Okay, okay, so I lied a little… there’s noting weird about this post. But it will help you make a LOT of money with your fitness boot camp if you read it.
The last couple of days have been wild around here. Just on the first day of the launch we had over to 40 new Fit Body Boot Camp territories confirmed around the world.
But right now, as I’m typing this, you can’t get on board to Fit Body Boot Camp even if you tried becuase the shopping cart is down. ha! (And since we’re hard core marketers around here, we’re just gonna wait for 1 Shopping Cart to come back up rather than switch to another shopping cart…lol and continue on with the launch.
How do you like them apples? 🙂
So while we’re waiting for the shopping cart to come up, I thought I’d write this post for you and give you 11 killer ways to get more boot camp clients, profits, and retention… and a kick ass lifestyle.
But, before I dive into this blog post and teach you how to have a kick ass lifestyle while getting more clients, profits, and retention from your boot camp, I want to congratulate and WELCOME the following locations to the Fit body Boot Camp family.
Richmond, VA Flower Mound, TX
Lets do this things!
One of the fastest, easiest and most economical ways to start a personal training business is to open
up a fitness boot camp. There’s no rocket science there, right?
We all know that you can start a boot camp for far less then a personal training studio.
And you need a fraction of the employees to keep in running.
And the profit margins are way higher.
And there way less “moving parts”
And there overhead cost are really low.
And… well, you get the picture.
BUT there’s ONE really big glaring problem with 99% of boot camps out there. See, the thing is most 
are run more like illegitimate JOBS rather than a legit BUSINESSES.
They’re run in a local park where you can get kicked out any time. And you’re held hostage by the weather,
dark mornings, and dog poop and when you’re running your boot camp in a park, it’s NOT a business that has legs – you
can’t find a potential buyer who’s gonna buy a business that can get shut down anytime.
(And don’t be fooled… ALL BUSINESSES AT SOME POINT WILL EITHER SELL OR SHUT DOWN, unless
you plan on teaching a boot camp till your 78 years old.)
Unfortunately most businesses fail to build “legs” and end up shutting down becuase there’s no exit plan in
place (By LEGS I mean making your business attractive for a potential buyer
by dialing in systems, operations, marketing, sales and retention tactics and showing the potential buyer that
the business will survive AND thrive without you).
Now that’s I’ve told you what doesn’t work, and shown you all the things you might be doing wrong with your
boot camp. Here are 11 things you SHOULD BE DOING to get more clients, profits, retention and have a
kick ass lifestyle…
… cuz after all, the purpose of having a business is to feed and fund your lifestyle and not just be a place where you go and work.
Know what I mean?
# 1. Sell once and never sell again. If you’re not using EFT (electronic fund transfer) or auto debit in your fitness boot camp then you’re really gonna hate life when you have to go and resign and re-sell the same people over and over again every 4-6 weeks. Plus, no EFT means no legs. Who’s gonna buy your business from you if you don’t have PREDICTABLE money scheduled to come in each month?
# 2. Sell the big package first. It’s just as easy to sell a 12 month commitment as it is to sell a month to month program if you know how to structure an offer the right way.
You get the peace of mind of reliable income and your clients gets to commit to a program that gets them results AND teaches them to make it a lifestyle. PLUS clients who commit to 12 month programs are three times more likely to say with you for multiple years.
# 4. Don’t chase your dreams… chase your goals. Start your business off by setting goals for yourself. How many new members do you want within the first 30, 60, 90, and 120 days? What are you gonna do to get them?
How much do you want to earn each month? How much of that do you want to take home? What do you have to do to make that happen?
Are you going to phase yourself out and get a trainer to run your camp so you can work ON your business and not IN it?
How are you going to find the right trainer? How much should you pay them? How will you phase them out? How long after opening do you plan to do that?
Set goals… and work them.
# 5. Have multiple poles in the water all all times so you never run out of leads and prospects:
== Offline Marketing ==
Human billboards
Lead boxes
Body fat table
Direct mail
Print ads
Charity drives
Free Saturday camps
Bring a friend week
21 day rapid fat loss promo
6 week transformation programs
Small group seminars
Grocery store tours
Client referral systems
Plastic gift cards
Past client reactivation system
== Online Marketing ==
Facebook ads
Craigs list posts
Deal of the day sites promotions (these have given many Fit Body Boot Camp owners 250 or more clients in a single day)
Search Engine Optimization
Direct response websites
Squeeze pages
Email marketing
Pay per click ads
Endorsed email mailing by local businesses
# 6. Don’t be a bottom feeder. The number one solution I see most trainers turn to when business is slow is they lower their prices. One trainer posted right here on this blog “So how is my boot camp going to compete with the gyms that charge $49/month?” My reply way: “Are you really completing with gyms, that’s the level of value that you feel you deliver? Are you seriously telling me that you can’t find 42 people to pay you $197/month
to give you that $100K/year income?”
JUST. 42. PEOPLE.
Look, I don’t want tire kickers in my camps. I don’t want people stressing over money and who can or can’t make their payment next month. I want action takers… folks who have the time, money, and BURNING DESIRE to want to lose fat and get in shape.
# 7. Don’t be an order taker… be a CLOSER. I can teach you a thousand ways to get people to call you, email you, and ask you about your boot camp… all of that is MARKETING. But if you don’t know SELLING, if you can’t close them. If you can’t convert a prospect into a paying client. If you don’t have a selling script and system that’s predictable and proven to sell then you are gonna struggle NO MATTER how many leads you can get in front of you.
# 8. Be a kick ass client keeper. Hey, what’s the point of all the marketing and selling in the world if you can’t retain a client? 
Imagine having this giant bathtub and three really big faucets pouring water into it… that water is money or clients.
… but there’s one BIG problem…
YOUR BATHTUB HAS FOUR DRAINS and they’re sucking all the water out of it faster than you can pour. Pretty shitty, right?
You have a retention problem. And even though you want to blame the economy… the problem is probably YOU.
Here are the three best tactics to retaining your clients.
1. Give them results. It doesn’t matter how much they like you, and how highly they think of you. They signed up for one reason and that’s to lose weight and keep it off. If you don’t deliver MEASURABLE and QUANTIFIABLE resutls then they’re out!
2. Give them LOVE. Most people these days don’t get appreciation, love, attention, and enthusiasm in their life. They don’t get at the the job, they don’t get it from the spouse or kids, and they don’t even get it from themselves.
Come with the love and deliver the energy!
3. Reward your clients. Look, profit margins are really high in the boot camp business (specially when you run it like we teach our Fit Body Boot Camp owners) so be cool and treat your clients to a movie from time to time. Or give them a $15 Starbucks or health food store gift card. Or take throw a client appreciation party.
DON’T YOU LIKE BEING APPRECIATED?
Mail them a hand written note. Send them a personalized text message. Call them at their job and puff them up. But be consistent when you do this stuff. a random call and a set of movie tickets four months later is not gonna get you the results you want.
Be cool.
# 9. Decompress often. Life’s not about working. We work becuase we want to live a certain type of lifestyle or freedom, but sometimes you get lost in all the stuff to do and end up a slave to your job or business. Get out for the weekend, go away, clear your head and get back into it with a new sense of clarity.
# 10. Reward yourself. Having big goals is awesome. But you gotta set smaller “milestone” goals too, goals that you can reach and reward yourself for by doing something cool. And then when we hit that big goal – get yourself that prize. Savor the moment and THEN set the next big goal to achieve.
# 11. The OLD way of making money is no longer the RIGHT way. You don’t have to trade time for dollars anymore. Leverage your business by using systems and people to make money even while you’re on vacation. If you don’t have a high converting website that can easily be found on search engines and can proccess orders online – get one. If you’re your best employee then get a trainer to deliver the training so you can have time to sleep in, go on vacation, hang with your family and even get sick and not have to go and train people.
Forget about linear income or trading time for dollars. Think multiple income streams, think leverage where you can have two, four, even six boot camps run by other trainers. That’s REAL SECURITY.
Hope this post gave you a better understanding of how to open and run a successful fitness boot camp.
And if you want to get the on board with the fastest growing boot camp brand (Fit Body Boot Camp) and literally get handed a complete system and support to help you start your boot camp and get on pace for six figures in 60 to 90 days then check out Fit Body Boot Camp and apply for a territory in your area – once the shopping cart works again… lol 🙂