Fitness Sales System Formula
How to Craft Your Fitness Sales System
Marketing, lead generation and prospecting are only half the equation for getting new personal training or boot camp clients. Unless you have a fitness sales system to convert leads and prospects into paying clients, you’re in for some serious time wasting and frustration.
I know this all too well… I’ve been there in the past.
Selling sucks. But not if you have a killer system for selling fitness that makes getting prospects to say “yes” systematic and predictable.
So in this blog post I thought I’d give you some strategies and tactics that you can add to your fitness sales system so you don’t end up dealing with crumby objections, or worse, end up with tire kickers in front of you who can’t afford your services and are just there wasting your time.
Here’s thing #1 you need to know.
The best way to overcome an objection is to never get them in the first place.
Objections like “I need to think about it”, “I need to talk to my spouse”, “I can’t afford it”, and “I don’t have time for it” are smoke screens, usually used to throw you off track and to confuse the hell out of you.
Seriously though, 99 out of 100 times when you get one of the objections above it’s becuase the prospect doesn’t see value in what you’re offering. Or at least they don’t value your offer enough to exchange their hard earned money for it.
See, it’s never about your prospects ability to pay, it’s always about their desire to pay.
You and I both know that most people who sit in front of you have a basic idea of what personal training or boot camps costs, right? They know you’re not a gym and they know not to expect gym membership like prices.
However, once they decide that your value proposition isn’t worth them exchanging their money for, they begin to show “buyers resistance” by firing off one B.S. objection after another.
So your focus throughout your fitness sales system should be to demonstrate higher value from the get go all the way to the time the sale is made and within every workout (otherwise you’re gonna have some serious client retention problems).
Some of the best ways to demonstrate higher value are:
- Having a clean facility - one that looks good, makes a good first impression, smells good and is free from loose wires and chipped paint on the walls. IBM did a study years ago which concluded that within the first 45 seconds of meeting you a person decides if they’re going to do business with you or not. What does your first impression say about you?
- Stack the social proof. I teach all my coaching clients to post testimonials on their walls with before and after pictures. And I’m not talking about just one or two testimonials in frames either… I’m talking about 20, 30, or more testimonials that will without a shadow of a doubt display and position YOU as the local authority on fitness and fat loss.
- Exceed expectations instantly. Whether the prospect is trying your fitness facility for one workout or an entire week be sure to exceed their expectations in EVERY way. Bring the energy, keep things fun, make every workout the “workout of a lifetime”, treat them as though they all ready are one of your top paying clients and just deliver the “wow” factor!
- Develop a structured fitness sales system so that when it’s time to sit down and ask for the money you’re most likely to get that “yes”.
Thing #2 that you need to know.
Not everyone is qualifed to be your client. Understand this, and your business will improve almost over night.
I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do is to bring in a client at any cost by dropping my prices. Usual a client of the “low price” caliber is going to be the one that gives you the most grief, gets the worst results, complains and argues about everything and totally throws of the vibe and energy of your entire facility.
So to prevent a “low cost” caliber client from ever making it into your facility, and to make sure that every sales presentation you do ends with a “yes”, you need to pre-screen and pre-qualify.
Basically you need to separate the suspects from the prospects.
Let me explain how pre-screening is different than pre-qualifying.
Pre-screening is what you do on the phone before the prospect ever steps foot into your facility. When you pre-screening; you set expectations, you see if they’re capable of paying what you charge, and you overcome virtually every objection that may have come up during the sales proccess.
Pre-qualifying is done face to face, well before you ever sit down with the prospect and go through your fitness sales system.
When you pre-qualify you determine which of your programs are best suited for the client (so that you’re not confusing them with a half a dozen program offers) and you uncover any potential objections that might come up during the sales proccess by asking: “If at the end of the workout today we decide that we’d be a good fit in getting you to your fitness and fat loss goals, is there anything that might stop you from making the decision to start today?”
This one question alone will help you uncover and overcome any potential objection that you might get during the sales proccess. And I don’t know about you but I’d rather handle potential objection well before getting into the sales process.
Like I said earlier… crafting a fitness sales system can help you overcome potential objections, repel lousy clients, save you time and frustration and undoubtedly make you more money.
Let me know what you think. Drop me a comment down below
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Get the definitive course on how to sell personal training programs easily at http://CloseClients.com
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Comments on Fitness Sales System Formula »
Fred Sassani @ 10:11 am
Great post Bedros… I have implemented the closing 9 out of 10 client system back in 2009 in all my consultation and the results that have amazing. I do like to turn the tables on the potential clients and let them know that it’s a privilege to workout out at my facility and not everyone can get in.
Example of how I start…
“I just want you know that today I will determine weather you will be a good fit in our Fitness Family.. because we are all about hard work, results, having fun and creating a fit community like no other… Can you see yourself in such a place?”
The answer is always “YES”
This is truly how I feel, and I want to make sure that I am creating a winning and successful environment for all my clients.
Have a great rest of the week..
brandon blumer @ 10:17 am
I’m kind of not digging this one! Yes the goal of a trainer is to make money! But what about the lower income folks? Do they not deserve time? I’m not talking about food stampers ect. I’m talking about those few that really cant afford it and really want to lose the weight. I have more clients because I adjust my pricing fit to the needs of my clientel. Even hospitals, Dr’s, Physical therapist, drop there pricing and do pro bono. Are we above the greater good with our Certificate? Are we to not to help those in need?
@Fred, good perspective! At the end of the day it’s about creating an environment for your clients that delivers maximum results.
@Brandon, I’m all for pro bono work… in fact I think everyone should do pro bono work with zero expectations. However I’m not for wasting time with folks who can’t afford the programs I offer or who will be a poor culture fit within my facility. know what I mean?
B
Hey man! awesome post AGAIN! you deliver content time and time again, Since being with fbbc all I do is pre screen on the phone and it makes selling 100% difference forget 9 out of 10 pre screen you should get 10 out of 10!
People would be foolish not to listen to you
Hey Oli, I agree
(about the foolish to not listen to me part)
B
We seem to have so many more tire kickers with the Fat Furnace 67 dollar program. It works so well getting people in the door and giving AMAZING results. Oddly, we hear more people de-valuing what we do and dropping because of the cost of continuing. I think we might be missing something in pre-qualifying for this program so we convert more than 20 percent to eft. Or would you say that with the Fat furnace model it’s a numbers game?
Hey Tracy, the 14 day fat furnace model is a total numbers again. Lets say 25 pay for it, right? Only 18 or so will show up, and only 13-14 will make it to the 14th day… of those you should be able to close 60% of them
if you’re using a “schedule and sit” approach and a closing system like close client (http://CloseClients.com)
B
Thanks, B. Those schedule and sit sessions are definitely one of our biggest problems.
James Cipriani @ 2:33 pm
Good insights, Bedros. I can tell you that I SUCK at selling! I loathe it!!! My passion was always helping people achieve their goals. I never really embraced the “selling it” factor. I bought your Art of Selling Fitness years ago (back in 2005/2006ish) and it definitely helped me. As did your Close Clients DVD. I still hate selling. But I’m pretty good at it
And pre-qualifying potential customers has been a definite time saver.
James, that’s awesome to hear! BTW, I think you may have one of the original copies of my Art Of Selling Fitness program… lol
B
Marc @ 5:46 pm
Hey B,
Got a bunch of your products and Im killin it. The money objection that you cover in close clients is priceless. When someone does give me the price objection (which isn’t often), I ask if they can do it for $20 a month…then go into the rest. Works like a charm, as you know.
Could you give me a 1 or 2 sentence script for pre-screening on the phone? I thnk its a brilliant idea..just not sure how to go about it.
CT Personal Trainer @ 9:45 am
Thanks Bedros! Pre-qualifiying prospects and then using a loss leader or promo offer is huge. Good stuff.