Ever wonder what your personal training business has in common with Subway restaurants?
I’ll tell you in a moment.
The other day I got an email from a subscriber that really hit home with me. It was a simple thank you email, but it meant a lot.
In his email he mentioned that he was in Detroit, Michigan – a place that’s not necessarily a hot spot for personal training at the moment.
Apparently his business has been struggling the last 12 months and recently one of my newsletters gave him a marketing idea that won him three new clients within ten days.
He went on to say that since gaining those three new clients he’s had renewed hope for his business and has recommitted to making his business thrive regardless of what scare tactics the talking heads on TV decide to use.
But the thing that really hit home with me was when he said he looks forward to my emails and newsletters because I give actual ideas, strategies, examples and case studies that have worked for my training business and continue to work for thousands of my clients.
You know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
– I’ll always continue to give you real usable information that you can put into action and see results.
– I never have and never will promote a product or service to you that I don’t believe in just to make a few bucks in commission.
– I’ll continue to create products, services, and events that deliver AT LEAST 10 to 100 times the return on your investment.
– I’ll never send you vague, self serving emails if I don’t have anything of value to share with you.
For me, that’s the only way to do business. And the email I got the other day proves it.
I’ll leave the huffing, puffing and exaggerations to the self proclaimed ‘gurus’ out there 😉
** On to this week’s newsletter! **
This weekend I was reading through my copy of Ad Age (a weekly marketing journal I subscribe to) and I found an article that directly ties into your personal training business.
The article was about how Jared Fogle – you know him better as Jared from Subway – has more than doubled Subway’s sales over the last ten years as their spokesperson.
In case you don’t know Jared’s story he basically lost 245 pounds eating subway sandwiches.
Here’s the before and after picture of Jared that Subway uses:
Here’s what this has to do with your personal training business.
Subway restaurants used to be just another fast food restaurant chain. That’s until Jared came into the picture.
His story has given Subway their strongest unique selling proposition yet – which helped them break away from the pack of ‘fast food chains.”
Now Subway’s known for making fresh healthy food – fast.
Over the last five years Subway has gone through four different ad agencies all attempting to create ads that “out pull” Jared’s.
All have failed.
And all got fired.
In fact, in the article that I read; one Subway executive admits that whenever sales are low he just says “put Jared back on TV” and sales immediately spike.
Why?
Because testimonials work, social proof sells, and people love success stories.
Jared is real. People relate to him and therefore buy more Subway sandwiches.
No ad agency can doctor that up.
Let’s look at your personal training business.
How many dead end marketing techniques have you tried in the past?
How frustrating is it to run an ad, promotion or even a press release that fails to deliver results?
Your marketing shouldn’t be complicated.
Just be the Subway of personal training.
Make a success story of one of your clients.
Heck, go out there and find an overweight person and ask them if they want to be your Jared in exchange for free or low cost training.
Create your own spokesperson – someone that others can relate to – make that the core of your marketing foundation and share their story and success with your entire community.