Fitness Business

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Fitness Business The Definitive Guide to Being a Fitness Entrepreneur

____ ___ _ By Pat Rigsby With Contributions from the FCG Team

Fitness Consulting Group Elizabethtown, KY

Copyright © 2012 by Pat Rigsby. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this book may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, fax, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system by anyone but the purchaser or reviewer for their their own personal use. This book may not be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Pat Rigsby except in the case of a revie wer who wishes to quote brief passages for the sake of a review written for inclusion in a magazine, paper, journal, or website- and these cases require written approval from Pat Rigsby prior to publication. Disclaimer – Disclaimer – The information in this book is for educational purposes only. There is an i nherent risk assumed by any participant with any type of business activity. Those wishing or planning to partake in business activities should research their markets and understand the risks before doing so. T he author of this book assumes no liabilit y for any adverse outcomes. This is purely an educational book to educate those who are ready to take on such risks. ri sks.

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate Internet addresses at the time of publication, the author does not assume any responsibility for errors or changes that occur after publication. Furthermore, the author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third -party websites or their content.

























Contents Foreword ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .............................................. .................................................................................................... ...................................................... ................................. 6 The Most Valuable FREE Gift… Ever!!! ....................................................................................... 7 Building a Personal Pe rsonal Training Business: The 10X Factor.................................................. ................................................................ .............. 8 Simple Solutions for the Fitness Entrepreneur ................................................................ ............. 12 7 Things Being a Baseball Coach Taught Me about abou t Fitness Businesses ...................................... 17 Grow Your Fitness Business in 5 Simple Steps............................................................................ 20 Running Your Fitness Business Like Disney ......................................................... ...................... 23 Deliver Education or Experience in Your Fitness Business ...................................................... ... 26 Generating Instant Income for Your Fitness Business ........................................... ...................... 29 Act Small to Grow Big ................................................................................................................. 35 When to Hire the First Employee for Your Personal Pe rsonal Training Business ...................................... 37 My Best Fitness Business Building Tip ................................................ ........................................................................................ ........................................ 39 Why Fitness Business Mastermind Groups Are So Valuable ................................ ...................... 42 The Easiest Profit Center to Add On to Any Personal Training Business.................................... 49 Large Group Personal Training vs. Bootcamps…What’s The Difference? ................................. 52 Ask Yourself These 7 Questions................................................................................................... 55 Delivering an Excellent Experience through Customer Service S ervice................................................... ................................................... 56 101 Fitness Business Tips .................................................... .................................................... ..... 59 Value: The Key Ke y to Fitness Business Success ................................................. ................................................................................ ............................... 67 5 Minute Fitness Business Fixes Fix es .................................................. ................................................................................................... ................................................. 69 Starting a Personal Training Business Successfully ............................................... ..................................................................... ...................... 72 The Difficult Customer .............................................. ................................................................................................... ..................................................... .............. 76 3 Immediate Ways to Grow Your Fitness Business ......................................................... ............ 78 Hiring Personal Trainers & Other Staff Members .................................................. ........................................................................ ...................... 80 29 Tips to Make You a Productivity Machine ............................................... .............................................................................. ............................... 83

























About the Author .................................................... ..................................................... .............. 89

























Foreword Throughout this book, you’re going to read a lot about the sizzle and the steak. In the business coaching world, much like the rest of the world, it’s not difficult to find the sizzle. Those who prefer the sizzle will happily seek you out so they can do what they do – do – sizzle sizzle – – and and not a great deal more. Every once in a while though, you run into someone, and you recognize immediately that there’s more to what they have to offer than just the sizzle – sizzle – they they deliver the steak as well. Pat is one of the rare people who happens to have some sizzle but also has a whole lot more of the steak. The proof of what Pat brings is right there and easy to find. Wherever he’s been, b een, he has brought success, and he has brought it pretty quickly. As a college coach, he managed to take a program with the tiniest of budgets from an annual losing record to a national power in only a few years. He was the youngest college coach at any level to ever win 100 games. After coaching, he went into the fitness industry, and in a matter of months month s his region became a routine top-producer top -producer for one of the largest personal training companies in the world. His success as a business owner in both the personal training and health club industries led him to the business coaching world and the birth of Fitness Consulting Group. Since its founding, FCG has exploded into multiple other ventures, including the franchises Athletic Revolution and Fitness Revolution, and the end result of all these ventures has been consistently co nsistently the same: success. I’ve been fortunate enough to have known and to have partnered with Pat since he’s been in the fitness industry, so I have perspective on what he can accomplish like no one else can possibly have. There is an abundance of success stories and testimonials out there from individuals who can tell you of their results and experiences while working directly with him. However, I’ve been able to witness his impact over and over ove r – instance – instance after instance – instance – year year after year. That just doesn’t happen by accident. Success doesn’t repeatedly materialize without the substance and formula behind it. That’s the thing about Pat, and that's what you’ll find in this book; he knows what is needed to be successful, and he can teach you to blend those ingredients. Whether it’s mastering your service, marketing, staffing, etc., he knows how to transform your business into a successful operation. He has proven it time and time again, and I trust that he will will continue to do so – so – to to the benefit of thousands and thousands of fitness professionals as well as to our own companies. -Nick Berry

























Introduction During my time in the fitness industry, I have watched wat ched many people aspire to success. I am one of those people, and while I’m certainly a work in work in progress, my business partner Nick Berry and I have had our fair share of success already and also have helped thousands of fitness pros just like you achieve great successes of their own. Because of this, I’m often asked what my m y secrets to success are. I don’t think they’re secrets, but every one of us needs to have his or her own personal formula. This book is a collection of essays that share the strategies, tactics, and the mindset “secrets” that hav e led us and the fitness professionals we have work ed ed with to the successes that we’ve achieved and that will undoubtedly be the foundation for our future successes. In addition, some chapters were contributed by b y members of the FCG Team, specifically spec ifically Ryan Ketchum, Tim Ward, Lee Ann Salsman, and Melissa Brady. Steve Long and his colleagues in the Fitness Mastermind Group have also added important content. Needless to say, I’m absolutely thrilled to be including work from our tremendous team and know you will find value in their varied insights. Here are my suggestions on how to use this book: I’ve written each chapter so that it can c an stand on its own as a lesson that you can take immediate action on. Don’t Don’t feel that you have to read the entire book before you can ca n start deriving benefit from it. Read a chapter, chapte r, and apply what you’ve learned. Take action. If you approach the book in this fashion, I can guarantee that you will benefit greatly from this resource. The lessons in Fitness Business: The Definitive Guide to Being a Fitness Entrepreneur have helped personal trainers and coaches coach es open their own facilities, grow six- and seven-figurea-year a-year businesses, gain more freedom, and enjoy the types of careers and lives they’ve always alwa ys wanted – wanted – and and these lessons can do the same for you, too. Dedicated To Your Success, Pat Rigsby



























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Building a Personal Training Business: The 10X Factor Let’s face it: Building a personal training business, or building an y business for that matter, isn’t easy. How do you separate yourself from the competition? How do you rise above the countless health clubs, bootcamps, and other personal trainers in your area? How do you compete with P90X, fitness magazines, and every infomercial under the sun that all promise incredible results in a hurry and have multi-million dollar marketing budgets behind them? Well, if you’re looking for the easy route – the – the magic bullet to building a personal training business – business – this this isn’t the resource for you. There are plenty of other people out there that will give you the sizzle. They’ll They’ll make it sound like you never have to lift a finger and success will fall right into your lap: Work 4 hours a week and earn six figures multiple times over. You don’t believe that crap, do you? I hope not. Success isn’t easy. Building a training business, or any other business, is hard. But you shouldn’t want it to be easy. You shouldn’t want everyone to be able to do it. That just makes it ordinary. Average. And I don’t want to settle settle for any part of being average – average – and and neither should you. So I’m going to give you my Magic Formula for building b uilding a personal training business: The 10X Factor

If you follow this, I will guarantee you success. But be forewarned: This isn’t isn’t some black hat, ninja secret. It involves actual work. But if you follow the 10X factor, you will: -Soon have clients referring their friends, family members, and co -workers to your personal training business like crazy.

























5. You must get 10 times more done than the competition. I know, that sounds challenging, right? It’s supposed to. If you want to accomplish something that most people never will, you’ve got to be willing to do things that most peopl p eoplee would never even consider. The foundation of the 10X Factor is the first principle: You must commit to delivering 10 times the fee in the value you provide for anything you sell.

If you charge $199 a month for a bootcamp, then you have to do your best to deliver $1990 in monthly value. Sure, I know that most people wouldn’t pay you $1990 a month, and most people probably couldn’t even if they wanted to. But that’s not the point. The point is that you relentlessly work to deliver $10 in value for every $1 you charge. You give more personal attention to your people than anyone else does. You constantly strive to make your workouts more effective and more fun. You send cards on birthdays birthda ys and you give gifts at Christmas. You give clients DVD’s they can take when when they travel, and you give them guides or coaching on using anything you sell them. If you spend some time every day da y looking for ways to deliver just a little more value, to make the experience that you provide just a little better, then you’ll get to that that point where you achieve #1. And you know that the competition isn’t doing this. They’re trying to figure out how little they can get away with giving for the fee they charge. But remember: People either want the cheapest or they want the best, and this is how you become the best. The second component of the 10X Factor is simple, but it will weed out 99% of the people who ever own a business: You must be willing to work 10 times harder and smarter than your competition.

If you’re building a personal training training business and you embrace this, it’s a competitive advantage that the others in your market won’t step up to match.

























You must be willing to set written goals 10 times loftier than you ever have before.

Most business owners make every day like the movie Groundhog Day. They get up and do the same thing over and over. They have no real goals that drive them forward. If you’re building a training business, business, you can’t make this critical mistake. Why settle for mediocrity? Why be comfortable with being av erage? John F. Kennedy Kenned y said, “Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.” So if you’re going to build a business, business, why settle for anything less than great? Building a fitness business is hard work. I’ve been there. I remember not having enough money mone y to fill up my gas tank when we were getting started. I remember having to go on Craigslist C raigslist to try to find discounted tickets to be able to take Tyler to a local amusement park because we couldn’t afford them at full price. Nevertheless, having lofty goals was the carrot out in front that kept me motivated, and it keeps me striving to learn and get better every ev ery day. Most people won’t set those types of goals. You must. Component #4 is something I see with our Elite Mastermind Members all the time: You must commit to being 10 times more knowledgeable than the competition.

The best don’t get there by accident. I look at some of the people that we work with and are amazed by how much they know. They already know how to get people amazing results, and still they’re they’re the first ones to keep studying. They know more about business than the rest of the industry, but they are the first to register for our events and make being part of the Elite Mastermind a high priority. I got a text the other day from one of our Masterminders asking me how I read three books a week. I have to. That’s how. That’s one of my keys ke ys to making sure that I’m getting better. I know that I need to keep learning, every day. Anything else is not acceptable.

























Because, ultimately, no one cares what you know, how much potential you have, or how smart and talented you are. They don’t care about all your good ideas or the countless projects you start. They sure as hell don’t care about the promises promises you make. They care about what you do and what you accomplish. So if you’re building a personal training business that you want to be extraordinary – extraordinary – one one that provides a great experience for all that come in contact with it and personal satisfaction, wealth, and freedom for you – you – don’t don’t focus on activity. Focus on achievement. Remember: You only get paid for done. So are you up to the task? Are you one on e of the rare fitness professionals that wants to be great and wants to build a personal training business that is in that top 1%? Making a quick buck is easy. Just promise people the world, slap some testimonials up, and tell people to act fast or they’ll the y’ll miss out. Every infomercial ever created is proof of that. But building something that stands the test of time, that your kids can be proud of, that the rest of the business world wants to emulate – emulate – that’s that’s different. But then again – again – you you don’t want to be average, do you? you?



























Simple Solutions for the Fitness Entrepreneur When it comes to running a fitness business business or any other business, you’re getting either better or worse. Don’t believe all that “the economy econ omy is bad so I just don’t want to lose los e ground” stuff. It’s crap. I’ve just never understood that mentality. It’s a defeatist attitude and I want zero part of of it. If you’re reading this, then you shouldn’t want any part of it either. Leave that to your competitors. I remember when I was coaching baseball I’d look around at these coaches who’d been coaching for years and, every season, would lose a couple more games than they won. Every season. I just couldn’t have imagined living like that: that: being below average every year . And in sports, it’s pretty much black and white. Win as many as you lose, you’re average. Win more, more, and you’re above average. Win less, and you’re you’re below average. If you went to work every day, da y, year after year, and were below average, I’d say that it’s time to find another profession. Heck, we won about 70% of the games I coached, and I was far from satisfied. Business is the same. You didn’t start start a fitness business to be average or worse. You started your business to build something something you’d love and be proud of: a business that would be better than the competition; a business that would give you and your family the financial security and personal freedom you

























2. You take full responsibility for everything that goes on in your business. You want that on your shoulders. You know that it’s what makes being b eing a fitness entrepreneur special: special: the ability to create your own economy, and the ability to have the type of impact that you choose. #1′s, please exit to your left. If you fall into category #2, read on. Look, taking responsibility doesn’t mean that there won’t be bumps in the road. Speaking from my own experiences, we face them ever y week. But I don’t believe in failure. At all. When you face a problem, you don’t dwell on it. You find a solution. Heck, when I coached, I never really believed we lost. We just ran out of innings to stage our comeback! Business isn’t easy. easy .

But that’s to your advantage. Look around at all the businesses in your community. Now think back one year. Think back two. How many of them have evolved and improved? Some that were around 1-2 years ago went out of business. 95% of the rest look the same and probably would be thrilled to have not lost any ground in that span. You’re better than that. You should expect growth every year. Yes, every year. What if you’re not getting the growth that you want? First, you need to identify why you’re not getting the growth that you want. And that’s one of the challenges to owning your own fitness business. Sometimes, you feel like you’re on an island. You don’t know exactly what you need to work on, and you don’t have anyone to ask.

























-Networking -Public Speaking -Groupon or Living Social -Facebook Ads -Business of the Month Promotions -Fundraisers -Joint Ventures -Referrals And you have to have goals. Otherwise, you’re like a ship without a rudder. You don’t know where you’re going. going. Set a goal of 20 or 30 or 40 leads (or more) per month and get there. You Don’t Have a Good Front End Offer or Offers – How are you turning your leads into paying clients? Maybe it’s a free trial, a paid trial, an assessment assessment,, or a Transformation Contest. Maybe it’s several of those or different front-end front -end offerings like clinics or workshops.

No matter what, you need some way for a person to try out what you do while incurring minimal risk as part of your fitness marketing plan. My suggestion is to have several ways throughout the year. So how can you fix front end offers? Here are a few tips: 1. Determine what strategy or strategies you will be using. On ce that is decided, determine who

























-Clinics b usiness, Your Core Offering(s) Aren’t Solid – Your Core Offerings are the foundation of your business, so everything else centers on them. The Core Offerings we see having the most success are: -Semi-Private -Small Group -Large Group / Bootcamp How can you fix them or improve them? 1. Are you the best in your market at what you do? If not, do the work to become the best. 2. Determine what is the most effective use of your time as a professional: what offerings to deliver based on your space, schedule, and the client base you want to serve. 3. Look at your pricing and a nd margins. 4. Are you doing everything ev erything you can to maximize max imize results, retention, and referrals? You Don’t Have (Strong Enough) Backend B ackend Offerings – Offerings – Most fitness pros drop the ball on the Back End. The Back End is basically comprised of:

1. The “ problems” problems” created by your Core Offerings 2. The opportunities your clients potentially create

























-Look at the points where you are presenting your Core Programs; are you presenting them early enough during the Front End Programs? -Determine how you’re building value in your Core Programs and see if there are ways wa ys that you can build more personal value for the prospect. -Work on your fitness sales presentation. -Look at different pricing strategies. If You’re Not Generating Back End Revenue – then here are a few ideas:

-Look at when and how you are presenting Back End Programs. -Do you build strong enough relationships that your clients trust your recommendations? -Determine if the ways that you’re asking for referrals are the most effective approaches for your business model. If You’re If You’re Not Making Enough Money i n Spite of Having a Solid Number of Clients – This happens more than you’d you’d ever imagine. Here are some solutions:

-You don’t manage your expenses well enough. Take inventory of them and reduce them. -You have outsourced too much of the training too fast so you’re not netting enough of what you generate. -You don’t use a billing/CMS billing/CMS system so you lose track of money. mone y. -Your prices are too low, or you discount too much. -You don’t do enough on the back end to maximize the monetary value of a client to your



























7 Things Being a Baseball Coach Taught Me about Fitness Businesses Before I moved full-time into the fitness industry, I was a college baseball coach and strength coach (not to mention personal trainer, assistant sports information director, admissions representative, sports sciences instructor and PA announcer … what can I say – say – II had to pay the bills!). I took over a baseball program that had never had a winning season, and to make matters worse, the University had just decided to eliminate athletic scholarships and wou ldn’t reinstate them until my fifth season as a head coach (when we got a whopping 1.7 scholarships for a team that generally carried over 35 players).

























we had a chip on our shoulder. I worked harder at recruiting because I knew kne w we didn’t have the scholarships our competitors did. If you want something bad enough, you can find a way. You can outhustle, outwork, and outthink your competition. You just have to be willing to do the work. 4. The Program Is More Important Than the t he Individual. My budget to pay assistant coaches was $2000 per year. Needless to say, such a low budget leads to frequent turnover and inexperienced coaches. That’s when I embraced the importance of having a system. We couldn’t change things every year to accommodate new people, people, and we couldn’t spend months trying to get people acclimated to how we did things. So we created a very detailed playbook, thoroughly outlined every practice, and had systems for everything. If you want your business to grow, you’ve got to have systems for all of your core co re tasks. Without them, them, you don’t own a business; it owns you.

























was going to be one day closer tomorrow, and we couldn’t get the wasted day back. Every day was important because the games – games – the the way we measured success – success – weren’t weren’t going anywhere. If we weren’t at our best, we’d suffer for it. If we missed a day of preparation, our ou r competition gained a slight edge on us. Every day mattered. Like it or not, business is the same. With every passing day, you’re you’re moving moving closer to where you want to be, or you’re moving farther from your goals. goals. Don’t forget it.

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Grow Your Fitness Business in 5 Simple Steps There are hundreds of ways to grow your fitness business, and I’m trying to touch on enough of them here to help out the aspiring fitness entrepreneur. But sometimes when you want to get more clients, generate more referrals, or increase your income, incom e, it really boils down to taking action instead of just knowing what to do. So with that in mind, I wanted to help you grow your fitness business today by getting you to take action. Step 1: Choose a Strategy for Fitness Business Growth

Like I mentioned, there are dozens doz ens of things you can do d o to grow your fitness business. However,

























Step Two: Create Your Plan

Once you’ve decided which strategy you’re going to use, you need to develop your action plan. You need the details worked out, the timeline in order, specifics about any an y other people (like staff members or JV Partners) that might be involved, and items/materials needed to execute the plan. This plan is basically your outline for your new growth strategy, so make sure you’ve done your preparation. Here’s an example: 72 Hour Promotion Dates: January 25th – 25th – 27th 27th



























If you are asking your clients to refer people, you need to not only incentivize your clients, but you also need to educate them on what a good referral looks like, provide them with marketing materials, and tell them what steps to take to get a referral into your pipeline. Scripts, tools, tools, specifics about the plan and its execution e xecution are all necessary if you’re getting others

























Running Your Fitness Business Like Disney I just returned from our annual trip to Disney World and, an d, as usual, I’m enamored with how well

























– For us to go to a theme park like Disney World, it’s not as Provide Complete Solutions – For simple as just showing up at the park. We have to worry about lodging, meals, and travel. Disney has grown their business by allowing you to bundle all of it together and stay at their hotels, eat at their restaurants, and lean on them for travel. They even offer guides that tha t can go with you

























there. Without all this, Disney is just another theme park. But by focusing on delivering an extraordinary experience and sweating every detail, Disney can charge a premium, they can have far more stores in their parks than they do attractions, and they can get people to happily pay more to them than they would to any other vacation theme park.

























Deliver Education or Experience in Your Fitness Business Fitness Consulting Group Vice President of Business Development and co-founder of Force















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































38. The quickest way to make more money is to sell more to your current clients. Supplements, workshops, weight management, higher-priced coaching, and the like are all great examples of back-end revenue streams. 39. You decide. You decide how people view you and your fitness business, along with what hours you’ll work and work and how how you live your life. If you don’t decide, they’ll decide for you. 40. There is hidden opportunity oppo rtunity in every business. Three easy ones are upsells u psells from your basic programs, programs, downsells for people who don’t buy, buy, and reactivation of previous clients. It’s money that’s just sitting there waiting for you to grab it. 41. Associate with like-minded, successful people. It’s often said that your income is the average of the 5 people’s people’s income you’re around most, most, so don’t hang out with slackers. 42. If most people realized that they the y had all the same skills (often better) as the top earning trainers in the field there would be a LOT more six-figure earners in our industry. 43. A big obstacle to success suc cess is distraction. Turn off the email and TV and work on your business. 44. Always have a higher priced option. There are a certain percentage of people in every market who will pay top price. 45. You need to work on you as much as you work on your business. 46. It’s not what you make, make, it’s what you keep. Focus on improving your net profits, not just your gross revenues. 47. Organize your day the night before and make sure you block time for everything that is important to you. Working on your business gets time. Networking gets time. Family gets time. Self improvement gets time. If you don’t schedule it it,, you’ll find yourself putting it off. 48. A lot of success is born out of a hatred of losing. As a coach I enjoyed winning, but I HATED losing. 49. Recognition and rewards are great motivators. Use them often. 50. Successful people are always alwa ys growing. Success is never stagnant. 51. Business should be fun. What don’t I like about abo ut what I do? Being away from family when we’re on the road, but other than that: nothing. Why do something that sucks? Enjoy your work, if you don’t, find new work. 52. People are pretty predictable in what they’ll the y’ll buy. Watch infomercials about fitness or fat loss. They want results fast. They buy based on emotion. Testimonials are more powerful than almost anything else you can share. You have to meet people where they are, and once you have them,

























what you’ve learned along the way to take advantage of a new or different opportunity. Just think about Domino’s Pizza as an example: example: They’ve They’ve built built their entire business on fast, inexpensive pizza until recently. Now they’ve made a new commitment to delivering a higher quality pizza and have spent sp ent a lot of time and money mone y trying to reposition themselves as a higher quality provider. So far the results have been b een good for them with sales up 12% over last year. 54. There’s power in creating a community. If you can create a community, community, it will improve retention, generate referrals, and provide opportunities. Plus, it’s just a more enjoyable environment to work in. 55. Nothing beats being around a group of like-minded, motivated fellow entrepreneurs. Do it at least a couple times per year. 56. Not every offer needs to be accepted. You don’t have to answer the door just because someone knocks. You don’t need need to answer the phone whenever it rings, and you don’t need to respond to every email the minute it hits your inbox. 57. Taking that a step further, not every opportunity presented to you needs to be accepted. Just because it has some potential upside doesn’t doesn’t mean it’s a good fit for you right now. There will always be people knocking, calling, emailing, and offering, and all of them will be asking you for your time. Just because they ask doesn’t mean you need to accept. 58. Plan ahead. The most important time management strategy I employ is planning out every day the evening prior. If you don’t plan out what you need to accomplish, accomplish, you’re leaving the day to chance, and you’ll likely be allowing everyone else to decide how you spend your time. Not good. 59. Get help. Every da y there are low return activities that you do and there are high return activities. Here’s how I’d quantify each: each: Low Return Activities: -Activities that could be outsourced for significantly less than your hourl y worth. If you can make $75 per hour training or can generate $1200 worth of new business public speaking, then you can certainly delegate $8 an hour work to free up your time. -Activities you don’t enjoy at all. If you really don’t enjoy some some facet of your personal training business, find someone who can do it effectively. -Activities you are bad at. If you’re you’re bad on the phone, outsource Business of the Month calls & confirmation calls. High Return Activities: -Activities that generate significant revenue, close to or ex ceeding your hourly worth. Most

























-Activities you’re best suited for. If you’re the best person at program design in your business business or the best salesperson, those should be among amon g the last things you delegate. Delegate the lower skill activities first. first. You don’t have to spend a lot to start delegating. Offer a few hours to a client or a camper that would like to earn some extra money or train for free. Then your job is simple: You You need to more than make up for the money you’re spending delegating with the new time you’ve freed up. 60. Finish projects. One of the biggest timewasters of all is not bearing down and finishing stuff. As I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, you get paid for done, done, so until something’s finished, it seems like time wasted. Luckily, the solution is simple: when you start a project, put the blinders on and finish it. 61. Use Transformation Challenges, Walls of Fame, Referral Contests, Bring-a-Friend Da ys, Point-of-Sale Referral Systems, Referral Request Mailings, and a variety of other means to keep the referral mindset prominent in your business. 62. Offer a powerful guarantee. At a minimum, 100% Money Back. 63. Have a powerful USP that appeals app eals to your niche market. If it doesn’t make your target prospects jump up and say, “That’s exactly what I want,” then strengthen it. 64. Have more than one type of offering. Semi-private, bootcamps, and group weight management all can help you convert more prospects, as can different tiers within the same offering. 65. Make it easy to bu y. Use EFT billing. Offer different options at varied price points. Help people become clients. 66. Have plenty of testimonials handy. hand y. Social proof is crucial if you want to make selling easy. 67. Try before you buy. As opposed to what some people think, free sessions are a great idea. If your average package is $1000, wouldn’t you expect someone to want to know what they’re spending a thousand bucks on before they commit? 68. Use a sales script. If something works, stick with it. 69. Along those same lines, test different sales presentations. We changed one step and increased our average transaction value by $400. 70. Target better prospects. That doesn’t always mean more affluent prospects; prospects; target prospects that are a better fit for you and your business. 71. Give better service, all the time. Every day you need to be on.

























74. Keep a lot of client data – birthdays, – birthdays, anniversaries, kids’ kids’ names, hobbies, etc. 75. Sell consumables. Supplements need to be re-purchased again, but DVD’s and foam rollers don’t. 76. Raise your prices. You can do it in small increments, too. A $2 or $3 increase per session will get no resistance from clients but will add a lot to your bottom line over the year. 77. Suggest your most expensive program first. 78. Treat everyone like you want to be treated. 79. Get on the phone and reactivate former clients & campers. They will probably be going somewhere in January; why not back with you? 80. Do at least 2 public speaking engagements per month. 81. Start networking on a weekly basis. Add at least 1 person to your network each day. 82. Ask for referrals at the point of sale. 83. Sell 3, 6 and 12 month programs instead of packages or 1 month at a time. 84. Build relationships face-to-face. Prospects are everywhere – everywhere – talk talk to them. Perfect your 15 second elevator speech and commit to meeting at least 1 new person a day. 85. Role play your sales presentation. p resentation. Practice it over and over. Get comfortable asking for the sale. 86. Use an A/B or alternate choice close. Finish your sales presentation by asking, “Which program would you like to get started started with today?” Having only one option means means “yes” or “no. “no.”” Having 2 options means “yes “yes”” or “ or “yes.” yes.” 87. Build a “Fitness Sales Army.” My fundraising days as a coach taught me that you can let groups sell memberships to your camp for a healthy fundraiser. fund raiser. Give them membership cards and a form to track sales. Offer the camps at a big discount and let the group keep all the proceeds. You will get dozens of new people that you can turn into long term clients and will have helped a good cause. 88. Offer a Fitness Coaching Program as a downsell or as an offer to former clients and campers. c ampers. 89. Start holding Transformation Contests – Contests – at at least 3 per year. 90. Hustle. You can’t grow a camp sitting behind a desk all day. Get out and network, speak , and build JV relationships. 91. Run a buzz-worthy buz z-worthy business. If you run a great business, get clients c lients incredible results, and

























93. Don’t leave email sitting in your inbox. Once you decide to open an email, act on it. Either delete it, reply to it, or read it. it. You don’t want to deal with the same email 3-4 times. 94. Admit multitasking is bad. Focus on something and finish it. 95. Know when you work best. For me early mornings, late evenings, and Sundays are best for writing. 96. Make it easy to get started. Prep the night before, keep what you need handy, and eliminate distractions. 97. Dare to be slow. Don’t mistake mistake activity for achievement. Only go as quickly q uickly as you can while still delivering quality work. 98. Use your time wisely. We all have the same 24 hours each day, so why is there such a disparity in what high achievers accomplish versus what the average person does? The answer lies in how they use those hours. hou rs. Use yours wisely. 99. Avoid disruptions. If you’re working on something, don’t let other stuff interfere. You’ll lose your momentum and reduce your productivity. 100. Block out time. time. You’d be amazed at what you can get done with one uninterrupted 30-50 minute block of time. Have a couple of those each day to work on your business or projects and watch your productivity and income soar. 101. And lastly… Enjoy It! If you don’t like your work, fix it. It may not happen overnight, but if you systematically start getting more of the clients you like and ridding yourself of the ones you don’t and doing more of the tasks you enjoy and delegating more of the ones you loathe, you’ll be more successful. Your clients clients will be happier because you’ll be happier. I’m guessing that’s why why you went into business: to build something where you could help people, enjoy financial and personal freedom, and do what you love, right? Then Then don’t settle for less than that.

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Value: The Key to Fitness Business Success One day, Ryan Ketchum and I were having breakfast with Todd Durkin, and virtually the entire conversation focused on how to deliver more value to the people we serve. Think about that: Todd is one of the faces of huge companies like Gatorade, Under Armour, and TRX. He’s a Best Selling Author . He trains some of the top players p layers in the NFL, and he h e runs an ultra-successful fitness business of his own – own – Fitness Fitness Quest 10. And his focus is how he can add more value for the people he h e works with. For our businesses, it’s the exact same thing. We’re constantly co nstantly asking ourselves, “How can we deliver even more value?” The reason is simple: The more value you provide, the greater the likelihood you you’ll ’ll enjoy success. People come to you as a fitness professional because they want to achieve some desired outcome. Maybe they want to lose weight. Maybe they want to increase their strength or performance. They could even want to improve their health or simply feel better about themselves. The quicker that you can make that happen and the better the experience you can provide during their journey, the happier they will be. The truly great professionals get that. Guys like Todd have made that their mission. They’re in a never-ending quest to deliver more value. You should be, too. If you want to enjoy true fitness business success, you can never get complacent. You should always be looking for ways to become a better coach, to provide a better experience, to make your systems more efficient. It’s all a means to providing more value. In fact, we have a goal in our businesses that I talked about in an earlier chapter. Essentially, we strive to consistently deliver 10X the value for the price of anything we offer. For example, if if it’s

























You’d never call lunch with a loved one “My 11:30 appointment,” but trainers do that with clients all the time. Focus on making each e ach session or each class the best experience of the day da y for the people you’re working with. Call them by name, pat them on the back, and make sure they know you appreciate every day they choose to work with you. great – probably probably the best – best – ex example ample of this. He’s always Bring Your Best - Todd Durkin is a great – “on” on” when you see him. You Yo u always know you’re getting high energy ene rgy and his best effort. That energy and passion is contagious. So make sure you’re always prepared and always in the the moment when you’re with clients or prospects. Avoid Avoid cruise control at all costs. You’ll be amazed – it – it will be the difference between mediocre retention an d people never wanting to leave. You’ll push your your referrals through the roof just by bringing your best b est each and every day. – Great professionals in any field are always getting better. Focus on Continual Improvement – Great They’re studying to improve at their craft so they can always be sure they’re they’re providing the best possible service for their clients. That means you should be continually investing in education like books, DVDs, courses, and events. But it also means you should be testing new things and tracking the results. You should be training training your staff to make sure they’re they’ re continually improving. You’re either getting better or you’re falling behind. – Great businesses like Disney and Zappos have made the Experience their Think “Experience “Experience” ” – Great #1 marketing tool, so you should think about it too. How can you make the experience better for your clients and prospects? Consider: -The way you answer the phone -The way that people are greeted when they walk in the door -The cleanliness of your location -The energy and passion that you and your staff display All these and more are part of the Experience, and they are something you should be continually

























5 Minute Fitness Business Fixes “I don’t have time.” I hear that from fitness business owners all too often. They don’t have time to work on their business. They don’t have time to market. They don’t have time to grow. Well, I have news for you: We’re We’re all busy. So we need to make time to be successful. And what most people don’t realize is that it doesn’t do esn’t take hours and hours to do things that will grow your business. As a matter of fact , here are 19 things that will take 5 minutes or less that will help you network, generate referrals, become more organized, and build a more systematic and profitable business. – At the end of a session, ask a sk for a referral. During a conversation with a 1. Ask for a Referral – At friend or a client, ask for a referral. At the end of a sales presentation, ask for a referral. Asking for referrals is the best marketing strategy there is, and it onl y takes a minute or two. – A simple “How “How are things going? Is there anything I can 2. Send a Personal Email to a Client – A do to help you achieve your goals even more quickly?” goes a long way. It shows you care and will separate you from the competition. – Do you want to finally develop systems for your 3. Document One Business Process – Do business? Here’s the easy way to start: As soon as you complete a task, write down the exact steps you took to accomplish that task. It will take less than 5 minutes, and an d within a couple of weeks you’ll have simple processes for nearly for nearly every task in your business. Systems are the biggest obstacle for trainers to develop into entrepreneurs and get the most out of their business. Businesses without systems are inherently limited in how big they can grow. Fitness Revolution and Athletic Revolution are two franchises we offer that give the complete systems solution to the fitness business professional. With FR and AR, they are together in one

























– In a world that has gone entirely electronic, a personal card to a client or friend 6. Send a Card – In goes a long way. – Don’t wait until the end of someone’s contract to ask them to renew. 7. Offer a Renewal – Don’t Subscribe to a magazine and they’ll try to renew you just a few months in. You should do the same, trying to eventually move everyone into 12 month memberships. – A simple way to say thanks for a referral or for being a client, or to congratulate 8. Send a Gift – A someone on reaching a goal is to send any kind of gift. It doesn’t have to be large or o r individualized – individualized – something something like a gift card to a JV partner or some free supplements works well. A bonus is that gifts will set you apart from 99% of the other businesses your clients interact with. – Before you go to bed, map out your next day. This 5 minute exercise 9. Map Out Your Day – Before will easily double your productivity. – Give these to clients to give to their friends. Give them to people 10. Hand Out a Gift Card – Give you meet when you’re out and about. Bring them to networking events. Any time you can spread the word about your fitness business, do it. – Congratulate a client on reaching a goal. Post a photo of the day’s 11. Make a Facebook Post – Congratulate workout, tagging all the clients in the picture. Post a link to your free Prograde report. Keep Ke ep your business front and center center in people’s minds. – It’s free, quick , and pretty simple; why not? 12. Make a Craigslist Post – It’s – If you want to sell more, you need n eed to get better at getting 13. Practice a Sales Presentation – If more leads and converting a higher hi gher percentage of those leads. Practicing your sales presentation – preferably – preferably with someone else – else – will will take you just a few minutes and an d will dramatically improve your results. – Especially if you focus on group training, take any and every 14. Talk with a Client – Especially opportunity to stay personally connected with clients.

























– Coach a trainer on something. Pick something up in the gym. Organize your 19. Fix a Detail – Coach office. You can always be doing something. There are a lot of fitness business growth activities that take an hour or more, and a bunch of others that take a half an hour or so, which you can read about elsewhere in this book. But don’t ever let a lack of time stop you from reaching your goals. There is always alwa ys something you can do.



























Starting a Personal Training Training Business Successfully One busy week in 2012, 2012 , I traveled to Boston to run an Athletic Revolution franchise training and Connecticut for an amazing Elite Training Workshop. Along with the great opportunity to spend time with our new franchisees and the 80+ motivated fitness pros that attended the Elite Training Workshop, I got the pleasure of seeing firsthand the success that Dave Gleason and Tyler T yler English are having. Both Dave and Tyler T yler are part of our Athletic Revolution and Fitness Revolution franchises, and it makes me feel like a proud parent to see two businesses being such great representatives of the two brands. It was just a couple of years ago when Dave was an in-home personal trainer who wanted to follow his passion and start a youth fitness business. He became b ecame one of our first franchisees with Athletic Revolution and within his first year had positioned he and his wife Andrea’s business as the pre-eminent youth fitness and sports performance business in the Pembroke, Pe mbroke, MA, market. Just a couple years later, Dave is close to opening his second location and an d is seeing his dream take shape daily. Not long before Dave made the jump to opening his facility, Tyler English was making the transition from health club trainer to starting a personal training business of his own.

























classes from the mid-80s. The energy and passion p assion the coaches at his facility provide is second to none. If you want to be the best b est training business in your area, you must provide p rovide the best coaching. – If you’re starting a personal training business to to get rich and it’s not what Factor #2: Passion – If you’re passionate passionate about, get a new plan. Does that mean that you can’t get rich doing this? this? Of course not, and both of these th ese guys probably will. But their financial success is founded on the passion that they have about what they do. They both are very driven and relentlessly working to be the best at their craft. Here’s a good test for you: who would you you train or what would you do that would never make you watch the clock? What would you do that would make you excited to get to work in the morning and even excited for the next day when you are wrapping up? These guys are living it. You should follow that path, too. – I mentioned that only 20% of small Factor #3: They Were/Are Smart Enough to Get Help – I businesses succeed. Well, 82% of franchises do. Both of these guys recognized that they were great coaches that wanted to run great businesses and needed help to get there without having to re-invent the wheel or take forever to make it happen. Tyler was working with us before he ever left his job to open his own o wn business. Dave started working with us before he ever found a space to open his training facility. Honesty, it takes some

























– Starting a new business is scary. You Factor #6: They Stepped Out of Their Comfort Zone – Starting need to find money, usually when you don’t have much of your own. You have to start worrying about leases and business entities and merchant accounts ac counts and a bunch of o f other things that don’t seem like they’re what you got into this for. Fortunately, we were there to help with this stuff, but they were still the ones that stepped out and acted. Plus, starting a new training business meant that there was no security. If they didn’t get clients, they couldn’t pay their bills. Dave has a wife and 2 young children. That’s uncomfortable. But they both did what it took. They both became good at the business side to complement what they already did well with the training side. You need to accept this if you’re you’re starting starting a personal training business: It’s not easy. Holly, Tyler, and I lived in a basement the first year we were in business. But because you’re willing to sacrifice some opportunity and strive for something big, you’ve already separated yourself from the pack. Risk takers are privy to the greatest opportunities. Factor #7: Experience and Relationships – Both Dave and Tyler deliver great experiences for everyone that walks through their doors, and they both develop extraordinary relationships with their clients. These are things that the people they serve can’t get at the local health club – or – or really anywhere else.

Most fitness pros don’t recognize the importance of these two things. But think about it: Most consumers aren’t experts in training, training, so even if you are the best coach, they may not recognize it

















































The Difficult Customer Fitness Consulting Group Customer Service Manager Melissa A. Brady touches on a difficult part of running a fitness business – business – or or any business, for that matter. Find out h ow to deal with and overcome difficult customers.

Every business has them, but not every business knows how to deal with them. Knowing how to communicate with a “high maintenance” customer can make the difference between average customer service and exceptional exceptional customer care. The old adage “the customer is always right” is not necessarily true. While the customer has a “right” to their opinion and feelings, particularly when an exchange of their money for your service is in play, it’s never “right” to have have to take abuse from a customer or be manipulated into giving them their way when your company’s policies and procedures are at stake. Here are some tips to help you take care of a difficult customer: -Hear them out. Listen to what they have to say – say – let let them go on their rant and pay attention to it (as best as you can) to find out what it is they really want. You may ma y have to sort through a lot of hot air in the process, but many times customers will cool off on their own once they’ve had a chance to vent. And they might even apologize to you for the way they initially acted! -Always offer an apology. Even if it’s just apologizing for how the customer feels about the



























-Never accept abuse. If the customer’s venting turns abusive, you have the right as a human being to not have to take it. A response such as the following could be used in such a situation: “Mr. Jones, I understand that you are upset, u pset, but the way you are speaking to me is inappropriate, and I will ask that you call back (or come back) at another time when you have cooled off.” It’s important to show the customer customer that you CARE. Even if they are being extremely high maintenance, just letting them know that you genuinely want to help and support them will ultimately be rewarded in the end – end – whether whether that be turning a difficult customer into a workable one, or permanently parting ways wa ys with the difficult customer altogether. -Melissa A. Brady

























3 Immediate Ways to Grow Your Fitness Business If you’re reading this, this, you’re different. You’re not the run of the mill trainer, coach, coach, or fitness business owner that’s cool with with settling for mediocrity. So embrace the 3 tips below and make sure they play a big part in what you do on a daily basis. – To quote marketing guru Dan Kennedy, “You Can’t Do Business Sitting on 1. Be Somewhere – To Your Ass.” You need to be out in front of people where opportunities can happen. Be visible by…

























There are three simple things you need to be doing every day: being somewhere, doing something, and asking. Do those and you’re almost assured of business growth.

























Hiring Personal Trainers Trainers & Other Staff Members In our live meetings, we get a lot of questions about hiring personal trainers and other oth er staff members. members. Clearly, it’s a hot topic among fitness professionals. And I’d sa y it’s a big issue if you’re looking to grow your business. Without a doubt, hiring is tough. I’ve been hiring people for almost 17 years now and also spent about 8 years recruiting college athletes, which I’ve found is almost exactly the same. The first person I ever hired was a guy that I’d be comfortable calling my boyhood b oyhood idol. I fired him 3 months later. I’ve also fired one of the guys gu ys that I’d consider among my 5-6 5-6 closest friends.

























Every time I’ve deviated from this plan and hired “ potential” potential” instead of those intangibles, it’s backfired on me. Back when Nick and I started our first training company, I hired our first handful of employees. One applicant who came in had a great resume: He had a Masters degree in Exercise Physiology, had run his own gym at one point, and had about everything you’d ever want to see on a resume. He came on board and it was almost like we (more me than Nick) kept trying to rationalize his (many) flaws and mistakes that were detrimental to our business. We kept thinking that he had the potential to be a key player in the growth we wanted to have even though he hadn’t really ever shown anything tangible to suggest that. Over time it became clear that I’d hired a person p erson who was not ever going to achieve much and had values that weren’t consistent with the business values we had. At the end of his employment with us, he was trying to do all those little things that we all worry about with employees, emplo yees, such as trying to falsify sessions on his time sheet and



























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29 Tips to Make You a Productivity Machine Eight businesses.

























14. Time Block. Block. You’d be amazed at what you can get done with one uninterrupted 30-50 30-50 minute block of time. Have a couple of those each day to work on your business or projects, and watch your productivity and income soar. 15. Get a kitchen timer. Use it to time block.

























10 Secrets of an Elite Fitness Business We have the good fortune to work with many of the top fitness business owners in the world today.

























Each of the elite fitness business owners has carved carve d out some territory in the marketplace they can own. Just like Subway taking a fast food business bu siness and making it a weight loss business, each of the elite has taken a stand to be different. Some, like Eric Cressey, have decided to own the baseball











































































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