What to charge or what not to charge!

That is the question…

I am often asked by fitness professionals exactly how we go about determining and defining our charge out rates at Peak Physique.  And rightly so, many fitness professionals are unsure how the arrived at the charge out rate they are on or how they can leverage their time to earn a greater income with less work.

Are you worth it?

The first question is the most important.  Are you really worth it? Well, are you?  The answer to this question will be comprised of the following factors including;

1)           Technical skills – regardless of how much you value yourself personally, you really do need to be good at what you do.  Do you have a personal training style that is a cut above the rest?  Are you in high demand and find that you have a constant influx of great clients?  I have seen plenty of under skilled PT’s in my time, so make sure that you “do your time under the squat rack”!

2)           Personal Skills – do you offer something more than just the physical aspect of training to your clients?  Have you invested heavily in personal development to be a constant source of inspiration for your clients?  Technical skills are critical; however when you are able to provide valuable life changing tools for people, your worth as a professional, increases dramatically.

3)           Experience – the more experienced you become, the better you (should) become.  Of course, experience relates to your commitment to constant and never ending business, personal and professional development – these 3 things are critical to your success.

4)           Demand for service – do you seem to attract the right type of clients?  Are you constantly booked and in demand?  What happens to a share price or a great piece of property when it is demand – it goes up in value of course!

Finally, the most important question that you need to ask yourself is:

“Do you truly believe that you are worth that rate you are charging and if you are looking at increasing your rates, then, do you truly believe that you are worth that new rate”?

If there is some doubt, then maybe you may just not be ready for a change yet.  Otherwise, you might me suffering some fears and negative thoughts.

Your fears and negative thoughts

If there is a doubt in your mind, then you need to really see where that doubt and fear is coming from.  Let’s explore a few common fears that all stem from; “I can’t put my rates up, all of my clients will leave”

Increasing your charge our rates

When the time comes for your charge out rates to change, you will need a strategy.  The following is a template that we have successfully used at Peak Physique for a number of years:

1)           Set yourself a date that’s roughly 4-6 weeks in advance

2)           Draft a letter to every client, deliver it personally and discuss any objections.  Do this over a coffee, or at the end of a workout.  Spend some time outlining your reasons.  Always seek first to understand, then to be understood.

3)           Your reasons are that the increase in rate is brought on about by your experience and demand for service – remember those 2 important phrases!

4)           You might consider having mid-way increased rate that rewards your best or longest staying clients (the ones that have given loyal service for years) in addition to your greatest rate that is for all new clients that start after that date.

5)           Have a fall back plan if your client will not move on price, this is rare, however at Peak Physique we have other more economical PT’s to train with.  You might consider linking 2 X clients up for a 2 on 1 session, or consider seeing clients on a different rotation – get creative if you need to find a solution.

6)           Be prepared to walk away if it is not a win / win deal.  You need to be sure that both parties are happy with the outcome.

Surround yourself with successful mentors, be committed to continual business, personal and professional development and finally best of luck!

The Sales Meeting

We like to call it a conversation.  Because that’s what it is, simply a conversation between two people.

Outcomes

You need to have a clear and definite picture in your mind about what you need to achieve during this conversation.  The simply fact that this person has taken the time to call (or email) you and taken the very first step to improving their health and well being is evidence that they are virtually sold anyway – you just need to provide them with a solution.

The most challenging part of the (sales) conversation, is your future client actually convincing themselves.  Once they have done that (and this is evident by them calling, emailing, confirming, turning up to a meeting with you) they are well on the way to being one of your clients.

The overall outcome is to provide a solution to this person’s problem.

Your Psychology

Have you ever tried to convince someone to do something, and the harder that you tried, the more resistance you were met with?

Change your mentality, and rather than selling them in on all of your (personal or companies) features – adopt the approach that if they do not sign up with your great service, then you are actually doing them a disservice.

Listen Empathetically

You need to adopt the Mantra seek first to understand, then to be understood (Stephen Covey – 7 habits of highly effective people) and apply it to your (sales) conversation.

This means that the majority of the conversation will be them talking to you, and expressing their concerns, fears and goals for commencing your program.  Your role is to simply guide the conversation, with several prompts and open questions.  You will find that when you have a structure (system that is) in place that you will be in a very strong position to provide this person with everything that they need.

New Client Template

Use a New client template sheet, that you take to every meeting and it will simply prompt you to ask great questions.  You might find that the conversation moves from point to point (depending on the individual), however your template will keep you on track!

The most important question

There are tonnes of great questions, however most Personal Trainers fail to establish exactly what type of program, or how many sessions will be suitable for this person’s budget.  Simply say it like this;

“Have you thought of a budget with what you wanted to spend on your training?”

This straight away gives you a clear picture of the most suitable program for your client.

Timing

The (sales) conversation takes me roughly 30mins to complete.  This time includes my presentation of our guarantee, cancellation policy and schedule of fee’s.

This means, that I am spending anywhere from 20-25mins with our NEW client, talking freely and conversing about themselves, followed by my 5-10 minute presentation on what we can do for them.

Stay tuned next time to hear more about the presentation in more detail.

Methods To Increase Charge Out Rate

Measuring the Cost of Acquisition

Once you have run your form of lead generation (advertisement, lead box or Flyer) and you have created your business templates (New Client Sheet, Leads & Prospects Sheet) you can set about calculating the cost of acquisition.  That is, the cost to acquire a new client.

First, you will need to calculate the average dollars spend from your clients, and this can be done as follows. We have provided some figures for illustration purposes.

Therefore we calculated that you would receive approximatley $45 for each client that you train, after you have deducted GST, Taxation and any business operating expenses (gym fees, admin, superannuation etc)

The next step is to calculate the average number of sessions each client does with you per week.  This can be achieved by calculating:

Total number of sessions performed [divided by] Total number of clients

Therefore:     35 sessions / 16 clients

Equals:                        2.1875

Therefore, the average client trains with you twice each week.

The next step is the average client life (how long a client stay’s with you)

To calculate this, you will simply divide the number of clients, by the total number of combined months or years, they have stayed with you:

Total months (all clients combined) [divided by] Total number of clients

Therefore:     315 months / 16 clients

Equals:                        19.68 months

Therefore the average client stays with you for nearly 20 month’s (almost 2 years!)

Measuring results of your marketing

The best way to see if your marketing strategies are successful is to test and measure. If there are only a few that you do in your advertising and marketing strategy, then this MUST be one of them!

Once you understand this principle, you will be able to fine tune the process behind your lead generation and place on your cost of acquisition (that is, cost to acquire each new client).

Many Personal Trainers that we mentor have discussed with us in detail their frustration with conventional forms of advertising.  Most have experimented with the various mediums, from local papers to flyers and brochures, only to find that they had no success with their investment.  Worse still, they the see the not as an investment, but as an EXPENSE (This requires a change in mindset!), as it did not produce great results for them!

However, if the local newspaper, flyers, radio and other conventional forms of advertising do not work, then why are there so many businesses and organisations still using them?

The simple fact of the matter is that these businesses have found a way to measure if they are getting results.  That’s right, they Test and measure the effectiveness of their advertising.

The truth, in many circumstances is that it is not normally the strategy or the medium that does not work; it’s the fact that the advertisement itself was not good enough in the first place.

There are a huge number of personal trainers that will write their own ads and in many circumstances the ad is mostly about features as opposed to benefits. So, more often than not the personal trainer will place an ad that is a lot like, well, what every other personal trainer lists themselves as, and it can read a bit like:

This is me, look at me – I am fit, energetic, in-shape and look great in lycra!  I have great colours in my logo, shining white teeth and could perform over 100 squat jumps in a minute!  I do fat loss, toning, Bodyshaping, re-habilitation, muscle building, pre-and post pregnancy, special populations and if you call up, not only will you get a discount, but you will also get a FREE workout with me!

Ouch!

Just remember that out of your prospects virtually NONE of them want a trainer OR a workout with you – that stuff (working out) actually hurts too much!  What they are after are the benefits that you can provide them with

However the topic of “How to write a great ad” will be the topic of another e-class altogether!

After the personal Trainer has written their new ad, they generally place this ad on a flyer or in a newspaper and simply sit back and wait for the calls.  All along, they are under the impression that this ad will bring in more leads and why not?  Most of their current clients read this publication.  However when it fails to improve their number of leads, prospects and conversions, they will simply stop running that ad altogether and blame the newspaper for the poor response.

How to test and measure if your advertisement or lead generation is actually working

1)                 Have a template set-up to record ALL new enquiries

We have created one for you simply called the New Client Sheet and it is a very powerful tool to be used in your business.

2)                 Record where they came from

“How did you hear about us” is the very first question you should ask after you have made some introductions.  This information will then be recorded onto your New Client Sheet. Here are a few phrases you can use in your script:

• “How did you hear about us”
• “How did you find out about us”
• “Who was it that referred you”
• “How did you hear about [your company name]

3)                 Track additional information

As you will see on the New Client Sheet, there is space to record more details on your prospect, which includes; Age, suburb, work, occupation…

4)                 Place ALL relevant information into a spreadsheet

Again, we have attached a document entitled Lead’s & Prospects that allows you to place all relevant information in so you can see your whole week’s prospects at a glance.

5)                 Create a database

Once you have collected all of the relevant contact information (name, phone, email, address etc) PLUS all relevant personal information (Age, suburb, work, and occupation) and of course, how they found you, then you need to place this VERY important information into your database.

6)                 Provide your database with quality content via a newsletter

Again, this is beyond the scope of this article, however you will need to Build a great relationship with your database and the best way to do this is through providing them with great quality information that is worth reading.

How To Stand Out From The Pack – So Clients Will Willingly Pay More For Your Service

Welcome to the start of an exciting journey! This is the first step in the process of you earning over $100,000 a year and working less than 20 hours per week. In this article we’ll look at what you need to do to start charging what you’re worth—which I suspect is a LOT more than what you’re charging now.

But before we get started, there’s one concern that almost every personal trainer I talk to has around this subject, and that is: “What if I put up my prices, all my clients leave, and I can’t get any new ones. I still have to pay the bills!” Rest assured, I’m NOT suggesting you just put up your prices and not do anything else differently. That would be risky. Instead, what I’m going to show you is a system, that if you apply it as I show you, will have you consistently being able to charge at least double what you currently charge, and often a lot more.

Are you ready? Here goes….

The first thing you need to do is to DIFFERENTIATE your service. That means you need to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Stop being a “me too”. Because if you’re a me too, then you’re a commodity—it’s like buying petrol—people will shop around and only compare you on price. But if you set yourself apart so you have NO competitors, then there’s nothing for clients to compare you to. They stop buying on price, and instead look at you and what you have to offer.

But (I hear you say) given that there are 5,000 new personal trainers graduating every year, how are you going to set yourself apart?

Well, there are actually millions of possible ways to do that, but they fit into two main categories. To understand how this works, we need to look at an important business principle called “The Bathplug Diagram”. Here it is:

Imagine that you’re looking at the cross section of a bathtub, with the plug hole at the bottom. Every business lies somewhere on the curved line. Here’s how it works:

The people who make the highest profit are those at the top left and the top right of the diagram. Those at the top left are the ones who do a small volume of business, but at a very high price with a large profit margin. Like, say, a designer clothes store. Those at the top right of the diagram do a large volume, with low prices and a small profit margin. Like Kmart or Target.

The problem for most people is that they are too afraid to claim either of these two extreme positions. Instead they try to be “everything to everyone”, taking all business that comes along, and charging the least amount they can without going broke.

It’s these people in the middle who struggle. The reason for this is that, when the economy goes bad, or “the plug is pulled” on the economy, these are the first ones to go down the drain.

So here’s the key: the further up the sides of the bathtub you are, the better you’ll do. You can do that in one of two ways:

Model one: low volume, high price (like the designer clothes store)

This is probably the easiest model to set up. The way you do it is by finding a niche that you can specialize in. There are thousands, if not millions of possible niches out there. The reason that specializing works is that, given the choice, people would rather be trained by a specialist who knows exactly what they need, rather than a generalist who takes all-comers. And people are prepared to pay more for that privilege.

Think about the difference between a GP and a medical specialist. The GP has to see 70 or 80 patients a day, while the specialist sees a lot fewer patients, and charges a lot more!

Model two: high volume, low price (like Kmart or Target)

This model is generally a bit more effort to set up. The way you do it is by finding ways to have a lot more clients without having to spend a lot more hours on the job. That means leveraging your time. Here are two ways you can do that:

1. Do group training. Instead of seeing one person and charging $200 an hour (like the specialist) you could see 20 people and charge them each $10 per hour to get the same outcome.
2. Hire a lot of trainers to work for you. In this case you teach a lot of other trainers your system, and take a percentage of every dollar they earn. It does mean hiring and managing staff (and all the hassles that can go with that initially), but can be very lucrative in the long term.

For now we’ll concentrate on the first model (low volume, high price), since it’s the generally the quickest and easiest to set up, and is probably not too different from what you’re currently doing.

How to become a specialist

Specialising allows you to do a number of things:

1. You can target your marketing, so you need to do less marketing and you get more clients.
2. You can charge more, as people expect to pay more for a specialist, and they’re not just comparing you on price.
3. You can work less hours without a cut in income, since your hourly rate goes up.
4. You keep your clients for longer, since your training is tailored exactly to suit them.

Exactly what do I mean by “finding a niche to specialize in?” Actually, a more accurate description would be “finding a niche within a niche to specialize in”. In other words, you’re after a fairly narrowly targeted group. When I talk to personal trainers about specializing, they’ll often say to me something like “Oh, I already do that. I specialize in working with women.”

Well, this is NOT what I mean by specializing.

“Women” is a very broad niche. In fact it’s roughly half the people in the entire world! Working with the niche “women” is certainly not what I mean by “specializing”.

Instead, you need to find a niche WITHIN this broader niche.

Here are some examples of niches within the niche of “Women”: overweight women preparing for pregnancy, brides-to-be who want to look their best on their wedding day, or new mums who want to get back in shape after having a baby.

And here are some other examples of niches—Men in their 20s who want to pack on muscle, tri-athletes, people recovering from open heart surgery, paraplegics, people giving up smoking and not wanting to put on weight. Are you starting to get the idea?

Newbie mistake—many people who try to define a niche for themselves for the first time tend to choose a niche that is either too broad or too narrow. The next section will stop you from falling into this trap.

There literally are thousands of “niches within niches” out there. So how do you choose the right one for you? There are a few criteria that a good niche must meet. Here they are:

1. There must be a big enough group of people in that niche. It’s no use building a business targeting albino pygmies!
2. People in the niche must be hungry for your service—they must really WANT it. For example, targeting couch potatoes who’d rather drink beer and watch the footie than exercise may sound like a noble cause to work on, but the reality is, while they NEED your service, they don’t WANT it badly enough to do something about it. Don’t fall into the trap of choosing a group who really NEEDS your service, but just doesn’t WANT it.
3. It should ideally be a niche where you already have a track record, either because it’s something you’ve done yourself, or you’ve successfully trained others in the niche before.
4. It’s easy to find people in your chosen niche. Do they all read the same magazine? Do they hang out at the same conventions or expos? Do they all shop at the same store? Do they all buy a particular product? If you can find big groups of them, it really makes your marketing easy.
5. The people in the niche are willing and able to pay for your services. For example while “long term unemployed people” may be a niche that fits the other criteria, they are unlikely to be reliable payers. On the other hand “busy executives who travel interstate at least once a week” are generally willing and able to pay a substantial amount for the right program.

Let’s look at an example and how it stacks up against the five criteria: let’s look at the niche “brides-to-be who want to look their best on their wedding day”.

1. A big enough group. On average in Australia every year there are about 6 marriages for every 1,000 people. So if you live in a city with a population of 1 million, then there will be about 6,000 potential new clients. Given that you’re probably looking for only 50-100 clients a year, this is plenty.
2. People hungry for your service. There are not too many brides-to-be out there thinking “nah, don’t think I’ll bother doing anything special for my wedding day. I’ll just rock up as I am really.” Whether it’s losing weight, or just toning up, you can guarantee most brides-to-be have at least thought about a physical tune-up prior to the Big Day.
3. You already have a track record. Have you trained brides-to-be before? Are you able to get them to sing your praises in a testimonial? One thing that’s great about this niche is that it’s really easy to get great testimonials to use in your marketing. “Before and after” pictures are a very powerful persuader. So you can imagine the contrast between the picture of the overweight bride-to-be, and the gorgeous, glowing bride on her wedding day. Envy and desire are hugely powerful motivators!
4. It’s easy to find people in your chosen niche. Are brides-to-be easy to find? They buy bridal magazines, buy wedding gowns, choose wedding cakes, book reception venues, set up gift registries, choose wedding flowers, go to bridal expos—the list is endless. All of these places are easy and effective to advertise in. All of them target the people in your chosen niche.
5. People willing and able to pay for your services. In 2009 (the latest stats available) the average Australian wedding cost $49,202. The numbers are very similar for the US. Brides-to-be expect to outlay large sums of money for everything on “the best day of their lives”. I’ll bet most would be willing to pay more than average for the right personal trainer to have them looking their very best on their wedding day.

So all-in-all this looks like a great niche. With a bit of fine-tuning you could probably get the bridesmaids as well!

Now it’s your turn. Sit down with a piece of paper and start to jot down some possible niches. Just let your mind wander and write down any niche that pops into your head. Don’t discount anything at this stage. By doing this without censoring yourself, you’ll find that you unlock the parts of your mind that are the most creative.

Continue for at least 15 minutes.

Once you’re done, go back through the list. It can help to put them in a table and rank each one against the five criteria, say with a rating out of 10. Then choose the one that ranks highest against all five criteria, and see how it sits with you. Could you see yourself focusing on people in this niche? Do you feel like you have a lot to contribute in this niche? Is it something you’d enjoy? If it is great! If not, go to the next highest and repeat the process until you find something you’re happy with.

Once you’ve found what you think is a great niche, you may want get feedback from us at Create PT Wealth, so simply email info@CreatePTwealth.com and we would be happy to discuss your choice with you. Sometimes it helps to have a sounding board—someone to cast an objective eye over what you’re doing, to reassure you that you’re on the right track.

Now that you’ve found your niche, we need to look at how to make the transition from what you’re currently doing, to becoming the specialist in your niche. But be careful. You’re not going to go out and sack all your existing clients. It’s important to make this transition stepwise—you still need to pay the bills while you’re doing it!

The steps in making the transition are:

1. Define your chosen niche in more detail—what are their needs, wants, fears and frustrations?
2. Find where people in your chosen niche hang out. Who has your clients before you?
3. Check out the competition. Is anyone already targeting your niche? What are they doing? How can you differentiate yourself from them?
4. Decide where and how you will market, and prepare your marketing strategy and your marketing materials.
5. Refine your service, so that you exactly meet the needs of the clients in your new niche.
6. Decide on your pricing structure.
7. Do the marketing and measure the results.

Sales Systems

How to conduct a new client sales meeting right down to the methods and processes that gets them signed up every time.

Understand and analyze the process for conducting a Sales Meeting with a new potential client; including the key questions that you need to ask every time and how to best understand the needs of each individual.  Plus see a method for setting up your rates and fee’s schedule to guarantee success.

The killer system for handling leads, right from the initial phone call, through to the Delivery of your packages and rates and hardly anyone else is doing it!

Every process you have in your business must be guided by a system and we show you some very polished systems on how to operate your sales process.  If you arrive at this session with only a few ideas, or even none, then you will be in for a great surprise as you will have several methods to place into your business that will help you provide a great and very professional service time and time again

If there have ever been things that have held you back from achieving your full potential when conducting a new client sales meeting, then this session is a must for you!

The personal development elements of how you conduct your business are going to be some of the major areas that can either trip you up, or can guarantee you success.  During this session, we highlight some of the major challenges that most PT’s face during a new client sign up and how to avoid them

Unlock the keys that allow you to have massive success as a Personal Trainer.

Questions

1)      List some of the things that may hold Personal Trainers back from having a successful process for signing up new clients

2)      List 3 great techniques that you can use in selling a new client in to your Personal Training packages or service?

3)      Write the Guarantee (to your clients) of your business?

4)      In terms of time, how many minutes you would suggest be allocated to the following key points in a 30 minute new client sales meeting;

5)      What’s one “key” phrase or principle that you should always follow when conducting a new client sales meeting?

Different strategies to test the effectiveness of your advertising

1)                 Experiment with Flyers

Before you go and spend several thousand dollars on a yellow pages ad, you can test your ads with Flyers as they are low cost and can be produced in smaller runs.  Of course, it is well understood that a flyer drop will not bring the same response as a yellow pages ad, however it is a great idea to test your idea’s first.

2)                 Experiment with Headlines

Remember that the size of your headline can make an impact.  In addition to this, the copy that you use will be of utmost importance.  Are you using emotional copywriting that will potentially appeal to your target market?  Are you attempting to sell people on features or benefits?

3)                 Experiment with various offers

What is your compelling offer?  What are you prepared to give away to your potential new clients in return for getting them to respond to you?

4)                 Experiment with Value adding

If you go through the various components to your business, I am sure that there will be plenty of great things that you can value add to your product or service.  These “things” may not seem like they have much value to you, however they have a HUGE potential value to your future clients.  Some of these may be:

• E-books
• FREE Reports
• Consultations
• Group Classes
• Fitness assessments
• Non-sweat Coaching
• Tele-seminar
• Email consultation
• Phone consultation

Each and every one of these will have a value attached to it, so make your potential new clients aware of this.  You might find that you have packaged up over $1000 worth of value for an insanely discounted price (say $99) or better still as a Value-add when they purchase one of your programs.

5)                 Experiment with Layout

It’s a great idea to experiment with various form’s of layout, however just remember that the most effective advertisements are the most simple!  That’s right, never attempt to be too cool or too funky.  Get your message clear and powerful!

6)                 Experiment with the size

When printing Flyers and experimenting with various types of advertising, give your best effort towards having a variety of sizes and use this effectively.  When you are testing an measuring the response of each advertisement, then you will get a clear idea of your cost.

7)                 Experiment with the medium

The local paper did not work for you?  Don’t stress, maybe you are targeting the wrong message.  The clearer that you can get with your USP and your target market, the more understanding you will have on where to actually find them.

8)                 Experiment with codes

To accurately test and measure the response of any flyers or ad’s that you run, simply place a call to action or a specific offer on the ad that requires people to respond to it, for example:

• Advertisements with a cut-out will have a specific code at the bottom (eg DEC08)
• Directed to your website and enter the specific code (eg CPTW)
• Set-up a separate phone line to measure the response
• Simply call in and ask for “Jim” may be another method, next month, it might be “Jill”

Methods to Building Your database – Automated System #3

Methods to Building Your database

Remember that in business, the stronger that relationship that you have with your clients, the better your business will be.  We are assuming that you have created a database and you have analysed the automated system #1 creating a Database, if you have yet to read that eclass simply Click Here.

Now having a large database of people is a great thing and it has been said before that the money is in the list (database) and that is exactly the reason why Google bought You Tube, for $1.65 billion.  Not a bad earn for a business that was started out of a garage!

However, having a large database of people does not always guarantee you success.  The first question that I would ask someone that does have a large database of people is “what is your relationship with them?”  this is a critical question as you have a hot list of hungry people, however if you are not feeding them top quality information than that hot list can quickly turn cold!

Today we will be exploring methods to increase your database for Personal Trainers and successful business owners.

1)      Lead Boxes

Lean boxes can be a great way to increase your database.  My advice is to have a set plan and rotation schedule in businesses that are like minded and adhere to the following principles;

• Follow the direct response marketing principles with your offer
• Use top quality plastic or cardboard boxes
• Make your offer time based

2)      Speaking

Giving a seminar, information talk or workshop can be a great way to quickly build a database.  In addition to delivering top quality information, you can exchange each participant’s information for one of your information products (ebook, CD, DVD) or even a PT session!

3)      Cross marketing

Cross marketing is most effectively done with likeminded business owners who themselves have a database.  They would ideally be people that have your clients either before or after you.  Some examples that we have most effectively used have been; Physiotherapists, running shoes stores, massage therapists & coffee shops.  You relationship could be in a few ways:

• Simply an agreement where you will promote each others business to your database
• A straight “swap” of databases, allowing each party to effectively “double” the size of their database (assuming each database is of a similar number)
• Renting, hiring or purchasing another parties database – this method of course has you giving away part of a profit that you don’t yet have, to receive a greater profit in the future.

4)      Joint ventures

Joint Ventures may be a strategy for you to cost share, or time share with other likeminded businesses.  An example of this may be pooling your time, energy & money with complimentary businesses like Physiotherapists, running shoes stores, massage therapists at a trade show to have the chance to collect an even greater number of people on your database.

5)      Competitions & Promotions

We have previously partnered with a local cinema when a new feature film was to be released and ran a competition that went for 4 weeks (whilst the film was running).  The completion involved a great prize, however more importantly; we were able to build our database of some great leads.  Of course, those who missed the major prize were sent a compelling offer.  Many took up the offer, and some are still ongoing clients.  Of those that chose not to take up the offer, that were simply added to the database and have been receiving top quality information from us since.  Can you imagine who they might think of if they are ever in need (or friend, family, work colleague) of a Personal Trainer?

6)      Current and past Clients

This may be a fairly obvious one, however you would be amazed at how many business owners I speak to have connected with literally hundreds and in most cases thousands of clients and have information stored as phone numbers, lose sheets of paper, client screening forms.  It’s my guess that if you looked real hard, you might just find a whole bunch of contacts to be added to your database.

7)      Ad’s with call to action

Whenever you run a print advertisement, you need to give your advertising a purpose.  What we are discussing here is having a call to action, a reason for someone to call you.   Typically, when we witness print advertisements, we notice that most personal trainers will simply follow a formula that can be very hit and miss.  The Advertisement will typically involve, the business name, logo, contact details, maybe a nice image and more often than not some features of that particular business for example; fat loss, toning, boxing and strength.

An alternative method is one that can be measured and provides a call to action.  Direct Response marketing is the topic for a completely different eclass, however the point to illustrate in this particular article is to make every piece of advertising and marketing useful to building your database.  An example of this is to give something away, ideally something (for example a CD, article, and information) in exchange for someone’s details.

8)      Use Electronic Copies of business databases

This would include the Yellow Pages, directories and business groups.  Of course, you should subscribe to delivering to top quality information to people and ask permission for them to be included.  In our experience, we have a very low drop out (unsubscribe) rate to our information for this simple reason that we make sure that we always deliver top quality stuff.
9)            Go to your local library and browse through the (SRDS) list.

The Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS) list directory will provide you with just about every mailing list known to man. It is an invaluable tool for your niche marketing efforts. For Example you will find lists of various demographics who have purchased recently through direct mail.

10)          Write Articles for Magazines, newspapers and Publications

Writing articles positions you as an expert in your field.  It forces you to create a product (or products) and of course, serves as an advertisement and promotion for your business.  You can make an arrangement with the publication that you will make an outstanding offer to compliment your article with a call to action (read point 7).

11)          Where does your target market hang out?

By associating yourself in various business networking groups, breakfasts and lunches, you will be potentially useful.  Another place that you can locate your niche is by identifying all of the things that your target niche or niches have in common, such as associations or reading material, hobbies, affiliations. And so on. Start to market in those areas with marketing material that has focused headlines and copy that will attract your niche’s attention.

12)          List Brokers

You can also work through local mailing list brokers, purveyors of lists of all kinds of individuals who live across the country. A list broker can help you find the type of list for which you are searching. However, be aware list brokers usually make their money from large mailing lists and may be less helpful than you want, but they also might steer you in the right direction. They eat, sleep, and drink mailing lists.

Action Plan

Your task is to use one or some of these methods to increase the size of your database over a 4 week period.  At the end of the 4 weeks, you will be required to “report back” with your results, via a 1 page document outlining your system and process.  This can be delivered to Brad@createptwealth.com the individuals with the best processes and biggest increase in database will be rewarded and recognised for their efforts.

Methods to Building Your database – Automated System #2

Staying in Contact

A way to stay in contact with your current clients, providing them with useful hints and tips on health and fitness on a regular basis

You need to stay in contact!

It sounds quite simple, however is quite often neglected in any business.  Have a brainstorm about all of the businesses that you enter and transact with, or even businesses that you might just drop in for some browsing.  My guess is that you are visiting DVD outlets, bookshops, clothing retailers, cafe’s,  health food stores or supplement shops to name a few.

What happens in most circumstances, is that you drop in (in some cases you join up), do make your transaction (or not) and then you leave.  The staff member or business owner was friendly enough.  Then the only time that you hear from them is when your DVD’s are overdue, your lay-by has expired or your special protein blend has arrived in store.

What if, you were privileged to be part of a special service that your chosen service provides, that actually adds value to your relationship with that business – wouldn’t that be great!

For example;

The local cafe collects your business card, adds you to their email database, and sends their best customers (that’s you) and copy of their famous pancake recipe.

The boutique where your purchase your designer jeans, by text message, invites you to a private showing of the latest product range, with an opportunity to purchase prior to the public!

Your local DVD store keep you updated via email weekly with their top 10 latest release movies and the best movies in the $10 bargain bin!

The supplement store, gives you updated information on the latest fat-burning products.

If you have been receiving information like this from a particular business, then you will know what I mean.  There are a few steps that each of these businesses took to create this “system”

Steps 1 – They took the time and effort (upfront) to actually create a database of people.  This is actually the point where it stops for most businesses, they are too busy doing the work (working IN the business) to focus on working ON the business!  (Note:  read the e-myth by Michael Gerber for a comprehensive story on this)

Step 2 – They took the time to consider what may be of “added value” to their clientele.  What might they like to read?  What interests them?  How can they connect with them is a valuable way?

Step 3 – They delivered their information is a very catchy, punchy and quick to read format; text message, email or newsletter.

Step 4 – this one is critical – They educate first!  All the money is in the back-end of a business.  I will say that again…all the money is in the back-end of a business. This means that when you are creating scalable systems for your business you must educate FIRST, and then sell SECOND.  That’s right, you need to be providing top quality information that people actually see as valuable.  This does not mean that it has to be long or overly detailed – you need to capture people’s attention and enthusiasm.

Step 5 – They do business with abundance mentality versus scarcity mentality!  Why on earth would the cafe give away their famous pancake recipe?  If you lived in scarcity mentality, you would suggest the following; they are giving away all their secrets, what if a competitor gets a hold of it or maybe people will simply stop coming in to the cafe and cook their pancakes at home!  If you had these thoughts, then you need to start operating your business in abundance mentality.  If you are operating in abundance mentality you will believe the following; that providing the famous pancake recipe will create a better relationship with your clients (they will feel privileged), it will give you both some conversation topics on their next visit (remember people purchase on relationships) plus it positions you as the expert!

Step 6 – It allows people to share this information with others.  This effectively makes your clients promote and sell your business for you!  Invite them to forward your emails, invite friends to subscribe or you can make a special offer at their place of work or business.

Formula for success

When you create a database and have a loyal following, as soon as someone hits the point when they know that they NEED and personal Trainer, or someone they know needs a Personal Trainer, then you will be the first person they connect with as they have built up that relationship with you. In addition to this, you will be in a position where you have the opportunity to sell to them directly.

It is your responsibility to test and measure what works for you however, we have trialled some of the following:

Modes of Delivery and Multimedia

When it comes to delivering your valuable information, I have mentored and coached so many personal trainers who say they are not cut out to write articles.  If you seem to suffer writers block also, I have some great news for you;

1)      The articles you write do not have to be long.  As discussed, your articles should be catchy and punchy, and provide top quality content over a few paragraphs.  Today’s modern life is incredibly busy and the percentage of people that want to read long and detailed articles is limited.

2)      Even better than point 1, the articles don’t even have to be written by you!  There are several websites that provide you with free (that’s right free!) articles to include in your information.  You just have to make sure that you acknowledge the source and away you go!

3)      Not everyone learns, or likes to view information the same way so here is a list of possible modes of delivery with a few examples to suit our target market

How Often Should I connect with them?

This really depends upon what you think you can adhere to.  Some say weekly, others say every 10 days and some simply suggest monthly.  Why not test and measure?  Sent an e-newsletter, followed by a You tube video the following week.  See how many are watching it.

Just get it out there!

Too many businesses and personal trainers included get caught up in trying to make it perfect.  You need to trust your good judgement and get it out there.  Sure, it needs to be a nice polished product, however you are not writing for a literary award or shooting for an Oscar!

Create Products

The best bit is that you are creating products as you go!  Several articles and you have written a e-book.  Several e-books and you have written a book!  Several exercises shot on video and you have made your first workout DVD.  Why not try and sell it then!  Next you can consider packaging them up; DVD, Book and audio program for a special rate.

Creating a group of walking evangelists!

When you distribute your message to database of people, they will begin to understand and trust your spoken word.  Your message will become gospel and you will be positioned as the expert in your field.  You will create a group of loyal followers who will become walking evangelists for your business!