5 Steps, 3 Emails, and a Little Kool-Aid for a $25K Boot Camp Month

A Fitness Boot Camp Marketing Guest Blog Post

Hey there, Bedros here,

I asked my mastermind client and bootcamp super star Lindsey Vastola to write up a blog post on how she made $25,000 in one month from her boot camp.

What you’re about to read is the step-by-step blue print of how she did it. So without further ado, here’s Lindsay and her five step, three email system for generating $25K in a single month.

As I’m writing this blog post, I’m getting email pop-ups of 121 (and counting) new referral emails of friends that my current list is sending to me (yes…email-OCD is a very bad habit I’m trying to break. I think there’s a support group for that?). I sent out an email to my list about an hour ago asking my current subscribers to help me reach my goal of helping 1000 women this year. I’m giving away a free month of boot camp to the top 5 referrers plus an HD FlipCam to the top referrer.

121 perfect boot camp prospects in less than 45 minutes and counting! And the only cost to me was 7 minutes of my time (and the measly $59 I pay for FitPro Newsletter every month). I’m kicking myself for not doing this sooner. You see, I believe my subscribers feel a sense of obligation to return a favor to me.

I give them a ton of quality content, so whether they are a “veteran” boot camper, a “future” boot camper, or a loyal reader of my emails, I give them value every time. In return, they feel compelled to give something back to me. It’s the Law of Reciprocation hard at work, and I’m convinced that this is the single most significant reason why my boot camp business has grown from less than $2,000 a month of “possible” income to nearly $12,000 a month in guaranteed recurring income each month (and right now I just have two boot camp locations, only three days a week).

So, trainer-to-trainer, I want to share with you the 5 marketing tactics I used to make $25,000 just last month with my “6-Week Spring Vacation Transformation” by only marketing to my email list (and it’s not huge…I have just over 1000 subscribers) and how I then turned them into long-term recurring clients who refer, refer, refer.

Step 1: THE LIST IS KING (yes, we’ve heard it before, but it’s true)

Your business mantra should be: give, give, give. And then give some more.

Back to the law of reciprocation, give and you shall receive. Give them what they want, not what you think they need. Don’t pitch in every email…they’ll hit that unsubscribe button. And be sure that you really know what they want.

The best way to do this is to create a survey (free and user-friendly on www.surveymonkey.com) and ask them how you can help them reach their goals or what info they want you to give in your blog/newsletters. Give away a free boot camp for the first 10 people who answer the survey. Not only will you get your list engaged which is key to getting them to trust you, you’ll get specifics on what they really want to know (maybe they want you to send more ab workouts and all you’ve been sending them are chicken recipes).

You’re guaranteed to get 10 engaged prospects to experience your boot camp, turn them into testimonials, feature their results on your website, blog, and newsletters, get referrals from them…not bad for a “done-for-you marketing campaign” at virtually no cost. Consistently give them what they want and I guarantee that you will create a solid list of loyal followers that will be your best clients.

Step 2: Theme your boot camps to create a “viral buzz;” give them something they can’t help but tell their friends about.

Even if you run a successful year-round boot camp, the key to getting new blood into your camp is to give people specific start and end dates, PEOPLE WANT STRUCTURE and ACCOUNTABILITY. If you let them sign up “anytime”…I promise you…they never sign up (this isn’t news to us trainers). Get clever about naming your programs, “Fitness Boot Camp” is now thrown around everywhere…what makes YOURS different? Even if it’s a little cheesy…it’s catchy. Here are the last 3 most successful boot camp promos I did that generated a ton of new loyal boot campers:

21-Day Rapid Fat Loss Boot Camp (I used the Bedros’ template email): this was a great way to get “virgin-boot campers” into the program since it isn’t a huge commitment, but it gave them a taste of my Kool-Aid. Nearly 70% of the 21-Day boot campers signed on for another consecutive month and we ultimately converted about 40% of those to our 12-month membership. (You can find the 21 Day Rapid Fat loss promo campaign and emails here)

35-Day Anti-New Year’s Resolution Solution Boot Camp: this generated an additional $13,000 in revenue in what typically is the “slowest” time of the year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Capitalize on the fear of the 8-10 pound weight gain over the holidays. More importantly, this propelled retention into the New Year and signed on an onslaught of 12-month members.

6-Week Spring Vacation Transformation Boot Camp: By far my most successful boot camp campaign yet – it grossed nearly $25,000…and the only marketing I did was a series of about 3 emails to my coveted list.

Here’s the outline of the email campaign I sent out for the 6-Week Transformation:

Email 1: (10 days before start date)

“RE: 6-Week Spring Vacation Transformation”

This email generated 27 emails and 11 phone calls in about 2 hours.

Give your list the basic info…tell them that you’ve spent a lot of time researching a new workout program that is specifically designed to raise their metabolism, burn stubborn fat, lose inches….etc. etc. Here are my P.S.’s that I think really made an impact:

P.S. Like I said we only have room for 14 more participants for the 6-Week Spring Vacation Transformation and since this email is going out to over 1,000 local residents I’m sure it will fill up quickly (we had a waiting list for our 35-Day Anti-New Year’s Resolution Solution Boot Camp…).

P.P.S. Want to see the kind of results I’m talking about?? Check out the videos and the before and after pictures of a few of our “HardBody” boot campers: www.bodyprojectbootcamp.com

P.P.P.S. Oh, I’m upping the ante this time around – there will be four 6-Week Transformation winners from Robbinsville and Crosswicks…they’ll WIN ONE YEAR OF BOOT CAMP FREE!! (…that’s a teaser, so I’ll tell you more about it in the coming week)

Email 2: (4 days later)

“If you don’t read this you’re CRAZY! (well…crazy if you don’t want a FREE YEAR OF BOOT CAMP!)”

This email generated another 14 emails and more phone calls (mostly from new referrals of friends that had already registered).

Giveaway more details of the program, tell them how you were bombarded with emails and phone calls and only have a few spots left.

Email 3: (2 days later, day of registration closing)

“Where will you be April 9^th?”

I had already 95% sold out, this was the icing on the cake. This is the email where you hit home what’s at stake if they DON’T do your 6-Week Transformation. Tap into their biggest fears!

We are still receiving calls and emails about our next 6-week program even 7 weeks later from referrals. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

So it was great that I sold-out the 6-Week Transformation Boot Camp…but now I needed to start thinking about week 7 and how I would retain these new boot campers and use this success to market new business.

Email to 6-Week boot campers at the beginning of Week 5

“What’s your plan after the 6-Week Transformation?”

My offer was their first month free if they committed to our 12-month program. We had 12 commitments as of yesterday (that’s an additional $2400/month in recurring income).

And what about those who didn’t sign on again? I’m mailing them 2 gift cards worth $100 for them to give to their friends. When their friend redeems it…they get $100 off their next boot camp too.

Step 3: Use “Shock and Awe” sales tactics in your emails and Facebook campaigns so they never know what hit them.

Throughout the 6-week Transformation, I continued to email my list workouts, tips, recipes, etc. but what I did differently was “pepper in” subliminal messages about what was going on in the 6-Week Transformation. I basically wanted to make them kick themselves for not committing. An example: I sent an email with a 15-minute HIIT cardio workout (again…GIVING them content) and explained to them why they are wasting time if they are on a treadmill for 45 minutes, gave some scientific tidbits, etc. Then I “peppered in” that if they didn’t believe me, just look at some of the results from our 6-Week boot campers who are using these HIIT workouts to get amazing results in addition to my boot camp. You’re conditioning the reader to associate amazing results with YOUR boot camp (and that they really can’t do it without you).

Facebook is another great place to use these tactics. Shock and awe, baby…they’ll never know what hit ‘em!

Step 4: “You always left me satisfied and smiling”…“That’s what she said”-Michael Scott, The Office

My favorite line…it never gets old. What does this have to do with making $25k with one 6-week boot camp transformation? You need to give your boot campers a reason to connect boot camp to virtually every aspect of their life….kind of like the way you can almost follow-up any one-liner with “That’s what she said.” (I suggest keeping it out of your conversations with clients though). So when your boot camper limps into the office after her first day of boot camp because her legs are sore from the 150 squats you made her do, she’s going to say out loud “I love Lindsay’s boot camp.”

Or when she can fit on a pair of her skinny jeans, she’ll say “I love Lindsay’s boot camp”…or better yet…when she announces on Facebook that she did 200 jumping jacks, 50 handstands, and 3 minutes of jump rope but feeling awesome because “I love Lindsay’s boot camp.” Get the idea?

Give people something to talk about and create buzz…they post it on their Facebook status, tell their coworkers and friends…it’s “sticky” (that’s what she said). J

Step 5: You give them a sip of your Kool-Aid, but have your best clients serve it up.

Ask yourself this: “why would someone who could pay $40 a month to do “BodyPump” at the local gym spend upwards of $250 to $300 or more for your boot camp program?” If you can’t answer this – you need to go to the drawing board and write down every single reason why someone should do your boot camp over a gym. If you know you’re the best damn trainer in town, you need to get them to your boot camp and give them just a sip of your Kool-Aid.

THEN let your loyal boot campers talk to that person and tell them about their results. Let them sell your boot camp. Do a monthly “featured boot camper” email, post before and after pictures and testimonials on your website, put a Facebook post about a great email you got from one of your boot campers about how much she loves her results.

One of the most effective “Kool-Aids” is video. At the end of our 6-week Transformation, we did a presentation of the winners at the end of boot camp. I had one of my trainers film the presentation (to win a free year, boot campers had to anonymously submit answers to 3 “internal transformation” questions that my team and I evaluated) – I shared tidbits of the winner’s responses and by the end of the presentation half of the boot campers were in tears. Last time I checked, the local gym did not offer any gym class that powerful. I posted the video, sent an email titled “Why my boot campers were crying this morning.” The video had 200 hits in less than 2 hours. Powerful stuff.

These are the out-of-the-box tactics that have worked for my boot camps and have helped me position myself as the local fitness and fat expert. I hope these tactics help you too.

Lindsay Vastola

Bedros here again,

Lindsey owns and operates body Project Fitness Boot Camp in New Jersey and is one awesome fitness marketing maven. Be sure to leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.

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