How Far Do I Chase a Personal Training Prospect?
One of my coaching clients wrote me an email to ask about how far to chase a procrastinating client. You know the
ones I’m talking about…
…I need to talk to my husband about.
…I’m not sure, let me think about it.
…I haven’t decided yet.
…my husband doesn’t want me to do it(thinks it’s too expensive.)
…etc, etc.
We could go on for hours creating a long, long list of all the dodgy excuses people have or will give you. Now don’t be discouraged by this because I can almost guarantee you have used a similarly dodgy excuse in some situation where you just procrastinating about some form of commitment. Whether that be for a service of some kind, the purchase of a high priced item, etc. The first step in dealing with these objections is recognizing where they come from. It’s simple, it’s one word…fear. That’s right people are dodgy and non-committing for this one reason, they are afraid. They are afraid you will let them down, that they will let themselves down, that they will get ripped off, that they won’t experience results, etc. I mean think about it for a second, but not about your customers, about yourself.
The last TV I bought I remember being in Bestbuy and being astounded by the kid’s knowledge about TV’s. It wasn’t even in question whether I was going to buy one, I already knew I was, and yet in spite of all his knowledge and reassurance I still walked away empty handed that night, I was afraid. I had to do my own research, I had to validate what he was saying so I didn’t experience buyer’s remorse, I had to overcome the fear of the cost (which was no more than what I had expected to pay.)
My point is that your clients that seem to sit on the fence and/or fade away without buying are only doing so because they are afraid. It’s time for you to carefully and politely call their BS. Reflect each dodgy excuse and bring them face to face with their real emotions, allow them to face and overcome their fears with your careful assistance.
Example: Let me think about it some more.
“Mrs. Jones you said you wanted to lose 10lbs, have more energy and feel better right? (yes) So what is it that you need to think about? (I just need to think about it.) Mrs. Jones forgive me for pushing but when you say you need to think about it, is there something you are afraid of? I know many people worry that it won’t work, or that other programs have failed them, or that it’s too expensive, does any of that fit for you? (yes)”
Now this is where risk reversal comes in.
“Mrs. Jones if could guarantee 100% that you will lose weight and feel better in just a few weeks would there be anything more to think about? (no) Then if I give you a 30 day money back guarantee is there any reason we can’t get you losing weight and feeling better right away?”
You must help them come to terms with what they are afraid of, some people may be difficult but it’s just about reflecting it back on them so they can easily find their own answers to overcome their fears. Try it with your next consultations.
January Marketing
Well it’s almost that time, that time of year where everyone begins with a clean slate. Unusually motivated, ready to dive in and commit, and unfortunately fiscally compromised from Christmas festivities and holiday spending.
In the twelve years I’ve been a personal trainer here in Red Deer, January has always been a little anti-climatic. You kind of think and hope that you are going to be swamped, and I mean there is a steady stream of traffic to the health club’s door and endless chatter about your co-worker’s “resolutionary” weight loss program.
The cold reality is though that as a one-on-one personal trainer your appeal is not at its strongest come January 1st. I mean after all why do people need you? Support, accountability, they don’t need that, I mean this is the year, you and everyone else is so fired up you can single-handedly take on the world, right? With all this motivation and willpower why would anyone need an expensive personal trainer? Being so motivated and determined a space to workout in for $20-30/month is sufficient. Forget paying a professional hundreds of dollars per month for all that common sense knowledge.
Fast forward 3-4 weeks…
Determination has fizzled; motivation has turned to frustration or worse…desperation. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde, just a few weeks ago there is nothing our resolutionist wasn’t ready for or couldn’t do when it comes to their weight loss goals, now that same person often winds up feeling so low they just want to push that belly under a shirt and tuck it in all the way until the next year.
This is when our BIG rush comes, end of January, February. The time to pick up the pieces, the time for everyone to put it in perspective and succeed…the realization that they just can’t do it alone after all. Unfortunately you still have a very big problem, or perhaps often just one very big objection.
“I’d love to start your program but I’m stuck in this gym membership, if only I had known.”
January personal trainer marketing has to be very calculated. It’s a time where you must consider the emotional state of your prospect. (Highly motivated, confident, self-assured and generally on a tighter budget.) Once you understand this you can acknowledge that your offer has to appeal to this unusual situation. You need to meet their financial objectives of the “best bang for their buck.” If you don’t than you wind up losing them later because the gyms sink their claws in ensuring they think twice about committing financial resources somewhere else. (Which is what they should be doing, afterall come January 1 they are at their strongest appeal.)
If you don’t have a group program this is a good time to start one, leverage your time so you can financially compete with the major fitness centres. If you’ve been nervous about trying aggressive low/no cost trials now is a good time to execute these strategies to get your prospects onboard before they let their misguided emotion commit their financial fitness resources elsewhere.
Essentially what I am trying to say is that if you are newer to this industry you may be thinking that January is going to be easy. Truth is; it is the busiest time of year for fitness but if you don’t understand the psychology of who’s buying YOU won’t be as busy as you could be.
Merry Christmas, and May 2011 be the year where you realize all your dreams will come true.
Earn Immediate Loyalty With Over the Top Service
Let’s face it, true service (what a brilliant tag line Kal Tire has adopted, a whole mission statement in two words) is very, very rare in our society today. Last weekend I gave the example of going to Home Depot, having only the self checkouts open and then the machine asking me how many bags I used and wished to purchase. I understand the argument the company hides behind in that reducing bag use is good for the environment; however it’s sad that I now have to shop in an understaffed warehouse, ring in my own items, bag them myself and pay for them without any feeling of added value. They rely on a brand and recognition and never earn any amount of true loyalty because the customer doesn’t leave feeling valuable. Soon they won’t even take the items off the truck (which generated a business idea this weekend.) As a fitness professional you will never be able to afford to rely on your brand image so you must condition yourself to provide over the top service. When you do people notice because it’s a rarity that slips further away each day as more and more mom and pop outlets fade from our mainstream shopping. If you make your clients feel valued they will stay with you forever. It’s critical that you call your clients instead of always relying on electronic means, send them random text or email affirmations, a thank you card and giving them your 100% best in every session is a recipe for long term success. I know this sounds like common sense but it’s continually amazing to me how many trainers are seriously missing the boat or just plain don’t understand the mechanics of true service.
On the flip side before moving into our new home my wife and I purchased a new dining room set from a local furniture store, I was amazed that the salesperson took the time to call me and said the following, “I know you and Wendy have a lot on your mind with the construction of your new home and you were concerned about your furniture arriving before Christmas. It’s going to be a little bit yet but I’ve just learned it should arrive before the end of November and I just wanted you to know as you have enough to think about already. Have a great day.”
She didn’t have to do that, we had already felt she had given us good service and were pleased with the result, but what she didn’t know is that we’ve also been looking at other furniture and were kind of on the fence about a few pieces and where we would get them from, it’s safe to say we’ll be back to see her the moment we’re ready to buy. See how simple that was for her to earn our absolute loyalty? One additional phone call.
Moving Your Prospects to the Buying Position
In the last couple posts I’ve talked about the mechanics of building your personal trainer marketing funnel. Still for most the big key task is continually growing the steady in stream of new prospects into your marketing funnel. At some point though, you need to be able to systematically move people from potential buyers to buyers who are ready to commit.
Truth is this is a much simpler equation than you might expect, it must include three parts. Any time a marketing campaign fails the underlying reason why is always a consideration of one of the following three components.
1) Value – Now by value I’m not talking about the offer, the cost or any kind of pitch. I am talking about your (or the image of your company’s) perceived value to the consumer. This is essentially the by-product of your efforts to build a relationship with them through any means or point of contact. Quite simply the content, information, education or investment you have made in them without ever asking for anything in return.
2) The Pitch – The high value, irresistible offer or deal you have presented to try to catch their attention or to encourage them to take action. All good pitches will include a service or package that represents above average value (such as a service package including some bonuses of some sort), a measure of scarcity or limited availability, and a tight deadline.
3) A Close – A close is simply the final push to the point of action. It’s the moment past the pitch where you connect the emotions and desires of the prospect to the offer or pitch presented. It’s human nature, the majority of our decisions are based on emotion and ultimately how we feel about them or how we commit to them is a product of how strongly we feel about that decision. It’s critical you learn how to align your services with the emotions of your prospects. (search for posts on selecting your niche if you are completely confused.
Any marketing campaign you run, any attempt to attract more customers can be analyzed by these three factors. The value you present to your prospects prior to, during and in between pitches will have the biggest effect on the outcome of each. Remember what zig Ziglar says, “you help enough people get what they want and you will get what you want.” It’s true, you truly have to be ready, willing to invest in people fully, really make a difference in their lives, if you maintain that relationship with the prospects in your personal trainer marketing funnel and I guarantee they will reward you with their business.
Set, Show, Close, Know Your Metrics
How long a period has elapsed since your last 10 inquiries for your service? Of those 10 how many did you get to meet with and spend any amount of time with? And of those how many became paying clients? If you can’t answer this off the top of your head you should be able to within 30 seconds (or however long it takes you to open that spreadsheet.)
This small series of stats can have a profound effect on your business. Without knowing these numbers you really have no idea what people may or may not like about your service or if the majority are buying. As a Profitable Personal Trainer next to training clients and producing great results you have a very important job, that job is to master set, show, close.
We’ve been talking a lot about your personal trainer marketing funnel, specifically how to create it. As your website establishes itself, as you get more involved in the community and so on you will find that the flywheel for generating new prospects and leads will begin to turn on its own. Your next responsibility is then to begin providing offers to your now loyal listeners that will encourage them to take the next step and contact or meet with you. You are now in the phase of developing systems to set targets and goals for new appointments set. A great bench mark is to just simply try to set one new potential client meeting per weekday. Achieving this alone will easily have you on track to earn six or multiple six figure incomes.
The show portion becomes the loosely scripted, mostly repeatable presentation or information that is provided to your potential clients. Now I’m not saying you need to have something ready to go word for word, but you need to have a pattern to follow. For instance we begin each new consultation with a series of questions to understand the wants, needs, emotions, and experiences of our guest. From there our program manager may show all of or focus on specific parts of our programming presentation more relative the emotions and interests of that potential client. By using a similar pattern to each new meeting it allows you to test new ideas and improve it as you go to ensure you are maintaining the highest possible conversion rate.
The close portion will be the hard statistic of how many did buy versus those that didn’t Again you could track this for particular promotions as well as broad across the board. Either way you can see which offers potential clients are the most receptive to and begin to make adjustments. Sometimes it’s just how the offer is presented or the total perceived value but either way you now have a simple way to validate your outcomes with new potential clients.
So with your marketing funnel in place begin working on being able to set one new potential client meeting per weekday or an average of twenty per month. Divide the number that show by the number set and you know your show percentage, typically we find about 80% show in our area and the industry norm would be about 60%. Next divide the number that close or buy by the number that show up and this will be your close percentage, for this you want to aim to be 80% as a minimum or above. These simple metrics will create a rock solid foundation under your business.
How-to Make Your Services a Hot Commodity
I was recently asked a number of questions about my sales presentation that I present to new potential clients. For years I was maintaining a very high close ratio with new potential clients. The great service I provided and the results were generating a lot of referrals, so to keep up I essentially had to develop ways to efficiently handle my initial meetings with new potential clients. Kind of by accident my sales presentation was born.
There are different opinions about whether you should have any kind of formal presentation or not, I choose to but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way that it works. Since the inception of One-to-1 Fitness I now rarely meet with new potential clients, this is the role of our program manager. Having a set presentation allowed me to script or plan many finite details of the process which now allow him to maintain a steady 85-91% close ratio with no real prior sales experience.
You can do the same; you just have to understand how your potential client is feeling.
1) They are feeling your services are awfully expensive.
2) They are worried that you may not deliver on your promises and they will wind up getting nothing for their money.
3) (Especially if you are solo personal trainer) They are wondering if you are truly a legitimate business and will they see good value.
My opinion has always been that by attempting to make your service a tangible solid item you increase the perceived value and legitimacy of what you do with your prospect. With all the bad trainers that are out there I think this is a pretty critical component for your long term success in this industry.
What makes you different or better than other trainers?
For me it’s my attention to posture and muscle imbalances has created an individualized training approach where people lose weight and feel great but usually eliminate aches and pains and learn a tonne about their body along the way. This philosophy has become deep rooted in the image of our studio One-to-1 Fitness. So our presentation demonstrates this value and solidifies the image.
New potential clients are met with a binder full of pages that display and explain the different methods of testing we perform, details of the program, and tools for accountability and support. My program manager explains why this is important to them, how it makes us different, and how it guarantees their results.
In essence we have established our image, demonstrated value, and reassured them against their greatest fears. Because the pages are well organized in a nice leather binder and printed in colour (and happen to display testimonials on every single page to validate our results along with nicely displaying our money back guarantee to reduce and eliminate objections before they occur) you can quickly see how this demonstrates tangible value to our potential client. At the same time it also allows a repeatable format to follow to which I can teach staff to repeat and modify accordingly to improve the results.
It doesn’t stop there though. Many of the materials displayed in the presentation are also forms and tools used to develop client programs and provide them accountability. So when they come in for their very first appointment we solidify this program even further by giving them a completely personalized package with all these forms and materials. Actually receiving this physical package alleviates much of the natural feelings of buyer’s remorse when we make a big purchase. It further legitimizes our services, creates value, and also becomes a topic of conversation with family and friends. That same tool we used to create value now takes another role and helps us generate more referrals.
This is a very brief overview of one of the ways we have made our intangible service a physical commodity in high demand, something for you to consider as you grow your own business.
Your Marketing Funnel and the Desperation Loop
Almost all new trainers, myself included, seem to get stuck in the Desperation Loop. The Desperation Loop is that time where we are trying super hard to generate momentum in our businesses. We’re often struggling to make ends meet; trying to take clients any where we can to ensure income continues to flow. We’re scratching, clawing, biting, anything we can to achieve the security our families both need and deserve.
It’s not easy, but you must continue to do what you are doing, take every chance you can get to acquire new clients today and keep trying to increase your cash flow. Equally paramount you must break the cycle of the Desperation Loop as quickly as you can. Many trainers don’t and this is why the rate of attrition in our industry remains so high. It’s difficult believe and even more difficult to commit to but, no matter how desperate things can seem you must ensure that you consistently schedule a little time every week to be working on your marketing funnel.
Creating an automated stream of new prospects to your business will provide you and your family the security they both need and deserve.
Your marketing funnel is the engine of your business. At first that engine doesn’t idle very well, it just continually wants to stall at any moment. With consistent effort and adding the parts that allow it to maintain a more consistent environment your engine will idle and run with little to no supervision or minimal added effort, it’s then that you can stomp on the accelerator.
So what does this mean for your business?
Well the first thing your engine needs is fuel, in our case our fuel is new leads, contacts and prospects. The second thing we need is a container to put that fuel in, in our case this means a database that allows us to easily add, subtract, organize, and contact our prospects. And the third critical thing we need (while we work on fine tuning the engine) is something to ensure the fuel doesn’t go bad or stale, in our case this means a simple means of consistently contacting them on a regular basis to build a relationship.
You see the truth is as a small business the success of your relationships will determine the health and success of your business. Consumers have too many options, and too many competing business can afford to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to brand an idea. Your only hope at getting through on your shoestring budget is to slowly over time build a relationship.
Back to the desperation loop. In the desperation loop you are only attracting the prospects that are ready to buy and make a commitment right now, those that are not are going to move on and look at other things until they are in that buying mode, not likely to be with you. By using an easy system of managing contacts and contacting regularly you build a relationship that ensures when they are ready to buy it will be with you.
How does the new trainer do this easily?
Well there is only one done-for-you solution I know of and that’s FitPro Newsletter. I talked about this a little bit last weekend in my presentation. An electronic newsletter is the ideal way to: easily manage, contact and build relationships with all your contacts simultaneously. FitPro Newsletter makes it easy as you don’t even have to create the newsletters; the software designers generate regular content bi-weekly and wrap it in a shell meant to look like you. FitPro is an easy solution to allow you to manage the time and difficulties of the Desperation Loop while providing the foundation of your marketing funnel. Build your funnel and the Desperation Loop will end, I believe everyone should use FitPro Newsletter, I’ve used it since its creation and it has changed the face of my business. (And in full transparency, if you do click on this link and choose to buy it I will receive a small commission which I use to offset my website costs, however that’s only within the last couple months and I’ve been promoting this product for years. I will never recommend anything I don’t use or 100% believe in, this is one of the most important products you can use for building your business.)
What will you invest to succeed?
I see a lot of new people from last weekend’s CanFitPro Calgary conference are joining Profitable Personal Trainer this week. I figured it was a good time for a little post on mindset. First let me say welcome, I hope this information changes your life as much as it has mine.
I’ve said this plenty of times, there are days I Have doubted it and I am sure you have them too but it is entirely true: This industry CAN provide any lifestyle you want if you are willing to do what it takes to make it happen.
What’s your number?
Look, it’s ok to talk about money, you don’t have to be a greedy person to be conscious of the financial means you need to live the life you deserve. In our society money=freedom, the freedom to spend each day with your children like you should, the freedom to see and experience beautiful things in the world, and the freedom to help a neighbour in need anytime and anywhere. What’s your number, how much money do you need on a monthly or annual basis to accomplish these things. To succeed at anything you must first know where you desire to go.
Plan backwards, start at the top.
Take your dream, your number, your big goal and the try to break it down into a few things. What things would need to happen to even get you close? For example if you wanted to earn $1,000,000 a year you can divide that into months ($83,333), and even into weeks ($20,833). Let’s say your average training session is $60 and you can complete 40 per week ($2400). Even with that basic info I now know I need to work toward getting 10 trainers to do exactly the same as I do to generate a million dollars in sales, after their wages that number will likely be slightly more than double if I personally wish to earn a million dollars. This may sound like a daunting task but continue to break it down. Do you think with all that you are learning from the Profitable Personal Trainer you might be able to get 5 trainers to complete 40 appointments per week each in the next 1-2 years? (If you answered no you need to read more of this website now.) If I could guarantee that you can personally earn $500,000-$1,000,000 a year for the rest of your life with a 5 year plan doing what you love to do, would you be excited? That daunting goal now may not seems as bad, you must reverse engineer from the final result to where you are, without that clear path you will NEVER reach that goal, that is a fact.
What are you willing to invest?
I hear people talk about commitment, how committed they are to growing their business, how they want to do this, but would you bet your last dollar on your commitment? I hear people say they can’t afford to invest in tools to help them, to hire people, or to use an expert to coach them, but can you really afford not to? I’m not saying you should carelessly throw around resources but if you are serious about success at some point you have to be prepared to go ALL IN. This might mean going on a social hiatus and burning the midnight oil, it might mean giving up the finer luxuries for a time to close the gap on some assets. Whatever it is just remember this industry CAN provide any lifestyle you want if you are willing to do what it takes to make it happen.
Selling Personal Training
This week another special guest, Samantha Taylor who is an absolute expert on selling personal training and especially this aspect of it. She is exceptional at helping people get in touch with their emotions that are keeping them from successfully reaching their fitness and weight loss goals. People don’t want to spend thousands of dollars getting in shape, even though they truly need to. Listen to Samantha explain how to talk to potential clients to help them realize the real value of your services.
Watch this video to hear what Samantha has to say and then I add to it after (haha, you have to see what happens at about the 4 minute mark.) this is the simple secret to selling tonnes of personal training.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7ktEcuIoXk[/youtube]
Personal Trainer Marketing, If I Owned a Health Club…
Health Club or PT Studio use this simple science of Personal Trainer Marketing and dominate!
If I owned a health club instead of a private training studio I would use many aggressive personal trainer marketing strategies to step outside the box of the industry and dominate. The advantages a health club has are: the cost per membership is lower, the maximum number of members per square foot is greater and you can capitalize on people not coming, kind of…and sadly many health clubs are in all kinds of trouble right now.
Well here’s what I would do…
I would aggressively promote a different atmosphere; I would make sure people received value in their memberships and seen results. Uh huh nothing new right? I would do this by employing trainers that would be scheduled for floor hours and provide personal training services for free(whoa, radical I know), hell I’d even pay them out of the gym coffers to do one-on-one sessions for free to customers on a first come first serve basis each and every day. (Something that I have never seen any gym do.)
I would aggressively promote my club to businesses and local groups with free trials. Not a free drop in, not a free week, not a free training session but outrageous value, maybe a free month or a month and 5 training sessions and beyond. (Simple truth, the only reason consumers ever say no is that you have not presented enough value.) I would carefully manage these leads and develop an automated follow up protocol that would take seconds to manage using technology. I’d then employ a full time sales person whose primary job would be to keep generating these leads by visiting people in the community; as well as contacting and executing a carefully planned conversion strategy at the end of each trial period. (This would easily keep your EFT pool growing each and every single month.)
In fact if you are serious about your personal trainer marketing whether you own a club or a studio why wouldn’t you use a very similar strategy? Does it really cost you any more to offer promo spots in your semi-private or group personal training sessions? Or large group classes like fitness boot camps? It’s the ultimate leverage model and if you are wondering if it works, well how do you think One-to-1 Fitness has and continues to grow so fast?
Give then receive, the more you give the more you receive. Invest in others and you can never go wrong.
That’s it, the simple science of effective personal trainer marketing and health club promotion all in a few paragraphs.
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