11 Ways To Get More Boot Camp Clients, Profits, and Retention and a Kick Ass Lifestyle
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
Comments on 11 Ways To Get More Boot Camp Clients, Profits, and Retention and a Kick Ass Lifestyle »
Alex Fraser @ 3:33 pm
Hey Bedros,
I am interested in setting up a Fit Body Boot Camp in the UK?
Please can you email me some more information as to how this “business model” can be adapted to the UK?
Many thanks
Alex Fraser
Fraser Fitness
Hey Alex, just check out http://MyFitBodyBootCamp.com and you’ll get all the info you need. FBBC works the same way in the UK a it does here.
In fact we have several locations in the UK already and there’s nothing different about how they run.
Get on board Alex, me and Steve will help you out
Bedros
Jacob Mcluskie @ 3:58 pm
Great post Bedros, hope that shopping cart gets up and going for you sometime soon!
HI Bedros,
I really want to start a bootcamp in Oakland, Emeryville.those are the only areas i am able to work in. But there are no gymnasitc centers. Only one, a non profit which runs from 8am-9pm filled all day. Other than that there are no centers. Can I still do FBBC? What would you suggest? Churches or community centers? Have you had this issue before and how did you solve it. There are tons of the ‘other’ boot camp in Oakland. I want to offer something different.
@Deb, you can run a FBBC location anywhere: Cheer leading center, dance center, karate center, and or open up your own storefront in a strip mall like other FBBC owners have done.
B
Jesse @ 5:39 pm
Bedros I am super pumped to be on board and have already started location hunting. Can’t wait to get this thing rocking!!!
Awesome Jesse! You’re gonna kill it with FBBC.
B
Hey guys,
Thanks for all the great info - I have done some preliminary research and it appears getting a suitable indoor venue in my city is not going to be easy - curious to if you have any suggestions and to alternative options if a venue is not available.
Thanks
Torrey Plunk @ 6:40 pm
Hey Bedros,
I didn’t see Fairbanks, AK on your list of new Fit Body Boot Camp locations and I signed up with no problem yesterday. I’m probably your farthest north location! Maybe I could call it Fit Body Farthest North, or Farthest North Fit Body Boot Camp. What do ya think? Monday I got a gymnastics center onboard and today teamed up with a local charity.
@Torrey, you are an action taker! If you’re not on the list above it’s prob cuz I missed your location when I was writing this post. You’re good to go… Keep rockin it in AK!
B
@Bryan, any indoor location will work: cheer center, karate center, light industrial building or your own storefront.
B
Great!
I’d like to call a few places to get them on board like Torrey did above. What do you suggest? Is there a video we watched that tells you what to say? I’ve watched so many, I’d like to be able to save them.
I’d like to have the location in place before signing up. Space is so limited in the Oakland. I’m looking more towards an evening bootcamp. Are any of your FBBC successful with evening camps?
What about equipment? Were the trainers using the gymnastic center equipment? If we use a dance center, let’s say, and there is just the nice hardwood floor, do you provide equipment lists that we would have to purchase. I’m not in the position to purchase alot of equipment. What are your suggestions?
Thanks again,
Deb
There’s like 10 articles in one here! Kudos on the MUST have EFT in place in your fitness business.
The one thing that attracted me to the fitness industry, that pushed me over the line when I bought my first gym was the benefits of EFT.
How many other industries can claim they get paid just for openning their doors?
When I listed my club for sale after only owning it 2 and a half years at a price over 12 times what I paid for it, I simply emphasized the EFT structure that was in place.
“Buy this business and I gaurentee 10k will go in your bank account next month” is a very powerful motivator.
Ben
Hello B,
Great video and emails. I got couple of questions for ya.
(1) When you invest in the program does it come with a week by week program design?
(2) I live in a lower populated area. Can I get larger than 5 miles? People are use to driving 8-10 miles to shop and eat out etc..
Thx!!
Hey Rich, good questions…
1. If my program design you mean for training your clients. The answers is ALMOST, as in we are working with our top FBBC owners who are rocking it and
we’re going to have over 100 program design templates for you to use. Should have that in a few weeks.
2. No, sorry. It’s 5 miles for everyone.
Lock in your territory here: http://myfitbodybootcamp.com
B
I like your Fit Body Bootcamp idea but do not feel you give your licensees enough protected territory for the price. In a city of 190,414 people a five mile protected area is not enough. You can get anywhere in the city in 15 min. or less. Plus, you would create total confusion if there were two Fit Body Bootcamps owned by two different people because people would think they were one in the same. I would be more inclined to sign up if your monthly fee were less. Also, if one person were to purchase two licenses, why would you be required to pay $397 per month per location? There would be no need to receive all the marketing material again and you could use the same website to advertise both locations. Sorry, just doesn’t make sense to me.
Jemand @ 9:13 am
Hey B
I live in the Jersey Shore and I currently have a boot camp that my buddy and I run on the beach. I’ve been looking into this Fitbody Bootcamp and I love it.. Getting on board seems like a great business move.. However, do I take your name or keep my name?
@Lynn, I hear what you’re saying but don’t agree.
Check subway, cross fit, and curves and see what they offer for territory protection and fees (you’ll see how fair we are).
Also the $397/m lic fee is for:
1. the use of the name and logo for that protected area
2. Your customized and Search engine optimized site (one per location)
3. To protect your territory
4. the global marketing we do for that location (ie.. facebook ads, and continuous SEO and link building to help you get more targeted traffic.
I think you’d agree that $400/m per location is a pitance if you’re making $8k - $16K per location. Or maybe FBBC just isn’t right for you, and that’s okay too
B
Bedros,
Currently teaching bootcamp for a gym and on my own. I came across FBBC and it sounds awesome. I have all but secured two locations inside the church I belong to. They have multi-purpose centers that are decent size. Will this do in terms of location? I was going to do this on my own but was getting overwhelmed with everything. I look forward to your response.
Kevin
C.P.T., C.G.F.I., Certified Spin Instructor
Holy S**T, B!!
That was a jam packed blog post loaded with a freakin’ 100 grand worth of ideas EASY!!!
If someone uses just ONE of the tips posted above they will kick MAJOR ass!
I’m gonna take action ASAP with # 5 and the many online / offline tips you just cranked!!!
Congrats to Cherry Hill, NJ!!! Bout time someone in NJ repped you guys! hahahaha
-z-
@Kevin, any place that you can train 20-30 people at a time is going to work.
And the good thing about where you are is that you have the church to pull clients from.
I know what you mean about things being overwhelming. If you just want to train a few people in the park and keep it more like a job then it’s pretty simple. But creating a boot camp business that’s systemized, reliable and predictable and allows for multiple locations and is pretty much paint by numbers then you’re only logical choice is Fit Body Boot Camp.
B
Amen Zach!
B
@Jemand, you can do either. You can keep your name and call yourself an authorized FBBC location.
Bottom line is you’ll get a kick ass marketing system, support, protected territory, seo’d out site, and a ton of other coolness.
B
Great post thanks a lot your information has been a huge influence on my career
I am currently working on my personal traininig cert.
Does that put me out of the running from applying this round for FBBC?
If so do you have an idea when you will open it up again?
Thanks for all the info
Greg
@Greg, If you know you’ll be certified within the next 90 days then I highly suggest that you get on board becuase we wont be opening FBBC up for a while (we like to work with the new memebers for some time and ensure they are successful before opening up again) and even when we do your desired teritiry may be taken.
GO here: http://MyFitBodyBootCamp.com to apply for your territory.
B
Hey Bedros thanks for the ideas
. I wanted to know though if you have a lot of FBBCs in Ga. I’ll be getting certified within the next few months through the national strength and conditioning association and would love to open up a location in Marietta GA. I am planning on opening up my own bussiness for boot camp, as well as doing ebooks and training people in location of their choice.
I wish I was certified right now, my mind goes off like a fire cracker with ideas when I’m not even trying to think of marketing ideas (it happens when I’m driving somewhere or in the shower usually lol). I’m ready to get out there and start changing peoples lives. Keep up the good work buddy!
~Travis
@Travis, I don’t know if that area is taken or not bro. Just go here http://fitbodybootcamp.com and check the worldwide directory.
Keep ro k in dude! You’re gonna kill it in GA
B
Hi Bedros,
I’m very interested in opening my own FBBC. I have a city, but no location yet. Is it ok to sign up for the city and look for a location in the next few months.
Do you supply the equipment or do we rent from different companies or purchase our own stuff: weights, stability balls, mats, jump ropes, etc.. Do we buy the location or rent from the owner? Not sure how much property owners rent their locations for?
Thanks for the great info. Still waiting for the PT Business Course I purchased. Closing 9 out of 10 Clients is a great DVD and tons of info.
Thanks
Marie
@Marie,
Yes, you should purchase FBBC now, and then use the system we teach you to find and secure your location. That’s why we give two whole months before your licensing fee kicks in - to give you time to find and set up a location and get your first group of clients.
In the program we show you how to negotiate rent and get the facility to refer clients to you.
Also, you will need to by your own equipment. However you don’t need a stability ball or ropes… just some dumbbells and your clients will bring mats or towns with them. The facility will have a ton of stuff for you to use if its a gymnastic center.
Great list of almost 11….what happened to number 3?
You really need to let Marilyn number these things for you….
Temecula Personal Trainer @ 10:30 pm
Great tips Bedros, as always. Thanks for the post.