This promotion assumes you have massage or some type of spa treatment at your facility.  You could try this by bundling personal training along with it, but I don’t know many of our significant others who would appreciate “Happy Valentine’s Day…maybe you should go work out”

If you don’t have spa or massage or some other wellness related service, then skip to the bottom of this blog post for an idea on how you can still pull this off….PLUS a cool bonus gift you can give to your clients that they will LOVE.

This is a simple, low cost strategy that can be marketed to your current patient list via email, a letter mail out, or flyers/handouts/signs at your facility

Here is what you offer as your Valentines Day Package:

A 45 Minute Massage and a Bouquet of flowers that is delivered to recipients door on Valentines Day, complete with a custom card, and gift card for other services at your facility.

Who wouldn’t love a massage treatment and flowers delivered to their door?  And best of all, you’re saving your member the time and trouble of going out and doing the shopping themselves.  (Now that I have all of the mens attention)

What You Need:

Find a local florist that offers delivery on Valentines Day with minimal or low cost, that can supply bouquet of flowers and let you add a custom letter or gift card to the bouquet. Get your clients and members to pre-order this with you, so that you can provide the florist with all of the orders at once, along with your customized cards and giftcards.

Many will even offer you a special rate (yes, even on Valentine’s day) because you’ll be sending them traffic that they didn’t have to spend marketing dollars on, making the bottom line profit the same.

The Pricing:

For the Valentines Day Bouquet and Massage package, go for a price point around $129.  Your market, may be slightly higher or lower. Remember, the customer that is buying this is also buying for the convenience of them not having to go shopping for V-Day.  You can also sweeten the pot by offering the purchaser a free 30 minute PT session or a $25 gift card for themselves.

The Upsell:

This is where you can make some extra money.  You’re certainly not going to make bank off of $129.  Even if you do sell 50 of these, the cost of flowers, your time, and the actual cost of the massage you’re not looking at much margin.  You should have plenty of upsells and downsells you already use daily, so you’ll just follow that same strategy.  Adam and Taylor have had success with upsells such as:

• An extra 30 Minutes of Massage for an additional $2
• A Facial for $17 An Acupuncture Treatment for $47
• An Accupuncture Treatment for $47
• A Chiropractic Exam For $57

If you can reach their same magic number of 50 units sold, you’ll get some good immediate cash, you’ll get some solid upsell revenue…and even more importantly, you’re positioning yourself as indispensable to your members and clients by going above and beyond to make their lives better and easier.  AND when you get their significant others into the gym you have the opportunity to sell them fitness as well!

What if you don’t have spa, massage, or wellness offerings?

Well first, you can always partner with a massage therapist and get them to give you a killer deal on 45-minute massages.  They may even provide them to you for free just so they can have access to some of your members with expendable income to experience their services.  Then pick up the giftcards or certificates from them before you contact the florist.

         >>>>COOL BONUS IDEA TO GIVE YOUR BEST CLIENTS<<<<

This is probably best for your boot campers, training clients, or clients who spend more money with you…probably not for a general gym member necessarily because there is a bit of cost on your part.  So perhaps it’s best as a special reward for those who are willing to invest more in you.

Go to www.MagMyPic.com.  Some of you may remember this as one of my Killer Resources from Fit Biz TV where I put myself on the cover of a magazine.  My mother was very proud of this.

Right now they have some Valentine’s day themes you can create for your members.  Or put them on a funnier, non-VDay magazine.  The point is that for $2.65 they will print your member’s picture on the cover of the magazine and mail them a framed version!

How much fun would it be to present your clients a framed picture of them on the cover of:

•     Sexy Beast Magazine
•     Nerd of the Year Magazine
•     Muscle Magazine
•     Model Magazine
•     Sexy Magazine
•     Teen Diva Magazine
•     The Incredible Bulk Magazine
•     Power Team Magazine

They will love this, and they will love YOU for thinking of them!

Just go on your clients Facebook pages and download your favorite embarrassing picture of them and use it for a magazine cover.  $2.65 later and they’re getting a framed version of their own magazine.  Have them shipped to you so you can present it to them.

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

Curtis

You might be scoffing, thinking I obviously don’t understand your financial situation.  But hear me out…

Tell me, why do you have to look at your balance in your personal checking account to make sure you have enough to cover a bill or to pay for something you want?

Where did it all go?

It feels like it was a good month at the gym…lots of new members, plenty of renewals, low attrition.

“I was certain I’d have plenty left over.” Funny how your profits seems to pull a Houdini magic trick every month when it’s time to pay yourself.

This cycle will continue unless you Pay Yourself First.

Most people pay all of their bills at the gym and bills at home before they pay themselves anything (Matt and Peter…sound familiar?). Wouldn’t it be nice to set aside a little bit each month toward retirement, toward the principle on your mortgage, or even to treat yourself to a weekend away with your significant other?

However, each week and each month you find yourself continuing in the same pattern, always wondering why you can’t seem to get ahead.

Paying yourself first means exactly that. Each month write yourself a check for your salary, it could be as little as $1,000. Even better, automate it so you have an automatic transfer from your business account to your personal savings account.

Nearly every bank provides this automation through your online banking service/bill pay. Before you start paying bills at work or at home, make sure you pay yourself.

You can even go one-step further and at any online retirement fund website, i.e. www.fidelity.com, set up your Roth IRA and have $416 automatically deposited into your account toward a fund of your choice.

By the end of the year, you will have maxed out your $5,000 limit on your Roth IRA account.  Do that for 25 years and you’re going to look pretty good come retirement time.

Maybe you already have a strong retirement account building, but you would just like a toy or an occasional vacation to be able to enjoy life a little more. There is nothing wrong with that…you only live once…so live it up!

A new motorcycle or jet ski can be yours for as little as $80/month (That’s only $20/week for a fun toy to play with!)

However, you might wonder what happens if you don’t have enough left to pay your bills after paying yourself? It’s funny the phenomenon that happens. When you pay yourself first, your pressure to pay your other creditors is so strong that it forces you to work harder for that extra income.

Without even realizing it, you follow up with a few more missed guests, you ask a few more people for referrals, you spend a few extra minutes training your sales staff, you take an hour and attend your local Chamber of Commerce event, you take a moment to ask members if they would like a refreshing post-workout drink, you send an extra thank you card or gift card.

You’ll work more efficiently rather than waste time, you’ll become more creative in the ways you can generate more revenue at your gym, and it will make you smarter and more proactive when it comes to your personal finances.

Bottom line: It will not take much to make that extra mo’ney. However, because you paid yourself first, you know you need to be a bit more productive this month. However, it’s a wonderful feeling writing yourself a check each week or seeing your shiny new motorcycle or anticipating that weekend getaway with your family.

Try it.  You might just like it!

Dedicated to your success…

Curtis

P.S.  Seriously, go write yourself a check for $1,000 right now and see just how quickly you can make it back.  You will surprise yourself!

What do you think?  Have you tried this?  Are you nervous about trying it?  Let me know below!

What is a QR Code?

QR stands for Quick Response, and it is essentially a barcode that you can place on all of your advertising that will send people to a destination of your choosing (Facebook page, Youtube video, your website, etc). Your prospect will need to have a smartphone and have downloaded a QR reader app.  Most smartphone users have a QR code app on their device.

Why Use QR Codes?

Last month alone, over 15 million U.S. mobile phone users scanned a QR code.  Most of the users were between the ages of 25 and 44 and a high percentage of these people earned over $100k/year.  Not only does your ideal target market use QR codes, they are also very easy to implement into your current marketing strategies.

As popular as QR codes are and how many businesses worldwide are using them, most fitness businesses have been reluctant to incorporate them into their marketing. Probably the main reason clubs haven’t adopted this strategy is simply lack of understanding of how it will benefit their business.

How to Create Your QR Code

You can simply do a Google search on your computer for “QR code generator”.  My favorite, and the one that created the QR code within this post, can be found at www.youscan.me.  The code was created in less than 20 seconds.  It simply asks what you want to happen when someone scans your code.  Then it gives you a QR code you can download, print, email, add to your website, print ads, etc.

How to Scan a QR Code

Even if you’re not familiar yourself with how it works, the majority of your prospects do.  It doesn’t hurt for you to understand the process though. Grab your smart phone right now.  If you have an iphone, download the free app “Qrafter”.  If you have an Android phone, download the free app “Zxing”.  If you have a Blackberry, download the free app “QR Scanner Pro”. If you have a Nokia, download the free app “Mbarcode”.  If you have something else, I assume it won’t be hard to search “QR Code” in your app store and you’ll find one you can use.

Now that you have the app loaded, open the app to the scanner and hold your phone up to the computer screen right now to scan the QR code to the right.  When you go to the URL, you’ll notice what pops up is a link to a Facebook Fan page.  Click the LIKE Button to see what happens.  What should happen is that you have successfully become a fan of this blog and the Fit Biz TV show (as long as you’re logged into Facebook).  You can do the exact same thing!

In addition to getting people to like your Facebook page, you could have the QR code link to a Google map to your facility, a video introduction of you and your services, your website, opt in forms to get a free report or your newsletter, a printable trial pass, a coupon or any number of things.

Here are some things to remember when using QR Codes

Try to incorporate them into all of your marketing, including both print and digital.  Put them on your website, your direct mail, your business cards, gift cards, fliers, brochures, in the window of your gym, on your vehicle, billboards, on t-shirts, and more.

Give people a reason to scan your QR code.  Offer a discount, a free trial pass, a free weight loss report, to enter a contest, to watch a video tour of your club, or anything else you would normally promote.

Also, it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway…Make sure you test your QR code before you begin promoting it.  Make sure it is tested on all smartphones.

Even if you aren’t personally interested in QR codes, your prospects and members are.  It’s not about what you want; it’s about what your audience wants.

Follow these basic rules and you’ll be well on your way to maximizing the effectiveness of your QR code and driving new leads to your business with the latest technology.

Have you used QR Codes effectively?  Do you have any questions?  Be sure to let me know below…

Offering discounts to family members has been common practice throughout the history of the fitness industry.  Nearly all gyms offer a discount for additional family members, but it is very important to determine just how much of a discount to offer.

They use the giftcards from www.fitnessgiftcards.com like crazy in their business, claiming that the cards have singlehandedly been the key to their success (true story). Well for Halloween they attach their gift cards to fun size bags of candy and provide candy to their bootcampers and members to distribute at their homes for trick-or-treaters!

They’ll announce over the weekend for their members to save their money and instead of buying their own candy, they tell them to stop by the gym to pick up candy they’ve already purchased for them to give to the kids.  Each bag of candy has attached to it a giftcard to their gym.

Not only do the kids get their candy, parents get something!  How memorable will you be when someone actually thinks of the parents at Halloween.  I think it’s a fantastic idea and I love the creativity they’re using with the cards.

Here is a picture of their surplus they’re giving to members….Happy Halloween!

I want to begin by saying that there is no “perfect” tour.  However, based on my experience, here are some tips that will give you the greatest opportunity to close more sales.

First of all, the tour strategies mentioned below require a proper tour setup, consisting of a strong greeting and prequalification.  Your greeting should make the prospect feel that they are the most important person in the world at that moment.  In addition, a prequalification form should be used every time, without exception.  By filling out a prequalification form, not only will it help provide you ammunition to overcome any objections they have, it also allows you some conversation points to get them to know you, like you, and trust you.

I like to start each tour by letting the prospect know that when the tour is finished, you have a special opportunity for them.  This lets them know that you will be asking them to join today, eliminating any surprise when you do.

Don’t give the same tour to every prospect.  Based on their prequalification form, you’ll know what interests them the most.  If they say they’re interested in getting stronger, don’t start by showing them the cardio equipment.  If they say they’re interested in classed, don’t take them to the free weights.  Every tour should start in the area in which they will be most interested.  If you don’t, they won’t be able to focus on the other great aspects of your facility because they’ll be waiting to see the amenities they are looking for most.

Ask a lot of questions that stimulate a YES response.  Questions like “It’s a nice facility isn’t it?”, and “We have lots of classes, don’t we?”, and “I assume your spouse supports your decision to improve your health?”.  The idea is to get them to say yes as many times as possible so that you create a pattern of positive responses, causing them to say yes when you present prices as well.  Always remember that telling is not selling.  You need to stimulate the prospect’s thought process and get them to tell you the reasons they are at your facility.  If you tell them, it won’t influence their decision.  But when they decide for themselves and verbalize it to you, your chance of selling to them increases exponentially.

After you have finished touring the facility, you will ask one final commitment question, which will provide the perfect transition to the price presentation. This question will allow you to gain a final commitment that will remain fresh in their mind before you present prices.  Ask questions such as, “You’re going to like it here, don’t you think?”, or “You can picture yourself working out here, can’t you?”, or “The facility has everything you need to meet your goals doesn’t it?”

You want to make them feel as if they have already made a commitment to a membership. If they do have any concerns or questions, pause on the floor and address all questions before presenting prices. Once all objections are satisfied, ask them to have a seat so you can help them decide which membership option is best for them.

The tour is typically the area where a sale is won or lost. By controlling the conversation and asking a series of questions, your tour can easily take half an hour. No matter the size of your facility, a tour should never take less than 10 minutes. They have likely toured other facilities, so make sure your tour is the most memorable. They need to feel that your club is the answer to all of their problems.

Remember, there is no perfect tour process, but if you implement these strategies and are genuine in your approach, you will find that the sale will be made long before you present prices.

Consumers are too smart these days to fall for strongarm tactics or smarmy sales pitches.  So there are many times, no matter how good you are, that you will miss sales.  Combine that with the fact that there are a dozen other fitness options awaiting your missed guest, and you certainly want to believe in the be back bus.

Too many salespeople are focused on the next sale, rarely taking the time to effectively follow up with any missed guests, simply because they believe the be back bus doesn’t come back.  Well, the be back bus DOES come back if you follow a few simple rules to get them to know you, like you, and trust you.

• Send a handwritten note or thank you card, expressing your appreciation for them taking the time out of their day to come see you.  If you didn’t provide a trial membership pass or gift card before they left your facility, make sure you provide one inside the envelope.  If you did provide them a trial pass or gift card, include an extra one for them to give to a friend.

• Send an email or text message the same day they visit your facility, thanking them for their time and reminding them of their fitness goals they shared with you

• Call them within 48 hours. I would just say, “Hi John, its Curtis from Anytime Fitness. I just wanted to say what a pleasure it was meeting you the other day and to see if there were any other questions about how we can help you with ________(fitness goals).

If you get their voicemail, leave same message but bait the hook with some type of mystery reason to call you back:  “Call me back because I just found out about something that you’ll find really cool”.

The calls can continue frequently for a few weeks, and more sporadically over time.  You only remove them from your call list if they have asked you to stop calling..  Remember, you don’t know what is going on in their life right now and you might just call in a moment of need.

Invite them to any event you are hosting.  A member appreciation event, a month end closeout, a seminar, etc.  You can also always call to extend their trial pass that has expired.  Or you can call and let them know that the club is going to pay for them to meet with a personal trainer.

If you follow this system diligently, you will find that there are more people than you thought who are willing to get on the be back bus.  A missed opportunity to sell on a first visit doesn’t necessarily mean the sale is lost forever.  The decision to join a gym is a big decision and there are some people who just need more time to think.  Get these people to know you, like you, and trust that you have their best interests in mind, and you will be surprised at how many make their way back through your doors.

Should I offer some type of “Guarantee” to my prospects to get them to join?

This is currently one of the most debated questions in the fitness industry.  With any type of guarantee offered, there is some level of risk associated with it.  We know that most members won’t participate on a regular basis and may try to abuse any type of guarantee system you put in place.  Conversely, by offering a guarantee, you will sign up more new members.

In nearly all cases, the benefit of offering a guarantee outweighs the risk of cancelations.  This is due to the fact that far more people will sign up because of the guarantee than the number of members taking advantage of the guarantee.  There are several different guarantee systems that I have seen used successfully.  We will specifically cover two categories:  Conditional guarantees and Unconditional guarantees.  As you compare the two, keep in mind that you can offer either of these as a money back guarantee or simply a satisfaction guaranteed (allowing a member to break his/her membership term).

Conditional Guarantee:

“We guarantee you are going to lose X pounds of body fat and/or inches within 30 days or we will pay you your money back”

In this conditional scenario, to qualify for the guarantee the member MUST work out a pre-determined number of times per month (typically 8-12), meet with a trainer for two consultations, and follow the meal plan prescribed to them as part of their program.  If they still haven’t seen measurable progress (decrease in body fat or inches, increase in strength, decreased blood pressure, etc) they can be refunded their entire investment if they choose.

The advantage of this system is that the member has to hold up their end of the agreement.  If they don’t meet the criteria to which they agreed to when they signed up, you are not obligated to reimburse them.  The great thing about offering this guarantee is that even if the member only loses a few pounds during their first 30 days, they will not want to cancel their membership.  They will be thrilled to have lost that weight and will be hungry to lose more.  But be aware that fewer prospects will become members as compared to an unconditional guarantee since they may fear they would not be able to hold up their end of the bargain

Unconditional Guarantee:

“If for ANY reason you are unhappy with the service after 30 days, we will pay you your money back.”

In this scenario, there is no obligation from the client.  More pressure is on you to get the member involved, exercising, and following a meal plan.  On the surface, this seems an inferior option due to the fact that you are more likely to have to reimburse someone.  However, the major advantage is that you will sign up more clients at the point of sale due to the bold guarantee.

There is an even more powerful money back guarantee that I’ve seen used with great success lately.

Double Your Money Back Guarantee

Makes you a little nervous just thinking about it, right?  Consider the possibilities for a moment.  Think of how many more leads you would generate simply from offering this guarantee at the point of sale.  Let’s assume with one of the other guarantees, you could generate 24 additional new members this month.  And let’s say when you offer a Double Your Money Back Guarantee, you generate 6 additional new members, giving you a total of 30 new members this month.  And let’s assume two of them take you up on your guarantee.

BIG DEAL!

Even in this simple example, you have four additional long term paying members.  Let’s say each member pays $40/month.  So the two canceling members will be reimbursed a total of $160 (which is incredibly guilt-inducing and difficult for them to ask you to pay them double their investment anyway).  You already generated $160 from the other four members for that month, thus breaking even.  But the kicker is that the other four are going to continue paying $40 every month for the remainder of their membership term, more than making up for the members who received a refund.  This is a worst case scenario as I doubt 1/3 of your new members on this program will cancel.  If they do, you likely have some other problems in the business to take care of.

Regardless of which guarantee system you implement, always remember that your new members really do want to lose the weight.  They don’t want to waste their time for 30 days, only to rip you off and make you pay them back their investment.  They want results and they came to you because you were confident enough to make such a bold offer to help them reach their goals.  If you help them reach those goals, they would never dream of asking for their money back, and will continue paying you for a very long time.

It’s called “Drop a Dress Size”, and as the name implies, you’ll be targeting women who want to drop at least one dress size in one month.

This idea isn’t new, but it’s very effective. Some of Pat Rigsby’s bootcamp clients had great success with this, and I remember Casey Conrad promoted something similar to this years ago. It works.

SETUP

First you’ll want to structure the program. This is easy. If you already have a bootcamp program in place, dedicate a bootcamp time slot to this group, OR allow the women in this program the ability to drop in on any bootcamp class they want through through the week.

If you don’t have an available time slot or don’t have bootcamp programming established yet, set up the Drop a Dress Size program a group training opportunity.

Pick a time slot or two, depending on how many people you get into this program, and have the women meet together. Having them go through the program is important, because they will hold each other accountable to the program and motivate each other.

The program itself can be nothing different than what you would do during a normal group training session. That’s the beauty of this. You’ve identified a niche group of women who share the same desire. To drop at least one dress size in a month. If they come to their group training session two or three times per week, I guarantee they’ll drop at least one size.

You’ll also include some type of meal plan or health shopping list and your guidelines on what they should eat during the 4 weeks. Don’t make this overwhelming. Just a few changes to their eating habits along with the 2-3x per week exercise routine will help them lose that size. You can also have them keep a food journal, and even offer discounts on supplements during the program. (They’ll of course want to continue buying at full price after the program)

PRICING

I would price this program at somewhere between $79 and $149…wherever you feel your clients’ sweet spot is. If you set this up for 3x per week for one hour, your trainer will have spent a total of 12 hours this month during the program with them. Let’s assume you promote this at $99 for the program and you have 10 people purchase, that’s $1,000. If you split this with your trainer, they make $500…or $42/hour. Not too shabby. You’ll also want to promote this as a 100% mo’ney back guarantee. (They of course need to come at least twice per week and keep a food journal in order to get the refund) Any woman who comes at least twice per week and monitors their food intake will lose a dress size.

UPSELL

The thing to remember is that there are now 10 women who have experience the program, have dropped a dress size, have made some new friends, and now understand how important it is to invest in their health. The overall point of this program is to get these women to buy personal training, bootcamp, or group training after 30 days. It’s a much easier sale for your trainers if the prospect just paid for the program and lost weight and have a peer group that is going to continue also. Or you could simply offer the program again to this group of women wanting to continue. “Drop ANOTHER Dress Size in 30 days”

MARKETING

To promote the program, I would focus on placing signage throughout the facility, send emails, make phone calls, have your front desk discuss the program with every woman who checks in for a workout, and if budget allows, send a letter to your existing women members.

We implemented this program in several facilities over the summer and had great success (This worked really well in a women-only facility also). I know you’ll have success with it as well.