Okay, maybe Curtis isn’t, but www.CurtisMock.com is.  Since launching Fitness Business Television at www.FitBiz.tv, all of my information I share will be at that resource (and of course www.GymSuccess.com)

CurtisMock.com is going to end up being a portal site to let people know who I am and what I’m involved in.  Between writing for Club Solutions Magazine (www.clubsolutionsmagazine.com), adding new content to www.GymSuccess.com, submitting articles across the Internet to get Google to pay attention, guest blogging at www.FitBusinessInsider.com, my weekly newsletter GymGoldmine (www.healthclubsuccess.com), and now the TV show (www.FitBiz.tv…you’re getting enough of Curtis.  Probably too much

So if you notice that my last post on here was November and you think I’m slacking, you’re wrong.  In fact, I’m putting out more information now than ever.  Visit the sites mentioned above to get involved in all of the resources I provide fitness businesses.

Thank you so much to those who are in my world.  I appreciate you more than you’ll ever know…

I continue to be 100% dedicated to your success…

Curtis Mock

So what’s this cool idea for Black Friday?

Gift Cards

Okay, you’re not impressed.  Let me tell you how you can use these gift cards on the most powerful shopping day of the year to get some immediate money AND generate potentially hundreds of new extra members at the beginning of the New Year.

First, put a big white board or announcement sign very visible in your lobby right now.  That sign will say:

“Special Black Friday Sale!
90% off sale!!!  Can’t think of what to get everyone?  Don’t want
to fight the lines Friday morning?  Get $100 Gift Cards to
XYZ Fitness for only $10!  One day only!  No limits!  Give these as
stocking stuffers or gifts for all of your friends, family, and
favorite co-workers!”

(…or similar)

Then what I suggest you do is run a report of all members who have used your club over the previous 30 days.  These are the “hot” members who will most likely buy.

Give this list to your front desk staff and have them make calls. Depending on the size of your club, you’ll likely have 100-1000 different members who have used the club in the past 30 days.  Your front desk staff will say something like:

“Hi John, this is Lindsay with XYZ Fitness.  How are you!  Did you happen to notice the Black Friday sign we put in the lobby this week? It’s a special member appreciation sale and we are offering $100 gift cards to give as Christmas gifts and it’s only $10 for members.  Non-members pay the full $100.  The sign says it’s for one day only, but I decided to call a few of our best members and let you pre-order as many as you want so you don’t have to make a special trip here on Friday.

How many can I reserve for you?”

Now you might think…forget that!  I plan to sell a few of these at full price to unsuspecting walk ins.  If you feel this way, then send me your address and I’ll have my people come over and break your thumb.

First of all, you’re going to make some initial money on this thing.  Many members will buy several at a time.  I would guess that an average size club can sell 100 of these if you follow the system above.  That’s $1,000 quick bucks right there.

Then if 100 of these are given out at Christmas, the majority of those will make their way back into your club.  Think about it…if I gave you a gift certificate for $100, even if it’s to some place you had never purchased from, you would NOT throw it away and you would likely use it or give it to someone else to use.  Right?  Right.

Let’s just say only 50 come in with a gift card…nah, let’s say only 25.  Let’s assume your membership is $40/month and they have 11 more payments after their complimentary month.  That is $11,000 in dues plus the $1,000 you collected from members for the actual gift card.  I don’t know about you, but I’ll take $12k for one day’s work!

And what does this $100 go toward?  Enrollment fees and first month dues.  Let’s assume you have a low enrollment fee of $49 and your monthly dues are low too at $25/month.  So in this case the gift card will cover enrollment fee and their first two months.  Great!!

If I told you I would send you 100 prospects and they would all join if you give them no enrollment and their first two months f’ree on a 12-month membership, and you didn’t have to spend any money or effort or time on marketing…you would do it right?  Right.  (again, if you would not do this, I’ll have my people visit you again to break your other thumb)

Now what about these gift cards?  When they pay you, let them know you’re going to order them after you find out how many everyone wants.  This allows you to have their money in hand, so the cost of the gift cards are covered by the money they paid you.

And where do you get these fitness gift cards?

Call Chris Batchelor with Vitality Marketing Group at 1-866-273-9217 and he’ll get you set up with full color, customized, sexy plastic gift cards (look and feel just like a credit card, with a mag stripe on the back!)

500 gift cards are $199
1,000 gift cards are only $50 more at $249

This should allow you extra that you can give to new members for them to refer friends.  Making the effect of this marketing system exponentially more successful.  Gift cards will take around 2 weeks to arrive to you, so be sure to order them as soon as your Black Friday sale is over so you have them in time for Christmas!

If you have any questions about this strategy, click the COMMENT button on this page and let me know…or GymSuccess members can post for a more detailed discussion at www.GymSuccess.com

Dedicated to Your Success…

Curtis Mock

A friend and client, Ross Wilson just ran a direct mail marketing campaign for his health club in October and asked me to critique his direct mail layout before he sent it out to the public.

With just a few simple tweaks, he ended up generating:

334 New 12-month health club memberships

Raised $3,340 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation

Grossed $144,540 in total health club membership sales

Received A LOT of publicity for his health club

He ran a similar health club marketing campaign last October and generated only 116 new memberships.  I can’t take credit for this because Ross is a pretty sharp guy and already had a solid design that probably would have sold a lot of health club memberships even without any tweaks.  But for the sake of my ego, I’ll pretend I had something to do with his success

Here are some of the tweaks Ross made that helped him generate so many memberships:

1.  Ross chose a price driven theme.  He wanted prospects to know that they can save $100 and that the health club would donate $10 for every membership sold.  But he had some mixed messages.  He needed a stronger WIIFM (what’s in it for me) message.  Instead of “Membership Special”, he chose “Feel Fit & Look Fabulous” and “Save $100 and we will make a donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation”.

2.  His layout was very busy and it was tough for the eyes to know where to look.  Ross cleaned it up and made bolder headlines, added a round banner ad and left a bit more white space on the card to make it easier on the eyes.

3.  There were multiple pictures of a similar looking lady.  That takes up too much valuable real estate on the mailer where you could put more fitness sales copy or allow for more white space so that the message is clear and the eyes know where to go.

4.  The headline was made bolder and bigger.  It needs to present a reason for someone to read the remainder of the message on the mailer.

5.   On the original, he had “membership specials only apply to ___ and ___ memberships”.  We removed this because you don’t want to make people feel that you are limiting them or even forcing them into a big ticket health club membership package.  The key to a mailer is to get them to take action.  Period.  Don’t tell them about restrictions on your first impression.  If there are very important restrictions, put an asterisk on it and at the bottom state “In some cases, restrictions may apply” or similar.

6.  We changed from a specific expiration date of October 31, to a “Hurry!  Limited Time Offer expires in two weeks.  So Call Today!”

And that’s it!  I’ve watched and tested the result of hundreds of health club direct mail and other print marketing campaigns over the years and it is amazing how just a few simple tweaks can make the difference between a failed campaign and an uber successful campaign.

So when you are designing your fitness postcards for the New Year, remember the BIG 5 things you MUST have on your mailer.

1. Powerful Headline
2. Call to Action
3. Single Message
4. Urgency
5. Uniqueness

And if you have room on the mailer, some social proof (testimonial, success story, before and after picture, etc) are very very powerful.

Dedicated to Your Success…

Curtis Mock

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::NEW::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Okay, so after 3 hours of fooling with this thing, I figured out how to post the original he sent.  You’ll just have to use your imagination for some of the changes above lol.  Hopefully it is clear enough to view!

Whew, that was painful.  I tried and tried to get the newest one with the applied changes to post in here, but the format isn’t accepted.  I tried converting and still no luck.  But what this original mailer shows that you don’t need a flashy, bold color card.  With just some basic tweaks on the sales copy, a fairly plain mailer can have some pretty extraordinary results.

How would you answer these 3 questions…

1. What are the benefits of becoming a member of your health club?

2. What makes a membership at your health club better than the health club up the road?

3. What unique benefits will I get with you that I won’t get from another fitness business in the area?

For most club owners, answering these 3 questions can be very difficult.

To be honest, it’s difficult for almost all small businesses to tell their prospects what makes them unique and why they should be chosen over the other available options.

Have you heard of an elevator pitch?  It means in approximately the same amount of time you would spend with someone on an elevator, you should be able to tell them about your business and what makes you unique.

What is your elevator pitch?

If you say a word about the equipment you have or that you have good customer service, I might just jump through this blog post and slap you.  No one cares about your equipment…everyone has equipment.

No one is impressed that you offer good customer service…they expect it!

So what you need to focus on is WIIFM.  That stands for “What’s in it for me?”  In other words, focus only on what a membership at your gym will do for THEM.

What are the benefits of joining your facility?

Why choose you over a competitor?

Focus on results, focus on past performance and how others just like them have succeeded with your help, focus on convenience, focus on accountability, focus on personal attention, focus on their happiness and a better life for them.

We are not in the gym business or the fitness business.  We are in the Helping you Live a Better Life Business.  Period.

How can you help people live a better life?

When you answer that question, you have your elevator pitch.  And you will be able to answer the three questions above.

Dedicated to Your Success…

Curtis Mock

So…what is your elevator pitch?

I just gave a presentation this past week at the Club Industry show in Chicago.  My presentation was on helping club owners increase productivity so that they can get more done quickly, so that they have the opportunity to live a life outside of the club walls.

It was a great group and based on the comments I received after the event, the tips I shared seemed to open a lot of their minds to the different ways in which club owners can become more productive.

Keep in mind, some of these tips are uncommon, and perhaps a bit odd, but pick a couple of them and try them for yourself.  Here are 7 tips that had the most pencils furiously jotting down notes.

1. Understand and obey Parkinson’s Law

The definition of Parkinson’s Law is that “Work will fill the time available for completion”.  For example, if you say you want to create a new cleaning list before Thursday, it will take until Thursday for it to get finished.  Instead, if you say you will have the cleaning list completed by 4:00 today, it will be finished by 4:00 today.

This has been studied in multiple settings and it is true nearly 100% of the time!  So when you have a task to do, set a specific deadline for it to be finished, and you will find that it will be finished near the time you decide it needs to be completed by.

2. Do it, Dump it, or Delegate it

When a new task or project or email or whatever presents itself to you, you have 3 choices of how to handle it.

You can Do it (or at least put it on your to do list with a specific deadline if you can’t do it right away).

You can Dump it…meaning it is definitely not a priority to take care of now or ever.

Or you can delegate it…If it needs to be done, but it is a mindless task that can be given to someone else on your staff or in your life to do, give it to them to do!  Your time and skills as the owner are too important to spend on menial tasks.

And by the way, you can delegate more than you think: thank you letters, phone calls, billing, marketing, scheduling, paying bills,competitor research, networking events, filing, data entry, appointment confirmations, cleaning, ordering…and even personal tasks such as cleaning your house, mowing your lawn, washing your car, etc.  If you can make $100/hour doing something else, why spend 2 hours mowing your lawn when the neighbor kid would be thrilled to do it for $20?

3. Email is Evil

Don’t check your email until noon, don’t respond to non-urgent emails until later (this time saver is called “batching”), have all club emails go to a staff member, create a junk email account for all emails and newsletters you “like” to read, but at your leisure.

4. Control Your Day

Prioritize your tasks the night before, set deadlines and stick to them, set a timer to create urgency, learn to say NO, batch all repetitive tasks to do at the same time so you don’t get distracted, and most importantly…always remember that there will never be another Today.  Don’t waste it.

5. Buy a separate computer monitor

Did you know that you can plug a monitor straight into your laptop or PC and it becomes an extended desktop?  I’m using mine right now. I have the powerpoint presentation on the second monitor, and I’m writing this newsletter as I’m glancing over to the other screen for ideas.  It is so much better than scrolling down to click on a separate open window, back and forth, back and forth.  And a monitor will probably run you $100.

6. Get Google-ized
Google is amazing.  If you’re in denial about this, you’re only hurting yourself.  I use Gmail for all of my emails…You can easily set up gmail to receive email from your work accounts and you can send from any account you want, all from within the same account.

Google docs is a great way to share files with those you choose to share them with.  For example, you can have a sales spreadsheet for each of your salespeople that only you and that person can view…or invite a sales manager to also view the document.

Then there is Google Calendar that can sync with your cell phone, Google Analytics that can show you all activity on your website, Google video chat, text to someone’s phone from your computer, and so much more, all located on your personal iGoogle homepage.  Google has definitely made my life much easier.

7. Magic 100 and the Seinfeld System

A colleague of mine, Dax Moys from the UK, developed a system called the Magic 100.  Essentially, you make a list of 100 things you would like to accomplish over the next 100 days.  These can be larger projects, or they can be smaller to do’s on your list.  For example, on my last list I had things such as: buy new brown dress shoes, finalize new logo for www.GymSuccess.com, wax car, buy plane ticket to Missouri, edit 4th quarter marketing plan for my client.

So some items take a little time, others can take a few minutes.  But the idea is that you can look back on the previous 100 days and feel that you accomplished a lot.

You can combine this with the Seinfeld System.  Jerry Seinfeld had to be diligent with his comedy.  When he was doing stand up, he said he kept a calendar at his house.  And for every day that he wrote new content for his shows or came up with a new joke, he put a big red X on that day of the calendar.  He didn’t want to break the chain, so he continued to write new content every day so that he could fill up the calendar.

So in this case, you want to make sure you finish one item off of your magic 100 list every single day so that you don’t break the chain.

So there are 7 things I discussed with those in attendance.  I would love to hear from YOU!  What productivity tips have helped you to be a more organized and more productive fitness professional?  Post your comment below!

Dedicated to Your Success…

Curtis Mock

A friend of mine whom I haven’t spoken to in a few years sent me an email a few days ago.  Her name is Beth, and as it turns out, she has been a personal trainer now for the last 3 years.  She works within a facility as a staff trainer.

It is obvious that she is passionate about what she does and she wants to be the very best she can be…and more importantly, make the most she can make for herself and for the studio.

Her concerns were typical.  She knows she is limited with one-on-one personal training, she doesn’t know how effective her marketing is, and she wants to create ancillary streams of revenue…specifically in her area of interest: Nutrition.

Here is a summary of my comments to her…hopefully you too can find something here that helps you too increase PT revenue.
–

As for maximizing dollar per hour worked, I agree…there is a definite ceiling on your earning potential which is directly attributable to the fact that there are only so many hours you can physically work.  One of the biggest complaints of PT’s is that to maintain their current income level, they have to continue working 4am-8pm every day.

That’s no fun.  So there are really only two solutions:

1) Train more people at once.  This is why group training and bootcamps are so popular.  You can make exponentially more money training more people at once.  It’s cheaper per client, but more profitable for you since you’re training more people at once.  I’m not sure what the layout of your gym or your parking lot, etc is like, but bootcamps are ridiculously hot right now.

Many experts agree that one on one training is a dying business model.  Yes, there will be people who prefer the one on one attention, but there are far more who appreciate the discount and even the ability to share the experience with others.

And 2) Sell more ancillary products/services to your clients.  This can include selling nutritional products, online personal training, nutritional counseling, life coaching, grocery shopping services, meal plans, etc.

As for marketing, how much are you doing? A flyer here or there isn’t going to cut it.  You need to have multiple marketing poles in the water at all times.  Go to chamber meetings, visit with local business owners, set up events for charity, speaking events, write for the paper/newsletters, door hangers, referrals from existing clients, etc.  You must always have marketing working for you every minute of every day.

Consider niching your service.  If you start a group training class, don’t do one for whoever signs up.  Do one for expectant mothers, new mothers, lunchtime warriors, teenagers, older adults, employees of a particular business, gastric bypass patients, arthritic people, back problems, children, toning class, core class, abs class, etc.

Focus on a specific group of people and be a big fish in a very small pond rather than a small fish in a very big pond.

Aim small, miss small

Network with other successful personal trainers.  I am in two mastermind groups, because the information I take away is more valuable than the amount I pay.  Join a website like www.personaltrainerU.com.  It’s run by very good friends of mine in the industry.

Go to events in the industry.  You just missed a great one for personal trainers called Fasttrack to Fitness Millions. I’ll let you know when another good one is coming up.  There are definitely some that are not worth the money.

Communicate with clients and prospects often.  Send out an email newsletter to your list.  GET A BLOG!  Promote yourself as THE expert in your area.  Dominate Google for Personal Trainers in your city.

You said you don’t know how effective your flyers were for your open house/group training.  This is important to do.  You must always know what marketing is successful and what marketing is not.  Otherwise you’re just going to be throwing shit against the wall and hoping that something sticks.  Never a good strategy.

Always ask what marketing brought them to you.  Then make a note of it…simple as that!
Feel free to call me to catch up or if you have other questions.

My cell is 573…
(Okay,did you think I’d really give out my cell phone on a blog post?)

Anyway, hopefully you can find something helpful in this.

Dedicated to Your Success…

Curtis Mock

Okay, so here’s the deal.  There are no more gut wrenching words to have to say than “I Quit”.  No one ever wants to quit.  It makes you feel weak and miserable, and most of us push on, or we live with the guilt.

So I wish I could say this was my idea, but I stole it from a member of my Master Mind Group.  My good friend B.J. Bliffert, who runs a facility in Wisconsin with his wife Kori, has what I consider hands down the best personal training cancellation policy I have ever seen.

B.J. requires a 30 day written notice to cancel a membership and it must be hand written (pretty standard right?).  but here’s the kicker.  They have to personally hand it to their personal trainer and say the words, “I Quit”.  Texts and e-mails are not acceptable and it states this in the agreement the client signs.

Pretty sweet right?

Can you imagine the gut wrenching feeling to have to say I Quit…I give up on my goal of losing weight, I admit defeat and admit that I don’t have the fortitude to persevere.  I admit to you that I am a Quitter.

I get a little queasy just thinking about it.  That is a gut wrenching moment to say the least.  And they have no choice but to do it.  It would take a whole heckuva lot to get me to admit to someone that I quit.  I’d probably just keep paying even if I didn’t continue showing up just so I don’t have to say those words!

If I were you, I would add this to your PT agreement right away…

Dedicated to Your Success…

Curtis Mock

P.S. Are you a member of GymSuccess.com yet?  You’ll find hundreds of tips like the one above as well as videos, audios, resources, as well as a discussion board to ask other health club owners what is working and what is not.  You can try it out for $1 for 30 days to make sure it’s right for you by going to www.GymSuccess.com

Man, it’s been way too long since I’ve been able to post on here.  Internet access was not as simple as I had planned in Australia.  Everytime we passed an Internet cafe it was at the worst time.  Thanks to all who sent messages over the past few weeks while I was away.

What a great experience Australia was.  We put on a Summit for 120 ish health club owners in Melbourne and Sydney and it was tons of fun.  From health club marketing ideas to retention strategies to keep health club members staying (and paying) longer, we covered a lot of material.

It went so well that it looks like it’s going to be a yearly event!  So if you’re in the states and looking for an excuse to visit down under, it looks like next year’s show will be even bigger.  And if you’re an australian health club owner, make sure you sign up to be notified.  You can sign up at the top right of this site’s home page or at www.healthclubsuccess.com.  We will be making the video available sometime over the next few weeks.

I’m working on several new articles for www.GymSuccess.com right now and beginning work on a few new projects, so make sure you pay attention…we’re about to start doing some big things.

If you don’t have plans for October 14-17, make sure you make it to the Club Industry conference in Chicago.  I’ll be presenting on Friday and again on Saturday morning.  One presentation is on Productivity secrets for busy health club owners and the other is on how to improve your marketing message to double the return on your investment.  Should be a lot of fun!

Look for the new Gym Goldmine newsletter to go out tomorrow!

Dedicated to Your Success…

Curtis Mock

I had one of my monthly coaching calls with a long-term health club owner client of mine this morning. With his permission, I am using a part of that call for today’s topic.

This client, all in the past year has gone through an ugly divorce, had his club flooded (only to find his insurance policy didn’t cover floods), had a Planet Fitness move two blocks from his location, had knee replacement surgery when all ligaments were snapped in a pick up basketball game, had to fire two personal trainers for stealing (one had been with him for 7 years), and had seen a decrease in monthly EFT by nearly 30% due largely to the economy and the increased competition.

That’s a tough year no matter how you look at it.

But here is the amazing thing. This client never seems unhappy. He is always positive and only focuses on the good. So today I bluntly asked him…What is your secret to staying happy no matter the circumstances?

His answer was simple and piercing…

What other choice do I have?

Then silence…

I really didn’t know what to say. I know tons of people that deal with issues much less difficult than any this guy has encountered. I personally try to maintain a very steady mindset, but even I falter, sometimes when it is only a simple problem. But not this guy…

To hear those words come from him were very powerful. Hell, I want to refund his consulting fees for the month because the lesson he just taught me was that valuable. I’m not refunding him, but for a fleeting moment I felt I should J

So I guess the moral of this story is that we all have a choice, every day of our lives. Life throws curve balls, sometimes it seems every day. How we handle these situations is entirely up to us. We can either let them bring us down, or we can shrug our shoulders, recognize the situation for what it is, and make up our minds to learn from the mistake and push forward.

And for the record, this client (I’m certain because of his positive attitude and not because of my consulting), has improved every aspect of his business. His EFT was back above breakeven last month for the first time in 10 months, his personal training revenue has doubled since letting the personal trainers go, he’s playing basketball again, has recovered completely from the flood, he has a great girlfriend in his life, and he still has that positive attitude. I can almost picture that confident grin on his face every time we talk on the phone.

I hope that those of you who are currently struggling can see how powerful it is to have a positive outlook on everything. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade; When one door closes, another opens;

All of these sayings may be very cliché, but they are so very true. As for my client…My hat is off to you sir. I am proud and humbled to be a part of your life.

Dedicated to your Success…

Curtis Mock

Do you have members or PT clients who have lost weight, overcame illness, or feel more alive after exercising at your club? 

Of Course You Do! 

We all know of members who have overcome the odds, or lost 50 pounds, or fit into a size 4 again or can make it up the stairs without shortness of breath.  Everyone at your club who has improved their health, image, or overall well being is a walking talking billboard!

There are several ways you can share these success stories with your prospects.

1.     Print Marketing:  Use a testimonial along with a picture or perhaps a before and after picture in all of your print marketing efforts.  Prospects are much more likely to read about someone who lost weight and feels great thanks to your club, rather than some boring old ½ off enrollment fee coupon.

2.     Online marketing:  Make sure to have lots and lots of testimonials on your website.  If you have before and after pictures, these are very powerful.  I would recommend even using video and audio testimonials to offer even more interactive ways for your web visitors to see what they can expect as a member of your club.

3.     Internal marketing:  Your current members may not even be aware the success stories of those who invest in personal training.  Make sure you have   some testimonials and pictures throughout your club.  Make sure to put a new picture and testimonial up every couple of weeks so the other members will see that there are several people getting amazing results. 

4.     Lead boxes:  A before and after picture along with a “Want to feel as good as Sharon?  Enter your information to receive a complimentary 2 week membership to XYZ Fitness” is one of the more powerful lead box strategies I’ve ever seen. 

5.     Billboard, TV, Radio:  If these are mediums that will work in your market, then make sure you are using pictures and testimonials.  It is so difficult to generate a direct response from these marketing mediums, but you can maximize your efforts with powerful social proof that “XYZ Fitness has helped others, and can help you too!”

6.     Wall of Fame:  Find or create a bare wall in a high traffic area of your club.  Set up a clean, professional looking wall of fame for your members who have experienced great success.  You can collect testimonials and before and after pictures to post on your wall.  Your members will feel appreciated and your prospects will be blown away and ready to sign up before you ever present prices.

7.     Success Book:  Similar to the Wall of Fame, fill up a three ring binder with lots of success stories of your members.  This is a great tool to hand a guest if they have to wait a couple of minutes for you to finish a tour or sign up another member.  They will likely be sold on your club before you even say a word.

Social proof such as testimonials and pictures are the most powerful forms of marketing you can use at your health club.  It doesn’t matter what type of marketing: internal, external, guerrilla, internet, etc…Seeing the success stories of others will ALWAYS help you sign up more members and more personal training clients.

Dedicated to your success…

Curtis Mock