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Like a fitness expert, you already know that you simply can't get anywhere if you don't take the bull through the horns. You can't build a better body through unrealistic; you have to lift those dumbbells all by yourself.
The same thing goes for your business. All of your fitness expertise amounts to nothing if you don't let people know about it. If you would like amazing success, you need amazing marketing.
What exactly do you need to do? Continue reading to find out.
Focus your expertise.
You're not Superman; you can't really be considered a master at everything and remain either sane or effective. Accepting anyone and everybody who comes to your door sounds heroic, but in the end, it's self-defeating: "good intentions" can't make up for the brutal truth that you have neither the capability nor the expertise to tend to everyone's needs. You will be a mediocre trainer for that masses, instead of a masterful trainer for the few.
Picking a niche is the best way you can be a top fitness professional. If you narrow down your prospects to the elderly, for example, you can focus specifically on the services a senior citizen want. Osteoporosis prevention through weight training? Check. Gentle yoga for flexibility? Check. Weight loss and heart-healthy nutrition to combat disease? Huge check.
Once you've honed your focus, you are able to explore the depths of your niche, expanding your reputation as well as your clientele as you go.
The very best things in life have the freedom - and the same applies to marketing.
Some personal trainers drain their bank accounts chasing cold leads and hunting for prospects, thinking the more money they pour into marketing, the greater their returns will be.
This is exactly what they call the sunk cost fallacy - "throwing good money after bad" - and it'll give back towards the poorhouse.
There's nothing heroic about willingly riding a sinking ship to the bottom. And if you wouldn't want your company being synonymous with the Titanic (i.e. a huge, ill-fated investment), you'll take heed from the power of low- to no-cost marketing options. Actually, free strategies - such as word-of-mouth referrals and Craigslist ads - are recognized to drive more prospects to your door than radio commercials, newspaper advertisements, along with other expensive way of promoting yourself.
Become your clients' one-stop look for overall health.
Forget what you have printed in your business card: you're not just a personal trainer. You're an expert on health. You should be the first person your clients ask whether they have an issue about supplements, diet fads, protein powder, workout clothes, or whether Ben & Jerry's will make them fat.
In case your clients have questions to ask, answer them. When they don't, tell them what they ought to know. If you can provide everything that your customers could want inside a health professional, you will not be just a personal trainer for them: you'll be someone they can trust, and they're going to be more than pleased to refer you to their friends and family.
Use special deals to bring in long-term business.
Some professional trainers fear so much offering discounts, free services, and special rates because they appear to be surefire ways to generate losses. This is true, so far as immediate earnings are concerned. But if you give a totally free training session to some prospect who ends up sticking with you for five years, how often are you going to regain that initial loss? I'll allow you to do the math.
When it comes to marketing, never lose sight of the big picture. A customer who will pay for per month of discount sessions may be worth way over a client who pays will pay for just one full-price session and then vanishes.
Lifelong clients are also likely to return to you for other services. Never underestimate the strength of freebies to usher in business.
Make every client feel special.
Talking about long-term customers: you need to provide them with a reason to stick around.
Your customers reside in their own personal hell, a depressing little pocket of existence shared by many people others, who everyone seem to live simply to crush what little self-worth they maintain from them. As crazy because it sounds, you may be one of the only folks your clients' lives who makes them feel truly appreciated.
Strike while the iron is hot. Welcome your customers with excitement and enthusiasm. Show interest within their lives. Congratulate them on their progress and thank them for his or her hard work. Give a personal touch by sending them bday gift cards. The ways you can generate the gratitude of your customers are limited only by your imagination.
