High Value Trials Done Right
I shared this sample of content from my last live workshop during the launch of www.100kptworkshop.com but I wanted to post it again for you here. There’s no doubt that high value trials like the “21 Day Rapid Fat Loss” and “14 Day Fat Furnace” are tried and true personal trainer marketing strategies. In this short video segment I dissect exactly how-to ensure they are effective and also my unique method of maximizing conversion, it is absolutely worth watching as I know this can have an impact on the effectiveness of your personal trainer marketing campaigns immediately.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/TjrI2w1FlAw[/youtube]
You Need to Raise Your Prices
How would you like a raise? There’s no doubt you deserve one, and there’s no better day for a raise than Monday! Seriously though one of the areas I find lacking within many personal trainers fitness marketing strategies is their pricing. As consumers we’re honestly all fairly predictable; we know we want to feel like we’re getting a good deal, we want to feel like we had some say or control in that deal and we’re afraid we’ll miss out on something if it’s available for a limited time or at a limited price.
One of the simplest fitness marketing strategies you can have is to be expensive. If your prices are high you have options to create discount scenarios periodically without stress. Basic economics says that the market will dictate price based on supply and demand, essentially this is true. When you need more clients demand is low, stimulate demand by creating a short term price reduction to stimulate desire and fear of loss.
Watch the video below and you’ll get a much better sense of why I’d suggest your next decision to improve your fitness marketing campaigns is to raise your prices.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/89DhtAotuMI[/youtube]
How I Would (Re)Start My Personal Training Business
There are too many struggling personal trainers! It breaks my heart to know how many trainers leave the industry each year because they can’t make enough money to support themselves or their families. I’ve been their, I can relate, and maybe that’s why it makes me so sad.
This week I have video for you that details the exact personal trainer marketing strategy I would use if I was just freshly certified, struggling to get my business off the ground, or if I was starting over from scratch. It’s immediate, easy, and requires little preparation just ACTION!
I know it works as I’ve had coaching clients use this exact strategy recently and add thousands of dollars of reoccurring revenue in just 7 days an in no more than 10-20 hours. If you’re serious about making it as a fitness professional and becoming efficient at selling personal training I know this can help you. Check it out. 🙂
[youtube]http://youtu.be/gILLivK4eH0 [/youtube]
How-to Launch a Profitable Semi-Private Training Program
Let’s face it one-on-one training is on it’s way out. Sure it makes sense for special situations and injuries but for major profitability in your personal training business an effective semi-private and/or group personal training program is essential.
There’s no doubt that the aspect of community makes semi-private and group training even more desirable to the consumer, so what are you waiting for? And if you already offer it are you doing it right?
Semi-Private and Group programs can be the ultimate leverage in your business but I’ve found a lot of fitness professionals are shooting themselves in the foot when they set these programs up, watch this quick video and learn how I suggest you setup your semi-private and group programs in an effort to ensure the most effective personal trainer marketing.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/uhh7tqgDacg[/youtube]
Leverage Your Time, The Ultimate Fitness Marketing Strategy
What stronger fitness marketing strategy could there be than to leverage your time and do more in less time while providing a better product and experience for your client? I’m surprised how many of my new coaching clients are still offering 60 minute training sessions, or not offering semi-private or group training sessions.
The more your clients can see you the better their results will be, and your technical ability is not usually the deciding factor but rather the frequency of your accountability and support. With that in mind it’s clear there is nothing you can do in 60 minutes that you can’t do in 30 allowing people to be able to afford to see you more often (while giving yourself a raise.)
Watch the video below, it gives you a complete walkthrough on the how and why to move to 30 minute sessions. Isn’t leveraging your time the most effective fitness marketing strategy?
[youtube]http://youtu.be/tTlCsRR04dU[/youtube]
Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and Your Personal Training Business
If I asked you, “what do you do?” Could you explain concisely or would you stumble and have to think about it? If I asked you right after, “and how are you different?” Could you explain that equally as effectively?
I mean let’s face it there are lot’s of personal trainers and fitness professionals. Nearly all promise results, promise to personalize things for their clients and offer follow up and accountability. But really what’s different about you?
Being able to identify and communicate what makes you unique will instantly brand you with credibility.
For instance, my private facility One-to-1 Fitness offers one-on-one, semi-private and small group personal training services. Nothing too unique about that, however our USP or unique selling proposition goes more like this:
One-to-1 Fitness is an exclusive private fitness centre, there are no memberships. Our personal training services feature up to 2 hours of specialized assessment and movement screening. This allows us to develop specialized personal programming specifically for you based on the results of the assessment. Additionally One-to-1 offers individualized weight loss coaching through our exclusive branded nutritional coaching system Your NewTrition™.
Both descriptions are true but one is much more descriptive in terms of setting us apart from our competitors in a way that clearly demonstrates how we are different. We’ve even taken further steps to separate ourselves with trademarked and branded programming giving us an even clearer unique selling proposition.
When this USP is targeted toward your customer Avatar it gives you synergistic leverage for attracting new clients. If you were going to hire a coach say for martial arts how would you select one? Wouldn’t you ask people you know for referrals and/or try to learn why one might stand out or appear better than another?
Combined with social proof and a solid risk reversal your USP is your chance to brand yourself to better identify with your customer Avatar, a critical component to the success of your personal training business.
Plan Backwards
Being an entrepreneur is tough. On any given day you’ll be bombarded with numerous things. It’s easy to become overwhelmed, feel unappreciated, overworked, and generally burnt out. When this happens it’s common to go through periods of frustration and even resentment toward the business you are usually passionate about. What’s worse is all these negative thoughts often cloud your mind so much that you forget the simple logic that continually propels you forward, each obstacle feels insurmountable and no matter how much effort you contribute you can’t seem to formulate a plan that makes sense.
These last couple years depending on where you are in the world have been especially difficult for many fitness professionals. Unpredictable economic conditions have produced cash flow and revenue problems for many. I’ve received a lot of questions lately about how I continue to reach and exceed my revenue targets; my answer is always the same plan backwards.
I’m going to walk you through this process the same way I’m looking at future facilities.
In my mind the goal for a new facility will be to reach $500,000 total revenue in 18 months or less. This means simply I need to reach $28,000 reoccurring revenue/month. If it takes me 3 months of aggressive promotion to get near to this that number rises to $33,000/month to reach my 18 month goal.
The average cost of personal training in my area is around $1/minute or $60/hr. we’ll use these numbers for this illustration. Most of my clients train an average of 3 30 minute sessions/week, or an average cost of $360/month in this example.
$28000 / $360 = 92 clients. I have 90 days to find 92 clients or simply 31 clients per month, or 1 day.
What is your average closing ratio of new prospects? Meaning how many people that inquire become paying clients? My program manager regularly maintains 75% to 85% even with aggressive trial offers and promotions for continual lead generation.
For this example let’s use 60%, very attainable for a new trainer.
So to reach my 31 client target I will need to meet with 52 prospects each month, or 13/week.
When you set consultations or sales appointments how many show up? We find consistently in our area it’s at least 80%, usually more. So assuming the same is true in your area that means I need to set 63 appointments this month or 16 appointments per week.
This is your most important task, ask yourself how am I going to set 16 appointments per week? What means of promotion can I use that will allow me to talk to 16 new people about what I do?
When you become razor focused on this one objective (or break it down even further to 2 a day) you’ll be surprised at how much easier this becomes.
Ask your clients for referrals, use email promotion, use facebook ads, online classifieds, direct mail, door hangers, flyers, trade shows, run aggressive trial offers and short term fitness challenges, all you need is to be able to 2 people a day.
If you want to know what I do check out www.3dclientattraction.com these are the exact strategies that we’ve been using to hit our targets.
In just 90 days I could be easily on track to reach $500,000 in total revenue from scratch in 18 months or less. Having worked backwards is there any reason you couldn’t continue to apply this process and easily exceed that goal?
It’s so easy to be distracted by your emotions with all the unexpected things you must face each day. Take a minute, focus think about what you really want and then plan backwards, once you understand the baby steps it’s much easier than you think. Doesn’t this sound a lot like the same things you probably tell your training clients?
You Should Be Worried If They Say “No”
Are you regularly asking your clients for testimonials? Most trainers are not. This won’t be a long blog post at all but it will be one packed with great purpose.
I’m certain by now you know the benefits of testimonials. Social proof is worth more than just about any pricey, elaborate marketing campaign. It’s worth more than ten certifications and all kinds of post-secondary education. So I’m sure you understand the marketing value of asking for testimonials. But there is a far more important reason to be asking your clients for testimonials on a regular basis.
Let me be blunt, and glaringly obvious.
If you asked your client for a testimonial today and they said NO; what does this say about your service or the value you are providing?
If you are providing the value, results, and service that you both think and say you are, shouldn’t you be 100% comfortable asking your clients for a testimonial? I mean if they say no, shouldn’t you be concerned?
Maybe concerned isn’t the right answer but you should most certainly be asking, “what is missing from my service that you don’t feel comfortable providing me a testimonial?”
Now this isn’t just true of testimonials but also referrals, they go hand in hand. If your clients over the top love your service it’s a natural occurrence that they will want to share and tell their experiences to others, if they don’t something isn’t right.
Start asking, the feedback will catapult your business forward.
Read, Set, Grow! Done-For-You Personal Trainer Marketing
Ok we’re now into August, that means that September is a hop, skip and a jump away and we all know what that means. Kids back to school, parents in regular routines, time to act on those fitness goals, it’s the beginning of the peak season for the fitness industry. Today I have a gift for you, I’m going to share with you a tried, true, totally effective personal trainer marketing campaign that has been used by myself and my coaching clients in multiple markets.
This promotion uses the following proven marketing strategies, I’m going to share with you exactly what I did AND tell you blankly what I would do next time to make it even better.
- A visual direct mail advertising piece.
- An opt-in to ensure you are growing your mailing list.
- A hot button questionnaire to qualify your prospect.
- A placement fee (deposit) conditioning the prospect to feel comfortable spending money with you.
- Scarcity in volume and deadline.
- Risk reversal with a money back guarantee and the deposit being refundable, increasing the “know, like, trust” factor with the prospect.
Ok the following is a sample of the exact ad I ran in a local coupon book. We selected the coupon book because it is well known here, inexpensive and could be completed easily on short notice, next time I would use a standalone piece now that I have evaluated the results.
Though this coupon was effective it could be improved, see below for details.
Even though this coupon was effective it could be greatly improved as a stand alone piece. Because at the time it was untested we wanted to ensure we received enough value from this ad to cover it’s cost, which is why we opted for the very low barrier “Win an iPad” offer to grow our list.
Your version of the 3 week promotion should include an emotional, questioning headline, something like “Can you believe this? or Does this sound like you?”
You should then use social proof to wow the prospect with a strong before and after photo and a compelling one sentence testimonial outlining their results.
Free or not to be free, depending on the response you are looking for you may opt not to advertise it as a free program. Free generally will produce more people to the next step, but then these people are less qualified and can at times be more problematic. If you do list a price point ensure that it translates to a heck of a deal that is justified with scarcity in terms of limited availability and a deadline. In this case this ad is a poor example, as “Limited spots” is not sufficient enough, define the number, and the deadline was missed altogether. (This was my bad as I was in a rush to get this to approval and realized after i had missed the expiry date.)
Now the offer was compelling enough to lead people to check out our website, which is all the offline ad was really supposed to do. Our website (www.PersonalTrainingRedDeer.com) as you can see represents high value to the visitor, with lot’s of social proof and valuable information immediately available, this ensures that most people will stay a few minutes or return when they have time to look around. Having a big website is not the suggestion here, having rich, valuable, compelling content is.
Where the consult form now resides the following web form was positioned for the duration of the promo.
This form served as an opt-in for anyone interested in the promotion, they could not find out any further details about the program unless they entered their email or called us directly. You could argue this would turn some people away but honestly, they’ll never be your customer if you don’t get to contact them at some point in the process, so it becomes your first filter. Once they complete the form you have a number of ways to convert them. Either they:
a) continue the process and buy into the promotion.
b) Navigate away in which case you can have an autoresponder that sends itself within 24-48 hours indicating perhaps there was a website error and make them the same or slightly different offer in a effort to convert them.
c) continue to indoctrinate them with regular valuable content such as that from your newsletter eventually leading them to contact you about your services.
Once they clicked through the opt-in they were met with the real magic behind this promotion, the emotional hot button qualifier that helped them decide to move forward. You can see this final element below:
Click to view full size image.
You can see in this final step the line of questioning is to serve one purpose, to validate with the reader why they have went this far, confirm that this is the solution for what they have been thinking and direct them to buy risk and worry free.
Now depending where you are in the world you may or may not want them to purchase online, we sometimes find in our community that people still disconnect at the point of actually making an online purchase, so you may want the submission to simply be a step where they give you their phone number so you can contact them and handle it directly (this generally works better for us) but if people in your community are conditioned to buy online then you can fully automated this process making it inexpensive, easy, repeatable and easy to evaluate. It could work with direct mail, addressed mail, email marketing, or PPC such as Facebook advertising, all viable options.
As a final note, we never execute a promotion without pre-determined conversion offers to long term programs which I’ve details in my “3 Point Conversion” post. I can tell you that a high percentage of our long term conversion occurs on day one, most people know at that time they will need something longer to reach their goals, with enough value and solid risk reversal many people will make that step on the very first day, this is good for you and good for them.
Now take this strategy and apply it in your own business, I’d love to hear about your experiences and results.
Inspiration and Everything You Need to Know
An amazing reason to continue to help other trainers.
Yesterday afternoon I received the text I’ve attached to this post. My coaching client Sean out in Vancouver crossed the $100,000 threshold, what an amazing feeling this must be for him. In just 5 months Sean went from 3 personal training clients buying a handful of sessions at a time to building a real business boasting reoccurring contract revenue to the tune of over $100,000 annually. He’s quickly outgrown his schedule to the point where he has had to hire trainers and become more focused on systems, marketing and handling the rigours of continual growth. Not bad what he did in 5 months only took me years by comparison, yet if you moved him to a brand new city tomorrow with no connections I bet he would agree that he could duplicate the same or greater success in the same or less time.
So how did he do it, some kind of magic? A whole bunch of luck? Is he a superior trainer? Truth is he’s just learned some of the simple secrets that allowed him to avoid the common pitfalls most trainers make.
If I was to move somewhere else and start brand new here’s what I would do (and in fact it is what I’m doing as I’m planning my next facility in a new market right now.)
1) I’d do some keyword research using the Google external keyword tool. Then based on search volumes, the number of results, and the consistency of those search results I’d get a general idea of some of the competition in my desired market.
2) I’d use wordpress with an optimized link structure and optimized content and setup a website and see how quickly I could rank in that new market.
3) I’d use FitPro Newsletter to create some high value low barrier opt-ins to begin building a list in that market.
4) I’d use Facebook advertising to drive more targeted traffic to my website as well as a Facebook fanpage with a customized optin to build my list even faster with the smallest budget possible.
5) Next I’d head there and setup a bootcamp which I’d fill with human billboards from free online classified ads.
6) At the same time I’d visit many local businesses and offer free lunch seminars to establish myself as the local expert, at the same time I’d offer them a trial of my bootcamp.
7) Once I had 20 human billboards I’d begin an email referral contest and build my list even faster.
8) Then I’d start an email marketing program using high value low dollar promotions to enrol a large volume of people.
9) At first contact I’d begin using my 3 Point Conversion strategy to convert them to paying EFT clients.
10) Now with an immediate base of revenue to offset some operating costs I’d be looking for a brick and mortar building to setup shop in so I was no longer restricted by weather, time or anything else.
11) Once setup in the building I’d begin using resources like www.infocanada.ca to run addressed mail campaigns or selecting the wealthiest communities and run direct mail campaigns.
Maybe this sounds easier than it is or more likely we make it more difficult by letting our own fears or the ideas of “waiting for the right moment” get in the way.
The truth is it’s far easier to succeed than you think and the two biggest factors are:
- How fast can you implement and execute?
- Stick to the simple things they are always the better ones in the long run.
Today Erik at www.FitnessBusinessInterviews.com published an interview we did a while back, it pretty leaves no stone unturned about how I built my business and how you can too.
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