Since I’m in Canadia this week working with some highly
motivated fitness pros on their business, I thought I’d take
a page from Craig Ballantyne’s book and do a Q and A
email for you today.
“When in Canadia, do as the Canadians do” – Emerson
I get a lot of questions left on my blog and on Facebook,
so I’ll answer them here for everyone to benefit from.
If you like this Q and A email then let me know and I’ll try
to make it a regular thing.
Onward!
Q. Bedros, thank you for all the great insight and motivation
you give. However the thing I have a hard time with is finding
time to get all of that stuff that you teach done. What’s the
secret? – Adam
A. Adam, when I opened up my first training studio I thought I
was totally tapped out on time because my days were so
busy. Then I opened up location two, then three, and so on
and I kept finding more time. The trick was become more
productive, manage my time better, and outsource as much
as I could to my staff and assistant.
So how do YOU do that? You may have heard me talk about
this before… I call it my 5% rule. Basically 5% of the things you
do are the critical stuff that ONLY you can do and that drive
your business forward. The other 95% of the stuff that has to
get done can be done by others.
I wake up every morning knowing what I have to do that day
because I make a list of what I need to do the night before.
I put the list of things to do in order of the hardest things first to the
easiest thing. Then I wake up, eliminate as much distraction as
possible and just plow through my list. That’s the “secret” to being
super productive.
Q. I have your PT Business Course, Close Clients and FitPro
Newsletter and I have no problem getting clients. But lately
I’ve been having a really big problem with client retention in
my boot camp. Last week I lost 5 clients, this week two more,
that’s never happened before. My trainer is awesome and all
of my clients love her. How can I improve my client retention?
– Mikhail
A. Mikhail (cool name btw!), client retention is about getting two
things right. 1. Give people the results they want. If they sign up
and don’t have specific goals, then before to set some with them.
Set a short term (easy to reach) and long to goal.
2. The client experience is paramount. Fact is if your clients don’t
look forward to coming to boot camp, if you don’t know their names
and something special about them, and if they don’t feel the love,
recognition and appreciation from you and your staff then they’re not
gonna stay.
For the entire month of August I trained at John and Cara’s Fit Body
Boot Camp in Chino Hills (I had gained 16 pounds from my 100 day
beer challenge… long story). They’ve only been in Chino Hills for
two year and already they are the #1 fitness program in town with
more boot camp clients than any other program.
The secret to their success is simple really (yet difficult for many to
model for some reason). John and Cara give their clients the BEST
experience that they could ever get from a fitness program.
They know everyone’s name by heart. They know something about
everyone. They make sure that every client feels appreciated and
recognized. Their workouts are unique, challenging and unlike any
other workout that their clients can get. They make a promise and
they exceed their promise.
Because of this people talk about them now. They have a “legend”
story about them. Their clients pay, stay, and refer – often.
What’s more they charge more than any of their competitors, but
their clients are just fine with that because they know that the
results, experience and value they are getting is OVER THE TOP.
That’s just the Fit Body Boot Camp way, and John and Cara live
it every day which is why they just opened up their second stand
alone FBBC location in the neighboring city of Brea.
Results + Client experience = Retention and Referral Generation.
Q. Bedros, since I’ll be flying into the states from New Zealand
I need to plan ahead. Do you have the dates for Fitness Business
Summit set yet? – Sue
A. Hey Sue, yes indeed 🙂 The dates for Fitness Business Summit 13
are March 8, 9, 10 in Southern California. Registration will open up in
mid November and it will sell out quickly like it does every year.
Q. B, I know how you feel about one on one training. But I still make
most of my money from it. I’m currently doing 60 minute sessions,
have a full schedule, but I’m not making the kind of money I want to
be making. I think it’s time to hire my first trainer, what the best to
do that? – Jesse
A. Jesse, since I don’t know how much you’re making each month right
now and how much you want to be making (as in money that YOU get to
keep and take home) I have to make some assumptions.
First off, hiring someone isn’t going to make you more money. Well, it will
make you more GROSS income, but it’s not going to do much for YOUR
personal income which is all that matters.
Remember this: Gross income feeds the ego, profits feed the familyâ„¢
So lets assume that you want to be $8,333/month – which is what you
need to bring in each month to earn $100K a year. And lets assume that
since you have a full schedule that you’re making at least $5,000/month
right now which means you need to make an additional $3,333 to hit
your monthly goal.
Now then, you’re better off cutting your sessions to 30 minutes from
60 and raising your price per session by $5 per session (for new clients).
Just by cutting your sessions down to 30 minutes will help you free
up more time, and then charging new clients $5 more per month will
and filling up your open time slots will easily get you up to your monthly
financial goal. Best of all that’s money you get to keep instead of giving
out to another trainer.
But on the long term, I’d suggest that you go to small group training
sessions or boot camps where you can leverage your time and go from
one on one training or one on many training.
Q. Bedros, I have an idea for an info product. It’s definitely something
that solves a problem in the fat loss space and it’s something that is
unique and original. I use it with my clients all the time and they get
amazing results. I was going to make DVD’s and a manual and sell it
online. Should I use 1shoppingcart or Infusionsoft to run order
and fulfill them? – John
A. Whoa, whoa, whoa hold your horses dude. First off making DVDs is a
horrible idea unless you plan on going BIG like P90X from the get go
and have a call and distribution center. I doubt you do.
DVD’s cost too much to make. There’s usually a minimum “run” order.
When you’re selling one or two a day it’s going to be fine to ship out,
but when the sales increase to ten, thirty, and 50 per day then you’re
going to have a logistical nightmare.
The best info programs are good old fashioned ebooks (still), and
online “follow along” videos programs and membership sites. That’s
the stuff that works. And the place to sell them is on Click Bank because
it’s a site (marketplace) that everyone trusts and there are a TON of
affiliates on their always looking for good programs to sell.
Just look at Mike Whitfield, Brian Kalakey, Shawna Kaminski, Craig
Ballantyne, Travis Stoetzel, Vince DelMonte, and Joel Marion – all killing
it with info products, all digital programs, and all on click bank.
By the way, Craig Ballantyne and I are hosting a one day fitness info
marketing mastermind in Nashville, TN limited to eight people on
November 9th. If you’d like our help on how to create and take your
fitness info product to the masses on the internet then this event is
for you.
There are only two spots left and if you want one of them then you’ll
want to email Frankie (my assistant) at Frankie@Keuilian.com
and he’ll give you all the details.
Committed to your success,
Bedros Keuilian
P.S. You can get more details about the Nashville one day mastermind
here => https://ptpower.com/fitness-info-marketing-101/