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A Fitness Business Post by Pat Rigsby

 

When it comes to running a fitness business or any other business, you’re either getting better or worse. Don’t believe all that ‘The economy is bad so I just don’t want to lose ground’ stuff.

It’s crap.

I’ve just never understood that mentality. It’s a defeatist attitude and I want zero part 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 doing it for years and every season they’d lose a couple more games than they won. Every season.

I just couldn’t have imagined living like 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 and you’re above average. Win less and you’re below average.

If you went to work every day, 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 a fitness business to be average or worse.

You started your business to build 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 want.

You set out for fitness business greatness. (If not, this blog probably isn’t the place for you.)

 

Well, greatness is a choice.

 

So is mediocrity.

Which are you choosing?

You choose what you are every day with your actions. It’s no different than your clients. If they want great results, they choose every day through the effort their training, through their eating and through their recovery. They basically wear their choices.
Fitness pros teach this every day, but they seem to sometimes forget it when they are evaluating their business.

It’s really that simple though.

You choose.

This is the critical place to start. Taking personal responsibility. Never blaming other people or outside circumstances.

When you take responsibility you are in control. When you don’t – you’re a victim.

As a fitness business owner you MUST be in control. If you’re playing the victim, quit. Today.

 

Are We Clear?

 

So by this point you’re either…

1. Offended because you like the whole ‘victim thing’ and the ability to blame your failures on someone else…or…

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 a fitness entrepreneur special – the ability to create your own economy. 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 every 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 believe we lost. We just ran out of innings to stage our comeback.

 

Business Isn’t Easy

 

But that’s to your advantage. Look around at all the businesses in your community. Now think back 1 year. Think back 2. 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.

So 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 real 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.

Well, you’re welcome to lean on us. In fact, if you want to set up a free Fitness Business Assessment Call with one of our consultants to see what you need to work on, just go here:

Fitness Business Assessment

 

We’re happy to help.

If you do know what is holding you back, here are some suggestions on fixes…

You’re Not Getting Enough Leads – You need to have lead sources in place that are effective enough that they provide you a minimum of twice as many leads per month as you need to need to convert into clients to reach your financial goals.

My recommendations are that you need a minimum of two external lead sources and two internal lead sources going each month as the basis of your fitness marketing plan.

Once you have your 4, determine how many leads each of those strategies are producing each month and how many of those leads are being converted into paying clients.

If any of your 4 are not producing at the level you want, then you either:

• Replace them
• Improve them

My favorite lead sources are:

• 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. 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 or a Transformation Contest.

Maybe it’s several of those or different 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 of the strategies:

• Determine what strategy or strategies you will be using. Once that is decided, determine who each of those offers will be made to…Deal of the Day buyers might be presented with one offer while Business of the Month lead might get another.

• Figure out how often you’ll rotate offers to your ‘main list’ and what those offers are. Offers get stale after a while, so one month you might present a  2 week trial and the next month a 21 Day Drop a Dress Size promo.

• Determine how you will build value and sell your core offerings during the front end offers.

 

Remember – the primary reason for having a front end offer is to convert leads into long term clients.

Some of my favorite front end offers are:

• Free Special Report
• Free 1 or 2 Week Trial
• Body Transformation Audit (i.e. – Assessment).
• 21 Days for $21
• Tighter Tummy in 10 Days For $10
• $100 Plastic Gift Cards
• Groupon-like Offers – One Month for $29-39
• Transformation Contests – 4-8 Week from $20-99.
• Camps
• Workshops
• Clinics

Your Core Offering(s) Aren’t Solid - Your Core Offerings are the foundation of your business, so everything else centers around them.

The Core Offerings we see have the most success are:

• Semi-Private
• Small Group
• Large Group / Bootcamp

 

How can you fix them or improve them?

• Are you the best in your market at what you do?  If not, do the work to become the best.
• 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.
• Look at your pricing and margins.
• Are you doing everything you can to maximize results, retention and referrals?

You Don’t Have (Strong Enough) Backend Offerings – Most fitness pros drop the ball on the Back End. The Back End is basically comprised of:

• The ‘problems’ created by your Core Offerings
• The opportunities your clients potentially create

So when it comes to optimizing your Back End Offerings, here’s where to start…

Determine what ‘problems’ your Core Offerings create. Because a client participates in your Core Programs, they want certain results. So what can you provide that isn’t addressed in your Core Programs but will help them achieve their goals faster?

What is addressed in your Core Programs but your clients want more of?

Once you’ve figured that out, then determine what opportunities your Core Clients create. Your clients can potentially:

• Be your primary source of new leads through referrals
• Open doors in the community for everything from Corporate Programs to public speaking engagements

You’re Not Getting Leads To Take Advantage Of Your Front End Offers – if that’s the case then:

• Decide if your Front End Offer is strong enough.
• Determine if you’re building enough value in it.
• Look for ways to remove the more of the risk / fear associated with taking advantage of your offer.

If You’re Not Converting Trials To Clients – then you need to…

Look at the points where you are presenting you 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 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 fitness referrals are the most effective approaches for your business model.

If You’re Not Making Enough Money In Spite Of Having A Solid Number Of Clients - this happens more than 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 system so you lose track of money.
• Your prices are too low or you discount too much.
• You don’t do enough on the back end to maximize you dollars per clients.

If You’re Overwhelmed – I’ll close with this one. All fitness business owners run into this at some point. Here are the fixes:

• Plan your day the evening before. I live by this.
• Set daily and weekly goals to keep you on track.
• Make sure to do 3 things every day to improve your business no matter what. Don’t get caught up trying to do EVERYTHING everyday. But you MUST do something.

Is there something else you’re facing in your fitness business that I can help you with?  Something that needs a fix?  Let me know below and we’ll work on it.

 

Dedicated to your success,

Pat