“Where Do I Find More Clients?”

by | Jun 19, 2018 | Articles, For Business Owners, Stage 2 | 0 comments

As you start your fitness business word of mouth marketing is your bread and butter. You do a great job working with clients and they in turn help you grow your business. But, that doesn’t last long!

Eventually you need to grow faster and acquire more clients than word of mouth or referral marketing allows. Which brings up the million dollar question…

“Where do I find more clients?”

Unfortunately, many fitness business owners end up spinning their wheels in an attempt to get their marketing message out into the world. You scramble to attend networking events, beg for referrals and maybe even take a crack at running Facebook ads. This uncalculated and random approach to marketing rarely works in your favor.

Here’s a better way…

Develop Your Prospect Profile

Fitness marketing, any marketing really, requires that you have an intimate understanding of your prospects. Here at FR we call this your Ideal Client Profile and use a resource called Prospect Profiles to help you layout a plan to communicate and find more clients.

Building your prospect profile doesn’t take long when you use a simple framework to help you think through the exercise. The secret to creating a great Prospect Profile however is taking your time to really step outside of what you think you know and get inside the head of your prospects.

The Demographic

Your Prospect Profile is centered around building a character. You want your prospect to come to life so that it’s easier to imagine communicating with them and helping them solve their problems in your fitness marketing.

Begin by laying out the following:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Marital Status
  • Family (Kids, ages, etc)
  • Location (Neighborhood, City, etc)
  • Occupation
  • Income
  • Home Type
  • Car
  • Hobbies
  • Interests
  • Level of Education

Don’t be afraid to get specific. Age ranges don’t work for this exercise! You need to zero in on just ONE prospect. That doesn’t mean you will only work with this person, but it helps with your marketing. You can create multiple prospect profiles to account for different genders, age ranges, etc.

Goals & Values

The next piece of the prospect profile puzzle is identifying goals and values. This is pretty self explanatory, but important. Know specifically what goals and the reason that the individual wants to achieve those goals for themselves. Work hard to go deeper than “get in shape” or “move better”. Be specific about the outcome your prospect wants to achieve.

Buyers value different things when making a choice to work with a company or person to help them accomplish their goals or solve a problem. Ask your clients what they value in a business, how they choose to work with a company and understand their personal Core Values. This will ensure that you are building a business around clients who will support your culture, not create their own.

Challenges & Pain Points

If your prospects could change on their own they would do it. No need to spend a few hundred bucks a month for a trainer if I could just go to the gym and eat better, right?

Your prospects will make decisions emotionally, we all do, so it’s important to know what they are struggling with during their decision making process. You want to know what is holding your prospects back, what causes them frustration, what obstacles have kept them from making this change on their own or keeping this change. You will use all of this in your fitness marketing to show your prospects that you understand what they need and what they are going through.

Pain points are important. Behind every fitness goal is a motivator, a pain point that drives someone to make the change that they desire. You need to know the deep down emotional reason that someone would invest a few hours a week and change their lifestyle to reach a specific goal.

Objections & Fears

You know those little voices in your head that tell you not to do something or that tell you that you’re not good enough to reach a goal? Your clients have those as well, so you might as well be prepared to address them. Based on the demographics of your prospect, what are the things that would keep them from starting with you in the first place?

Their objections such as time, money, having failed before, etc are important to bring up in your marketing. By overcoming them in your content and in your marketing messages you’ll better prepare them to make a good decision when it comes time to sell. Their fears are the little voices in their head telling them they can’t do this or what if they try and fail at it. What is holding them back from at least trying you out?

Where You Can Find Them

A lot of fitness business owners go to the same old sources for leads. You’ll try to build relationships with chiros, physical therapists and maybe even a massage therapist only to be disappointed because the relationship didn’t produce fast enough for you.

You have to realize that every fitness pro is targeting those businesses or people for more leads. How can you be different? Ask the following questions:

  1. What organizations do my prospects belong to?
  2. What charities do they participate in?
  3. Where do the shop and spend their disposable income?
  4. What schools do their children attend?
  5. What social media are they using most often?
  6. What restaurants do they eat at?
  7. Where do they spend their free time?

If you can do a brainstorm list of these areas, or even ask some of your current clients these same questions, you’ll have a large list of potential places, business or people to leverage in your marketing.

Once you have identified the places you can find more people you need to create a marketing plan to get your message in front of these prospects. That could be paid advertising, joint ventures, networking or any other marketing method that will effectively get their attention.

Master Your Fitness Marketing…

Learning how to find and attract your Ideal Client doesn’t have to be difficult, but it does require that you have the right framework and resources. If you want to be able to grow your business, help more clients and still have the freedom to enjoy time with your family and friends you need to join The Academy.

Inside The Academy you’ll get access to Fitness Marketing Mastery (along with several other curriculum and courses) to help you create a marketing plan for your business. Leverage our training modules and discussion forum to accelerate your growth while you put things in place to free up time and make more money.

Get started for just $39/mo (with no commitment!)

“Where Do I Find More Clients?”

Author: Nick Berry

Nick Berry is an accomplished entrepreneur, CEO, mentor, and author, with a track record which includes founding and leading numerous companies to success since his first venture in 2002. Nick Berry is the Founder and CEO of Fitness Revolution.