Are you feeling stuck in your business?
Stressed…
Frustrated…
Burnt out…
I talk with gym owners all-day every-day and I hear it a ton.
You don’t know what you don’t know, and you don’t know where to start.
You hear the way to fix this is “Systems.”
It’s like systems are magic beans.
They’ll fix everything!
How Most Gym Owners See Systems
Well, that won’t help if you don’t know two important things:
- Which systems you need.
- How to apply them.
Every business is different, so if you download something that seems cool and just use it as-is, it probably won’t work.
That means wasted time, money, and opportunities.
A good system works on principles, not methods.
It’s like strength training.
To get someone stronger, you write their program using the PRINCIPLE of “overload.”
That just means your client does more of something than they did before.
The specific METHOD you use can vary.
You can add more weight, change the rep scheme, etc.
In this post I’ll let you know:
- 2 of the most important systems any business needs
- Why you need them
- How to make them work FOR YOU
I’ll also give you links to some videos to clear things up for you even further.
Let’s get started.
1. Lead Nurturing System
What is it?
A lead nurturing system allows you to systematically bring someone from a lead to a paying client.
Why you need it.
It takes an average of 5-7 contacts (that can mean phone calls, emails, or texts) just to bring someone in for an initial conversation.
If you don’t systemize how you manage those contacts, you risk letting those valuable leads fall through the cracks or losing them by not demonstrating your true value and professionalism.
How to make it work for you.
Understand the 5 defined stages in a sales pipeline.
- Lead – Someone has expressed interest in your service
- Prospect – You have communicated directly with a lead
- 1st Commitment – They have committed to a discovery call or success session
- FEO – They bought your initial Front End Offer
- CO – They bought your core offer
Depending on your business model and lead source, each lead may spend a different amount of time in each of these stages and sometimes may skip a stage completely.
For example, a referral may jump right from Prospect to CO, while a Facebook lead may stay in the lead stage for weeks or even longer.
Your system is working when you know exactly how and when to communicate with a lead in each of these stages, with the express purpose of moving them into the next stage.
For more information.
You can watch this video to get more details on how to put together your system and everything you need to make it work for you.
2. Marketing Calendar
What is it?
A marketing calendar is a broad view of all your marketing activities and tasks organized over a specific period of time.
Why do you need it?
One word: Organization.
A marketing calendar organizes EVERYTHING about your marketing from the long-range view (next month’s big Holiday Promo) down to the daily, weekly, and monthly tasks involved in putting it together.
This ensures that your marketing activities are supporting the long-range goals you have for your business and will organize everything you have to do to make sure your strategy is well executed.
A marketing calendar will also help control your lead flow so you can organize things like budget and staffing instead of guessing and hoping.
How do you make it work for you?
First, you must figure out the types of marketing activities YOU want to do.
There are a million different promotions you can put together, but whatever you do must fit into what you want your business to be and to stand for.
You must also make whatever you do sustainable for your business.
It’s also important to understand that not all marketing has to be a big, involved promotion.
Scheduling 3 social media posts each week can be effective and should be on your marketing calendar, for example.
You’ll know your marketing calendar is working for you when you are able to guess the return on each marketing activity with some degree of accuracy.
This will always be a work in progress but it’s important to always strive to improve.
For more information.
This video will give you more information on what a good marketing calendar includes, how to put one together, and different kinds of marketing activities you can include.
Let’s finish up.
Systems are tricky but a good system is going to make things easier and more manageable, not more stressful and unsustainable.
Many gym owners think systems need to be overly elaborate but that’s not true. Quite the opposite.
Just like a diet, the best systems are easy to follow. If a system isn’t making things easier it isn’t worth using.
Remember Einstein’s quote, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
Einstein was wicked smart
The key to using systems in your business is knowing which ones to use and how to apply them.
That may not be as easy as it sounds, though, and it can be a big help to get an outside view of your business from someone that can identify these things.
If you need help applying these, or any other, systems to your business, book a free Strategy Session to talk with one of our coaches.
