Time
Money
Spouse
Think About It
First of all, let’s talk about how do we overcome all these things before they ever come up.
So that way, once you ask for the sale, they just take option A or B, give you the form of payment, dot the I’s, cross the T’s, they sign your sales agreement. Voila, you’ve got a client now, your sales hat is no longer on.
There’s something called the PARQ (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire). And the back part of the questionnaire is what I call the power PARQ.
Because the first part is the regular PARQ, right? We’ve got their dates, their names, the address, contact information, height, weight, gender. But what I did is I actually took the back side, and I made it a sales tool.
And so the back side asks questions like “Do you ever feel weak, tired and sluggish?” It starts off very benign questions, very yes and no. And then goes on to “How many meals do you eat each day?”
That question’s going to come back up during that selling process.
“Do you eat breakfast?” That will come up. “Do you eat sugary foods?” That will come up. “Do you need several cups of coffee to get through the day?” That will definitely come up, right?
Of course, one of my favorite ones is “Are you happy with the way you look and feel in your health?” Is it yes or a no?
This leads you easily to ask that question. “Oh, I see that you’re not happy with the way you look and feel. Can I ask what it is that you’d want to change?” It gives you permission to ask a question that you would otherwise have a hard time bringing up.
The one after that, one of my most favorite is “On a scale of 1 to 10, how serious are you about achieving your goals?” Now we’re starting to get into conquering objections, as you’ll see. If you’re least serious, you’re going to circle a 1, if you’re most serious, you’re going to circle a 10.
Get Your Clients to a “10”
Most people are going to circle a 6, 7 or 8. That’s just how they are. No one wants to be like “Yeah, I’m gung ho, man!” And no one’s going to be like “Ah, I’m not going to do it.”
Guess what that does? It opens you up for the “think about it” objection. It opens you up for the “spousal” objection, and it may open you up for the “time” objection.
In fact, if they put anything but a 9 or a 10, this is what you’re going to do, as you’re studying their PARQ.
This is before you ever sit down for the selling. You say “Oh, Mrs. Jones, I see that you put that you’re an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 with how serious you are. Well, 8 is pretty serious. I noticed you’re not a 9 or a 10. I’m curious, what’s stopping you from putting a 10 on this paper?”
Yeah, they might say “I’m just being realistic, because I’ve started workout and diet programs before, and I’ve quit them.” But likely, they might say “Well, I don’t know if I can afford this program. And so if I can’t afford it, I don’t want to say I’m a 10.” Or “I don’t know if I’ll have enough time to do this program.”
So whatever they give you, that’s ammunition to work on. So if they said for example, “Well, I don’t know, I put an 8 because I’m not sure if I can afford your program.” You go, “You know what, Mrs. Jones, I totally understand.”
Your answer to everything starts with “I understand.”
“I understand, but if I can show you a program at the end of our workout today that fits your budget and your schedule, is there anything else that would stop you from starting this program today?”
“No.”
“Great! Then I’m going to put you down as a 10.” So you literally, you scratch off the 8 and you circle the 10. You always get their permission. Okay? Great.
You’re leading the conversation, even though you’re asking the questions and getting their permission. And so at the end of the day, you want to make sure before you even ask for money, that they’ve circled the 10 before you ever move ahead.
So I would say “All right, Mrs. Jones, now that we’ve figured out that you’re a 10, I definitely have programs that will fit your budget. I see that you said that you can work out three times a week. Now, is this pretty realistic with your schedule?” I’m going to confirm that.
“Yes it is.”
“So, with your work and your family life and everything you’ve got going on, you can get here three times a week, right?”
“Yep.”
“Fantastic. Do you think you could do four days a week?”
“No, no, no. I could do three.”
“Great.”
If they say four, write it down. Three or four, right, because now you might present a three or four time a week program.
You see where we’re headed here?
Remind Them of Their Goals
And so you confirm that they can do three times a week. They’re a 10. We just overcame a lot of these objections right off the bat.
And that’s important. Why? Because later on, if they give you one of these objections, you go back to your PARQ and you say “Look, remember when you told me that you’re a 10? Remember when you told me that…you’re telling me you can’t work out, you don’t have the time to work out, but we talked about it. You said you could do three days a week.”
“Oh, yeah.”
So those are your big objections. But just understand, typically the “spouse” and the “think about it” objections are what they call a smoke screen, and what they’re really saying is “I don’t want to afford it.”
Not “I can’t afford it”, but “I don’t want to afford it”, or “I don’t have the time.” Most people, if you play your cards right, will be like “Alright, I’m going to take option A or B.” And they give you the credit card, and you’re off to the races.
Every now and again, you’ll get one objection. Welcome that, because it’s just a little shit test, and that shit test is like “Is this person committed to selling me?” Just look at it that way. And you’re going to overcome it.
“Mrs. Jones, we’ve already talked about it. You know it fits your budget. God forbid you lose your job, if you get downsized, whatever, we’re not tying you into a contract. We’ve got a 30 day money back guarantee in the beginning, and any time in the program, you just give us a 30 day notice and you’re done.”
“So if the worst case happens, you have to leave the country, you got a new job somewhere, you lost your job, whatever, there are ways for you to get out of this program. But right now, let’s focus on what your goals are, which is getting you in awesome shape. Because we have that goal to get to.”
The six week goal, the 14 day goal, whatever that goal was, which is why you want to remember and constantly bring up those goals.
Committed to your success,
Bedros