Another killer post on how to grow a personal training business 🙂
You want to grow your personal training business,
but are you doing it with the end game in mind?
It doesn’t matter if you own a personal training
studio, a boot camp, an in home training business,
or a fitness info product…
…at some point you’re either going to sell it or
shut it down.
Far too many fitness pros I talk to don’t keep
the end game in mind when growing a personal
training business.
Most don’t look at their business like a “business”,
rather as a promotion machine and money getting
vehicle.
I was totally guilty of this, too.
How to Grow a Personal Training Business
When I first started out, all I cared about was training
my clients, delivering the results, and selling more
training sessions.
While my income and revenue kept going up, the value
of my business didn’t.
All of that changed when I met Jim Franco, my first mentor
in business.
I asked him how to grow a personal training business
becuase he had built and sold many businesses over
the years.
You’ve probably heard me talk about Jim before.
He started off as a client, and later mentored me on how
he built his nine million dollar a year business.
One of the big take-a-ways I got from Jim was when
he asked me; what do you plan to do with your business?
I shrugged my shoulders.
He ask; are you going to sell it or shut it down when you
move on to other things or retire?
I replied; sell it, I suppose.
But my business was in no condition to sell.
Had I decided to sell my business right then and there
I would have been lucky to have gotten $10,0000 – $15,000
for a business that was generating $55,000 a month.
I had a money machine, not a business and no buyer in
their right mind would want to take on that risk of potentially
losing all the clients once I left the business.
Back then my business was built on delivering results,
getting referrals, and I was the closing machine that
bought in the sales.
That was it… the entire formula.
Clients either bought paid in full programs for three and
six months or each month I’d sell them more training.
At the time I had not recurring income.
No EFT or auto debit.
My trainers – 9 of them – were independent contractors.
And my clients were not committed to 6, 12, or 18 month
agreements.
We had no predictable recurring revenue scheduled to
come in each month unless I made more sales.
AND that my friend would have lead to me shutting the
doors VS selling it for a massive profit had I wanted out.
However, after “fixing” my business model with the end
game in mind I was able to sell my personal training
business 🙂
In fact just one of my locations sold for six figures to a
very popular fitness brand that you’ve probably heard of.
Not a bad pay day, right?
Here’s how I restructured my business with the end game
in mind… (so that you can do the same)
– I instituted EFT (monthly auto debit) into my business.
So every client was committed to either a six, twelve, or
eighteen month agreement.
This gave me predictable, recurring monthly income that
looked VERY attractive to a potential buyer.
– I converted my trainers from independent contractors
to employees.
Sure, I paid a little more in employee taxes, but now they
were employees who felt secure in their jobs.
And again, any potential buyer would like to know that
your business has predictable recurring income
scheduled to come in each month and employees to
services your clients.
– Next, I duplicated my skill set and removed myself.
I was no longer “the goose the laid the golden egg”.
I proved that my business could still function with me
removed from the variable and that my two sales
managers could easily make the sales and convert
leads into paying clients.
Now that I had others doing my personal training sales
I was ready for the next step…
– Then I created marketing systems so that my facility
didn’t just rely on client referrals.
It didn’t take much…
My four marketing systems were lead boxes in businesses
that catered to my potential clients, direct mail postcards
to targeted high income homes, building an email list,
and of course referrals.
Now we had four “poles” in the water and this made my
business far more attractive to a potential buyer.
– Finally, we created a systems and operations manual
that had the entire business blueprint within it…
– trainer’s role and job description
– manager’s role and job description
– assistant’s role and job description
The systems and operations manual was never “finished”,
it was always evolving but it still helped to give a potential
buyer the “owners manual” to the business.
In fact, my friend Shawn McDonald did the same with his
in-home personal training business that was generating over
a million dollars a year with a total of 12 trainers.
He systematized his business, “buttoned it up” as they say…
…and sold his business for a nice chunk of change when
he was ready to move on and start “Club Solutions”
magazine.
What do you plan to do with your fitness business when
you decide to move on or retire?
Build it with the end game in mind.
Committed to your success,
Bedros Keuilian
P.S. Here are three trainers who are building their businesses
with systems, processes and the end game in mind. I think
you’ll get a lot out of this video. <= click to watch