Last month, in this article, we talked about the different channels you should have in your marketing investment portfolio. This month, we’ll discuss how much you should be investing in that portfolio.

The majority of independent gyms are underinvesting in marketing.

And because of this, they are getting left behind as boutique franchises buy up market share with their corporate branding campaigns AND large local marketing budgets.

According to CMO Survey by Duke University, Deloitte Consulting, & the American Marketing Association, the average service business spends 12% of revenue on marketing.

Based on my experience in my own gyms and working with hundreds of other gyms at Lead Engine Marketing, investing 6-8% in marketing will replace your monthly churn and keep your head above water, while 10-12% is necessary for growth.

However, not every gym has the financial bandwidth to invest 12% of revenue in marketing, but every gym owner has control over how they invest their organization’s time.

Based on this concept, we will reframe how we think about the term ‘investment’ and look at it as both money investment and time investment.

Total Marketing Investment = Money Investment + Time Investment

So how do you invest 12% into marketing when you don’t have the resources to afford that?

Here’s an example…

1 – Let’s say you want to grow pretty aggressively, so you decide to invest 12% in marketing.

Total Marketing Investment = 12%

2 – Your business can afford to invest 5% of revenue in marketing.

Money Investment = 5%

3 – This leaves a 7% balance that you must account for in time.

(Total Marketing Investment = 12%) – (Money Investment = 5%) = (Time Investment = 7%)

4 – Let’s say your staff consists of you + 1 full-time employee + 1 half-time employee, your total available working hours per week is 100 hours.

Total Available Working Hours = (You = 40 hours) + (FT Employee = 40 hours) + (HT Employee = 20 hours) = 100 hours per week

5 – So according to our formula, 7% of time should be invested in marketing, so 7 hours per week should be scheduled for marketing activities.

Marketing Time Investment = 7% x 100 hours per week = 7 hours per week

These hours can be assigned based on your organizational chart, but they should be built into your organization’s weekly calendar on a recurring basis.

(And remember, marketing activities are activities to develop new leads, not selling existing prospects)

 Growth requires investment. Investing money might buy you some speed, but even if you can’t afford to ‘go fast’, you can still ‘go forward’ by investing your time accordingly. And now you have the 12% Marketing Investment Formula to help you make the proper allocations.

If you feel like you’re underinvesting in marketing (while your competition is buying up your market share) and you’re ready to work with a team of Facebook ad experts to manage your digital marketing investment portfolio…

In the last few posts, we’ve tackled some common social media mistakes gym, and business owners, make when marketing on social media. To recap:

Social media is the largest and most often used platform in marketing. And if you’re a business owner, you may already have a business page, and groups, geared to around your content.

However, some business owners make mistakes when marketing on social media. In this series we’ve tackled those problems with the hope you can correct them and continue to grow. The problems we’ve discussed so far include:

• The quality of your content and not knowing your audience.
• Copying others and spreading yourself too thin.
• Not consistent enough and/or not utilizing tools at your disposal.

Today, you’re going to learn the final two mistakes. They include:

7. Timing Your Posts

When you post your content is just as important as what the content is about. If your clients are working, then posting during the day isn’t your best option. They simply won’t see it.

This is where insights come in handy. Insights can tell you when people are interacting with your page–and when they aren’t.

If you post when your fans are looking, you have a much better chance t your intended audience and attracting new leads.

8. Using Out-Dated Information

Social media is changing at a rapid pace. What worked last month to grow your following, may not work this month.

So if you’re using advice that worked last year, chances are it won’t have the same impact as it once had had.

The Take Home Message

Social media is one of the easiest, and the best platforms to attract new leads, and get more people to engage with your brand. As a result, there’s a very high likelihood your ideal client is on one of these platforms—you just need to leverage it the right way.

Although many business owners try to leverage social media to grow their business, some may not do it the right way. And this could limit your growth, or even how many people engage with your brand.

If you’re unsure how to leverage social media to get your message in front of the people you want, let’s talk. Our Success Coaches have helped multiple business owners create the right marketing strategy. Schedule your strategy session today.

Let us help you grow your business by improving your marketing, lead generation, your follow up, and making social media work for you.

Schedule Your FREE 60-Minute Strategy Session Here.

Your marketing plan should always include social media. If it doesn’t, then you may not draw in the clients you’re currently looking for.

In part one of our 4-part series… We covered the top 2 mistakes you’re making when it comes to posting and creating engagement on social media.

And in part 2…we dived in deeper.

Today, we are going to give the next two mistakes…and give you a much clearer picture on why you need to correct them…

…and the impact it could have on your business.

Why You Need A Social Media Marketing Strategy?

Before we get into the mistakes…I want to reiterate why social media marketing needs to be part of your online marketing strategy.

Besides running ads on Google…Instagram…or Facebook…

It’s important for you to build a raving fan base, by posting quality content that falls more in line with your brand. It could be memes…short videos…live Q and A…

Whatever the media you choose to deliver your content…you need to make sure you’re doing it well.

Because there’s a good chance that potential clients are looking for your services—but they don’t even know you exist.

This is why your social media marketing strategy is so important…and could significantly impact your overall business.

Now that you understand why posting on Facebook and Twitter are important for growing your business…

Let’s move on to the next two mistakes to avoid when crafting your social media post.

Two Mistakes That Limit Social Media Growth

Here are two more mistakes that could be preventing you from driving in more traffic to your gym:

5. Not Posting Consistently

It will take some time…but you have better consistency with posting. What I am saying is you should be posting quality content every day.

Some gyms do…and they are successful.

And the gyms that don’t, may end up suffering in the long run. When you’re able to post consistently, you’re able to build a following and deliver the content they want to read.

Although you want your posts to have a dramatic impact right away…It may take months or years to build a following and really build your engagement.

Even if you think people aren’t reading what you post…

They are. And the more frequently you can post…the more you will be in front of your target audience.

It’s worth your time to keep posting every day.

6. Not Using Tools At Your Disposal

Posting consistently each day is one way to build a more engaged audience. However, sometimes it’s easy to forget, which prevents your potential market from engaging with you.

How can you remedy this?

There are various social media tools available that allow you to schedule posts ahead of time, and track how well those posts do.

This makes it a super easy and convenient way to build a more engaged audience. You can schedule all your posts for the week on one day…so it’s a literal “schedule it, and forget it” scenario.

These tools are easy to use, and may take your social media marketing strategy to a whole new level.

The Take Home Message

Building your social media marketing strategy is a great way to get your business in front of potential leads.

But, if you’re making these mistakes in your marketing…

Then these potential customers may not know you exist…or even how you can help them. By fixing these social media marketing mistakes…you may see your engagement numbers climb, and more potential leads inquiring about your services.

Is social media your kryptonite? Do you find it hard to get traction on Facebook, Instagram, or other sites?

If so, we can help. Social media can be easy to master…if you have a plan in pace. Get in touch with us today to schedule your free strategy session so we can go over your social media marketing plan—and give you the right steps to get you back on track.

Here’s where you can find the details (we also show you 5 other mistakes you could be making, which we might be able to help you fix):

Schedule Your FREE Strategy Session Here.

If you want to engage prospective clients, then you need to leverage social media to your advantage. Because face it, there’s a good chance someone out there needs what you’re selling.

But:

If you’re committing these social media marketing mistakes…not only will your message fall flat…

It could turn off the prospects you want to attract to your facility. In part one, you discovered two mistakes gym owners make when crafting content for social media. Those two mistakes are:

• The importance of having engaging content…
• Why knowing your prospects hopes, dreams, and fears can help you create the RIGHT content that engages every time.

These are extremely important—because if you don’t know your avatar…and you’re just posting for the sake of posting…

Then your message won’t work—and you will have a harder time engaging who you want.

In today’s post, you’re going to discover the next 2 mistakes preventing you from bringing in new leads.

Two Costly Social Media Marketing Mistakes Preventing Your Business From Growing

There are 8 mistakes in total that we will cover…

But these two may be the biggest mistakes gym owners make when trying to grow their business, build engagement, and attract new leads on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others.

And once you see the next two mistakes…you’ll understand why these are business killers and can easily cause your leads to dry up.

Those mistakes are:

3. You’re Copying Someone Else’s Content

When it comes to marketing, you’re told to model what’s working in the industry. And this is great advice, since it can give you new ideas on how to interact with your audience and how to attract the clients you want.

But:

Just because something is working for your competitor…doesn’t mean it will work for you.

If you’ve done the legwork and you already know what your audience is looking for, you can create fun, engaging, and high-quality content. And this is why it’s crucial to know what your audience wants so you can have a much greater impact than copying what someone else is doing.

4. Using Every Platform There Is

There are plenty of social media sites to choose from that will give you an opportunity to get your message in front of your ideal prospects. But, just because they are there, doesn’t mean you need to use all of them.

By focusing on one or two platforms at a time, it will allow you to create better content, and help you deliver that content with images, videos, and live broadcasts.

Remember, in order to be good at social media marketing, minimize your efforts on one, or possibly two, social media sites—and understand that being present on every social media platform might detract from your marketing message.

The Take Home Message

Social media may be one of the best mediums to get your message in front of potential clients, as well as your current members. But there are two important factors you need to remember:

• MODEL what’s working in the industry, but DO not COPY it.
• Avoid using every social media platform out there.

The more you can refine and focus your message, the better your content will be. This could give you the opportunity to become the “expert” in your niche—and gives your audience the content it craves—so they come back time and time again.

Your social media message could be one aspect holding you back from growing your fitness business.

And fixing those mistakes could help you grow and thrive.

But:

There are 5 other business mistakes we are seeing that could be slowing your growth, and preventing you from reaching your true business potential.

Click the link below to see the 5 OTHER mistakes—and how you can solve them:

[DISCOVER] The 5 Other Mistakes Crippling Your Business

In this series, we are going to give you some tips to make your social media advertising strong and engaging. Everyone knows how important social media is to growing your business.

But, if you’re doing it wrong, then your message won’t reach the right people…preventing them from knowing and falling in love with your business. For example, the top-known fitness businesses, to A-list celebrities and Influencers, everyone is leveraging these platforms to grow their personal brand.

Are you?

If you are, but you’re not getting the traction you feel you should, then you could be making some costly mistakes in your advertising game.

The Top Mistakes You’re Making With Social Media

As a business owner, you want to get your message in front of the right people. And most of your clients are online in some capacity. It could be a stay-at-home mom, an active older adult, or even an athlete…most every demographic uses social media to some degree.

And you should be using it to your advantage. Statistics show that 1.6 billion people use Facebook each day…more than 500 million people are active on Instagram…and 145 million people send out, or read, various tweets on Twitter.

From these numbers, there’s a very good chance your potential clients are waiting to hear from you. If you’re currently advertising on these platforms…or you’re trying to engage your list…but you’re not successful…

Then you may be committing some common mistakes. But, if you’re able to fix these mistakes, you can leverage your social media accounts to draw in new leads and grow your business. In this 4-part series, we will tackle the 8 most common social media mistakes you may be making right now.

Here are the first two:

1. Your Content Needs An Upgrade

If you’re not getting a lot of engagement on your posts, then it could mean your content isn’t very good. Even if you think it is, your potential clients may not.

Be creative and really find out what they want. The higher quality your content is, the more engagement you will get. As a result, sites like Facebook and Twitter may reward you and push it to the top of feeds, if you have quality content.

2. You Don’t Know Your Ideal Client

Again, knowing your clients, inside and out, is the key to creating the most engaging content that may attract your ideal client. If you work with a particular group of people, for example, be sure you’re tailoring your content to what they want to read—not to what everyone wants to read.

Although you may want to help everyone, and you feel your content will do just that, it’s better to write to your niche, to create more shares and likes on your content.

The Social Media Series Continues…

Social media is one of the hottest channels for attracting your ideal clients. But if your message isn’t clear…or doesn’t resonate with your potential clients, then your time may have been wasted.

For instance, if you start by fixing these two mistakes…you may be better positioned to drive in new leads, and attract the clients you want.

If You’re Struggling To Get Leads From Facebook….

Either your Facebook ads aren’t working…

People are engaged…but not responding to your ads or content…

And your tweets aren’t getting the feedback you were hoping for…

You’re not alone. After all, you’re a gym owner, not a social media maven. But…

If you want to take your message to the next level…we can help. Our Success Coaches can help you develop a social media plan to get your message in front of the right people.

If you’re interested in getting your social media marketing back on track, schedule your 55 minute Strategy Call Today:

Discover How We Can Help Solve Your Social Media Marketing Issues

A lot of gym owners want to get “back to normal” and focus on fully reopening their gyms. But it’s not just gym owners…but the members and staff as well.

More gyms have either shut their doors, or changed their entire business to maintain their income and revenue. Although returning to “normal” may seem less likely with each passing day…there is hope on the horizon.

With the latest vaccine announcement from Pfizer, it seems that getting back to normal could happen relatively soon. And when that day comes to return to “business as usual,” will you be ready?

Most gym owners may not be ready, which could pose problems to grow your business.

However, if you have the right plan, you can prevent headaches that may come when you’re ready to fully reopen, and get back to what you love.

How To Be Prepared When Restrictions Are Lifted

Every day, it seems like we are getting closer and closer to the fitness industry getting back to normal–and having less restrictions. And this is great news for most gym or fitness business owners.

But are you ready when it’s time to reopen? Most gym and fitness business owners follow a steady approach—with online workouts keeping you afloat, so you can focus your efforts on implementing safety strategies, new programs to meet client demands, and serving your current clientele–while trying to grow membership and revenue.

If you want to make it easier…then you need a plan in place, one that will take the guesswork out of growing your business when restrictions are gone.  Here’s what we recommend to get you ready for the fitness industry getting back to normal:

Revisit Your Pricing

Although it’s important to maintain your current pricing structure, it may be time to adjust accordingly. For example, if you offer online training, you need to adjust your pricing to reflect the alue this service provides. You should also offer more affordable package plans, implement new front end offers, and encourage autoship memberships to meet your consumer where they currently are. Start thinking how you can make signing up an investment in their health.

Tighten Your Sales and Marketing Processes

The first lockdown resulted in membership and program revenue dropping off. So you got creative with programs and memberships, just to maintain membership and revenue.

Getting the right message to current and potential clients, and marketing your current programs and services may net you more leads that could join with the right sales approach in place. This is a crucial step, and could help your business grow once you reopen.

Keep Your Staff Motivated—And Improve Their Current Skills

The landscape in the fitness industry has changed. Online programs, video libraries, and Zoom workouts have kept businesses from completely shutting down during the lockdown.

When the dust settles, and we’re back to normal, your staff may need to improve both online and in-person services—to deliver the best customer experience possible. It’s important for them to understand the expectations, what their clients want, and the best way to help them reach their goals.

Plan, Plan, Plan

As the fitness industry gets “back to normal,” it’s will be important to invest in strategies to make this transition as smooth as possible. But some gym owners may not be ready for a grand reopening, which could limit their growth and overall success.

If you implement these tips now, you may be ready—which could take your gym, or fitness business, to the next level.

In order to be successful, you need to have a dialed-in plan, with clear, concise steps to fix current issues you’re facing. Once you get going, and these mistakes aren’t corrected, it could slow growth and lead to more sleepless nights.

But once the mistakes are corrected…

And you have your sales, marketing, and lead generation strategies in place…

You could see tremendous growth in your business, now and in the future.

Honestly, there is no better time to start building your success plan. Because face it…being ready for the future should be your #1 priority right now.

If you’re struggling right now…

Even if you don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel…

Things are looking up…and you need to be ready to go when people start resuming their normal lives.

Now, if you don’t feel like you’re as ready as you should be…

Then we’re here to help you. We’ve helped over 26,000 gym and fitness owners take control of their future, and “bulletproof” their businesses.

And so can you.

For a limited time, we’re offering FREE strategy sessions to help you to fix the BIGGEST problem you currently have.

But you need to hurry because all of our available slots are almost gone.

No gimmicks…or pushy sales tactics…and no obligation.

You’ll walk a way with an EXACT plan to fix the BIGGEST problem your gym faces right now.

CLICK HERE to schedule your session (before time runs out)

You know your marketing message is one of the best ways to get your message in front of others—especially the people you want to attract into your gym.

But when you’re marketing, it’s better to focus your message on one person—as opposed to a large group of people.

This allows for a stronger, clearer, and more concise message that will resonate with your target market. Even if you want to attract thousands of people to your gym, you’re not going to be successful if you’re trying to market to all of them—and not just a small segment.

Each person has specific needs and goals they want to accomplish. And if your marketing focuses on everything they may want, the message may appear cold and out-of-touch. But, if you’re able to focus your efforts on speaking directly to one person…then your message may impact countless people.

And that’s because they feel that you “get them,” which makes it much easier to sell them on a program or service.

Here’s a quick tip for making your message resonate:

When designing your marketing, pretend you’re talking to your mother…your spouse…or a close friend who has professed a particular need, or result, they want to accomplish. This way, when you’re crafting your marketing message, you’re doing it in a way that will make you feel more connected and engaged to your audience.

If you’re able to satisfy the need of one person…and they are able to share what your gym was able to do for them…

Then they more likely to talk about their experience, which can translate into more business for you–as people read and hear about others experiences that may closely match their needs or pain points.

So…in order to make your marketing more effective, you need to:

• Market to one person—so you can be more connected to your target market.
• Understand how your service can impact their lives—and how it solves their problem.
• This will also give you the information you need so you know how your product can fit into their day.

Take Home Message

Your marketing message is what drives leads into your gym. But having the wrong message, or worse, a message that doesn’t resonate with your target market, could ultimately prevent leads coming into your gym.

If you’re able to speak to your market by focusing on one person—you can finely tune your message, helping you attract the clients you want.

Fixing your marketing strategies can go a long way to boosting leads and sales. And it also happens to be one of the most common mistakes gym owners face.

Just ask Jonathon Price, who struggled keeping his training business open—while dealing with QUADRUPLE the overhead.

He was sitting at $6,000 in revenue…and was the only trainer. He was burnt out…and didn’t know where to go next.

But once he jumped on a call with one of our Success Coaches…he walked away with a plan that eventually led to the breakthrough his business needed.

He had a record month in October—clearing $25,000, while employing 4 trainers. He’s confident he wouldn’t be where he is today without having Fitness Revolution in his corner.

If you want to be like Jonathan—and all our other successful business owners…

Then schedule your FREE call with one of our success coaches today, and we’ll help you fix the biggest problem your business is having. And we’ll do it in less than 55 minutes:

Here’s where to get started.

You spend a lot of time and energy on your marketing. 

Have you ever wondered if it was reaching the right audience or producing more clients for your business? 

Successful gyms bake marketing into their operations and budgets. They know it’s something they must keep up all the time – that it’s not an “extra” for when you have a little more time or money, or when you’re feeling creative.

But too many gym owners don’t create a real marketing plan. They just throw a bunch of  random activities and promotions at the wall and see what sticks. 

Marketing your fitness business requires a strategic and calculated approach, especially now when so many things are unknown or out of your control. And, while not all marketing will work, you need to know what’s effective so you can optimize or replace it. 

Keep Track of Your Process and Results

The best way to know if your marketing is bringing new clients and generating revenue is to measure your process and results.

If you think you don’t have time for this, you’re wrong. Either assign it to an assistant or schedule a time block, at least three days a week, to manage your tracking.

It doesn’t take much. Just record:

• Total number of leads
• Source of your leads
• Date the lead was acquired 

This will let you see your overall lead number and which channels or sources are producing.  

Turn Leads into Clients

Effective marketing doesn’t just bring in leads. It brings in leads that turn into paying clients.

The next step in your tracking is identifying which leads participate in your Front End Offer and when.  

From there you want to track which leads turn into clients, the date of conversion, and the value of each client to your business (contract length X monthly membership).  

This will show which marketing channels and types of leads are turning into paying clients. Then you can decide how to invest your time and money. 

You can do all of this with a simple spreadsheet or Google Sheets with formulas to track your marketing success. Fitness Revolution Coaching Partners have access to a Lead Tracker set up and ready to use. 

Want Help?

If you are ready to take the next step with your business and build out a predictable plan to get new clients we’d love to chat with you to see if we can help. You can shorten your learning curve by applying the tools and knowledge that FR has acquired by working with hundreds of fitness business owners. If you would like to speak with a member of the FR team to see how we can help you get unstuck please apply for a FREE 60-minute Discovery Call below.

We all spend time and effort on social media, websites and blogs to promote our businesses. But there’s another, traditional way to get free exposure to the masses in your area, and it’s often overlooked or dismissed.

That’s free media coverage on TV and radio and in newspapers. Yep, the old dinosaurs still have plenty of value for you – particularly now with so much huge, serious news happening everywhere.

And, you might not realize it, but newsrooms everywhere are understaffed and overworked. They want local, positive stories related to bigger events going on all around us – and businesses helping people stay healthy during a pandemic? Huge. They don’t have time to think about what would be a good idea. They need you to make it easy for them.

In other words: What you do is newsworthy, especially this year. Getting featured or quoted in local media can be highly effective in gaining brand exposure, presenting yourself as a community expert, and building connections.

What makes something newsworthy

The first step in getting the attention of reporters and editors is to come up with a story that fits their needs. They didn’t go to work each morning thinking about how they can promote you or fitness in general. They are probably not aware of what’s trending in fitness – or what you are doing to provide a safe, effective workout to help your community.

They want legitimate news, so make it easy for them to see newsworthy elements, such as:

• Timeliness – Something just happened, is happening, or is about to happen
• Novelty – a new, fresh angle
• Human interest and emotion
• First-best-longest-strongest
• Impact – dollars raised, pounds lost, lives improved

For TV, add in visuals and think about how it looks. People exercising? Responsibly? Happily? GOLD. Examples today include:

• How gyms are helping charities, healthcare workers, and other local businesses through these tough times
• Outdoor exercise classes or group training
• Helping “older” people with online training (This one has it all!)
• If you’re allowed to welcome people into your location, what are you doing to ensure a clean, safe environment?
• Gyms lending or giving equipment to members at home
• Fitness professionals lobbying state and local leaders about Covid-19 restrictions, focusing on how you help people.

Next, you need to contact your local media, whether it’s a big-city newspaper, a free weekly, a radio host, or a TV reporter. Follow these tips.

• Take the time to find the right reporter or editor to email with your pitch. Don’t just call and ask to talk to someone or send an email blindly. Some reporters “cover” local businesses; health and fitness; or “positive” community news. Look for them.
• Point out what makes the story relevant right now or at a specific date in the future (an upcoming annual 10K, a local historic anniversary, etc.) 
• Do not suck up and do not insult. No comments about “lamestream media,” “fake news” or, “I know you don’t like to report when good things happen…”
• Be sure your email has your contact information – email, cell phone, land line, social media.

Even before you start pitching your story

Build relationships with local media people even if you don’t have something specific you want covered. Let them know who you are and what you’re all about, and suggest they keep you on file for when they need to interview a local trainer, businessperson, fitness expert, and so on.

• Follow their social media accounts. “Like” or comment on their posts. But don’t be a stalker or too flattering.
• Always be courteous, transparent and honest. Don’t oversell. Don’t engage in controversy about anything. It will only come back to haunt you.
• Stress how you want to help people, and make clear the key messages you promote about health and fitness.

What you do matters. Sometimes, it’s also newsworthy. So, make the most of this potential to reach a huge audience with your message for free.

Schedule a free consultation with one of our Success Coaches to discuss possibilities in your market and other ways we can help you grow your business now and in the future.

The fitness marketplace is crowded with competitors – and today, of course, it’s also packed with uncertainty and profound changes. So, differentiating your gym is crucial and a fundamental part of your marketing strategy.

Meaningful differentiation showcases your gym’s unique strengths and it shows your value in a way that separates you from competitors. It makes it possible to win business by competing on your own terms without competing on price.

 Schedule a free consultation with one of our Success Coaches now

You give up your market share when you don’t have differentiators, don’t use them, don’t test or revisit them – or simply have weak differentiators, like “We deliver results” (because everyone can say that). Those are among the most common mistakes to avoid. Without strategic differentiators, you’re not telling prospects why they should choose you to solve their problem. You’re just hoping they figure it out on their own.

5 Factors in the Solution

1. Discover. Try to establish three proposed differentiators. Start by asking five ideal clients why they chose you initially. Then consider what problem that solves for your prospects. What are your competitors saying? Will this play a role in the prospects’ buying decision?

2. Dissect. Score your potential differentiators on a scale of 1 (weakest) to 5 (strongest) based on three factors: the benefit to the prospect; the rarity in your marketplace; how hard would it be for someone else to say and prove the same thing? 

3. Develop. Rank your potential differentiators from strongest to weakest. Add up the total across all three categories for all three differentiators, and list them highest to lowest. The one with the score closest to 15 is probably your strongest. Then write a first draft answering: what is the differentiator (its title); why it matters to prospects; how you accomplish this (its description).

4. Document. Polish your differentiators so they’re ready to go. Write a headline – three to five words describing each. Then write a description – a short, credible statement that describes the why and how you listed at the end of Step 3. 

Here’s a well-known example from Planet Fitness.

Headline: Judgment Free Zone

Description: We seek to provide a comfortable, safe and energetic environment where everyone feels safe and accepted.

5. Differentiate. Use, test and refine your differentiators – always, for as long as you’re in business. Don’t ever assume you’re “done” with this. Start by considering where you will use the differentiator? On your website, social media, etc. Then keep testing and refining so your differentiators remain effective no matter what happens (like, oh, maybe a global pandemic). 

How does all this change in the “new normal” and how much do you keep of what you had before? What still applies? What new opportunities are presenting themselves?

For example, the idea of safety is at the top of everyone’s minds. You can go a step further by developing it into a differentiator. What safety procedures have you developed? Have you branded your cleaning process? Are you using CDC and WHO guidelines to your advantage?

There’s more to talk about – like how to make your online offerings stand out, and why you should never rely on price as a differentiator.

So, schedule a time to talk, for free, with one of our Success Coaches. We can discuss specifics to build your differentiators and we’ll help you leverage them across your marketing efforts and positioning.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, some business owners are unsure about how much focus they should devote to making sales. Fitness professionals have asked us repeatedly if they need to be selling at this time – or just generating leads to use later.

It’s a fair question with a simple answer: You have to keep doing both, now and always.

Download our free list of resources to protect your business during the COVID-19 crisis.

This is not profiteering. It is not unethical. It is not inappropriate. 

It’s your commitment to your business, your employees, your customers and your community. And like everything else nowadays, it just takes nimble thinking and determination to continually assess and re-evaluate.

Let’s break it down into four components.

Messaging. Strong communication is everything. You must position your offer well. Remember:

• This is the new normal. At least for the time being, you’re an online fitness business owner, so embrace it.
• Customers’ fitness needs remain, and they still want your expertise, time and support. Your messaging should lead with the value and benefits you bring, like accountability and community.
• Keep the focus on how you’re helping clients and on what your prospects need.

Marketing. You never stop getting new leads and building your prospects list. It’s an essential task of your business. Try ideas like these to gain email addresses:

• Create compelling content to drive traffic to your blog, podcasts and webinars.
• Give away valuable resources (like e-books and cheat sheets) as lead magnets.
• Run a sweepstakes or a contest.

Selling. Leads are important, but you’ve got to convert them to bring in any revenue. Here are some smart tactics:

• Direct-response advertising on social media or search engines will direct traffic to your offer.
• Referrals and “bring a friend to Zoom” promotions are opportunities for exposure, community-building and feedback.
• Exchange email blasts with a joint-venture partner. (This is good for building your list as well as selling.)

Adjustments. Keep your long-term offers and pricing strategies in place. Add value wherever you can. But in rare instances, consider how you might make modifications.

• Can you change the terms – say, from annual to monthly agreements, or make one-time sales to some prospects?
• Create a new front-end offer at a lower price point and see what adjustments you can make to transfer them to your core offer.
• Have something like this as a last resort, unpromoted: a low-cost, weekly option for clients in a financial jam. 

By always spinning both the marketing and the sales wheels, you’re doing the right thing for your business now during the crisis – and for the future, whatever it might look like.

Fitness Revolution is here to help you through these challenges. We’re sharing resources here to protect your business and to help you stay alert to the challenges and, yes, opportunities ahead. 

If you’re like millions of people, you turned on your computer or TV this morning and swiftly got caught in the swirl of anxiety-inducing news, opinion, advice, complaints, misinformation, and grief mixed in with random cat videos and inspirational quotes.

It’s enough to make you want to go back to bed, pull the covers over your head, and hope for a miracle.

Download our free list of resources to protect your business during the COVID-19 crisis.

So, stop for a minute. Breathe. Clear your mind. And focus on guideposts to help you stay on track. When your mind drifts away in scary “What If” scenarios, return your attention to the basics of what you can do about it.

Expenses vs. Investments

What are some investments that you must maintain, even during tough situations? Here are three that will keep you strong now – because this is no time to become a weaker business.

• Marketing. Communicating with your market is always critical. Every day — period. Keep reaching out to clients, nurturing prospects, and generating leads.

What are your differentiators? Some larger chains can’t provide the virtual options that you can. Some of your other competitors are refusing to market and will disappear over time. If they’re around when this all ends, what kind of relationships will they have with clients and prospects then?

• Consulting. You don’t want every negative comment on Twitter to send you into a tailspin. By the same token, you need coaches, mentors or consultants in your corner to help you see the big picture.

It’s so easy to get in our heads, lose perspective, or miss valuable insight that can come from someone removed from the daily grind of our business. A good coach or mentor is watching the industry overall and talking with others in your situation, so he or she can reveal connections and pathways to consider.

• Personnel: Your team is a vital resource. It’s invaluable to delegate to employees so you have time to focus on mission-critical activities.

Divvy up duties. Assign trainers to lead online sessions. Put some in charge of updating individual clients. Your employees are valuable assets to deploy strategically.

Costs You Can Manage Right Now

• Cancel non-investment costs: These produce no income and are not required to keep your business alive (premium versions of apps, software subscriptions, entertainment, etc.)
• Apply for government aid: Assistance is available to help small businesses. Look into your options, starting with the Small Business Administration. Once you’ve taken steps to increase revenue like this, you can try to trim basic expenses.
• Then, negotiate with people you pay: Talk with your vendors, suppliers, accountant and landlord to explore flexibility they might have. Try to meet in the middle somewhere.
• Hold off on upgrades: That big piece of new equipment you’ve been wanting to buy? Delay purchases like this for now.

Amid all this uncertainty is great opportunity. More will be emerging that you might be able to see today. Keep your eyes open. Remember the guideposts and the principles that put them there.

In times of crisis, people seek leadership – whether in medicine, government or business. And now more than ever, your gym’s clients and prospects are counting on you to help them stay fit, which includes reminding and updating them about your services and expertise.

We’re not talking about dispensing medical advice or running for office.

We’re talking about marketing in a way that is helpful to your community and smart for your business.

Download free resources to help during the COVID-19 outbreak. We’ll keep updating with more information.

That means adjusting your services and offerings, yes. It also means communicating. It means marketing.

And that’s not only morally OK, it’s absolutely the right thing to do.

First, let’s address a misconception we’re hearing from some fitness professionals. We’ve been asked recently if it’s somehow unethical to promote your business and seek payment during the coronavirus crisis – as if the idea implies taking advantage.

It does not. You must continue marketing, which is a necessary business function – a “must have” rather than a “nice to have.” Don’t retreat into a limiting belief about your value out of a vaguely uncomfortable feeling. There is no ethical conflict in responsibly reminding people you can help them and providing a service in exchange for a reasonable fee.

Let’s clarify what’s OK by sharing an appalling example of what’s not: Price gouging of hand sanitizer or medical equipment during a public-health crisis. Would you even consider hoarding Purell and selling it at astronomically inflated prices to desperate neighbors? Of course not. Now, THAT is unethical.

Contrast that to staying in front of your clients and prospects, providing modified workouts or training online, sharing useful information and positive coaching, and – yes – doing so for money. Remember that your customers are counting on you to help solve a problem, and your employees are counting on you to stay in business.

Here are some actions you can be taking:

• Keep your messages clear and helpful.
• Pro-actively help your people transition with information and attentive customer service.
• Reduce what you’re spending on ads to maintenance level.
• Focus more on content marketing, which is much cheaper. That means posting on Facebook, sending more emails, and updating your website.
• Explore high-demand joint ventures, like meal delivery.
  
• Review our free, downloadable FAQs for help on pricing, delivering services, marketing and more.

Keep your eye on the future, too. What new opportunities will come out of this? What potential obstacles could you face? Where will your competitors be in a few months? The ones who disappear now will have the hardest time re-emerging.

Change is inevitable. But focus on elements of success that remain solid, like keeping your eyes open; caring for customers and team members; and sharing what you have to offer.

We’re all having to be flexible, creative and service-focused during the coronavirus crisis. The good news is, you’re not alone in figuring out how to proceed to protect your team, your clients and your business.

If you can’t deliver your services in person, then you need to be able to do so virtually. You can offer recorded training online, or set up live streaming sessions for individuals or groups.

But first, remember this: Don’t overthink it. Your clients know you’re in an unprecedented situation, and they won’t expect everything to be perfectly buttoned-up right away. You can always adjust, and you should. But right now, what they need from you is communications, support and – the reason they came to you in the first place – training!

We’ve gathered free resources to help during the COVID-19 outbreak. We’ll continually update it with more information.

When trying to decide what to include, keep in mind:

• Your core offer 
• The price point 
• Base access and touchpoints off their current service level. For example: you may need to meet with a Personal Training Client weekly via Zoom vs. monthly for a Group Training Client.
• Consider how you distribute the workload and among your staff.

We have identified three situations you might be in regarding all this, and we’ve developed guidance on steps for each of them. 

No. 1, The Basics: My gym just closed and I have nothing virtual set up yet.

Do This Now: First, email or call clients and let them know what to expect from you – even if you don’t have every detail figured out. Second, create a private, free community on Facebook or Instagram and share a similar message, encourage client interaction, and share daily workouts, motivations, and recipes.

No. 2, Improving Your Virtual Delivery (Group Training): I’ve done the above, and want to add value to my virtual Group Training.

Do This Now: Lead live workouts daily via Zoom or Facebook, share instructions so members can join, and let them know what space and equipment they’ll need. Also: personally check in with clients, while also sending a weekly email with a Google form that lets them share progress. 

No. 3, Improving Your Virtual Delivery (Semi-Private and Personal Training): I have the basics covered. How do I improve my non-group training?

Do This Now: Consider designing monthly programs delivered individually through emails, training platforms, or Google sheets). Find out what equipment they have, include links to demo videos, and check in weekly so they can share their progress and questions. You might develop nutrition coaching, as well.

The global pandemic is disrupting everything for everyone – but remember, we will get through it. And it’s up to everyone to support each other and keep their businesses and services available as much as possible. 

Consult this list of free resources we’ve put together for you – on protecting your business, communications, and more. Stay strong!

As the coronavirus causes disruptions large and small around the world, no business is exempt from its effects – including yours. 

Gyms might experience a drop in attendance. Clients might have questions about sanitation and safety. You and your team could feel confused and disoriented in this unfamiliar territory.

It’s all totally understandable.

But you’re not alone. 

While the world struggles to figure out how to proceed, we have put together some recommendations and resources that can help you through this challenging time.

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND RESOURCES ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

Business Recommendations

• See if you can adjust programming to reduce the use of equipment that can harbor the virus. And try to accommodate safer exercise environments by reducing class sizes, increasing space for members, and taking classes outdoors.
• Create a new offer or consider restructuring a current offer. For example, can you share an online training library or provide home training? Lead group sessions via Zoom?
• If you allow freezes or cancellations for medical conditions, you’ll need to clarify what that means.
• If you have a 24-hour cancellation policy for classes and sessions consider being flexible or even waiving it temporarily.
• Don’t stop marketing. It’s not a discretionary expense, but a long-term investment essential to the health of your business.
• Be clear in your messaging. Overcommunicate. Often. Many times. Over and over.

Managing Optics

You need to consider how your business will be viewed by your members, team, and community. Be genuine and authentic in your approach. This is a chance to display leadership during difficult situations and to live your core values.

Make sure:

• Members know their health and safety is your No. 1 priority. List steps you’ve always taken, along with any additional steps, to foster a clean and safe environment. Reinforce that a healthy lifestyle is a major guard against infection. They need to rest, sleep, hydrate – and exercise even if they’re not coming into the gym.
• Your team knows how to handle member questions. Keep them informed but not panicked. Urge them to stay home if they’re not feeling well.
• You have an external message that shows your awareness of the situation; any developments in your business, such as confirmed cases; and what you’re doing to prioritize health and safety in your community. Keep all your communication lines open, and be a good neighbor.

Resources

Finally, staying informed is your best weapon. These are credible sources for ongoing information.

• Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
• World Health Organization 
• IDEA Health & Fitness Association
• U.S. Department of State

Remember to download our detailed recommendations and resources in PDF form.

It looks like coronavirus will be around for a while, but it will end someday. In the meantime, be careful, be kind, and be patient. We’ll get through it.

When you were creating your business, who did you envision as the ideal client?

Were you building a gym primarily for, say, young men who want to be competitive bodybuilders?

For women in their 20s and 30s who want to stay in shape before, during, and after their pregnancies?

Or were you aiming to attract, say, people over 60 who are interested primarily in functional fitness?

It’s not enough to just think about your ideal client and move on. You also need to create a fully developed Ideal Client Profile – and then use it constantly to attract new leads, convert them to clients, and shape your entire marketing programs. These are ongoing efforts throughout the life of your gym – whether you are just opening your doors or you’re ready to expand with new locations.

Where is your gym on the success path? Take our short, easy and free survey to find out where you are, so we can help you get to the next stage.

At Fitness Revolution, we’ll help you build Ideal Client Profiles for each of your core offerings. That’s one part of this, and crucial. But just as important is the next step, which too many gym owners ignore: We’ll show you how to use the profiles to serve your overall growth strategy. Here are some of the key points about Ideal Client Profiles.

• They determine your marketing activities by defining your main audience.
• You use them when creating your marketing calendar. If your ideal client has kids in school, for example, then you probably don’t want to run a promotion during spring break.
• They help you decide what to include in your newsletters, ads and social media posts. Who’s reading this? What do they want to know about?
• They help you decide where to focus your marketing time and money. Where does your target audience look for information?
• You should refer to your profiles when changing your website.
• And you’ll review them when deciding to attend networking or community events.

If you don’t know who you’re trying to reach – or if you don’t regularly remind yourself about your defined, intended audience — then you’re just talking into the wind.

Ideal Client Profiles help you identify your target audience, get their attention, and communicate why your solution is best for them.

Throughout the life of your business, you might have more than one core offering. And you might want to pursue multiple types of “ideal clients” for different services. These same systems will help you stay focused on each of them.

And just like you must know your audience to focus on them, you also must know your current stage of success so you can get to the next one. We’re here to guide you on that success journey by first evaluating where you are right now. Answer 10 short questions here and we’ll be off and running.

Overcoming sales objections is key to growing your business. But before you can overcome them, you need to understand them. 

Most skepticism falls into one of two categories. Either there’s a lack of understanding between you and the prospects, or they don’t see how your service will solve their problem.

If we understand what’s underlying their objections, we can respond with points that will make the sale – or, at least, gain insight into adjusting our sales process, if necessary. And that is huge: We get better sales conversations in real time, and we learn how to deal with similar objections in the future.

Fitness Revolution teaches a highly effective sales process. That’s the first element of overcoming objections. We also provide response strategies to bust through these roadblocks.

Here are a few examples of decoding the objections.

• Price. “It’s too expensive” or “I can’t afford it” are the most common pushbacks. What they really mean: They’re not sure your service is worth the price or that they’ll get a return on their investment.
• Thinking. “I need to think about it.” What they really mean: This could be true, a genuine part of their buying process. But it could also be a smokescreen to get out of the conversation because they don’t see the value.
• Decision-maker. “I have to talk to my significant other.” What they really mean: Again, this could be true on its face. Or… it could be another way to dodge the real reason they’re reluctant to join your gym.
• Time. “I just don’t have time to commit to a program.” Ah, we hear this all the time, right? What they really mean: They don’t truly understand your service – or they like the way they’re living now more than they value what you can do for them.

Here we have identified the four most common types of objections and translated them into bottom-line truths that can help you in the next steps of the conversation. Strategic responses will a) address the true nature of the doubts and b) keep the conversation moving toward a sale.

Your sales process has stages, obviously. And, so does your gym’s business development, whether you’re a newbie or a road-tested vet.

We help you get from one stage to the next (and the next…). First, we need to learn where you are right now on that fitness journey. So, take our quick and painless 10-question survey to give us some basic information about your current situation. We’ll evaluate where you are today – and what you need to do tomorrow and beyond.

Objections to that?

Overruled.

Growing your business can come with common growing pains. But if you know where you’re headed, challenges can be a good thing, providing lessons on how to improve and clarity about direction. 

Let’s think about hiring, for instance — staffing up with the right people in the right roles at the right time.

What does your gym need at this stage? Give us 2 minutes and we’ll show you how to keep moving toward success. 

Whether your gym is just starting or is far along on its success journey, you need a recruitment process to identify the best trainers, assistants, marketers and more – new team members who will help get you to the next stage of development.

You’ll find yourself wondering when’s the right time to expand with a new position? Which role deserves the most attention at this point? How do I not get burned (again)?

It’s all part of building a real business and not trying to do everything yourself.

You need a good recruitment process, and Fitness Revolution helps gym owners build a system that will contribute to your growth at every stage. Here are a handful of concepts to consider.

1 – Stages. The recruitment process should have stages of its own, from creating a job description to sharing it, then screening candidates, interviewing top prospects, and onboarding a team member. You can’t just wing it every time; employees are simply too important to your growth.

2 – Salary. Whichever role you’re filling, you need to know the pay range you can afford right now. You don’t want to pursue, say, a senior trainer when you can pay only for a newcomer. Conversely, you don’t want to miss out on top talent by lowballing them.

3 – Clarity. Create a job description that states the responsibilities of the job. Clarity is good for candidates, you, and your other team members. Also include how a new hire’s performance will be evaluated, and how the role fits into the gym’s overall mission and culture.

4 – Mining. Just like you have channels in place to generate customer leads, you’ll need to identify the places to look for talent. The good news is, you probably already have many of them: your friends, associates, social media, community involvement, and professional organizations. But how do you engage them to help with hiring?

5 – Questions. You need to know more about a candidate than basic qualifications. For instance, how do you determine if he or she brings the right intangible qualities? Be prepared with a script or at least a conversation guide for phone screening and face-to-face interviews. Consider, too, background checks and references at the proper point.

Fitness Revolution has helped countless gyms grow from conception through each stage of development, all the way to successful achievement of goals.

We do it by first learning where your gym is today on its own road to success. And we do that by asking you 10 short, simple questions that yield key insights about what’s coming – including the next potential pain and how to turn it into just growth. Start right here.

Companies that develop a strong culture succeed more than those that muddle around without a clear presence or identity.  

And a key component of a company’s culture is its values: What are the its beliefs? How does it guide its people’s behavior and standards?

Values shape every decision a business makes. For example, internally, values define standards for hiring, firing, and rewarding employees – and externally, they guide your relationships with clients, vendors, and your community.

So, every business needs to develop, identify, and promote its values. This grows more urgent as you develop your company through the stages of its success journey. Surely by the time you’re scaling your business, creating a public identity, and staffing up, you need to know what you’re all about. And you need to make it clear to everyone every day.

What’s your gym’s current stage of business development? It just takes 2 minutes to answer 10 questions to find out.

How, then, do you figure out your company’s values? It’s a slow, thoughtful process – not something to bang out in a single meeting. And here are a few ideas to keep in mind. 

1. Brainstorm with your leadership team and your employees about the qualities your company should exemplify. (Remember, there’s no right or wrong answer or good/bad suggestion when brainstorming.)
2. Group the ideas to clarify their meaning and avoid redundancies.
3. Start eliminating them, aiming for 3 to 7 ideas that you want to build into action-oriented values.
4. During the process, use some extreme ideas to find out what your gym is all about. For instance, do you want your culture to be direct and no-nonsense, even if it seems rude? Or do you want it to be nice and conflict-averse, even if it means no one’s ever really clear about touchy subjects? Are you so “innovative” that you rush to seize every new technological tool – or so afraid of new things that you miss out on useful advances?
5. Be sure everyone feels included – from top down AND from down up. You won’t get employee buy-in if it’s all an executive order, while the team will need your leadership in words and actions.
6. When you have your list of proposed values, put it in a drawer and forget about it for a month. You might want to make some adjustments after some time has passed.
7. Finally, make your values known to everyone all the time. Display them in your company handbook, on your website, and at the sign-in desk. Promoting your values distinguishes your company like a stake in the ground: This Is Us (and This Is NOT Us).

Fitness Revolution’s client-partners receive thorough coaching on how to develop and share your core values. We’ll also help you keep an open mind for an occasional tweak that honors where you’ve been while clarifying where you’re headed.

Values make up your culture, and the right components of both will get you to the next stage of business development – and beyond. Let us evaluate where you are today on your success path – and how to get you all the way to the goal. It takes just 2 minutes to answer 10 questions and get started on the ride of your life.

To keep clients coming back year after year, you need to do more than help them reach their fitness goals.

You need to engage them on a continuing basis — while they’re in your gym and even while they’re away.

“Engagement” is more than just a buzzword. It’s the connection between your client and your business through various channels – in person, through social media, through email marketing and advertising, in your community, etc. It’s how you create strong emotional bonds so they feel like a part of your business.

But it’s about much more than feelings. Evidence is clear that clients who are highly engaged spend more money with you. They stay longer. And they bring you more referrals.

Whether your business is just starting out or is already established, you need consistent, dedication to keep your customers engaged.

You have big dreams about where you’re headed. But do you know where your business is right now? Find out in just 2 minutes with our simple, free survey.

Here are 7 tips to use every day.

1. Apply the Human Touch. Yes, social media and automation are important. But so is making in-person connections with your clients and getting to know them face to face.
2. Create the Right Client Experience. From onboarding through the initial 30 days and beyond… remember that a successful marriage doesn’t end at “I do.”
3. Improve Customer Service. Take complaints seriously. Treat an unhappy client like an opportunity – to turn around a bad situation or just to learn from it. Make sure even your front-desk person knows how to respond to a little friction.
4. Love Your Fans. Find your most enthusiastic supporters and encourage them to keep spreading the word about how happy they are with your gym. Don’t take them for granted.
5. Keep It Real on Social Media. Make sure you’re accurately presenting your gym and your brand. Do it to express your values and share information, not to impress or promote a false image.
6. Promote Client Successes. Telling stories about a customer’s victory is a classic win-win. The clients meet their goals, and you have a powerful piece to promote your services.
7. Share Valuable Content. Most of the time, that means it’s not a direct offer or a pitch for your gym. Engaging content is interesting, educational, emotional, or even just amusing.

Engagement is a basic part of retention, which is crucial to building your business from one stage to the next. What stage are you at now? What else is important to reaching your ultimate goal?

We’re here to help you navigate your success journey. Start here with 10 easy questions that will take less than 2 minutes to answer. We know you’ll find the results engaging, to say the least.

It’s so easy for gym owners to focus on getting sales that they sometimes forget to spend enough time on keeping the clients they already have.

But to ignore retention is to invite failure. You need a system to ensure that you’re not leaving any client behind from month to month. Engage them continually so they stay longer, make more referrals, and spend more money.

Retention is one of the biggest indicators of how your business is doing, at any stage of its development. It’s important for a new business to bake retention strategies into its operations – and retention remains just as crucial for an established gym trying to grow or expand. 

Where’s your business in its journey to success? Click here to take our short survey to get your free evaluation. 

Plus, we all work hard to acquire clients. It’s easier and cheaper to keep them than to replace them. And with a steady month-to-month client base, you have more stability in your revenue, you can plan with confidence, and you can build a better culture for employees and customers alike.

We created our No Client Left Behind system to give you the tools to engage them from the start and throughout their time with you. The system is easy to follow and based on just a few concepts.

Here’s the key idea: A client’s most critical phase with your gym is in the first 30 days. It’s easy to see why. He or she is coming into a new environment, learning new concepts, and applying them in ways that might be awkward. Change is hard for anyone.

So, you have to make it easy on them, particularly in the first month. That involves:

• An onboarding to welcome clients and establish expectations. You can’t let them feel like they’re wandering around in the dark.
• Weekly reports based on attendance that you use to follow up with people who don’t show. It demonstrates that you care and reveals potential problems early.
• Surveys also show you’re interested in the newcomer’s reactions and opinions, and they give great ideas for improving your customer experience. 

If you provide a good, clear first 30 days, you’re on the road to long-term engagement. That’s when they love working out with you because they feel great about themselves. That’s when they bring in friends and family. That’s when your gym becomes a part of their lives.

But to start, of course, you evaluate a new client so you can provide the best, most personalized experience. And with the same goal for new gyms we work with, Fitness Revolution gives our newcomers a 10-question survey that takes just 1-2 minutes to complete so we can guide their gym to success. Take it here to get started.

Next week we’ll share seven tactics to keep your clients highly engaged so they’re less likely to leave and more likely to keep bringing you more revenue.

Everybody wants to make a sale as quickly as possible, right? Wouldn’t it be great if we went from getting a lead to closing the deal – just like that?

Well, that’s a nice fantasy. But reality calls for a system to nurture leads through your sales funnel. You’ve got to actively guide them through it, from the first time someone expresses interest in your service to when you sell your core offer.

“Systematic nurturing” is critical but not so complicated. You need to build it with five key components.

1. Data collection. Keep track of all leads’ names, contact information, date you got the information, and their stage in the funnel.
2. Communication intervals. Establish a consistent rhythm for reaching out to leads and moving them to the next stage. For example, you could try, “Day 1 — Call; Day 2 — Text; Day 3 – Email.”
3. Boundaries. What do you do if the lead responds to your outreach? What do you do if he or she doesn’t? You need to set up standards for each possibility along the way. And decide how many times you’ll try to connect before deciding it’s a dead end.
4. Tracking. Make a note of all your efforts and results – say, each time you called or sent an email, and how the lead responded.
5. Followed By All (FBA). Everyone on your team must take the same steps. Systematic nurturing depends on consistent execution. You want all your follow-up to look and feel the same.

To nurture your business toward your goals, you need to know where you are today. Answer 10 questions and we’ll tell you now. For free.

Now, here are three components that systematic nurturing does NOT need. These are common beliefs we have about ourselves that can hinder us in the sales process. Apply a little psychology and self-love so you’re not blocking your own progress with these limiting beliefs.

1. A non-response means “no.” Actually, a non-response is just that and nothing more – and definitely not a rejection. Research shows it takes an average of eight follow-ups to get a meeting with a new prospect. People are too busy with their own lives to pay that much attention. They’re counting on us to make it clear we have the right solution to their problem.
2. Follow-up makes me feel icky and annoying. Nobody likes to be obnoxious. But the key is where you apply your focus. Are you mostly concerned with what you can get out of this guy? Or are you sincerely trying to help him solve a problem? When you make that shift in thinking, you’ll see yourself as offering value, not being a bother.
3. “I shouldn’t have to follow up. If they want me, they will call me.” It’s a variation on “If you build it, they will come” — but remember, “Field of Dreams” was a fantasy, too. In business, we have to work to engage our customers, even after we think we’ve already done our part. Consumers want businesses to take the initiative rather than passively wait. Make it easy for them by following up systematically, or you’ll lose them along the way.

Don’t limit yourself with these kinds of beliefs. Systematic nurturing gives you a guide to follow that’s more reliable than insecurity and second-guessing.

The truth is simple: Having a follow-up system for nurturing your leads is an essential part of a successful, high-functioning sales process.

Gym owners – where are you now in your path to success? Give us 2 minutes to answer 10 questions and we’ll tell you. Then, we’ll start guiding you to get where you want to be.

The opportunity in Facebook ads has been both a gift and a curse for gym owners. 

Never before has the attention of your ideal clients been so quickly accessible. However, because of this ease of accessibility, many gyms have become overly dependent on a single lead channel. So if Facebook changes a rule or impressions become more expensive (as it typically does over the holidays), these gyms are left scrambling for leads.

To avoid becoming one of these single channel gyms, you should look at your marketing like an investment portfolio. You can reduce your risk to changes in the market by diversifying your channels and consistently investing in them.

Here are the 3 categories of lead channels you should be invested in to diversify your marketing portfolio:

Low Volatility, Low Volume

In investment terms, low volatility, low volume lead channels are the savings account of your marketing portfolio. Referrals are the best example of this type of lead channel.

These leads are low volatility because you will likely close 75%+ from these channels and low volume because your leads will be limited by the number of clients you have and the number of people they are willing to refer to you.

If you are in a stage in your business where you want to maintain your current number of clients, investing in low volatility, low volume leads is a sound strategy. 

Medium Volatility, Medium Volume

Medium volatility, medium volume lead channels are the bonds of your marketing portfolio. Inbound traffic sources, such as search traffic to your website/online content or walk-in traffic if you are in a busy shopping center, are examples of this type of lead channel.

These leads are medium volatility because you will likely close around 40-50% from these channels and medium volume because your leads will be limited by the number of people in your area actively looking for you.

If you are in a stage in your business where you want single digit % annual growth of number of clients, investing in medium volatility, medium volume leads is a sound strategy.

High Volatility, High Volume

High volatility, high volume lead channels are the stocks of your marketing portfolio. Direct response digital ads, such as Facebook ads, are examples of this type of lead channel. 

These leads are high volatility because you will likely close around 10-20% from these channels and high volume because, although you are limited by your market size, you can control how often your ads are placed in front of your audience.

If you are in a stage in your business where you want double digit % annual growth of number of clients, investing more in high volatility, high volume leads gives you the opportunity to grow fastest.

What’s the Ideal Long-Term Marketing Portfolio?

The ideal long-term marketing portfolio is consistently investing in all 3 types of lead channels and has the ability to increase or decrease your investment in certain channels depending on your quarterly/annual growth goals.

If you’re a gym owner who wants to grow your revenue from low 6-figures to mid 6 (even 7) figures by investing in Facebook ads AND you want a team of professionals working to maximize the return on your ad investment…

Want more client referrals? Here’s a quick checklist to make sure your referral program is on point.

Analysis of a $60,000 transformation challenge

Let FR show you how and when to hold planning sessions that will propel your business forward and help you see faster results.

Business doesn’t have to be complicated, in fact when it comes right down to it there are 3 things that will determine your success. These 3 things are the blueprint for fitness business owners to use if they want to see faster growth and take their business to the next level.

Do you know how much a lead is worth to your business? Here’s how to find out…

Learning more about pre- and postnatal coaching is one thing, but turning that knowledge into results for your clients (and growing your business) is another.

As you are faced with new challenges as a fitness business owner it’s critical that you develop the courage and confidence to make the decisions required to get your fitness business to the next level.

Frustrated with leads ‘ghosting’ you? Here are 5 ways to ease your frustration.

You spend a lot of time and energy in your marketing. You need to know what is working and what’s not. We cover how to determine your marketing success in this blog.

Getting more clients and adding revenue is challenging for any business, but fitness business marketing can particularly difficult due to low budgets, manpower and time. Here’s what will work for you in 2019.

Don’t make these 3 critical fitness business mistakes if you want to maximize your growth and get fast results.

There’s a log of information out there telling you how to run and grow your fitness business. We put out at least one new blog post and video per week covering a variety of topics from marketing and sales to time managment and hiring.

Here are the top blog posts, videos and free resources from 2018…

Top Fitness Business Blog Posts 2018

With over 270,000 views here are the most read blog posts from 2018!

13 Questions To Ask In Every Personal Training Sales Consultation

The Fitness Pros Ultimate Guide To Maximizing Productivity & Achieving Your Biggest Goals The

How to Use Social Media for Your Personal Training Business

The Fitness Pro’s Guide For Business Success

How To Build Systems To Automate Your Fitness Business

Top Fitness Business Videos 2018

With over 41,000 total minutes of video watched from our YouTube channel here are teh top videos from 2018…

Top Fitness Business Free Resource 2018

Killer Testimonial Cheatsheet

How To Create Your Fitness Business Marketing Plan

Surefire Closing Scripts

Fitness Business Marketing Calendar

High performing fitness business owners ‘always be marketing’, even when it’s hard, because it’s a necessary behavior for their success.

The fastest way to help more people is to learn how to attract more of them into your personal training business. If you’d like to get more personal training clients for your business, and who wouldn’t, then marketing is critical.  

Let’s assume you have the required credentials, certifications or education to deliver great results (and that you are doing it with the clients that you have now). You won’t extend your reach, help more people and, in turn, make more money if you don’t learn to promote yourself and your business.  

There are 3 simple steps you can take to improve your marketing and get more personal training clients! Keep reading to find out what they are…

Get Clear On Your Ideal Client

The power of identifying your ideal client isn’t in having a nice avatar or profile to add to your business strategy. You get the biggest benefit by learning how to understand the pains, challenges and fears that your Ideal Client deals with on a daily basis.

Luckily, your training programs solve those problems for them!  

Here’s a short list of info you need to build into your Ideal Client Profile:

• Name
• Age
• Family
• Occupation
• Income
• Home Type
• Neighborhood/Subdivision
• Hobbies
• Activities
• Pains
• Goals
• Challenges
• Fears
• Objections

Build Your Ideal Client Marketing Plan

Now that you are clear on who you are marketing to and what problems you can help them solve with your training programs getting your marketing in front of them will be much easier.  

A great marketing plan will include marketing activities that work to get the attention of your Ideal Client and motivate them to take the next step with you. This plan also needs to be diversified. You don’t want to rely on one source of leads to get more personal training clients.

You should have an internal, offline and online marketing activity in play at all times. The minimum acceptable is one activity per channel. The perfect amount of marketing is the amount that helps you reach your sales and growth goals.

Figure out how you will get your marketing message out to your Ideal Client. This includes referral programs, social media, Facebook ads, networking, public speaking, writing, podcasts, etc.

When creating your marketing plan consider how your Ideal Client will see your marketing and what you’ll ask them to do to take the next step with you. It’s easy to say you’re going to write blogs for your marketing, but if no one sees the blogs you write they aren’t going to produce for you.

The most effective marketing activities usually require the biggest investment of your time, energy or money. For example networking is still very effective (when done right) but it requires time or Facebook ads can get you a lot of leads but require a financial investment.   

Measure Your Results

There’s no way to know what is working or how to speed up your growth if you don’t measure your results. Tracking your leads, where those leads come from and your conversion rate from lead to client will give you a lot of insight into your marketing.

Remember, the real outcome we want to achieve with marketing is more personal training clients. Getting 1,000 leads is great, but not if none of them become clients.   

You want to be able to look back and know what marketing activities brought in the most leads, which produced the most clients, and your overall conversion rate. With this information you can identify bottlenecks or key areas to improve your marketing and sales.

The Best Plan Needs Action…

A perfect marketing plan is only good if you implement. Imagine creating the perfect workout for your client, guaranteed to get them the results they want in record time, but they didn’t show up to the gym to actually put in the work.  

They end up with the same poor results they’ve always got from training, right?  

That’s how many fitness business owners treat a marketing plan. They create it, spend time building a marketing calendar and never get out to actual market!  

If you need some help creating a great plan and a little accountability to ensure you implement it schedule a complimentary call today where we’ll discuss your current marketing and put a plan together to get you more clients and increase revenues.

Running a personal training business is tough work! From the day you decide to start you will be faced with challenges, obstacles and difficult decisions that you’ve likely never thought about or been prepared to handle.

Taking action and implementing the following 5 key elements into your personal training business will give you the best shot for fast growth and success.    

A Sales System That Delivers Predictable Results

The fastest way to fail in your personal training business is not being able to get clients to pay you for your services. You have to be able to get clients to pay you, and pay you what you’re worth, if you want to grow.  

The first step is creating a system that you can use during your consultations that increase your chances of success with the sale. Here are 7 sales tips from fitness pros who have crushed their sales goals.  

A Marketing Plan To Generate New Leads

Learning how to implement marketing systems and put a marketing plan in place for your personal training business gives you control over your growth. You can’t survive off word of mouth marketing and referrals forever.  

The best marketing plan for personal training businesses is the Triple A Marketing Method. In less than an hour you can create a plan to attract more leads that is based on your strengths and allows you to focus your efforts on the highest return activities.

You have to take action if you want to get more clients. This plan show you how to get crystal clear on what actions to take.

A Productivity Routine

You don’t have an endless amount of time or energy to run your personal training business. The busy you get the tougher it will be to get it all done. This is why you need an operating routine in your business that allows you maximize your productivity.

Your productivity routine should improve communication within your business, allow you to stay focused on the most important projects and get more done in less time. If you feel like you are always running around with your hair on fire your current routine isn’t working.

Delegate Lower Level Tasks

Every minute you spend on a task that keeps you from marketing, selling, training or falls outside of your highest priorities as the business owner is lost opportunity. It’s costing you money!

Enter the skill of delegation. From the solopreneur to the business owner with a large team delegation is a skill that must be developed and implemented to grow the business. There will be a time where you’ll have to ‘wear all the hats’ in your business, but it shouldn’t last long.

Systemize & Scale

Developing systems and scaling a personal training business is often misunderstood. These are typically buzzwords that get thrown around in the industry.   

Systems are a set of tasks completed to deliver predictable results. However, systems shouldn’t be built out so in depth that they hinder the people trying to implement them. The systems you put in place should empower the people running them to do their job more effectively.  

Here’s a short article showing you how to create systems using the 20/80 rule.

To scale you need to be able to replicate those predictable results your systems create.  That requires that you hire the right people or outsource the right tasks so that others are getting results for you.

BONUS: Get A Coach

A business coach can help you get results faster.  They will have the experience and expertise to know what questions to ask you, understand the solutions to your problems, and teach you how to think like a business owner.  

Having a coach is like having a cheat code for a video game.  It removes a lot of the obstacles that keep you from having success.  Your clients hire you to help them devise a plan to reach their fitness goals and a business coach can do the same for your business/personal income goals.

If you want to see how a coach can help or where to start click the button below to schedule a complimentary call…

We’ve all seen those “As Featured In…” lists on the websites of experts. Why do they put them on there? Who the heck cares?

It’s all for credibility and positioning. Letting your target market know that you’ve been featured in a magazine, newspaper, online information site or other media channel automatically gives you expert status in the mind of your visitors.  

Listing top media outlets on your website and marketing materials is a great status boost. Don’t miss the opportunity to leverage your local media outlets to improve your marketing and get more clients.   

There are a lot benefits to staying local when it comes to Public Relations or PR. First, it’s often easier to get opportunities in your local market than it is to chase national or international media. Second, there’s a good chance your target market will recognize you and search you out when seeing you on local media. Finally, it can serve as a stepping stone to get bigger opportunities later on.

How Do You Get Media Attention?

Networking your way onto to TV, radio, podcasts or in print media is the easiest way to get your foot in the door. Leveraging those you already know to make introductions to the hosts, individuals who work for the media or simply finding ways to get in the same room as these media personalities or decision makers can set you apart.

But, you need to have a story that is worth talking about! Too many business owners send out press releases or pitch stories that serve better as commercials or promotions than actual newsworthy content. These media outlets are looking for stories that appeal to their target viewer. You need to be able to deliver something worth airing or printing.

Here are some tips to create a great story pitch:

• Have real news to share. Don’t think everything needs to be “Breaking News” material but don’t solely rely on pitching your upcoming challenge. If you’ve read some new research or helped someone with a new concept or method for delivering results share it with your network.
• Be the first to the party. If you’re business is the first to integrate something new that helps people get results and you think it’s newsworthy make sure to share it. People love innovative companies and their ideas.
• Play off trends and hot topics. If there is a national or world wide trend that you are noticing popping up in media offer your help to provide a local perspective on the topic. Be available to provide content and you’ll get more publicity.
• Post people stories. Success stories, new hires, recognition gained, etc are all great chances to share success stories about people in the community with the media. It may not get picked up for the headline on the 6pm news but it will make the local business section.

Build Your PR Calendar

If you’re going to use PR as a way to get new leads you need a plan. Simply hoping you’ll remember to send out press releases or network with media won’t deliver results. You’re going to need to be persistent and consistent with your marketing via this channel.

Using a marketing calendar will help and aligning this with the Triple A Marketing Method will give you a great chance for success.   

Here’s how to tie your PR Calendar into your marketing calendar:

• Create 3-4 media themes for the year that relate to your Ideal Client
• Create a list of 10-12 small interesting marketing related themes for ongoing press releases
• Add in the media themes and press releases to your marketing calendar as a “promotion”
• Create a template for your one-page press releases to use
• Connect with your media network monthly by sending them your pitch or press release

Maximize Your PR Plan

The above PR calendar will help you stay top of mind with the media and give you a great shot at getting published or featured. However, if you want to maximize your success make sure you build relationships with your local media.

The first step is following up individually with the members of your network in the media. Start by following up monthly with them to check in and even congratulating them on a successful story. You can set up Google Alerts for articles or published content created by them or follow them and the media outlets on social media.

Once you get a feature or a little PR love from your network make sure to send them a hand written thank you note. This will go a long way in standing out and them remembering you the next time a fitness, nutrition or health story rolls across their desk.  

Share their content and amplify their reach with your social media. Comment on their posts, share their content, and make sure you are seen interacting with them when it doesn’t involve promoting you or your business.   

Want Help Building A Plan To Grow Your Business?

Schedule complimentary 60-Minute Discovery Call with an expert on the Fitness Revolution Team to help you find a solution to your growth challenges. On this call, you’ll be able to uncover the obstacles holding you back from reaching your goals and put a plan in place to overcome them. It’s time to end the guesswork and frustration so that you finally create the income and business you want.

All businesses have competition, even if you’re the only trainer in your area. You have to compete with local gyms, other trainers, Yoga, Pilates, online training and streaming videos.

There are lots of options your Ideal Client has to choose from to help them reach their goals. You need to be aware of these options so that you can position yourself against them and make your business the obvious choice for your Ideal Client.

This IS NOT about changing your strategy based on the competition. Instead, look at this as a guide to help you understand your competition and your differentiators.  

Where Do You Find Out About The Competition?

There is competition everywhere fighting for your Ideal Client’s attention. Don’t rely on your memory or current knowledge of the competition to do your review. Dig in and spend an hour or so researching the options available to your target market.

You can get clues to the existence of competitors from:

• Local business directories
• Your local Chamber of Commerce
• Advertising
• Press reports
• Exhibitions and trade fairs
• Questionnaires
• Searching on the Internet for similar services
• Information provided by customers
• Flyers and marketing literature that have been sent to you

Questions To Ask Yourself…

Once you’ve got the list of competitors ask yourself the following questions to help you complete your review:

• Who are your competitors?
• What products or services do they sell?
• What is each competitor’s market share?
• What price points do they sell their products or services at?
• What are their past strategies?
• What are their current strategies?
• What type of methods are used to market their products or services?
• What are each competitor’s strengths and weaknesses?
• What potential threats do your competitors pose?
• What potential opportunities do they make available for you?

A competitive analysis is a critical part of your marketing strategy and Local Market Positioning™. Using this article to help you identify and evaluate your competition will give you a clear path to differentiate your business.

Want Help Creating A Marketing Plan To Grow?

Schedule complimentary 60-Minute Discovery Call with an expert on the Fitness Revolution Team to help you find a solution to your growth challenges. On this call, you’ll be able to uncover the obstacles holding you back from reaching your goals and put a plan in place to overcome them. It’s time to end the guesswork and frustration so that you finally create the income and business you want.

A strong Front End Offer can help grow a fitness business quickly. Not only will it speak directly to the needs and desires of your Ideal Client, but it will allow anyone on the fence about joining your program to test drive the experience.

Remember, the objective of your Front End Offer is to provide a positive experience for your Ideal Client. In order to do so it must:

• Have a low barrier to entry (it doesn’t have to be free)
• Provide a quick result or solution
• Not undervalue your Core Offer

Your Front End Offer should help your Ideal Client start seeing the results they typically want. It can positioned as a Jump Start, Test Drive or Kick Start program. You want to give the impression right away that it’s the start of the program, not one that will give them the end result. 

Using a Fat Loss Jump Start, Tone Up Test Drive or Fitness Kick Start program will help you bring in more potential clients. Typically you want to run these for 14 days in a group training business and 7 Days or less for a personal training business. Providing 2-3 sessions per week for these programs allows the potential new client to experience enough of what you have and see some tangible results.

However, we want to call out the result and stand out in our marketing a bit more than a generic Jump Start. So, you’ll need to create a ‘hook’ or tagline for the program that really catches the attention of your Ideal Client.

To create the hook or tagline of your Front End Offer follow this formula:

[RESULT] in [TIME FRAME] without [PAIN YOU HELP THEM AVOID]

Here is an example:

“Drop 2 Inches In 14 Days Without Dieting”

For extra credit list out the top 3-5 benefits the client will experience in this time such as:

1. Increase your confidence
2. Develop new strength
3. Tone up your trouble spots
4. Discover how to eat right without starving yourself

These can be used in your marketing and the copy to promote the Front End Offer.

With so many options for your Ideal Client to choose from to help them reach their fitness goals it’s important that you are able to attract them with a Front End Offer. Growing a fitness business is tough work, but with the right Front End Offer you’ll get more clients quickly.

Need Some Help Getting More Clients?  

Get hundreds of resources, modules and a complete marketing curriculum inside of The Academy! The Academy is the #1 resource for fitness business owners to discover the secrets to attracting more clients, increasing profits and creating systems to run their business.

The success of your marketing and ability to get more personal training clients for your business rely on your ability to create a message that resonates with your Ideal Client.   

One of the easiest ways to figure out what to say in your marketing and learn how you can help your Ideal Clients choose your business over the competition is to ask! But, many personal trainers simply assume they know what their clients want and end up missing the mark.

Interview 5-10 of your current clients with this 14 questions to get more personal training clients:

1. What did you hire us for in the first place?
2. Why did you choose us?
3. What do we do for you that other businesses don’t?
4. What do you feel ike is missing from the fitness industry as a whole?
5. What could we do that would WOW you?
6. What do you find yourself simply putting up with when it comes to the fitness industry?
7. What would you do if you owned a business like mine?
8. Where would you search for a service like mine?
9. What would you search for?  What would you type into Google?
10. How did you originally find out about us?
11. What companies do you admire and refer to the most
12. What’s the one thing that you love about what our company does?
13. If you referred us to a friend, what would you say about us?
14. What’s the biggest challenge you face with [result they want] right now?

The answers to these questions will turn into marketing gold for your business!

Need Some Help Getting More Clients?  

Get hundreds of resources, modules and a complete marketing curriculum inside of The Academy!   The Academy is the #1 resource for fitness business owners to discover the secrets to attracting more clients, increasing profits and creating systems to run their business.   

Positioning is a powerful piece of your marketing plan. It tells your target market who you are, who you help, and why they should choose you. It also gives you credibility and should position you as an expert. So, how do we tell the world that you’re an amazing fitness pro?

Before you begin telling the world how awesome you are we need to create your Local Market Positioning™. Think of this as your strength coach or personal trainer resume, but packaged up in a way that actually matters to your target market. This is how you will stand out in your market, position yourself as an expert and clearly communicate why someone should listen to you.

To begin creating your Local Market Positioning™ you’ll need to do a brain dump of the following:

1. Features of your program
2. Benefits of your program to the end user
3. Statistical data, tangible results and awards won
4. Describe in detail how you deliver your program and get these results

This will be challenging, don’t worry about getting it perfect. Your goal is to get as many ideas and thoughts out of your head and on to paper as possible to be evaluated later.

The easiest place to start is with your statistical data, tangible results and awards won. You’re probably overlooking a lot of great differentiators that can position you as an expert inside of this category.   

For example, I was recently coaching a former D-I strength coach turned private sector strength coach through this exercise. During our coaching sessions we discovered that he had coached 3 Olympians, 5 professional athletes and hundreds of D-I athletes during his career. Those are incredible results that would grab the attention of any parent or coach of a young athlete.

Here are a few examples to spark some ideas for you:

• [Your Business Name] clients lose an average of [XX] pounds in [YY] days
• [Your Business Name] clients have lost a total of [ZZZZ] pounds in [Timeframe]
• Best of [City] Personal Trainer/Gym/Fitness Center in [List years]
• [XX] happy clients trained in [YY] years/since [Date]
• [XX] [Your Business Name] Athletes have earned a collegiate scholarship

Don’t forget any awards you’ve won as an athlete, including your own transformation, or awards you’ve won professionally.  Your target market may not know why those are important but simply knowing you’ve been recognized as top in your field is important for your credibility.  

Once you’ve got these dialed in its time to go tell the world through your marketing!

Need Help With Your Positioning?  

Take 60 minutes to talk with a member of the Fitness Revolution team to dig in to your business and help you discover the path you need to take to reach your biggest goals. The call is completely FREE! If you think working with us at the end of the call can help you reach your goals we’ll discuss what may be the best fit for you.

It all starts with the right question…

You likely started your business or entered into the fitness industry because you asked yourself a question about what you wanted to do, who you wanted to help or how you wanted to make a living.  

Your growth as a person and business owner start with questions about skills you need to develop, obstacles you will face and finding the path to success.

It’s simple…you don’t know what you don’t know.  

To find out you have to be willing to ask questions. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it saves the entrepreneur!

Fear and insecurity hold back many fitness business owners from experiencing growth. The fear of asking for help or looking stupid. Questions don’t make you less of a business owner, they make you a successful business owner.  

Here are a few questions you need to be asking throughout your journey of fitness business growth:

1. What should I not do at this stage to get to the next?
2. What should I focus my energy on at this stage?
3. What are the biggest risks for me?
4. What does success look like and how will I recognize it?
5. What did you do?  How did you do it?
6. What might I be missing?
7. Who do you know that I should know?
8. How can I (insert your goal or obstacle)?
9. Who can help me (insert goal or obstacle)?
10. What are my blind spots?

These are just a start, but the more questions you ask the more knowledge you will acquire. That knowledge, when put into action will result in fitness business growth.

So, what questions do you have for us at Fitness Revolution?

Seeking Answers To Your Most Challenging Business Questions?  

Take 60 minutes to talk with a member of the Fitness Revolution team to dig in to your business and help you discover the path you need to take to reach your biggest goals. The call is completely FREE! If you think working with us at the end of the call can help you reach your goals we’ll discuss what may be the best fit for you.

The struggle to find success in the fitness industry is real. You’re in a saturated industry with a lot of misinformation, hyperbole, smoke and mirrors. Just 12 years ago I was no different than you…navigating my way in business, simply trying to increase revenues.

I’m still no different than you.  

Each day I wake up with a desire and drive to push a little further, a little higher, and do a little more so that Fitness Revolution is THE GO TO solution for serious fitness business owners who want to take their business to the next level. But, enough about me…

You’re here because you aren’t cool with status quo. You want more from your business and more for yourself. And you want it all to happen by doing what you love.

While the market may be full of potential options for your target market, there are very few GREAT options for them. You have to be willing to step up and grab the top spot in their minds. When you do that you’ll have no problem rising to the top of your market and beyond.  

There are three things you need to dial in if you want to supercharge your success and rapidly grow your business.  

Commitment

Your fitness business success will largely be determined by your commitment to the cause. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to succeed?

Discomfort will become your new reality. You will be uncomfortable making new, bigger decisions. You’ll be required to get out of your comfort zone to implement new ideas, methods and strategies. You’ll have to get used to leaning into the discomfort of the situations.

The beautiful thing about this discomfort is that growth lies on the other side. You’ll learn how to handle these new situations, you’ll develop new skills and progress in your development as a business owner. These new skills and capabilities allow to you grow quickly.

Be committed to growing your business and becoming the business owner you need to be.

Responsibility

Do you ever get annoyed with the client that constantly blames their lack of progress on someone or something else? It could be their schedule, their family, their friends, their metabolism, or the cycle of the moon. Not once has it been their fault that they hit a sticking point or haven’t gotten the results they want.

Fitness business success requires 100% responsibility from you. You have to own the wins, losses and everything in between. There are always going to be circumstances out of your control. We don’t focus on those, but rather look at what we could do better or what we can learn from those situations.

Failure is going to be part of the learning process. Lack of responsibility will keep you from learning. You’ll be in an endless cycle of repeating the same mistakes or going through the same challenges if you don’t own it and change it.

Your rapid growth and fitness business success are determined by your level of responsibility.

Communication

In Five Stars: The Communication Secrets To Get From GOOD TO GREAT there was a quote from Barbara Corcoran, Shark Tank investor and real estate mogul…

“If you’re going to be in business, the single most important thing is the ability to communicate your idea to every single person you meet”

You need to be able to communicate to your market, to your team and to your mentors what it is that you want to accomplish and how it impacts them. This isn’t just marketing, it’s about persuading your audience, whomever that may be at the time, to support your initiative.  

Learning how to clearly and powerful communicate a message will make fitness business success come a lot easier. You’ll inspire your team, invoke your market to take action and recruit others to help you accomplish your vision.

Poor communication will kill your success.  

Climb The Success Ladder

No matter where you are in your journey as a fitness business owner you will need to zero in on and work to develop new skills to keep your journey moving forward. There is no status quo or maintaining success. I’m a firm believer that you are either moving forward or you’re moving back.  

These three skills and mindsets will help you find fitness business success if you choose to develop them. As you work to master them you will be moving forward…fast!

Need Some Guidance & Accountability To Get To The Next Level?

Take 60 minutes to talk with a member of the Fitness Revolution team to dig in to your business and help you discover the path you need to take to reach your biggest goals. The call is completely FREE! If you think working with us at the end of the call can help you reach your goals we’ll discuss what may be the best fit for you.

It’d be great if you could build your business off referrals alone, right? There are a few businesses out there who are able to do this, but they are outliers. Most of us mortals have to expand our marketing to other channels to grow our business and hit our goals.

That doesn’t mean you should neglect your internal marketing channel of referrals. Too many fitness business owners sit back and hope to get more referrals or word of mouth leads instead of taking control from the start.

Let’s breakdown what goes into a referral plan that can perpetuate itself, essentially allowing for a constant stream of referral leads into your business.  

How Should Your Clients Refer?

Don’t take for granted that you know exactly who you want as a client in your business and how to communicate with them about what you offer. Your clients only know their story and are not well versed in talking about your business. Outside of a great experience or the results they are getting you will be lucky if they can explain what you do to other in a way that matters.

Take charge of your referral experience by laying out:

1. Who your clients should refer
2. How they should refer them
3. Why it’s important to them and their friends/family

Package all that up into a simple and easy way for them to refer and you’ll have a winning referral program on your hands.  

First, tell your clients exactly who you are looking to bring into your business, this would be the demographics of your Ideal Client profile. Something like “I’m looking for a busy professional who wants to lose at least 20 lbs but can’t find the time”. This paints a clear picture inside the head of your client and allows them to easily connect that to the people they know.

Next, lay out a simple and clear plan for them to refer the client. It could be VIP Referral Passes they can give out with their name on it for tracking or simply having them make an email introduction to the person they want to refer. The easier you can make this the more effective it will be.  

Finally, let them know what’s in it for them. Tell them what they get and why it’s important for them to refer. That can include things like referral rewards, improved experiences for them, improved results, or maintaining the culture of the gym.

Plant The Seeds Early

You want to inform your clients that you love, almost expect referrals from the very start of your relationship with them. Acknowledge that you need to earn the referral but if your client loves their results and the experience you provide the biggest thank you they can give you is to refer others like them who could use a little help.  

Immediately after a new client sign ups you should be requesting referrals. These are called Point of Sale referrals. Right after a new client has completed all of their paperwork to start training inform them of your referral program and let them know how to refer their friends. Leverage statistics for success rates of those who workout with a friend vs those who work out alone. It’s also key to let them know that this provides a support system out of the gym as well.  

Follow Up With Requests

Over the first 30 days of your new client’s experience I recommend that you have a pre-scheduled and systemized follow up process to ensure they are having a great experience. This includes text, email, calls and in person meetings. During this 30 day follow up I also recommend that make 3 referral requests, most of them through written communication to the client via email or letters.  

This reminds them of the referral program during their initial experience with you and takes advantage of getting referrals during one of the times they are most excited about being in your program.

Opportunity Referral Requests

Many fitness pros miss key referral request opportunities because they fail to listen. This is especially true when you build a team in your fitness business. Train yourself to request referrals when a client hits a milestone or tells you something positive about your program.  

Another key opportunity to get more referrals is to listen for your clients talking about their friends or family asking about what they do for their workouts, nutrition, or complimenting them on their results. You’ll hear things like “oh, my sister was asking about Fitness Revolution the other day…”  

Often times that goes unnoticed or the fitness pro will simply tell the client to have that person call them. Instead, take control and get the individual’s information or invite the client to bring that individual in for their next workout as a guest.

These opportunities will pop up frequently once you train yourself to recognize them.

Reward Referrals

When you get a referral it’s important that you reward the referring client. Avoid discounts and other intangible rewards for something that you can physically hand the client. It’s important to note that the client isn’t referring to earn money or get a reward, but the reward is important so that you can acknowledge them for their referral.  

The standard referral reward is a $25-50 gift card or cash. This is enough to show that you truly appreciate the referral and gives you the chance to recognize the referring client in front of your other clients.

Make a big deal about getting referrals by handing the client their reward at the end of their sessions, hopefully around other clients, and taking photos to share via your newsletter, social media and other marketing channels.

This act of recognition and then marketing of the photos will keep referrals top of mind for your clients.

Putting it all together

Any one of these referral programs would help you get more referrals, but when you put them all together you can create a steady flow of new referral leads for your business. It won’t take long for you to see an increase in referrals for your fitness business. This is also one of the highest return marketing activities you can do for your business because we both know that referrals are pre-qualified and pre-sold.

Need Help Putting Together A Referral Plan or Marketing Plan to Grow Your Business?

Take 60 minutes to talk with a member of the Fitness Revolution team to dig in to your business and help you discover the path you need to take to reach your biggest goals. The call is completely FREE! If you think working with us at the end of the call can help you reach your goals we’ll discuss what may be the best fit for you.

We’re at a place in history where data is incredibly important. It’s helping us make better decisions and, when used correctly, can make running your business a lot easier.  

As a fitness pro you’re likely tracking data on your programs success rates, weight lost, inches dropped, and strength gained. That’s how you progress a client in their training and help them reach their goals.

Business is no different. There are a few very important metrics to track in your business but there is one that stands out above the rest. In fact, instead of throwing a million numbers for you to compile on a spreadsheet we’re going to break this down into a really simple action plan.

Critical Metric: New Core Offer Clients

The #1 metric for nearly every fitness business owner and fitness pro who is trying to grow their business should be New Core Offer Clients. This is the driver for your growth and a number that you can actively chase each day and see progress towards your goal.

Your New Core Offer Clients, or for those not familiar with our terminology here at FR, new clients, will allow you to hit your Gross Revenue and total client goals when planned well.  The trouble with Gross Revenue being your target is that you don’t know that you’re going to get there until it’s too late to change anything. You review your Gross Revenue reports at most weekly, more likely monthly.

Gross Revenue is the equivalent of weight lost in a transformation. You don’t know what you lost (or earned) until you weigh in each day or week. Sure you can check progress, but that doesn’t help you reach your goals. Tracking your macros, calories or food intake is the equivalent of using New Core Offer Clients as your metric goal. You know that if you hit your numbers for macros daily that you should hit your weight loss goal.

How To Set Your Goal

Gross Revenue is important, and we certainly want to drive new sales and total sales up as we grow a business. So, to set your New Core Offer goal for your fitness business you’ll need to factor in the number of clients you expect to lose and the average monthly value of a new client.  

Let’s say your goal is to add $1,000 of Gross Revenue per month to your fitness business over the next quarter. If you expect to lose 3 clients a month and the average monthly value of a client is $300 you need to get 7 New Core Offer Clients each month.

Here’s how the math works:

• 3 Lost Clients x $300 = $900 Lost
• 7 New Clients x $300 = $2,100 gained
• $2,100 – $900 = $1,200 gained

At the end of the quarter, if you hit your goals, you should be up $3,600/mo in Gross Revenue.  

Relentless Focus

There are other metrics you should be tracking in your business and monitoring as the business owner, but relentless focus both by you and your team on the MOST IMPORTANT metric is required for growth.

Your daily actions and your attention should be aimed at ensuring you hit your goal for that metric each and every month.

If you’ve struggled a bit to hit your growth goals in the past do yourself a favor and post a big print out of your goals in your office or in the gym where you can see it every day and do something to drive that number up.  

The Best Don’t Do It Alone…

And Neither Should You!

Take 60 minutes to talk with a member of the Fitness Revolution team to dig in to your business and help you discover the path you need to take to reach your biggest goals. The call is completely FREE! If you think working with us at the end of the call can help you reach your goals we’ll discuss what may be the best fit for you.

Training people from the comfort of your own home, not dealing with client sessions or having to work around your client’s schedules. It all sounds amazing, but is it really all it’s cracked up to be?

Running an online fitness business seems incredibly appealing, especially if you’ve endured the long days, split shifts and headaches of having to run your in person fitness business.  

Let’s take a look at what you need to know about running an online fitness business if you want to be successful.

Start Small

The first mistake many fitness pros make is trying to tackle the entire world with their online fitness business. You start running FB ads, posting IG selfies and start blogging relentlessly.

Instead of trying to have your online fitness business bring in all of your income think of it as your side hustle or complement to your in person training business. Not doing training in person yet? Then you probably want to consider if you should be training people online at all.  

I’m a big believer that you need some in person experience to be able to train people online. Can it be done without that experience? Sure, but it’s going to be a tougher road and you’ll likely need to have another source of income for a while.

In fact, one of my mentees started out this way. He was working for the city while training himself for a fitness competition. As he made progress and shared his journey he also interned with me at my studio and was training clients on the side. From there he picked up some online clients and gradually worked with them in his very limited spare time.  

He’s running a six figure online business now and a studio. But, I think he’s the exception not the rule.  

Instead of trying to make your millions and live on the beach through your online fitness business let’s set a goal of adding a $1,000/mo in extra revenue to your business through online training and get your systems in order.  

Market Local, Serve Online

The easiest clients to get for your online fitness business are going to be previous clients you’ve worked with that moved away or couldn’t afford your in person services. The next easiest will be friends and family that are willing to give you the opportunity to train them online.  From there I would still focus on capturing a lot of my local market before taking my online fitness business to the world via FB ads or other marketing channels.

Once you’ve worked with several clients and got testimonials you will have the marketing resources and pressure tested systems to market to a bigger audience.  

As you are working with these local clients, previous clients who’ve moved or friends/family you will want to start building your marketing resources such as social media following, email list and any content platforms you use such as blogs, YouTube, etc.

The Delivery Is Different, Principles Are The Same

Don’t treat your online fitness business differently than a brick and mortar or in person fitness business. All  the principles stay the same and your journey will be very similar.

Most fitness pros jump into online training without thinking through their Core Offer, Local Market Positioning or pricing structure. It is as if you think because its an online business you can just kinda figure it out as you go.  

That’s a recipe for disaster.

Instead, determine how you will deliver your services, what systems you’ll need to do it and what you are going to charge. You’ll also need a clear marketing plan for attracting new clients. As you are doing this think about how you will be able to grow this business, take on more clients and earn what you want without it driving you crazy.

You will still have a culture in your online fitness business, need systems, have to learn how to lead, manage and delegate. Online doesn’t mean easier.  

Don’t Take The Personal out of Personal Trainer

Online training still requires a personal touch and interactive component to it. Don’t try to automate everything from your marketing to sales process and delivery of your programs.  

Create your Core Offer so that you have personal interaction with your clients, check ins and ways to develop relationships with them to increase client lifespan and client lifetime value. If you want to be completely hands off or rely on automated delivery of workouts combined with a FB group to run your online fitness business you’re in for a long, tough road ahead.

Here’s an example of how I would set this up:

Core Offer – 1-1 Online Personal Training

• Intro Success Session and Evaluation 60 minutes via Zoom
• Monthly Program Design, included weekly updates as needed based on progress
• Weekly Check Ins via Email
• Monthly 15 minute 1-1 Coaching Session via Zoom
• Weekly Nutrition Adjustments as needed via check in
• Unlimited email access
• Price $199/mo

From there I would also offer a premium service that doubled or tripled in price for a set number of exclusive clients, say 10 max, which included weekly Zoom Coaching Sessions and unlimited text, phone access to me.   

*Note: Zoom is a video conferencing platform.

This could also be blended in with in person training once or twice a month as needed for clients if you are running a hybrid model.

Marketing Your Online Fitness Business

The wheels usually fall off here…

You start your online fitness business and think “if I start it they will sign up”. Then crickets. No one buys your program. You follow the digital marketing advice from the pros but its not working for you.

Now what?

Here’s what I would to do launch my program:

• Create a compelling Front End Offer such as a 21 day Rapid Fat Loss Program that leads to my long term program to get some traction
• Reach out to 5 people in my network, including previous clients to start a beta program or invite them to test drive my FEO for the online program daily
• Post content to Instagram and Facebook daily including posts and stories
• Start a blog and update it with content once per week
• Build an email list and add 10 people per week to the email list through various methods including online marketing such as FB ads, network connections, strategic relationships and my website traffic
• Email that list 3x per week with valuable content and offers
• Ask for referrals from my current clients, family and friends.  Let’s say 3 asks per day

As my continued marketing plan, once I got some traction I would do the following…

Daily:

• 1 Instagram post
• 5-10 stories on Instagram
• 1 FB post
• 3 network conversations
• Follow up with leads and prospects
• 1 Referral Ask

Weekly

• Add 5 people to my network
• Send 3 emails to email list (MWF)
• Add 10 people minimum to email list
• Write 1 new blog post and publish
• Publish 1 new YouTube video
• Check FB ad statistics/metrics and optimize
• Connect with 3 online or local business strategic partner prospects

Monthly

• Collect and share 1 new client testimonial
• Promote FEO to my email list

This plan would include running targeted FB ads using a small budget to test my offers and then ramping up as I began to get a feel for my return on investment. I would outsource the FB ads to someone like Lead Engine Marketing and focus my efforts on following up with leads they got me.

Can You Be Successful With An Online Fitness Business?

Absolutely, but its not going to be an overnight success story and you aren’t going to be working 4 hours a week if you want to make any money or have any sort of meaningful impact on your clients. There’s work involved, it takes time and you have to follow basic business principles.

Commit to putting in the work, developing new skills and providing an incredible service and you’ll have success.

Want to see if we can help you start your online fitness business or take it to the next level?

Take 60 minutes to talk with a member of the Fitness Revolution team to dig in to your business and help you discover the path you need to take to reach your biggest goals. The call is completely FREE! If you think working with us at the end of the call can help you reach your goals we’ll discuss what may be the best fit for you.

There’s a good chance you’ll experience a few ups and downs in business. Rarely is your path to success a straight line to the top. You are forced to endure peaks and valleys, sometimes extremely painful valleys.

Those challenges are placed there so that you can develop skills, strategies and relationships that will help you get to the next level. It’s a lot like training. You have to endure a bit of pain and soreness to progress to the next level of fitness.

High Performance Mastermind member and FR Coaching Partner, Stone Davis experienced one of those valleys in 2017. Instead of struggling to figure it out on his own he leaned on his coaches and took a leap of faith to find a group of peers that would challenge him and pull him to the next level.  

Here’s what he had to say about his experience…

“To be honest before 2017 I didn’t have much struggle with my business. I would say being more organized was an issue. Then in 2017 was a pretty bad year for the business and I wasn’t sure what the issue was, I was still unorganized and I couldn’t convert any leads to clients.

So, being that I had no clue how 2018 would be I decided to take a chance and put all my faith and effort into a mastermind group and my coaching.”

You’re guaranteed to experience uncertainty in your business. There’s no way around it, but you can expedite your growth and personal development by seeking out the answers to questions you have and finding people to surround yourself with that will provide you those answers. Or, at the very least, help you find the answers.

“Business is much better now. I have a clear plan and vision for my gym by learning from other business owners in the field.”

Stone has seen revenues increase throughout 2018 and spends a lot of time traveling the world.  

This growth and the ability to take time away from his gym to travel are all made possible by the plan he has in place and the vision he is pursuing. This serves a guide for his daily actions that will either move him closer to or further away from that vision.  

Everyone’s plan is unique to them. You shouldn’t blindly follow the path of another business owner, but don’t neglect the knowledge and experience they have developed on their journey. Those two things can help accelerate your growth.

Need help with the vision and a clear plan for your business?

Take 60 minutes to talk with a member of the Fitness Revolution team to dig in to your business and help you discover the path you need to take to reach your biggest goals. The call is completely FREE! If you think working with us at the end of the call can help you reach your goals we’ll discuss what may be the best fit for you.

One complaint many personal trainers looking to get more clients have is about the quality of their leads. They are either ‘tire kickers’ or they have a million excuses to not show up.

What if the problem wasn’t with the leads?

There’s a simple solution to converting more leads into prospects and it lies in your sales pipeline. A clear follow up process with defined stages and actions will empower you to take control of the conversion process and stop relying on your leads to figure out if you are a good fit for them.

Let’s face it, if your potential new clients could make great decisions about their fitness and nutrition on their own they wouldn’t need you! They are self conscious, a little intimidated and probably have some negative head trash surrounding their ability to actually accomplish results. One of the easiest ways to overcome all that is to manage your sales pipeline and be relentless with your follow up.

And I know, I know, you’re probably thinking that you only want highly qualified leads and the people that really want to make changes in your business.

But, if all you take is the easy ones then you’re going to have a hard time growing your business. The really successful businesses are able to use their marketing and sales skills to convert more of the leads that aren’t quite ready to jump on right away or that need a little help seeing how impactful your services can be.

Imagine if you increase your conversion rate from lead to client by a measly 10%. If you get 20 leads a month that would result in 2 EXTRA new clients. At a couple hundred bucks a month that would have a huge impact on your top line by the end of the year.

The steps to get at least 10% more from your leads are easy:

1. Create your pipeline
2. Manage that pipeline
3. Follow the process all the time, every time

That’s it!  3 simple steps to more leads.

Here’s what your pipeline should look like:

Leads include anyone that you have information for including name, email and phone number but may not be ready to inquire about your programs or start an FEO at this time. They will require some nurturing.

Prospects are those leads who have indicated they are ready to take the next step through an application for FEO, inquiry form on your site or calling in to ask about your programs.

The 1st Commitment stage is where you qualify your prospects via a discovery call and then schedule them for a Success Session to place them in the correct program.

The Front End Offer stage will indicate a client who is in your entry level program or test drive program such as a trial, challenge or jump start. These clients require follow up to convert to your Core Offer.

The Core Offer stage indicates someone who has joined your regular training services, the Core Offer, in your business. These clients need to be onboarded and followed up with to ensure they stay and refer.

Each of these stages have key actions steps to move on to the next level or disqualify themselves. There is also a timeline for each stage so that you aren’t disqualifying too quickly or leaving an opportunity in a stage too long.

Here’s what that looks like:

Putting your pipeline together, complete with clear follow up steps that include phone, email and text to convert a lead to prospect, prospect to 1st commitment, and 1st commitment to FEO or CO will enhance your current marketing.

Could Your Sales & Marketing Use A Boost?

It’s always helpful to get a second pair of eyes on your sales and marketing processes.  There’s a good chance that you’re leaving money on the table with your current plan and our team here at FR is ready to help you uncover that hidden opportunity in your business.

Schedule a free Discovery Call with a member of our team to learn how we can help you get more from your business.

Every day we meet a new fitness pro who is struggling to get their fitness business to the next level. They are frustrated with their growth, stressed out by their business, and confused about what to do next.

Time’s running out to find a solution for many fitness pros. And when that time does run out we see a lot of great fitness pros leave the industry or never reach the number of people they should because of these struggles.

Here are the not so sweet 16 reasons your personal training business fails…

You Never Learn To Sell

This is one of the first skills you need to develop as a good trainer. Being good at what you do isn’t good enough and simply offering training services doesn’t mean the clients will come. You need to learn how to get people to pay you, and pay you what you are worth, for your professional services.

Listening To The Wrong People

The wrong mentor, coach or advice giver can do some serious damage to a business. They may send you off with a bad strategy or worse give you advice that puts your entire business at risk. You need to pick your mentors and coaches wisely.

Failure To Track Performance

What gets measured gets managed. Failing to measure the performance of your marketing, financials and other business basics will leave you guessing when it comes time to make decisions. You don’t have the time to guess, business is hard enough without making uneducated decisions.  

Not Developing New Skills

When you started training you didn’t know nearly as much as you do now. You developed new skills and methods for delivering results and creating change in your clients. The same focus on personal and professional development needs to occur for your business.

No Cash Flow
The ability to invest in your marketing, your team and your business can accelerate your growth.  But, you’d be surprised how many businesses doing $200,000/year or more in gross revenue don’t have a dime to invest. Store up some cash so that you have a cushion to invest in your business when it’s time. You won’t miss that new piece of equipment as much as you’ll miss not being able to bring in new clients or hire that new trainer.

You Don’t Learn To Manage Your Time

Building a great business is nearly impossible on your own. Eventually, you’ll need to hire and delegate so that you can free up some of your time. But, before you do that it’s critical to learn to manage your own time and priorities.  

Misinterpretation of Systems

Systems don’t mean a checklist and they don’t mean automation. Too many fitness pros try to automate a process or system that should be run by a person because you know, we’re in a personal service industry. Systems should empower the people running them and when appropriate you can automate things to make it easier on the person running it. Examples would be putting clients on autopay for their memberships so a person doesn’t have to track and bill them for sessions.  

You Are Disorganized

As an entrepreneur, you’ve survived in a world of chaos. Doing every job, knowing where everything is and exactly how it should be done. That will be your achilles heel when it comes to building a team and being efficient with your time. You need to have your systems, processes, and business organized to allow others to flourish. Don’t expect them to be able to ‘just figure it out’.

You Hire The Wrong People

Slow to hire, quick to fire. That’s the rule when it comes to building your team. Now that doesn’t mean you should let someone go at the first mistake because often time that’s on you. It does mean that you need a great hiring process, clear expectations for each team member and a process to ensure they are trained to do their job well. Do everything you can to hire, train and retain the right people.

Burnout Blows Up A Business

You only have so much gas in your tank. Burning the candle at both ends, running around with your hair on fire trying to grow your business can’t last forever. Even if you outlast this, most your performance won’t be what it could. Learn to say no to opportunities that aren’t directly tied to your current goals and delegate tasks that you should no longer be doing. Oh, and take some time to recharge. Even if that’s just an afternoon on Sundays.

Bad Partnerships

Partnerships can be great or they kill a business. Most fitness pros bring on a partner for the wrong reasons. Before you take on a business partner get clear in what they will bring, get everything in writing and know exactly what the expectations are from both parties.

Putting The Brakes On Marketing

This industry is too competitive to stop marketing. Many fitness pros get ‘too busy’ to keep up their marketing. Eventually, their funnel of new leads dries up and revenue starts to drop. But, you can’t just turn your marketing back on and hope for immediate results. It can take weeks, even months, for marketing to turn into revenue. Don’t take your foot off the gas….EVER!

Refuse To Let Go

As you grow into a business owner with a team your roles shifts from ‘do-er’ to leader. If you refuse to let go of the technical work in your business, including some of the training. NOT ALL, if that’s what you love to do, but at least some of the training needs to be delegated. Your job now is to get results through other people, which requires a majority of your time is spent leading them.

Growing Too Fast

Have you ever had a client who wanted to progress on an exercise too early? They usually end up hurt and then set back with their progress. The same goes for a business owner who tries to open up another location too soon, doesn’t master the fundamentals at each stage of their business or tries to be an absentee owner too quickly. You have to earn the right to grow as a business owner and that requires putting in the work.

Your Ego Gets In The Way

After you’ve seen some success its easy to drink a little too much of your own Kool-Aid. If you think you’ve got all the answers and that you ‘know better’ things are eventually going to catch up with you. You’ll avoid addressing pressing issues or being real about the issues in your business. You need to be in a constant state of learning and growth.   

Business Doesn’t Evolve

The market is constantly shifting and changing if you don’t adapt your business will suffer. Doing things one way because that’s how you’ve always done them is a surefire way to eventually go out of business. Many giants have fallen, such as Blockbuster, because they refused to adapt. Your small business is even more sensitive to market shifts.  

BONUS: You Don’t Get The Support You Need Fast Enough

Every single successful business owner and entrepreneur finds mentors and coaches to help the learn and grow. You should look at this as an investment in your future and your success, it’s not an expense. In fact, you can’t afford to not find a mentor or coach. If you want to learn how FR can help you and see if we are a good fit, schedule a Complimentary Discovery Call with a member of our team. We’ll figure out if any of these 16 things are occuring in your business and help you address them quickly.

If we’re having a conversation exactly one year from today, and you had to look back over the past 12 months, what would have needed to happen over that period of time for you to be happy with the growth in your personal training business?

Take a minute and really think about your answer…

It’s easy to think about where you need to be in order for you to be happy with your success, but the challenge comes in figuring out the plan to get there. And more importantly having the accountability to execute that plan!

There are 3 elements of success in a personal training business. This is the trifecta for growth in your business and accomplishing big things in your business.

3 Elements of Success For A Personal Training Business

From our experience working with hundreds of personal training business and fitness business owners these three elements will put you on the fast track to success:

1. Live Events
2. Support from a peer group
3. Support from a coach

Live Events

One of the most powerful experiences you can have is attending a well run summit, conference or workshop.  

“Stepping away to work on developing your business in a live, hands on environment will create breakthrough moments for you.”

The first step in learning how to be successful and what it takes to grow your personal training business is putting yourself in a growth environment where you can learn from experts. Live events not only give you the chance to learn new strategies but you also get to see what’s possible by surrounding yourself with other like minded business owners.

Our most successful coaching clients attend two events per year.  The first is a Live Coaching Meeting designed to help the accelerate their business growth and the other is the Elite Fitness & Performance Summit.   

Momentum grows when you attend live events and the relationships that are developed help develop a strong, supportive community for you.  

Support From A Peer Group

You’re not in this alone!  There are other personal training business and fitness business owners out there who are dealing with the same challenges as you.  The trick is finding them and leveraging them to help you grow as a business owner.

You share common issues, challenges and opportunities. A strong peer network is a critical element to your success. Engaging with them will make life much easier for you.

“FR has streamlined our growth and allowed us to be a business with measurable goals and a direction that is leading somewhere we can see.” 

-Trevor Warnke, Athletic Revolution Mundelein

Your network will give you the power to “see what’s coming next”, essentially to predict the obstacles you’ll be facing before you get there. The experiences of the other business owners can be a valuable asset if you engage.  

WARNING: Make sure you find the right peer group. Not all are created equal!

The combined experience and knowledge of your peers and the lessons you can learn from them for bigger, faster growth for everyone. Always try to ‘level up’ with your peer groups and in your network. Aspire to connect and share ideas with those who are more successful than you or are where you want to be.  

Support From A Coach

You’ve probably experienced some level of chaos in your business. You’re on the verge of being burnt out, feeling as if you can’t add one more thing to your plate. Finding time to spend with your family or friends seems impossible and you may feel like you’ve hit a ceiling in your business.

You’re in a never-ending cycle of going to work each day but have lost sense of your true purpose.

You know there are solutions to your problems and answers to your questions. You tell yourself “it doesn’t have to be like this!” but struggle to create the solutions on your own.

That’s the beauty of a business coach for your personal training business. They provide an extra set of eyes that can give you a fresh look at your challenges and help you see the opportunity in your business.   

A great coach will help you do the following 3 things, in this order…

Step 1: Get Control

The first thing any great personal training business coach will do is assess your business and help you prioritize the actions that will produce the best results. You need to get control of the chaos and start freeing up some of your time and energy so that you can focus.

There’s a good chance your coach will be be very ‘hands on’ during this portion of your time together. You’re going to need a clear plan of action and accountability to get the job done. Your coach should work with you to ensure you’ve got healthy cash flow, your marketing is improving and there are no critical warning signs in your business.

Step 2: Build the Machine

Now that you’ve freed up energy to focus on your long-term vision for the business, it’s time to start building the machine. You’re beginning to sense momentum in your business.  Marketing efforts are more productive, your revenue is growing and there are far less fires and emergencies that arise in your day-to-day.

Your coach shouldn’t let you relax too much at this point. The real work is just getting started!  Don’t confuse the reduced chaos with success, now you have to implement the systems and structure within your business that allow it run like a well oiled machine.

This is where your coach should make systemization simple. Your systems will empower the people in your business to do great work and you’ll start to feel a sense of accomplishment each day.  

A coach will help you spend more of your time on the things you love doing and it’s paying off for you!

“I felt I was in the same spot I was when I opened the business four years prior. I was busy. I was doing alright financially. But I could not envision what the future of my business was going to be like. I was worried that I was just going to continue to be a trainer with a studio to train clients rather than a trainer with a business.

FR helps me evaluate the state of my business—performance numbers I should be looking at, who is my ideal client, who I should be marketing to, and what systems if any did I have in place. And then they helped me establish a vision for the future of my business.”

-Rich Ruffing, Accelerated Fitness  

Step 3: Run an Aligned Business

Your relationship with a coach should be transformative, but it can take time. At this point it’s time to make the leap from fitness pro and grow into an entrepreneur and leader for your team.

Because of the plan you and your coach have implemented your business is working as a cohesive unit, with clear purpose and direction. Your vision is defined and goals are clear.

You should sense incredible momentum and have the ability to evaluate more opportunities instead of dealing with constant problems. Most importantly, you’ll see issues early and be prepared to address them quickly.

This isn’t the end for you though…it’s simply the beginning! It’s the beginning for your newly aligned business and the opportunity for you to grow as a leader. To keep the momentum going you’ll use the system your coach has taught you (they do have a system right?) in your business consistently. Now your focus is maintaining alignment and making faster progress towards your vision.

Now no level of growth seems out of reach!

Your 12-Month Roadmap

We started this blog post with a simple question…

If we’re having a conversation exactly one year from today, and you had to look back over the past 12 months, what would have needed to happen over that period of time for you to be happy with the growth in your personal training business?

There’s a good chance that you can clearly see what you want your business to look like and what you want it to do for you. The challenge always comes in creating (and sticking to) the plan to reach those goals.  

You don’t have to do it alone!  Fill out the form below and schedule your complimentary Discovery Call to find out if we can help you build that plan and get it implemented quickly.

If You Ever Wondered What It Takes to Create A High Powered, Cash Generating Fitness Business That Allows You To Live The Life You Want, You Are Not Alone

A world-class fitness business that pumps out predictable revenue and doesn’t drive you insane trying to manage all the chaos is a fantasy that many fitness business owners and fitness pros only dream of. Having a multiple six, maybe even a seven-figure fitness business can seem like an unattainable business target only achievable by the superhumans you see on social media.   

While contemplating multiple locations, building sales funnels and taking several weeks off to spend time on vacation with family may seem like goals for the elite, many fitness business owners struggle with the day to day challenges of running a business. If you resolved those issues you could create a substantial impact on your business, growth, and career.

• How do I attract more quality leads and build my business with Ideal Clients?
• How do I sell my training at the price I deserve without selling out and being a sleazy salesperson?
• How can I automate more of my business so that I don’t have to spend 18 hours a day running around with my hair on fire trying to manage the chaos?
• How I can predict my sales and profits so that I can run my business?
• How can I build a reliable team of ‘A Players’ who help me grow my business and build my culture?
• How do I lead a team and become a fitness entrepreneur?

The answers to these questions elude most fitness business owners for their entire career.

That is, until now…

For the past 12 years Fitness Revolution has been helping fitness business owners implement strategies that grow their business and develop the skills needed to reach their full potential as a fitness entrepreneur. From the startup fitness business to well-known gyms that appear in the Men’s Health Top 10 Gyms list, FR has helped them all.   

Many fitness business owners wonder how they can achieve more in their business without having to kill themselves doing it. Because of this, FR hosts the Elite Fitness & Performance Summit each year to provide you with TWO full days of strategy and innovation for your business.

If you’ve have ever wanted to the chance to learn from the best in the industry join the Fitness Revolution Team and our top industry experts to learn how to IMMEDIATELY transform your business with more sales, greater efficiency, and more profits, YOUR opportunity has finally arrived…

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!)

Do you know why your clients REALLY invest in your services?

Here’s a hint…

They aren’t buying sessions or even great training. They are buying results. The outcome that you deliver is what will attract more leads and clients to your business. It’s also what will help you charge what you’re worth and eliminate a lot of the price objections you get from leads.

Marketing the outcome you deliver and the problems that you solve for your potential clients allows you to grab their attention. You can speak directly to their needs and desires. Once you have their attention marketing your credentials, how you deliver your programs and all the bells and whistles of your business becomes a lot easier (and more effective)!

What you are marketing is an offer, one that allows your potential client to achieve their goals. Creating marketable offers, both Front End Offers and Core Offers, for your business could be the game changer that you’ve been seeking.

Here are 7 questions to help you nail down the marketability of your programs:

1. What specific result can you promise and deliver to clients?
2. What time frame can you deliver those results in?
3. What challenge, obstacles or pain can you help them avoid (that are important to them)?
4. What is that important to them?
5. What are the top 5 benefits of someone will get from working with you?
6. Is the result you’re promising and the time frame appealing for your target market?
7. Does it stand out from your competitors claims and offers?

If you highlight the answers to these questions in your marketing you’ll start to attract more (and better) clients!

Need Help Getting More Clients?

Schedule a complimentary 60-Minute Discovery Call with an expert on the Fitness Revolution Team to help you find a solution to your growth challenges. On this call, you’ll be able to uncover the obstacles holding you back from reaching your goals and put a plan in place to overcome them. It’s time to end the guesswork and frustration so that you finally create the income and business you want.

It’s easier than ever to access information from experts all over the world. Blogs, podcasts, YouTube and social media make everyone and everything accessible. Which makes you think long and hard about attending a live event, conference or summit.

When attending a live event you have to fork out travel expenses, hotel, food, time away from the business and time away from family. There’s no question it is an investment. The determining factor is the return on that investment.

After running a 3+ hour workshop for sports performance and youth fitness business owners at last weeks IYCA Summit I did a little reflecting on the benefits of getting to these live events for a business owner. Here are my top 10 reasons you MUST get to live events if you want to succeed.

10 Reasons You MUST Attend Live Events

1. It gives you the chance to connect, in person, with other people who are going through the same challenges and facing the same difficult situations as you.
2. You have the opportunity to feel connected to a community bigger than yourself that can motivate you and inspire you take bigger, bolder actions to grow your business.
3. There is no better learning environment than live, in-person learning from experts all over the world. You’ll naturally absorb more information at a conference or summit than you will online.
4. You get the chance to escape the day to day rigors of running your business to focus on growing your business. The space this creates will allow for faster and bigger growth. Learning online in between sessions and then jumping right back into your routine kills some of that creativity and momentum.
5. The content and knowledge being shared at live events is cutting edge and innovative. Much of what you see online is created after this information has been shared to audiences all over the country.
6. You get the chance to connect with the experts and ask them questions. Emailing back and forth or connecting on social media is great, but being able to look a presenter in the eye, shake their hand and have a fluid conversation can’t be beat.
7. Just ONE idea from a live event can dramatically impact your business. You don’t need to absorb everything from the event, you only need ONE big idea that will transform your business.
8. You get to cut loose and have some fun! You work incredibly hard to grow and run your business. Attending these events allows you to kick back with other like minded individuals and have a little fun. You’ll go back rested and recharged.
9. Your commitment to your craft and personal development can be used to position you as an expert. Showing your clients and target market that you are growing as a fitness and business pro helps you stand out among the trainer who’s biggest concern is running the rack for bicep curls on a Saturday.
10. You’ll open your mind to new possibilities. It’s easy to get stuck in your own little world, running your business and gridding away. Stepping away for a few days allows you to see what’s possible in terms of growth in your business and for yourself. Your mindset will shift and growth becomes easier because you are able to think bigger.

If you aren’t willing to invest in yourself how can you expect your clients to invest in themselves with you?

The Elite Fitness & Performance Summit 2018 is the #1 event for Fitness Business Pros! If you want to level up as a business owner and grow your business then this is a MUST attend event. Save $100 on your registration and get $1,036 in bonuses by registering today.

4 Tips To Leverage Social Media

Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay and it’s a critical part of your fitness business marketing plan. If you’re not using social media to build your authority, position yourself in the local market and communicate with your audience then you’re making things hard on yourself.

These tips aren’t going to turn you into the fitness equivalent of a Kardashian, growing 100+ million followers, but it will help you stay front and center for your local market.

Create Your Own Reality TV Show

Social media allows your audience to get a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at your life as a fitness pro. They want to know what your day is like, what you’re thinking, where you eat, etc. Stories, especially on Instagram, give you the ability to create your own reality TV show.

Now, you may not want to let everyone in on your personal life. That’s okay. Show them what your gym life is like as you go through training sessions, share client successes, etc.

However, the more you can seem like a real person in your stories the more powerful they will be.

Set a goal to share 5-10 stories each day with your followers and give them a behind the scenes look at what life is like as a fitness pro.

LIVE with…

Creating live videos on social media allows you to connect with your audience in real time. This is one of the most powerful ways to share your content (and one I need to do a lot more!)

Stay away from live Q&As until you can figure out what to expect in terms of your audience engaging. Start off with sharing tips on nutrition, toning up your arms, tightening your midsection, glute exercises, etc. Whatever is most appealing to your target market, talk about that.

Be consistent and don’t get discouraged if you’re audience is small at first. It takes time to build a following and get them to engage.

Go live on each social media channel at least 1 time per week.

Do Your Research

This is particularly useful for Instagram. Using the right hashtags and locations in your posts are two of the most powerful ways to grow your local audience.

Following the right hashtags allows you to engage with your audience and enter into conversations that you may have missed otherwise.

For more info read this article on Buffer.

Be Social 🙂

Do you put up your post, scroll for a bit, maybe like a post or two and then jump right off social media?

If so, stop! Use social media to actually be social. (This is admittedly another area I need to improve on!) Comment on posts that you see, engage with your followers, DM or PM someone you haven’t talked to in a while.

The more you engage on social media the more it will give back to you, especially as a brand.

You can even use this to build up joint ventures by sharing and commenting on posts from other local businesses. This is a great way to get your foot in the door without cold calling.

Aim to reply to all your comments (unless you have 100,000+ followers) and DMs in a reasonable amount of time, comment on 3 posts each time you jump on social media and DM at least one person a day.

Don’t overcomplicate it!

Social media can become overwhelming and confusing. Don’t let it! Set a few simple rules for yourself, establish your behavior goals and then follow through. After 60-90 days evaluate if you feel like you got enough out of social media to keep with it or go back to the drawing board and find a new plan.

You don’t need tens of thousands of followers for social media to impact your business. All you need is a consistent plan to expand your reach and add value to your audience.

Here’s the cheat sheet if you skipped to the end:

Facebook

• Post 1x per day with a video or picture
• Go LIVE 1x per week
• Reply to all comments and PMs
• Comment on at least 3 other posts per day
• Share 1 other business post per week
• PM one person per day

Instagram

• Post to your feed 1x per day with a video or picture
• Go LIVE 1x per week
• Post at least 5 stories a day
• Research hashtags and locations to build your audience (and use them)
• Comment on at least 3 posts per day
• Comment or Repost another business post once per week
• DM one person a day

Twitter

• I don’t know, don’t use it much 🙂
• No seriously, I can’t help you here….

Using the tools you have your fingertips, mainly your smartphone, you can now share valuable content and be the first fitness pro your target market comes to when they are ready to change their lives.

Join Us At The Elite Fitness & Performance Summit 2018

This year at EFPS we’re going to be sharing a ton of great marketing and business growth strategies, just like what you learned here today. We’ll go on a journey together at this event to uncover the hidden obstacles and opportunities in your business.

You can consistently and confidently attract high-quality clients. All you need is the right fitness business marketing prescription. A marketing plan isn’t a random compilation of marketing ideas and tactics done inconsistently. Yet, many fitness business owners and personal trainers do exactly that and hope to get more clients.

If you witnessed a trainer randomly running around from machine to machine, from the dumbbells to the squat rack, performing a bunch of different exercises with reckless abandon you’d raise an eyebrow and think “what a joke…”

A great fitness pro would lay out a program, with specific exercises, rep schemes, etc to deliver the desired result for the client.

Now, think of marketing as the program and the client as your business…

You need a specific plan, with the right exercises and volume to hit your sales goals and growth goals for your business.

PLEASE STOP RANDOMLY MARKETING!

While you may feel like you’re staying busy it’s not producing results. Over the past few years I’ve been teaching the Triple A Marketing Method and building marketing plans for business owners. After hundreds of reps and watching the results come in I’ve got a pretty specific marketing prescription that I recommend…

The Referral Rewards System

You must be able to get your current client base to perpetuate your growth. You’ll see evidence of this in a lot of the activities I’ll be prescribing to you today, but the easiest and most direct way is via referrals.

Most referral programs underproduce or fail because they are very passive. To have success you need your program to reward, acknowledge and stay top of mind. An effective referral rewards program is promoted consistently through recognition of the referring clients.

Your Marketing Rx: Instead of passively waiting for referrals to come in set a target for the number of referral requests you’ll ask for each week.

Testimonial Collection

The next best thing to a referral is a client testimonial. This provides social proof to use in your marketing. Great testimonials tell a story. They allow your target market to see that you understand their problems and can help them get the results that you want.

If you’re looking for examples of great testimonials watch a late night infomercial for a fitness product. They are full of success stories that move people to take action.

Your Marketing Rx: Ask for at least one testimonial each month

Social Media Marketing

There has never been a time where building an active audience is easier than it is right now. And that’s all because of the power of social media.

Social media gives you a platform to share your ideas, connect with your audience and showcase what you do. The use of stories and video allow you to literally have your own reality TV show channel without all the crazy drama (I hope!).

Instagram is the channel that you should focus on for the time being, especially with your free content.

Your Marketing Rx: Post at least 3 times per week to your feed, using hashtags (do your research) to build your following. Add to your story every day, at least 3 times per day to communicate and connect with your current following.

Facebook Ads

The changes at Facebook recently have caused a bit of a stir, but I don’t think they are cause for panic. What you’ll notice is your organic reach for business and fan page content will go down and ad costs are going to continue to rise.

But, that DOES NOT mean you avoid running Facebook ads. It means you need to dial in your marketing message, spend your marketing budget wisely and focus on your follow up to make the most of the leads you get.
The mistake you want to avoid is selling directly through your FB ad. Instead, the goal of your ad is to acquire a lead or prospect via an opt in form or application. Let your follow up and sales process convert them to a paying client.

Your Marketing Rx: Run ads constantly, rotating between ads to build your email list and ads to promote a Front End Offer application. AND FOLLOW UP RELENTLESSLY!!!!!

Email Marketing

This is something I’ve preached about for years and very little has changed. Every single personal trainer or fitness professional should have an email list. Email is still the best and easiest way to communicate and sell to your audience.

The key to making email marketing work is sending valuable content on a consistent schedule.

Your Marketing Rx: Email your list at least once per week. One out of every 4 emails should be a direct promotion to your Front End Offer. Add every lead you get to your email list and ask your network if you can add them as well.

Networking

“Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future…”

That’s a biblical concept with serious business application. Your ability to add value to others, connect with powerful people and have a presence in your community will dramatically improve your business growth.

When I was growing my fitness business I never turned down an opportunity to attend an event. It didn’t matter if it was a networking event, Chamber of Commerce event, charity gathering or a client’s party. My presence at these events allowed me to rub shoulders with key members of the community and connect with other business owners who opened up doors for me.

Not to mention if you have clients at the event they will always introduce you as “This is my personal trainer…” That’s nearly as good as a referral.

Networking with a purpose can transform your business. Even for introverts 🙂

Your Marketing Rx: Add 3 new people to your network each week and connect with 3 of members of your current network.

Putting It All Together

You may be looking at this list and feel overwhelmed. Or maybe you think you’re already doing all this and not getting results. Or, you could need a little more detail to get things going.

If any of those sound like you make sure you book your ticket to the Elite Fitness & Performance Summit 2018. I’ll be taking a deep dive into the Fitness Business Marketing Rx and bringing in experts on many of these topics to show you exactly how to explode your business growth with them.

5 Skills That Will Take Your Business & Career To The Next Level

Success in the fitness industry relies on your ability to deliver great results to your clients. Over time you’ve developed skills and learned new techniques to be able to create programs and coach your clients to success.

Growing and running your fitness business, whether that’s a studio or as an Independent Contractor, also requires skill development. You can’t expect that being a great coach and trainer automatically results in business success.

Here are 5 skills that you can begin developing right now if you want to see more success with your fitness business.  

Fitness Business Owner Skill #1: Communication

Great communicators can motivate, lead and manage teams. As a business owner you’re success and growth will rely heavily on your ability to communicate with your clients, your team and your market.  

It doesn’t matter if you’re an extrovert or introvert, great communication skills need to be developed. This includes both written and verbal communication.

Solid communication can compensate, at least for a while, for not having all your systems in place and learning how to be a great manager-leader in your business.

Fitness Business Skill #2: Management

Your ability to build and manage a team will determine how fast and how large you can grow your business. You can’t do it all forever!   

Trying to avoid developing your management skills will leave you and your team frustrated. The lack of clarity and accountability will ultimately repel great team members from your business and you’ll end up with their jobs back on your plate.   

Management requires you to create structure for your team, properly train them to do their job well, provide them support when needed and hold them accountable to producing results.

Fitness Business Skill #3: Priority Management

This can be exchanged with time management, but I prefer this term. We all struggle with getting enough done in our day and have to choose what may get left undone at the end of each day or week.  

The only good way to assess what you may or may not focus your time and energy on is by learning how to manage your priorities. It’s the difference between staying busy and being productive. Busy simply means you were working, productive means you were working on the most important things.  

Using tools like the Priority Tracker and following our Annual and Quarterly planning cycles allow you to strategically select your top priority goals and keep them front and center each day.  

When you know your priorities you can filter your opportunities and develop your “no” muscle.  Saying “no” will eventually be more important than saying “yes”, but it takes time to learn how to do it effectively.

Fitness Business Skill #4: Delegation

You gotta let go!  Have you ever hired someone to do a task, got really frustrated because they didn’t do it well and then took it back because “you could do it better the first time”?   

That’s a surefire way to get burnt out and overworked!

It’s one thing to say that you delegate and it’s another to do it well. Most fitness business owners end up delegating tasks out of frustration.  You get overworked, end up buried in tasks and then decide to find someone else to dump all your “extra” work on so that you can get it off your plate.

Don’t treat delegation like a bandaid.  Delegation should be a permanent solution.

When you take a little extra time to delegate properly you can give the right tasks to the right position for good.

Fitness Business Skill #5: Accepting Coaching

Trying to figure out this whole fitness business thing on your own is difficult, maybe impossible.  You’ll need to look for some outside help to grow as a business owner and entrepreneur. That may be from mentors, coaches, books or even podcasts.

The key with any of these growth resources is being able to accept coaching and a willingness to change. Many fitness business owners who have found a little success think they can figure it all out on their own.

You might think that you need to recreate the wheel or that your business is different so it requires a more specialized solution. Maybe you choose to ignore all the signs appearing in your business telling you that you need to work on a skill that’s uncomfortable for you.

The business owners that are able to accept coaching and fail forward are able to grow faster.

Get Access Our Fitness Business Owner Training…

What if you could get your Fitness Business Owner MBA while still running your business AND do it for just $39/mo?

That’s exactly what you’ll get inside The Academy, the top rated online training program for fitness business owners.   Inside you’ll get access to our entire library of business curriculum, training modules and resources designed to make your business better and life a little easier.