Without clients you don’t have a business. Without a steady flow of new leads to your business you will battle long jeopardy. To have success and spread your healthy message to more people, to generate the lifestyle and business you deserve you need to implement a sales system. Here I talk with Scott Krywulycz on effective sales systems. To listen to the interview click here http://www.careerfitness.com.au/files/Sales%20School%20Interview%20with%20Scott_Krywulycz.mp3

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“It is very difficult to hit a target you cannot see”. It is with this quote in mind that I suggest that many Fitness Instructors and Personal Trainers do not have written business goals or a marketing plan. I would also guess that many of these Instructors also wonder why they do not earn as much income as they would like. It is a proven fact that those people who take the time to think, set goals and plan are much more likely to succeed than those who don’t. My challenge to you over the next 2 weeks is to set aside some time to think about how much income you would like to make on an ongoing basis and then put in place your own plan on how you are going to attract enough clients, classes, shifts, etc. to allow you to achieve that goal. It is amazing how much easier it is to take positive action towards your goals once you know exactly what they are.

1. Build a Database. My opinion is that the health of your business is directly proportional to the size of your database. In fact Ryan Lee who was one of the pioneers of internet marketing in the fitness industry has been quoted as saying words to the effect that “you could take my millions (of dollars) away from me tomorrow - just leave me my database and I would create financial independence again no time. Your database should include your current clients, past clients, people who you would like to be your clients, potential joint venture partners, family, friends - anyone who has even the slightest interest in health and fitness or seeing you succeed. Once you have established a database then communicate with them regularly via a monthly newsletter, weekly health tip, and/or special offers.

2. Personalise your service. This tip is all about adding value to current or potential clients whenever you can. It involves following up meetings or sessions with a personalised e-mail with an article attached. It could be sending a gift to a client’s place of work. The imagination is the limit with this tip.

3. Lead Boxes. This lead generation tool has been around for a long time, however sometimes some of the old school methods are the best. Approach other businesses who service your ideal client such as Health food stores, hair dresses, beauty therapists, etc. The most effective way of forming a relationship with owners of these businesses is to offer to train them and /or their partner for free as well as to feature their services in your newsletter. If you go in with an attitude of “what can I do for you “rather than the other way around then you give this strategy its best chance of success.

4. Referrals. IHRSA which is the largest Health Club membership body in the world suggest that 46% of new fitness business clients come from word of mouth referral. Now obviously doing a great job with you clients will drive a percentage of referral business, however to put this on steroids you will want to start driving traffic more directly. One idea that I love is giving cash to clients who refer, e.g. you might give clients who refer a client who signs up for one of your packages $100 cash. If you know the lifetime value of your clients then you will know how much you can afford, e.g. if your average client spends $200 per month with you and on average stays with you for 12 months then there lifetime value is $2,400. Now that you are armed with this information it is a no brainer to offer $100 at the point of sale to receive $2,400 in return.

5. Have a social element to your business. Having things such as client appreciation days will increase client loyalty which equates to more dollars for you. In addition social events can be a great lead in for inviting friends of clients to come along which is another obvious lead generation tactic.

6. Join an existing community. This could mean joining your local Business Networking International (BNI) Group, becoming involved with a local sporting club, etc. The more exposure you have within your local community the greater your chances of attracting new clients.

7. Have an online presence. It is the year 2010 and if you don’t have a website than I don’t believe that you are serious about having a business! You really want to have your online presence optimised so that when a potential client searches Personal Trainers in your suburb that you appear on the first page in the search engines. In addition having a blog is a great tool to engage with existing or potential clients.

8. The Power of 5. This is PT Plus speak for having joint partners. Ideally we believe you should have at least 5 other businesses that service your ideal client refer clients to you and vice versa. Typical businesses include allied health professionals such as Physio’s, GP’s, Massage Therapists, as well as other businesses like Health Food stores, Beauty Therapists, Sports Stores, etc.

9. Meetings. A Key Performance Indicator I use for Private Mentoring clients is to have 10 new business meeting per month. These meetings could be a no obligation health chat, through to a meeting with a potential Power of 5 joint venture partner. As mentioned above under the “personalise your service tip” follow up each of these meetings with an e-mail and an article or download. This follow up will add credibility and differentiate you from other Personal Trainers.

10. Talk to 5 People Every Day. This strategy is one of the most powerful things you can do for your business. You can draw these people from your existing database, gym floor, potential power of 5 partner, etc. The more you talk to people about your business the more it will grow. Try this tactic for 3 months and you will be blown away by the results.

11. Public Speaking. This is one of the fastest ways of growing your business. Health and Fitness is very topical and there are many community groups and work places that would love to have someone come and give them good quality information. Once you have completed your presentation make sure you have a special offer for your services as well as the ability to capture the contact details of all attendees who will go onto your database for ongoing communication - see tip 1.

I have sourced a thought provoking article from well know small business operator Peter Crocker. In the article Crocker discusses the merits of solo business operators.  I suggest that you read the article at least twice and absorb the points that Crocker makes as they might have some implications for the way you run your business.

“You stroll into your boss’ office, flick your resignation letter nonchalantly onto the desk and explain precisely what they can do with their stinking job. Then you swan out to the cheers of your workmates. Or so goes the fantasy.
Much of the appeal of working for yourself is escaping the annoying, incompetent and/or bullying bosses that make your life a misery. But when you leave employment to run your own show it’s not just those bosses that you leave behind.

What about the great bosses? The ones that motivate you, guide you, teach you all the tricks of the trade and swoop in if a project hits the fan.

In any large organisation there are plenty of genuine leaders whose role it is to develop talented employees. If you’re a standout company performer, your progress up the career ladder can become a natural progression.

As a soloist, it is great that there’s no one breathing down your neck telling you what to do. But there’s also no one patting you on the back, advising your next move and looking out for your career. No strategic roadmaps. No performance review. No career plans. No fast track programs.

So, what do soloists do when it’s time for a change? For me the end of each year brings a period of reassessment. Whether it’s looking for a clear direction or assessing opportunities, these are the times when I miss being able to book a meeting with the boss to map out a solid plan.

One great solution is to find an experienced business mentor who is willing to sit with you a few times a year and be your sounding board.”

I am such a huge advocate of business mentoring is that it has taken years off the time I originally needed to achieve my financial goals. It has helped me accelerate my business growth at a rapid rate as I have been able to learn from my mentor and not repeat his mistakes. Many business owners find it very difficult to stay up to date with both the changes in their industry and the endless innovations in sales, marketing, retention and management strategies. All this means that having a mentor is no longer a luxury but a necessity for outstanding performance. A mentor is like having a personal trainer for your business. They help you devise a specific Game Plan then keep you accountable to it, ensuring you take action every day towards achieving your aims.

It is my belief that you should spend at least as much time, money and effort on your internal marketing as you do on your external. Internal marketing is the process of continuing to educate and sell to your existing clients. Internal marketing is by far the most profitable marketing you will ever do as it is much easier to sell to an existing client than to sell to a new prospect. The reason is that your existing clients already know and like you and thus you have built up credibility with them that you cannot possibly have been able to do with a new prospect that is like a stranger to your business.

Examples of campaigns that you would promote “internally” to your current list of clients include new program offerings, i.e. starting a group program such as a bootcamp, a 6 week boxing course, or a 12 week body transformation program which can offer additional profit centres for you business. It might be that you start selling fitness related products or supplements, or you might introduce a “gold class” Personal Training service that has special benefits built in that is an upsell on your traditional services. The way you would spread the message about these new services would be through e-mail, traditional mailings, phone calls, text messages, flyers, etc.

The bottom line from a business perspective is that 20% of your clients will produce 80% of your revenue. The challenge is to continue to market to those who already believe in you and your service and provide them opportunities to upgrade to more product and service offerings. As long as you are delivering a quality product that your clients enjoy using then you have a win/win situation for all.

Many personal trainers find it challenging to grow their client base, but if you believe in something, then it should be easy to sell it, right? Here are a couple of tips to build your confidence with securing the sale and new clients.

Believe in yourself

As a personal trainer, the first thing you have to realise is that you have the ability to help someone. Obviously it is the client’s decision as to whether the service you offer is worth the money they need to invest to achieve their goals. The most important thing in the sales process is that you believe in yourself and the product you’re selling. If person has enquired about personal training, then this means they have a need that you can help them with. Adopt the philosophy that sales are merely the process of getting the client started on their goals and you may find your success rate increases. The bottom line to Personal Training sales is that you are helping someone improve their lifestyle and health. You need to remain focussed on the fact that it’s all about helping the person achieve their results. If a client is achieving results then they will remain a happy client. When clients are not achieving results they will begin to weigh up whether they are getting value for money, and whether they want to continue. If you are not confident in asking for the sale, role playing once or twice a week with amore senior trainer or a sales team member will help dramatically. Asking an experienced trainer to view one of their sessions with a regular client can also be beneficial in picking up additional tips.

Pain versus pleasure

In discussions with your prospective client, it is really important to weigh up the ‘pleasure versus pain’ scenario. You need to get your client to weigh up the benefit of personal training (pleasures) versus the cost of it (pain). If you can do this, then your client will take up personal training. Parting with the money, exercising and making the commitment are all things associated with pain forth client. For a successful sale, you have to ensure that you emphasise and create enough pleasure in achieving the results they desire, to be able to get them to start personal Training with you. People often don’t see value in something if there is no desire on their behalf. That is, if someone considers something as a high priority then they will usually pay any price to attain it. For example, for a potential Client who strives to be in better shape for their daughter’s wedding, ask them to rate the importance of this goal on a scale of 1 to 10. Create leverage by asking them how they would feel being at the wedding after achieving their goal (pleasure) as a result of working with you. Not achieving the goal can sometimes be enough pain to get the person motivated to begin with you, so ensure you find out how important it is for them to achieve the end result.

Asking for the business

If you don’t ask you won’t make the sale. This happens especially when complimentary personal training sessions are given and then the trainer simply says ‘I hope you enjoyed the session and if you would like to continue simply book in for another one’. This is not asking for the business and is not going to get a result for either you or the client. You must ask specifically for the sale. For example, you might say, ‘From what we’ve discussed the two best options are the “quick start” or “results” programs. The quick start program is one session a week for $70 a week and the results program is two sessions a week for $130. Which one suits you best?’Then stay silent. Let the customer have time to think and answer your question. Then when they have chosen their package, get them going with their paperwork and book them in for future sessions. If your customer asks a question, welcome it and try to solve it as best you can. Try not to let someone walk away saying they need to think about it.

Chances are they have been thinking about it for months, so now is the optimal time to take action. Respond gently. You might say, ‘I can understand that you would like to think about it, but may I just ask is it the program or the session schedule that you are concerned about?’ and start the process of solving their challenges. Remember, you ‘retrying to better their lifestyle; it’s not just your business that will benefit from the relationship; they actually have more to gain than anyone by working with you.

Have you ever heard of the puppy dog close in the world of sales? It is where you give the prospect (potential client) the puppy to take home for a week to fall in love with. After the week you go and collect payment and 90% of the time the prospect will not be willing to part with the puppy. So how does this relate to selling Personal Training? Providing a sample of two complimentary Personal Training sessions is a variation of the puppy dog close. If you offer first class service and deliver great value during these complimentary sessions you should be able to convert a very high percentage of prospects to full fee paying clients as these clients have experienced a service that they don’t want taken away from them. I highly recommend the strategy of offering complimentary sessions while your Personal Training business is in it’s infancy and believe you should consider the time spent in these sessions as part of your marketing budget.

Once you start to establish a list of paying clients you should start to see the magic of referral business kick in provided you deliver a great service, and have learnt how to ask for referrals and can effectively sell. According to IHRSA (the largest health club body in the world) 46% of new business for Personal Trainers comes from word of mouth referral. When this happens you will find that you don’t need to do many or any complimentary sessions as these clients are often “pre-sold” by their friends. However, until you get to that point you will find offering complimentary sessions or as I call them a “test drive” and effective business building strategy.

As the saying goes if we fail to plan then we plan to fail. With this in mind the importance of an Annual Strategy for a business becomes vital as it really is a road map for success which gives direction to the efforts of the business owner.

The way to start developing your annual strategy is to imagine it is Christmas Eve 2010 and to picture what it is that you have achieved in your business? This means visualising how much money you have earned? Making a list of the things you want in your business i.e. a new website, 2 corporate clients, deliver 5 workshops, have 10 outdoor group sessions, and 20 one on one clients each week. The more measurable these things are the better. This process of starting with the end in mind is called reverse engineering.

Once you have 5-6 key measurables for the year then ask yourself why is it important to reach these goals? This means asking yourself what will it mean to earn X dollars? What does it represent to you? Keep going to the why? Eventually we want to come up with a single word. For example, hitting my financial goals each year is represented by the word CHOICE. The reason being that having a good income means that there are more choices available to me in terms of products or services I can purchase, the length and destination of holidays I can choose from, etc. What I am getting at here is that money is a lot like weight loss, in that I don’t believe that people are motivated by actually losing weight - rather it is the benefits that losing weight represents like being more attractive, being able to play with kids, finding a partner, or fitting back into an old pair of jeans. 

The next piece of the Annual Strategy puzzle is to brainstorm a meaningful reward to give yourself once you reach your goal and to visualise the satisfaction that comes with achievement. For example, when I hit my financial goals this year I will be taking my family on a 2 week holiday to Queensland and I will be well satisfied with my efforts for the year as I know that for me to achieve my goals I will have helped a number of fitness leaders achieve theirs.

One of the reasons that it is important to go through the whole Annual Strategy process is that when the inevitable ups and downs of the business occur you can refer back to what drives you and the rewards that hitting your business goals will bring. I recommend spending up to an hour each day around planning your time and efforts and then give each day your best effort. Look after your health and understand more is not always better in terms of hours spent working. You can be just as effective in 2 hours as 10 if you have the drive. Finally review each day and look at what was good, great and what can you do better. Using a journal is a great way to do this.

Once you have written up your Annual Strategy you should hang up in your office so that you see it everyday. I advise that you should read it everyday as it will slowly morph into your subconscious so that you live and breathe it.

Once the outcome of the Annual Strategy is determined then it should be broken down into bite size pieces. What this means is to set a quarterly strategy and then to break this down into monthly strategies and finally daily actions. You should develop strategies around income, expenditure, product development, and personal development. It is really important to know your numbers and to track these ideally through a scorecard system and to keep the personal development process occurring as up skilling can remove potential barriers to success. A really good example of a monthly strategy would be as follows:

This month I will earn $10,450. I will do this by completing 84 world-class PT sessions @ $100 per session and having enjoyable fun in testing my outdoor group participants and delivering 12 sessions @ $150 per session. I will sell my e-book and audio download for $50 to 5 people this month. By earning this money this month I will serve my mission of creating a healthier population plus help to build one step closer to my annual goal. I will work hard on my sales skills by reading ‘Killing the Sale’ by Todd Duncan. Further to this I am avoiding being broke and not having money to do what I want when I want. This will be a great month of business.

The Annual Strategy is then broken down into the monthly tactics which is where the rubber hits the road and you nail down specific outcomes that need to occur each month. Monthly tactics would be having 2-5 specific tactics for each revenue bucket and specific personal development actions.

Having coached so many fitness professionals through the Annual Strategy process I know it to be the most effective way of achieving what you are after from your business in 2010, so if you don’t have a written Annual Strategy in place I implore you to start working on one today.   

“I’m not a sales person by nature.”Something I used to tell myself all the time. I know as fitness professional that high-pressure sales tactics don’t come naturally to us. That is a good thing. But a lot of us hold the belief that a sales person is supposed to be someone who is pushy. I’ve come to learn that selling has absolutely nothing to do with pressuring people. Nor should you place any pressure on yourself. Selling your services requires nothing more than having a conversation with fitness prospect.

If you can’t hold a conversation with a person then you are probably in the wrong industry in the first place. During the time you are talking you will find out whether or not you and that person are a good fit for one another. If you are, great! If you aren’t, it’s no big deal. There will be more prospects, right? In case, you haven’t noticed the majority of people need your help! Thanks to the fast-food business, even China is becoming obese. In a selling situation you always get back what you put out. Meaning, however you are acting is how the prospect you are communicating with will respond. If you are acting a little nervous the prospect will sense it and may begin to get nervous about hiring you. If you are acting a little pushy your prospect will sense it and begin to push back. Just relax and talk to the person. Your prospective client should be doing the vast majority of the talking. Sales are about them, not about you. It’s natural for any person to want to rant and rave about the terrific services they provide and all the wonderful things they can do for that person.

But it’s even harder for us as fitness professionals because we have the ability to help people like few other professions can. However, you have to do it. You must listen to what they want. It’s not your money, yet, it’s their money. If you want to get a new client you’d better listen for what it will take to get them as a client. It really is incredible what happens when you listen to your fitness prospects. They will tell you exactly what it is they want from you. By simply repeating back to them that you will provide them (assuming you can) with the exact results they are looking for, you’ll probably have a new client.

One of the biggest challenges confronting Personal Trainers is self-belief. There is a saying that best sums up self belief “whether you think you can or you think you can’t you are probably right”.  I know many trainers who would either like to start up a business or take their current business to the next level but there always seems to be something stopping them. More often than not that “something” is a limiting self belief. Thinking you might not achieve your goals or that you are not worthy of success will ultimately lead to failure unless you can turn those thoughts around.

My background in sport and fitness instructing has taught me that one of the easiest things in life is to spot a fault, however it is a far harder thing to correct. This same philosophy translated into business and in understanding that limiting thinking is probably the cause of why many are not achieving as much from life as they would like the question becomes - what can you do about suffering from low self belief?

The first step is to define what success is for you? For me in a business sense it is about achieving a level of financial independence where I can do what I want, with who I want, whenever I want. Coupled with this are goals around maintaining an optimal level of health & fitness, being the best husband and father I can be, as well as a commitment to lifelong learning, and then passing my experience to other through teaching, coaching and mentoring.

Once you have an understanding of what you goals really are it is like having a fog lifted from your life and you are able to see clearly and take positive steps in the direction you want your life to move in on a daily basis. The great business coach Zig Ziglar is famous for saying “the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire is that a millionaire reads his/her goals once a day while a billionaire reads his/her goals twice a day”. The key learning point from this quote is about having clarity in what you want to achieve.

Another great tactic for developing a greater self belief is to ask yourself better questions, i.e. when you see someone doing something that you would like to do or achieving a result that you would like to achieve, ask yourself “What would I have to do or change to make that happen for me?” When you ask yourself better questions a magic thing happens - you get better answers and uncertainty about whether or not you will achieve your stated goals will often start to disappear.

Your beliefs can create your reality, so forming positive beliefs is the first step to achieving positive outcomes. An example of this philosophy in practice would be to look at a statistic that says 90% of small businesses fail within the first 5 years. Someone with a positive belief system would focus on the 10% of business that do succeed and would ask themselves good quality questions about what those 10% of businesses are doing and then modelling a number of their business practices.

One of the ways I have changed my beliefs is to constantly look at people who are doing things better than me and to learn from them. There is real power in associating with people who have achieved what you would like to achieve.

If you have the desire to start your own business and are lacking belief, then the Business Bootcamp will have you learning from other successful personal trainers on how to build a business. Starting on the 17^th February, this 6 week program will have you ready to take on 2010 with a book full of clients. http://www.ptplus.com.au/workshops/BBC.html