The Right Way To Run A Fitness Business

How To Run A Fitness Business. A Post By Pat Rigsby

First off, I have to tell you – I didn’t know when I started writing this post that Mike Robertson would heavily reference Perform Better in his guest post the other day. Sounds like we’re big PB fans over here at Fit Business Insider, huh? We are – but that wasn’t the main point of my post.  Instead – I wanted you to see an example of a business you are (or should be) familiar with – and take some lessons from them.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Perform Better Functional Training Summit in Chicago.  It was the 2nd of three Functional Training Summits they hold throughout the summer, with the 1st being in Providence, RI and the third still to come this August 6th-8th in Long Beach, CA. While I was at the event I thought about how much fitness professionals could learn from Perform Better the company – so I decided to share some lessons I’ve taken away from doing business with them which could benefit all of our businesses:

• Deliver Value To Grow Your Fitness Business – I’ve attended about 10 Perform Better events and made numerous purchases from them and every time I’ve felt like I’ve gotten more than my money’s worth.  In fact, to this point I’ve yet to come across someone who didn’t feel like they’ve received their money’s worth (or more) at any of the Perform Better events.

  This kind of consistent value that they deliver is the foundation of their success and should be the foundation of any businesses success.  It’s as simple as this: In every transaction you have with a customer or client provide them with an experience that makes them want to do business with you again.

• Educate and the Sales Will Come – The Perform Better Summits, the Functional Movement Screen Workshops and all the other Perform Better events are all incredible sales vehicles without ever really ‘pitching’ anything.  The key is simple – each of these events educates fitness professionals on how they can do a better job serving their clients.  This is a great way to generate sales in two ways:
  1. Any of the tools or resources used in the presentations are made available by Perform Better so if fitness professionals want to implement what they’ve learned, Perform Better offers solutions so they can.
  2. The fitness industry is notorious for turnover so by educating fitness professionals, Perform Better is essentially helping people stay in the industry, become more successful and in turn potentially become a long term customer.

How can you apply this?  The more informed your clients are – the more successful they will be.  If you educate them on nutrition, supplements and a supportive lifestyle, they’ll be more likely to reach their goals and more likely to stay with your fitness business. Not to mention that if you provide some of the solutions like supplements or nutrition education – you can offer them to your clients as a profit center.

• Make Everything A Win / Win – This is similar to my first point but since we deal with Perform Better on a bit of a different level than most consumers since we offer a pre-conference IYCA Certification Workshop and have done a few other things with them outside of simply attending events or making purchases.What I’ve consistently seen from them is that in every transaction, every project and in every working relationship – they work to make sure that both parties come out ahead.

  This sounds simple – but in business and especially in the fitness industry – it’s not as common as it should be.

  They’ve worked diligently to make sure we benefit at every turn when we deal with them – and you should be doing the same in all of your business relationships.  You should make it a goal that every client, prospect, JV partner or member of your network feels like when they deal with you – they benefit.

• Keep Evolving – Every year Perform Better Summits keep changing and improving.  Each year there are new presentations highlighting the latest successful industry trends in training and equipment. In fact, the Summits are often the vehicle to educate fitness pros on the latest industry developments – so they’re usually the people setting the tone for a lot of what successful trainers and coaches are doing with their clients.

• Use Relationships As Your Foundation – We talk about it over and over and Perform Better is a perfect example of it – relationships are crucial to business success.

When I attend Perform Better events it feels kind of like a big family reunion – but more fun

This isn’t an accident.  Their team is incredible and takes a personal interest in everyone they do business with.  In fact, it’s pretty apparent in everything that they do from consistently looking for ways for you (or us) to save money when making purchases to little things like Chris Poirier – taking a couple minutes out from running the event – to have an I-Phone Lightsaber battle with Tyler.

In fact, the Rep that we work with, Jennie Rohde had a baby gift for Holly and me when we showed up.  How thoughtful is that?

All of this is stuff you can do to.  Take a person interest in your clients.  Be nice (and attentive) to their kids.  Go out of your way to help them be more successful.

There you go – 5 big lessons you can take away from the equipment company to Run A Fitness Business.

I consider to be far and away the leader in serving the fitness professional market.

By the way – if you’re going to be making any orders with Perform Better soon, give Jennie  Rohde a call at 888-556-7464 ext. 114 and tell her you read this blog and she’ll make sure you get our discount

Dedicated to your fitness business success,

Pat Rigsby

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