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.
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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

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

For nearly a year a small group of 10 or so have been working on creating the ultimate resource for health club owners.  While that time has passed quickly, and as surreal as it seems, today is the day we open the doors.  Not to the general public just yet, but to the subscribers of Gym Goldmine.

We won’t do the Grand Opening launch until the second week of February, but it’s still a very exciting day!  

The site isn’t quite complete yet…some articles are missing, some of the aesthetics aren’t in place to make it all pretty just yet, but the functionality is all there.  The discussion forum should be popping soon and there are approximately 80 articles and 120 downloads on the site already.

It should be a fun ride!

To your success…

Curtis Mock

 

It turns out that when I announced that Chris of VMG would be giving away a month of free consulting to health club owners if USC won.  It turns out that the deal was he would give the consulting away if USC LOST!

Oops

Do you make mistakes in your health club?  Have you accidentally sent an email to your members that you goofed on?  Though you hope to not make too many mistakes, you can use this to your advantage.

For example, if you sent an email out to your health club members that had the wrong date of an upcoming seminar or the wrong time of the new Yoga class or that the gym would be closed but you put the wrong date. Or perhaps that a shipment of supplements didn’t come in, or that the access door wasn’t letting anyone in, or that a machine is broken, etc!

Anytime you make an error, it creates the opportunity for a sale at your gym!  As an apology, send out a coupon for $1.00 off any energy drink you sell at your club.  Give anyone who mentions your error a free tan, give away a giftcard good for one free month for a friend of family member, give away $5 giftcards to a local restaurant (do a trade out with the restaurant for a large supply of these).  Do you have logo water bottles or t-shirts that have been collecting dust?  Email your members and let them know that the first 10 people to come “yell” at you for your mistake, gets one. 

Your health club members will love that you are fessing up for your error and will certainly love the freebies.  It gets everyone involved and excited about the creative offerings you have for them.

So back to Chris and VMG.  All he could do is laugh because he really has no choice.  I made a mistake!  So now you can capitalize on my mistake, but you have to email him by Monday at noon to let him know that you want a month of free consulting.  Sorry Chris! 

To your success…

Curtis Mock

P.S.  GymSuccess.com launches on Monday!  Are you on the list yet? Anyone who is on the list by Sunday night gets their first 3 months free.  If you’re not on the list, well you not only miss out on the 3 month gift, you also miss out on tons and tons of valuable help for your health club. 

The special promotion page will be taken off the Internet on Sunday.  Go to www.GymSuccess.com right now and get on the list!!

 

Look who is in Club Industry Magazine again!

I’m in this month’s Club Industry Magazine, Fitness Business Pro.  I feel privileged to be right alongside both Pat Rigsby and Jim Labadie in the Step by Step column, making me the third best looking person on the page! 

You can read the full article by clicking here

Or you should subscribe so you can get the print edition…best of all, the subscription is free!  Get yours at Club Industry’s Subscription Form.

The article discusses whether you should spend money on branding your health club or spend it on direct response marketing.  It’s a pretty good article…if I do say so myself.

To Your Success!

Curtis Mock

Or at least my blog did…

Hopefully the transition from my old blog to this new one didn’t lose anyone.  As you can see, the look and feel of this one is much better than what you’ve been accustomed to seeing.  Plenty of you said my personality deserved a better presentation, and so I gave in and decided to make it pretty.  It unfortunately didn’t make ME any prettier, but you can’t have everything I suppose!

Just because the blog has a new look doesn’t mean the blog posts will differ.  It’s still going to be full of my opinions on the future of the health club industry, secret resources you can use to improve and automate your club business, and other random morsels of information I find to share with you that will hopefully make your life better. 

I feel very blessed to have such a loyal following and I want to say Thank You to everyone who is subscribed to this blog and to everyone I have worked with in the past.  If you don’t know anything about me, you soon will.  I love the health club industry, I love helping gym owners, and I love knowing that I play a role in the success of your business. 

If you are not subscribed yet to this blog, just put your first name and email in the upper right corner of this page.  That way you can be notified every time a new blog is posted so you don’t have to check back, spending your precious time on a menial task you can easily automate.  I would never share your information with anyone and I am happy to send you a free gift just for subscribing.  Wanna know what it is?  I’ll be you do.  But I’m not gonna tell you   Just subscribe…if you don’t like what I have to say, you can unsubscribe at any time. 

If you’re an avid RSS person like me, be sure to add this site to your RSS feed reader by clicking the RSS icon at the end of any article to be notified in real time of new articles as well!  Please do me a favor and comment as often as you can.  I love to know what everyone thinks and I love new ideas for blog posts.  Also feel free to Share articles you really like by clicking on the green Share icon at the end of any of the articles.  Just click it…you know you want to.

If you are new to this blog, please take the time to visit the resources and websites I recommend in the section to the right, titled “I Recommend”.  These are products and services that I know quite well or have strong ties to and trust the management team and/or the product offering.  I give them my full endorsement.

I guess that’s all for now!  I’d hate to bore you on the first post on this new blog!  Comment below if you like the new site, if you hate it, or if you just want to make me feel good by telling me what a great job I’m doing  

To your success…

Curtis Mock