaller operations) and we try to attain those through our online and offline efforts. Now if our goal for the month is 45 we try to attain 70% of that by mid-month so that if we’re behind we can spring into action to make up the difference with an immediate campaign, this is a great use for email marketing, and much like a short-term program change to stimulate a burst of results with a fitness client.
Most trainers I talk to tend to just be using this last component, realization dawns on them that they need to grow so they throw out a haphazard email campaign to make up an immediate shortfall. But think about what happens with your fitness clients that follow their nutrition plans really well until the weekend, on a larger scale this is much the same thing.
Long-term success in business is much more about consistency of behaviour than it is the next big sale. I believe this is why anyone can succeed, if you keep doing the same thing and measuring the results allowing you to fine tune for better and better performance (just like training) success is only a matter of time!
Why you shouldn’t close anyone in sales..
In my high school years, me and my friends would spend our weekends at malls and nightclubs picking up girls and getting numbers.
We were salesmen, selling the fact we were interesting, fun to be around and decent enough for us to have their phone number.
Then we would wait 3 days to call…(you don’t want to look desperate)
Eventually chat on the phone, maybe go out on a few dates and maybe after a few months get “lucky.”
I wish I knew how to sell better when I was younger because I could have shortened the process much more! (I’m married now to the same women I picked up 10 years ago BTW)
I believe sales and marketing is similar to dating.
Really, I got this idea from a book called “The Game” about pick-up artist (Great read). Whenever they would pick up someone from the club, they wouldn’t simply take them home right away.
Nope, they would take them to go eat and maybe to another club and then home.
Because by this time, it’s like they’ve been on 3 dates and seen each other in different circumstances and situations to know, like and trust each other.
The “closing” comes naturally.
This is exactly how I envision and orchestrate the sales process at our gym.
When a client walks in they have to like the place right away by meeting someone that can explain everything. Not only are they given a great experience, we give them a t-shirt, some goodies and even a bottle of water.
They are introduced to the coach right away, introduced to the group then after the workout given high fives by everyone.
They’ve seen us in so many different circumstances and situations, doing a fitness consult is just really a formality because they know by now if they want to join.
This is low-resistance selling that focuses less on techniques and tactics to ask for the sale.
You can hire less experienced sales people (which I prefer to experienced and ego driven ones)
And you create expectations of great service, which will differentiate yourself from the competition in a class of your own.
Here are some simple things you can implement right now to make the process seamless:
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Do you have an email autoresponder sent out after someone visits your location?
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Do you provide an amazing experience from hand-shakes to introductions on their first visit
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Do you phone to confirm whether they can make it out to the scheduled consult
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Do they get any swag on their first visit?
Constantly ask yourself “What can I do to make my sales process effortless and automatic?”
Good luck with creating a world class experience, all you single people out there can thank me later for this blog post.
5 tips on finding the right space
Ok so you’re training a few people and getting a taste for this idea of being “self-employed.” At some point you start thinking how great it would be to have your own space, one where you make the rules, where you control the environment. It seems like a grand plan, it feels as good as when you thought about moving out from mom’s house and taking control of your life once and for all. Then you start thinking about all the costs, get scared, keep doing what you’re doing and think to yourself, “those other trainers just got lucky…somehow.”
In the past sixteen months my coaching program has seen seventeen new studios open. People just like you, people that had the same fears as you the only difference being a little knowledge and a group of colleagues for support.
I may not be able to help you today with the support you need to overcome your fears about opening your own space but maybe I can help a little with the knowledge.
Here’s 5 tips that can help:
1) Don’t be distracted by high traffic locations
You may not yet have figured out how to capture an audience through multiple marketing channels like social media, email and events to name a few. As a result you might think that it would be a massive benefit to be in a location that’s visible, that has a lot of immediate traffic or visitors. Though this is logical it’s one of the things I’ve seen sink new studios really fast. The premium you pay for these locations is never justified in the sales that are produced as a result. Look for locations that are 1-2 blocks off the main arteries, we’re a destination location. A fraction of the cost savings invested in efficient marketing campaigns will way out perform that high traffic location.
2) The drive radius
The ideal location is really easy to access but off the beaten path. Next consider how far you can drive in 15 minutes at the worst time of day for traffic. Look at a city map and draw the boundary of how far you can go in those brutal 15 minutes; this will give you a very realistic idea of your real customer area. In fancy technical terms we call this your Isochrome.
3) How far can I get with paint and mirrors?
Don’t look for perfect, look for usable potential. Does it have a small reception and/or an office space? Does it already have 1-2 bathrooms and a big open space? Is there ample parking? Look for the space that you can get started with just paint, mirrors and equipment. Don’t think it needs to be perfect or look like the million dollar facility; truth is that’s a prehistoric business philosophy. Today people want to be involved in the story of your growth and development; they want to experience it as it happens. Even more importantly people are looking for places that present that “down to earth culture” and not the big box “I’m a number” environment. Hence the success of the garage gym!
4) Don’t sign a long lease
Now this might be more my opinion then sound advice, but then heck so are all the others tips in this column. I’ve signed a long lease and I’d never do it again. I believe the key to success in our industry is to be continually evolving. You never know how fast your business is going to grow (I outgrew my initial space in just 5 months), or the challenges you may face in dealing with a building owner (just ask me about unpredictable building operating costs.) I’d never want to be this restricted again I’d much rather face the risk of renegotiating costs every 3-5 years in an effort to keep my options open. Additionally here is where risk is a consideration, what can you carry for an extended period of time?
5) The secret sauce of where to look
Here’s the real gem of how to find that right space. Start by looking for all the dance and martial arts studios in your area of interest. Generally where these types of businesses are located you will find spaces in the appropriate price range for your business. They are often just off the beaten path and yet within realistic drive reach of people you wish to cater to. Additionally, sad but true, a number of these types of businesses often fail. This is important because their space is 90% setup for what you need; they’ve done the work and absorbed the cost for you!
Map out your plan, getting into your own space isn’t as difficult or as expensive as you first believed. The old adage of business was it cost a lot of money to get started, that you weren’t profitable for months or years. I don’t subscribe to this philosophy, if you’ve done your homework you can be breakeven or cash flow positive either by the time you open or soon after. Remember fortune favors the bold!
The importance of selling your personal training services
Most personal trainers that are new to the business are excited about their new business venture, however it is very important to understand the significance of self-promotion and marketing. Many personal trainers fail in business, as they don’t do enough promotion and marketing.
You should always keep in mind that marketing your personal training business is the same as marketing yourself. You need to be confident in your services, skill and what you can offer. You need to be forward in telling people what you have to offer them and how you are able to help them. Once you go into business as a personal trainer, you cannot afford to be humble. This will result in a lack of clients and can result in the end of your business.
In order to succeed in any business, you need to be comfortable with promoting yourself. For many people, this involves getting outside their comfort zone. When you first begin with your personal training marketing, you might not be confident enough in the way you sell yourself. This is something that you need to overcome very quickly. The easiest way to do this is by simply offering high quality training services that you are proud of. When you know that you can help people and offer them great benefits you will be proud to charge high prices and demand the best from people. You will also be happy to turn people down if they don’t meet your criteria.
As there are so many ways to market your personal training business on the Internet, you need to be confident in every marketing message that you give out. If you are writing blog posts, social media replies, articles or forum posts, you must show that you are confident in your business and in what you can offer clients. What you say will come across to the people reading, so you need to promote yourself.
If you don’t promote yourself, then you will be passed over for someone else. You must have a strong belief in yourself and your service. You should also be very professional in your manner, but clearly show that what you have to offer is superior to the rest of the marketplace. Running a business is all about self-promotion. There are many ways that you can promote yourself online, but you need to come across as confident. If you are not able to show your confidence, then people will not trust you (or they will choose another personal trainer).
Selling and marketing is as vital as knowing the skills involved in training a client. Without the selling and marketing aspects, you will not have a business to run. You should take the time to learn and apply the top marketing tactics to your business. Remember that you need to have confidence when marketing your personal training services. You can build this confidence by making promises and then delivering on them with the clients that you train.
How-to Easily Attract Clients Even if You Hate Sales and Marketing
I would say nearly every trainer I’ve met, including myself, started their career because they enjoyed working out. In my case in particular my career began because people just kept asking questions whenever I was in the gym. They seemed to think because I was frequently in the gym and appeared to be in good shape that I must have useful advice. Eventually desperation set in; I needed to raise money for my next college term my personal training business was born.
I only mention these humble beginnings because I think that this likely similar story is shared by many of you. It also has a correlation to the struggles many trainers have to continually attract new clients. I could easily share with you some of the most cutting edge marketing tactics or my latest harebrained idea to generate dozens of leads but there would still be some that would struggle and ultimately fail, and it’s that which I want to focus on today.
We truly are our own worst enemy. More often than not we get in our own way or are simply paralyzed by traditional thinking. Let’s discuss this as it pertains to lead generation and client attraction.
It doesn’t take most new trainers long to figure out that there just isn’t going to be enough people beating down your door to not have to learn about sales and marketing. Most trainers shudder at the thought of ‘selling’ their clients anything this becomes one of a series of serious roadblocks.
I had a real problem taking people’s money at first, even though I was dead broke. I felt what I was sharing was common knowledge, that was easy to acquire, and that everyone should know this stuff. The reality is, that statement is entirely true, yet trainers are needed more than ever because of the demands of a North American lifestyle. We can’t afford to be experts in many things or we wouldn’t be effective at anything. If your neighbours took the time to understand the advanced strategies of effective fitness and nutrition in an effort to better look after themselves there would be a severe labour shortage in many other industries, or the quality of work would be horrendous. In an effort to better manage all the goals and responsibilities of their chosen lifestyle people rely on you to ensure their health and longevity is protected in the most efficient manner possible. Consider that for a moment, if that makes sense to you imagine sitting across from your next prospective client and explaining the same thing to them. Imagine if it made sense to them. At no point were you ‘selling’ them anything but rather establishing valid position for why they might benefit from considering the services that you offer. You are an expert, use your skills to educate others and you will be rewarded with their loyalty and support.
Let’s move forward and consider this same concept when it comes to marketing. Trainers don’t usually have a lot of money to spend on advertising or marketing, yet once we realize we are in business for ourselves we acknowledge that this is part of what we must do. Logically we take note of the things much larger businesses are doing and attempt to emulate. I’m sure you’ve quickly spent more than you could afford on a variety of things like print ads, radio campaigns, direct mail campaigns, road signs and more. Some may have yielded some result and many just made you reluctant to continue to spend money on advertising at all. You may have heard someone like me discuss the value of strategic business alliances or using leadboxes and other marketing tools in other businesses. Only to be discouraged when 19 of 20 businesses you asked simply said, “no.” Nobody starts a business to help another business, even a non-competitive one, succeed (unless you are business coach that is.) So you shouldn’t be surprised when other businesses say no to helping you when it comes to displaying anything from posters, to business cards or leadboxes; but you shouldn’t take no for an answer. If you believe in what you do you must be filled with conviction to spread your message, after all people’s long-term health and well being depend on it. When a strategic partner says no they’re really saying the same thing as you are when you turn away the pushy salesman. They’re saying they don’t know or trust you and they see no immediate benefit to them in that which you are offering. The next time you talk with a strategic partner and they seem less than interested thank them and reassure them that you understand. Then offer them an extended trial of your services at no-charge. If you believe in your message you have a responsibility to help them be more successful by improving their health and well-being with your expert skills. Winning their favour could have long term positive benefits and what better way to do it than to invest in them and make a difference in their lives? Stick to what made you become a trainer in the first place, remember that people first told you that you were an expert even before you decided you would be one. Don’t sell or pitch but rather use your unique talents to better others and suddenly my hare-brained lead generation tactics will begin to work like magic.
How-to Get Your Clients to PAY YOU to Send Their Referrals
By now I think we’ve all heard of the plastic gift card but just in case you haven’t let me first briefly explain what they are and how they’ve been used.
There are a number of manufacturer’s online that can produce a plastic gift card for you that looks and feels like something you would buy at any local chain store. Many savvy fitness pros may first have heard about this from guys like Steve Hochman and Bedros Keuilian. Using a high value amount like $100 having these cards made in the image of your business has proven to be a sound awareness and lead generation tool. The key is to give plenty away through any channel you can. Lead boxes, silent auctions, gift bags at events, in addition to your business cards, with partner businesses as a way to appreciate their customers with a thank you gift and so on. We’ve even seen our cards become a traded commodity in classifieds and on Facebook, talk about free awareness and branding!
While attending a mastermind weekend an idea was born on how to take this whole plastic card marketing tool a whole lot further. A method that not only practically guaranteed redemption but also allows you to generate revenue from them directly. Let’s have your clients refer their friends and family and pay you to do it!
Let’s face it our services are expensive, no matter how good you are you are going to face the resistance of price at times and even if you don’t we can both surely agree that everyone likes an opportunity to save money and get a deal.
When you sign up a new client I’d suggest the following strategy. Immediately give them a thank you card with your gift card inside, explain how it’s used. Next explain that today they can buy one additional card for a nominal amount and if it’s redeemed in the next 30 days in addition to the person they refer they will also receive the full amount of the gift card credited against their account. In addition explain if they meet this in the next 30 days you will add them to your VIP referral list meaning they can continue to buy cards at a nominal rate for anyone they wish to refer and basically get their own training free!
You’ve now incentivized a whole new sales team for pennies compared to traditional marketing channels. By simply paying even a few dollars for the gift card it’s almost guaranteed to be redeemed because we’re all pre-programmed to try to avoid wasting money. Additionally if I can get my own training for free I’m first wondering what the catch is, yet buy buying the card you eliminate this natural defense mechanism because I have now made an active decision to invest in an opportunity to earn my own training for free.
Now this may not appeal to everyone but it absolutely can predictably and repeatedly generate a few more quality referrals each month and that is the whole name of the game. Eliminate the need for a crystal ball with multiple predictable strategies that make reaching your business goals simply a product of execution.
Your Sales Format System
Being a successful and profitable fitness professional will take more than being educated and certified. Whether you like it or not you will need to be proficient at selling your services. If this makes you cringe it may be because you associate sales with the practices of the bad sales people you’ve been exposed to.
Selling your services is never about desperation; it’s never about manipulating someone or forcing them to buy. Your job is to simply facilitate the right questions and information for the prospect to decide that your services are the answer.
Like everything else in your business your sales processes need to form a system that you can follow and repeat each time allowing you to become more and more proficient. Here are some of the highlights of our sales system to give you examples of how you might create your own.
Greeting the prospect – Upon meeting and welcoming the prospect our first initiative is to tie their emotions to why they are there. Their emotions were involved when they first made the decision to seek out a fitness professional but as time has elapsed they may have become desensitized to the feels that sparked the idea of change. We would ask questions like, “when was the last time you were happy with your body?”
Touring the prospect – In our case we have a studio of a few thousand square feet, we tour the prospect stopping periodically at certain areas to talk about the features and benefits of the studio. Each point we stop at has a purpose in the information that is delivered. This information could range from the education and credibility of our team, to our various service models ensure we can meet any budget, to specific features that are unique to us and design to improve your overall health. Not only is the information at each point of the tour valuable to the prospect but the practice of moving and stopping allows the person to be more comfortable in our environment. Their level of comfort is paramount in their decision to purchase.
Defined presentation of services – Now everyone has a different opinion but I prefer to have a defined presentation of prepared materials to show my prospects. We have nice full color slides printed in a nice leather binder. These slides allow us to walk the prospect through exactly what it is we do. Some would argue that by writing this out on plain paper for each person you provide a deeper personal connection. I think that’s a valid argument and for someone new to selling fitness services you may want to try both and see which works best for you.
At the conclusion of our service presentation something very important happens, we don’t immediately offer any package or pricing information, but rather simply ask the prospect if they have any questions about what was presented. This may seem small and insignificant but I would argue it’s one of the most important steps in the system.
Remember as a consumer we always have our guard up, we are always sceptical of each new thing and particularly of anyone who’s asking us for the money we’ve worked so hard for. To really become effective at selling your services you must always keep this in mind. Be the facilitator asking the right questions and offering the right information to help your prospect decide that your services are right for them.
When you do present pricing and package options it’s also important that you only present a couple of options to them that are the most relevant to their situation. Having a whole list of available programs will only frustrate and discourage them from making a decision. You are the expert; don’t make them feel like they need to be in making this decision.
In a nutshell that’s the big take away. Don’t sell anyone, be the assistant buyer. Ask emotional questions and facilitate the information that helps them realize you are the answer. Most importantly try to systemize the process so it’s basically the same each time so you become more proficient.
If you’re looking for a good product to follow along and learn from (and also a little different but very complimentary to the above) I highly
recommend you grabs Close Clients from my good friend Bedros Keuilian.
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