Tag Archives: Fitness Industry

Who are you learning from?

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The question I have for you today is who are you learning from? If I was to take a survey probably about 90% of fitness professionals would tell me that they study or learn from the “gurus” in the industry. Now, I will be the first to tell you that you should learn from people in the industry but if you want real growth and real insight you need to study people and businesses in other industries as well. Starbucks, Microsoft, Dell, Mcdonalds have all been in the business of selling their products and services to consumers. These companies have proven strategies and systems that have made them successful. Study them and learn all you can that can apply to the fitness industry. Now, learning and study what a big company has done is only part of the equation that I am talking about today. The second and probably most beneficial way of learning is study people who know how to sell. There are tons of articles and info on sales but I ran across a website that takes the best articles on sales and puts them all on one website.The name of the site is top10salesarticles.com and they find the best articles across the web and post it all on one site to help keep you from having to search for quality articles. What I find unique about this site is the way they come up with their top ten articles for the month. 50% is from the readers voting and 50% from an expert panel. So far I found some really good articles from people in all different industries. Some better than others but overall some good info. Listen my motto is I try to learn something new everyday and learn at least one thing from an article that I can apply to my profession. You may want to set a different goal but start learning from others and apply it to the fitness industry. Now go check out this site www.top10salesarticles.com and learn something from someone else!

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year! No, I am not crazy. Let me explain. Ever since I started in the fitness industry some 14 years ago I always thought Sept 1st seemed a little different. What I mean is typically Labor Day weekend falls right about now and once the holiday is over you get a ton of people into the gym. I am not exactly sure why but I can bet you that most people took the summer off and now after several months of laying around they are ready to get moving. With all this new motivation it tends to be just like the New Year in terms of people setting goals and getting back into shape. The question I have for you is what have you done to prepare for this new wave of prospects back into the gym? Have you looked at your goals you set at the beginning of the year? ( You did set and write down your goals, right?) If you have not reached the financial goals you set back in January you have 4 months to reach them and don’t forget you have several holidays that will get in your way. The main point I want you to take away from this post today is that you can bet on the fact people are motivated to start personal training again and you need to also look at the goals you set for yourself back on one of those cold January days.

Does the “Past” matter?

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When it comes to getting more personal training clients does the prospect’s past experience with a personal trainer matter? Of course it does, and I was made aware of this again today when one of my newest trainers encountered a new member who told her a horrific story about the last time she met with a trainer. Listen, the fitness industry is notorious for creating negative experiences in people’s minds and it makes the job of changing that perception in the prospect’s mind much more difficult. Don’t worry, all hope is not lost, if you are going to have any chance of landing this prospect as a personal training client you are going to need to do the following:

1.) You need to establish trust with your prospect. Become a Trusted Advisor. I have said this before, but I can’t say it enough, ” clients buy because they trust you.” Now in order to establish this trust you need to listen to them and find out what their needs are and show them how you can help them achieve their goals.

2.) Create a memorable experience. Once you have established trust it is important to create a memorable experience. It is so important that the initial experience that a client has is something they enjoy and have fun. Yes, I mean make it fun for your client because if there is one thing that is missing with the “gym experience” is that we, as health professionals, sometimes forgot to have fun and make the experience memorable.

Let me be frank here and tell you that you have an uphill battle when it comes to changing the past of a current prospect but it can be done with the establishment of trust and an experience that leaves the client wanting more. Focus on these two sales strategies and you will win over the past and create a new future for your client. Good luck!

Coach Dave

Create your own luck

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Do you believe that luck plays a major role in your success? Well, if you think that only lucky people are successful, you need to start thinking differently. People who are successful put themselves into situations to reap opportunities that arise, and once presented with an opportunity their knowledge and skills allow them to make good decisions. In a previous post “Learning Never Ends” I tell new trainers and interns, the best piece of advice I received early in my career, was to never stop learning. I believe that the success I have achieved to this point has been attributed to that discipline. Another key to creating your own luck is to have a great attitude. I recently read a quote by Joe Cirulli, Gainesville Health and Fitness CEO, about what his thoughts on the economy were and how it is going to affect his business. He said, in their company values they preach this quote, ” We are the creators of our own future.” I could not have said it any better and if you want to be successful then you need to create your own luck.

Here are some other approaches to make luck work for you:

Create a mind map 

Have a plan

Learn from your past and your failures

Always believe in yourself and your abilities

Network, Network, Network – I have had three jobs in my career and they have all been because I knew someone that knew the person who was looking to hire a trainer.

Finish – The journey is never over. The biggest mistake people make is that they give up too soon. As I mention in my book “Anatomy of Sales”  I almost gave up on the fitness industry but hanging on has now led me to where I am today.

What causes you to Procrastinate

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Being in the fitness industry we are all to familiar with people procrastinating. We have a hard time understanding why our clients just don’t do what we say and get moving. Well, what is causing you to procrastinate when it comes to reaching our business goals? For me I realized that mentally I was not disciplined and I was always waiting for the perfect time to act. I can honestly say that I have always had dreams of starting my own business but kept saying, “Oh it just isn’t the perfect time.” I guess this will be a true test since I launched this business during what some economists are saying is the worst economic times since the great depression. Okay, now let’s get back to the question at hand, “what causes you to procrastinate?”

As I mentioned yesterday I am reading a book by John Maxwell, “Talent is Never Enough” and at the end of each chapter he has some application exercises. One of the application questions asks the following and I want you to ask yourself this.

What causes you to procrastinate? 

  • Are you in denial about the consequences of not taking initiative and responsibility for yourself?
  • Are you waiting for others to motivate you instead of working to motivate yourself?
  • Are you waiting for everything to be perfect before you act?
  • Are you fantasizing about tomorrow instead of focusing on what you can do today?
  • ARE YOU TRYING TO DO IT ALONE?
Yes, I bolded the last question because I am guilty of this as well. As I mention in my book I was fortunate to have some of my wealthy and successful clients guide me, but it was not until recently I have sought formal coaching to develop my business. Take a moment and answer these questions and when you do write out a plan to take action on changing the actions that are causing you to procrastinate. 
Coach Dave