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Are You Too Busy To Be A Successful Fitness Pro?

May 21, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

How To Be A Successful Fitness Pro. A Post By Pat Rigsby

We all have the same 24 hours in a day and the same 7 days in a week. So why is it that some top producers seem to get mountains of things accomplished while others seem to never move closer to their goals?

Well, first I’d suggest that those high achievers have a clear picture of what they are trying to get done.

Secondly, I’d say that they value their time more than most and make sure that they are getting a significant return on the time they invest in activities.

And finally I believe that the successful plan their day to make sure they move closer to their goals.

While this isn’t specifically a goal achievement program, I strongly suggest that you spend some time deciding exactly how you want your business to look in 6, 12, 24 and 36 months. Once you have that clear picture of your future, then making decisions on how to spend your time becomes much easier. It essentially boils down to this:

Is this going to move me closer to or further away from my goals?

If the activity is going to move you closer to your goals, then you should do it. If it’s going to move you farther away, then don’t do it.

As you evolve in your fitness business endeavors you’re choices on activities will often be:

Which activity will move me to my goal more quickly?

But you need to know what your goals are. Do you?

Once you’ve decided what your goals are, achieving them becomes easier.

You essentially need to find the fastest and most direct route to the goals that you want to achieve.

This seems pretty simple, right?

Then why don’t most people live their lives this way?

Well, most of us are bombarded with so many distractions every day that the direct route is no longer obvious. So much of our attention gets diverted and so many people promise us the quick fix that keeps us on the right path that we’re usually prevented from achieving our goals.

The other problem is that we see the latest ‘fad’ and soon have a different goal that takes all of our focus away from our initial goal.

So here’s what I suggest that you do: Get very clear on what you want. Once you’re clear, work backward from where you want to be to where you are. If you are not sure of the steps in between, the easiest way to develop a path to follow is to model someone who’s achieved what you want to achieve. Learn the steps that they took and build them in to your plan.

The approach that I’ve had the most success in using backward planning is to set 3 types of goals:

Long Term Goals (12-36 months away)
Medium Term Goals (3-12 months away)
Short Term Goals (1 Day to 3 months away)

The short term goals all lead to the medium term goals and the medium term goals lead to the long term goals. Everything is interconnected.

With this approach daily planning becomes simple. I need to perform activities that move me closer to my short term goals. If they don’t move me closer to those goals I need to try to eliminate those activities.

So here exactly how I suggest that you do your daily planning:

On Sunday identify the tasks that you need to accomplish during the upcoming week to keep you on track to achieve you short term goals.

Each night spend 10 minutes planning the upcoming day. This will allow you to ‘sleep easy’ knowing that you are going to accomplish what you need to. Make sure that you have at least one ‘core task’ that no matter what, you will get accomplished in the upcoming day that will move you toward your goal. At the same time you should evaluate what you were able to accomplish during the day that’s coming to a close and whether the decisions you made moved you closer to your goals or took you farther away.

In the morning review your task list for the day. Allocate all your energies to accomplishing at least one ‘core’ task that will move you closer to your short term goal. If you’re booked with clients or designing programs all morning, get up a bit earlier or block off 30 minutes to make sure that you can accomplish a high return activity.

Review your goals and task list at least once during the day to make sure that you stay on track. By reviewing your goals too (and not just your tasks) you’ll be more likely to stay motivated.

A few tips to make sure that you get the most from your planning:

Always do your planning the night before.

Accept the fact that you’re not going to get everything that you want to done each day. That’s not an excuse so you don’t do anything.

Pledge to accomplish at least one task that moves you closer to your goals each day. Small, incremental improvements add up quickly.

Recognize that all actions move you closer to or farther from your goals as a fitness pro. Make note each evening of the activities that are moving you farther from your goals and track to see if patterns become apparent. If you’re spending 2 hours a day on e-mail but don’t have time to market, then you’ve seen a pattern that you need to change.

Dedicated to your success,

Pat Rigsby

Filed Under: Fitness Business Success, Fitness Entrepreneur, Personal Training Success Tagged With: Business Owner, Entrepreneur, Fitness Business, fitness business success, fitness entrepreneurs, fitness pro, pat rigsby, Success

Fitness Business Owner of the Month – April 2012

May 7, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

A fitness business owner success story by Pat Rigsby

images Fitness Business Owner of the Month April 2012

Each month here at FBI we recognize a Fitness Business Owner of the Month. We hope to not only recognize fitness entrepreneurs for their successes but also to inspire other fitness pros to move forward in their business endeavors.

The winner will not only get a public ‘pat on the back’ in the form of a post like this, but they’ll also receive a 1 hour coaching call, free admission to the live event of their choice and a product of their choice from what we offer here at FBI.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Fitness Business Owner of the Month, Fitness Business Success, Personal Trainer Business, Personal Training Success Tagged With: Business Owner, Fitness Business, Fitness Business Marketing, fitness business success, personal training business, Success

Referrals Made Easy

May 2, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

A Post On Getting Referrals By Pat Rigsby

As fitness business owner we all want more referrals. They’re the easiest prospects to sell, they are more likely to refer others and they’ll stay longer and pay more while they’re clients.

Unfortunately, referrals aren’t as easy to come by as they used to be. In years gone by all you had to do was offer up a prize or reward and your current clients would line up to send you new clients for a chance to win what you were offering or a crisp $50 bill.

It’s not quite that easy any more.

You can still be a referral driven business, but you need to set the stage to make that happen. Here’s a primer to get you started.

Personal Training Sales: The Value Capture Solution

April 15, 2012 By admin 3 Comments

A Post on Personal Training Sales By Pat Rigsby

dreamstime xs 20291426 300x199 Personal Training Sales: The Value Capture Solution

For the typical entrepreneurial personal trainer sales is a hot topic.

They want to know how to sell more.

How to close more deals.

But in my mind, this view is a small part of a much bigger picture.

The Client Value Capture picture.

So I wanted to explain my take on Client Value Capture and how it can explode your personal training sales.

Are Fitness Bootcamps Dying?

March 22, 2012 By AlexFortey 8 Comments

A post on Fitness Bootcamps by Pat Rigsby

Over the past few months we’ve had a number of our Mastermind Members discuss the possibility of changing the way that they present their programs to the public from Fitness Bootcamps to some other term that hasn’t been as commoditized and watered down.

We’ve been predicting that the typical camp would start trending downward for a while and we’ve started to see it. Gone are the days of just saying you run a bootcamp, sending out a press release and having success. Health clubs are all offering camps at a bargain basement rate or giving them away with memberships just like typical group ex classes.

About 80% of the fitness pros I’ve spoken with have at least tried running fitness bootcamps – even those who initially were appalled by the concept.

For the longest time we’ve taught our members, clients and franchisees to combat tis onslaught of fitness bootcamps by treating what they do like group personal training. Do assessments. Deliver high quality programming – not just workouts. Focus on the experience and forming strong relationships.

This approach has allowed most of them to stand out from the competition – but now many of them are considering taking this separation from the fitness bootcamps pack even farther and dropping the bootcamp name all together.

They feel like the word “bootcamp” in a fitness setting has come to stand for an inferior quality service that isn’t up to the standards that they deliver.

So what I want to know from you is this:

Do you think the phrase ‘fitness bootcamps’ has come to stand for an inferior service?

Do you think the fitness bootcamps trend has crested and is on the way down? (For those of you who don’t think this will ever happen, I have one word for you: Taebo.)

Do you think changing the way that your program is presented…the name, the language you use to describe it, etc…is a good idea?

I really want to know your thoughts on fitness bootcamps. Please share them below.

Dedicated to Your Success,

Pat

Filed Under: Bootcamps, fitness business Tagged With: Boot Camps, Business Owner, Fitness Bootcamps, Fitness Business, fitness business success

Relationship Marketing With A Fitness Newsletter

February 26, 2012 By admin 3 Comments

A Post About The Benefits Of A Fitness Newsletter By Pat Rigsby

With the launch of Sam’s new fitness newsletter this week, I wanted to share my thoughts on newsletters and the role they could play in your business.

A fitness newsletter is a fantastic fitness marketing tool for building relationships. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about developing relationships with people you just met through networking or cultivating relationships with the clients you currently have – a newsletter is a must have part of your marketing arsenal. In short, a fitness newsletter:

Is a perfect way to build value in your expertise for members of your network.
Allows you to stay connected with your current clients outside of their sessions.
Is a great way to educate your network in the different things you offer and share new offerings with your client base.
Is a simple way to increase referrals.

How does a fitness newsletter build value in your expertise?

Generating Instant Income For Your Fitness Business

February 22, 2012 By admin 6 Comments

A Post On Fitness Business Income Generation By Pat Rigsby

dreamstime xs 23272249 Generating Instant Income For Your Fitness Business

Since I’ve been on the business coaching and franchising side of things for fitness business owners, nothing has surprised me more than the number of business owners who fail to maximize the value of their personal network and their client base.

This is amazing to me because those same fitness business owners will spend piles of money to market to people that they have no prior relationship with.

The truth is, the biggest opportunity for an influx of income into your fitness business is right in your own database. When you make an offer to members of your personal network or existing and past clients, it’s not only easier to sell them something (versus new prospects off the street), but your business actually become more profitable because you don’t have nearly the cost of client acquisition.

The other benefit to this is that it really is providing a better, more complete solution for your existing clients and it’s helping those people in your network achieve their health and fitness goals.

What You Say vs What You Do

February 15, 2012 By admin 16 Comments

A Post On The Right Way To Build A Business By Pat Rigsby

We live in a society that has made an art out of overpromising and under delivering.

Politicians stump on campaign promises that they have little if any intention of delivering on. It’s marketing at it’s worst. Leaders or prospective leaders telling people what they want to hear through every medium possible in order to get their vote.

Whatever it takes to get them elected.

In the fitness world, every health club on the planet advertises how they’re the solution to give you the body that you’ve always wanted – knowing good and well that once they have your name on the contract they’ll essentially forget about you and be on to chasing the next naïve prospect.

This ‘art’ of overpromising and under delivering certainly isn’t exclusive two politics and fitness – it goes on everywhere. I just happen to see more of it there because it’s so well publicized in politics and I’m immersed in the fitness industry.

The Truth… And The Opportunity

The amazing thing about this trend is that it’s actually presented you with a marketing opportunity – or perhaps a better way of putting it – a position in the market.

If you’re willing to deliver on what you promise… or better yet – OVERDELIVER – you can become that trusted solution in your market that clients love, stay with forever and refer their friends, family members and co-workers to.
It sounds simple – and almost a little ridiculous that simply telling the truth and doing what you say you’re going to do (and hopefully a little more) can actually be a marketing strategy – but it is.

See, everyone says they’re great with service and care about their clients or members.

They say that results for the people they serve are their priority.

But saying and doing are vastly different things.

And now there’s this new trend in the business world where it seems every business out there has followed Zappos lead and identified their ‘Core Values’ (we’re no exception.)

And regardless of how much the want to celebrate it – 99% of the time those are nothing more than hollow words on paper.

It’s not what you say – it’s what you do.

A Case Study: Fitness Revolution

By now you’ve probably seen me write about Fitness Revolution, our personal training franchise (and now also internationally licensed offering).

We launched Fitness Revolution in early 2011, and while most business opportunities in the fitness industry were out there marketing and selling at all costs – we were building our infrastructure. Sure, we were bringing on new franchisees – but they were virtually all members of our network who we knew would be a good fit for what we wanted Fitness Revolution to represent.

Our focus was simply on providing the best systems, tools, resources and support in the entire fitness industry – bar none. We felt that if we did that, we’d carve out a place in the market that would be competition resistant – because it’s a lot tougher to actually deliver systems and support than it is to promise them. Just to give you an example of what I’m talking about – here’s the Table of Contents for one of our FR Blueprints, the Administrative Operations Manual:

Administrative Operations Manual

Section 1: New Leads Protocol

1.1 Walk-Ins- Overview

Greeting, Scheduling, and Tour Script
How to file an “Adult Profile” form- Completion Plan
How to Add a Prospect to Your Client Management Software- Completion Plan
How to Create a File Folder for a Client Appointment- Completion Plan
How to Set Scheduling Notifications- Completion Plan
How to Add Person to an Email List- Completion Plan
Sending a Personal Email to Prospect- Email Script
Confirmation Call, Email, and Text Message Script

1.2 Phone Inquiries- Overview

Phone Inquiry Script and Missed Call/Call Back Script
Taking Phone Call Notes- Completion Plan
How to File an “Adult Profile” form- Completion Plan
How to Add a Prospect to Your Client Management Software- Completion Plan
How to Create a File Folder for a Client Appointment- Completion Plan
How to Set Scheduling Notifications- Completion Plan
Sending a Personal Email to Prospect- Email Script
Confirmation Call, Email, and Text Message Script

1.3 Website Opt-In- Overview

How to file an “Adult Training Profile” form from a website opt-in- Completion Plan
How to Add a Prospect to Your Client Management Software- Completion Plan
Email Script- Free Gift Opt-in
Phone Script- 2 Week Trial Opt-in
Email Script- Confirm Orientation or Appointment (If scheduled by phone)
Email Script- 2 Week Trial Opt-in
How to Schedule- Completion Plan
How to Create a File Folder for a Client Appointment- Completion Plan
Confirmation Call, Email, and Text Message Script

1.4 Inquiry Email- Overview

Frequently Asked Email Questions and Answers
How to file an “Adult Training Profile” form from an inquiry email- Completion Plan
How to Add a Prospect to Your Client Management Software- Completion Plan
How to Set Notification for Non-Responsive Email Leads- Completion Plan
Follow Up Email Script for Unresponsive Leads
How to Schedule- Completion Plan
How to Create a File Folder for a Client Appointment- Completion Plan
Confirmation Call, Email, and Text Message Script

1.5 Client Referral- Overview

How to Add a Prospect to Your Client Management Software- Completion Plan
How to file an “Adult Training Profile” form from a Referral- Completion Plan
How to Add a Prospect to Your Client Management Software- Completion Plan
Referral Call Script
Referral Email Script
How to Set Notification for Non-Responsive Referral Leads- Completion Plan
Follow Up Voicemail Script for Non-responders
Follow Up Email Script for Non-responders
How to Schedule- Completion Plan
How to Create a File Folder for a Client Appointment- Completion Plan
Confirmation Call, Email, and Text Message Script

1.6 External Leads- Overview

How to file an “Adult Training Profile” form from an external source- Completion Plan
How to Add a Prospect to Your Client Management Software- Completion Plan
How to Add Person to Email List- Completion Plan
Phone Call Follow-up Script
Email Follow-up Script
How to Schedule – Completion Plan
How to Create a File Folder for a Client Appointment- Completion Plan
Confirmation Call, Email, and Text Message Script

1.7 New Leads- Missed Appointment

Missed Appointment Phone Script
Missed Appointment Voicemail Script
How to Set a Notification for a Non-Responsive Missed Appointment Lead
No response phone call script
No response voicemail script
No response email template
How to Schedule an Appointment- Completion Plan
Confirmation Call Script
Confirmation Email Template
Confirmation Text Message

Section 2: Front End Clientele Protocol

2.1 Front End Clientele- Overview

How to Add a Prospect to Your Client Management Software- Completion Plan
How to update client information in CMS software- Completion Plan
How to complete a sale in CMS software (if applicable)- Completion Plan
How to add client to email list- Completion Plan
How to file new front end client documentation- Completion Plan
How to schedule notifications for new client- Completion Plan
Confirmation call script for next appointment
Confirmation Email Template
Confirmation Text Message

2.2 Front End Clientele- Supplemental

Post Card on the Run- Completion Plan
Send Out Cards- Completion Plan

Section 3: New Members Protocol

3.1 New Members- Overview

How to update client information in CMS- Completion Plan
How to complete the membership sale in your CMS- Completion Plan
How to add client to email list- Completion Plan
How to remove client from “prospects” email list- Completion Plan
How to file new client documentation- Completion Plan
How to schedule check-in/follow-up calls with client- Completion Plan
“Thank you” Email Script or Card Script for Referrers

That’s one resource – there are dozens. This FR Blueprint has over 111 pages of actionable information, scripts and templates for one specific area of our Franchisees’ businesses. Sad to say – there are franchises out there whose entire collection of support manuals or resources probably don’t amount to 111 pages.

And that was an obvious benefit to taking the position we’ve taken as a support-focused franchise.

Not only did this approach help us still add 106 franchisees in 2011 with very minimal marketing (we’re at around 120 now) – but it really allowed us to build a strong foundation to facilitate the success of those 120 franchisees and the ones who will come on board in the future.

And that’s what franchising – at least in our world – is about.

In fact, we were just recognized by Franchise Business Review in their Annual Franchisee Satisfaction Awards as:

The #1 Fitness Franchise Overall

The #1 Franchisee Overall (Midsize Category)

Here’ a screenshot:

Every franchise in North America is eligible for these awards and they’re entirely decided by independent surveys Franchise Business Review conducts of franchisees.

So basically they’re determined by what we actually do for our franchisees – not simply what we say we’re going to do.

How You Can Make This All Work For Your Business

Though I couldn’t be prouder of what our business team has accomplished by earning these rewards (The Fitness Revolution Team is deserving of far more than a post for the incredible work they’ve done ) – that’s not the main point of this post.
The main point is this:

If you want to become the premier fitness business in your area – you need to do the things that everyone else won’t do.

You need to truly care about your clients – not just say you do.

You need to put in the work to become the best at your craft – not just proclaim yourself the best.

You need to deliver an extraordinary experience – not just pay lip service to it.

You need to live your Core Values – not just put them in a frame on the wall or on your website.

You simply need to make sure that you’re doing everything you say… and more.

Do that and your competition will become irrelevant because – I can promise you that while they’ll all say they’re going to do the same – 99% of them never will.

Dedicated to Your Success,

Pat

Filed Under: fitness business, Fitness Business Success, Fitness Entrepreneur Tagged With: Business Owner, Entrepreneur, Fitness Business Marketing, Fitness Professional, personal training business

Fitness Business Multipliers

January 30, 2012 By admin 3 Comments

A Post On Building Your Fitness Business By Pat Rigsby

onlybusinessbook1 Fitness Business Multipliers

Recently Nick Berry and I were asked to contribute a chapter to a book called “The Only Business Book You’ll Ever Need.” This was an incredible honor as a few of the other authors were Brian Tracy, Robert Allen and Harvey McKay, all New York Times Best Selling Authors. This book won’t be on the shelves for a couple more months, but I wanted to share an adaptation of our chapter with you as it definitely can help you build your business. Enjoy this sneak peek.

As an fitness business owner, you essentially accept the fact that you’re trading the security that comes with a steady job for the opportunity that comes with owning your own business. But what if we told you that security and opportunity don’t have to be mutually exclusive? Our experience is that not only can you have the best of both worlds, but you can do it more quickly and easily than you probably imagine by creating multiple streams of income within your fitness business.

Fitness Business Owner Of The Month – January 2012

January 29, 2012 By admin 6 Comments

A fitness business owner success story by Pat Rigsby

greg Fitness Business Owner Of The Month – January 2012

Each month here at FBI we’re going to start recognizing a Fitness Business Owner of the Month. We hope to not only recognize fitness entrepreneurs for their successes but also to inspire other fitness pros to move forward in their business endeavors.