Systems, systems, systems. That’s all he really seems to be talking about these days with pretty much every personal trainer I know.
I have to admit, by now, I must be sounding like a broken record (CD for younger readers) to a lot of them, as I’m never more than a sentence or two away from saying “You should have a system for that! “
Although it’s true… they should. And you should too!
Look, I don’t know of a single person in the fitness industry making 6 figures or more who doesn’t operate their business with a systems approach. No one.
On the other hand, virtually every struggling personal trainer I’ve ever met seemed to be stuck in a ‘make it up as you go’ mentality that caused them to reinvent the wheel with every task in their business with every client. Every day.
No wonder they are doing nothing and moving on. They are trapped in a kind of corporate ‘Groundhog Day’ where the same thoughts, feelings and actions are repeated over and over again without end.
And the only thing that can rescue them from this endless time warp… is the systems!
Now don’t get me wrong. I haven’t always been a systems guy. Like most personal trainers, I pretty much woke up and went about my day as it went, and like most personal trainers, I pretty much just kept the appointments that were on my schedule and very little else.
It was the classic case of working IN your business and not ABOUT it.
Then I started to systematize parts of my business that were repeated often. Things like standardizing my program cards, creating new client onboarding documents, setting up a phone script, standardizing my nutritional approach, etc.
Even these small changes started to pay off and I soon found myself operating more professionally and with more time available to work on… more systems 🙂
Over time, my systems have grown to include online and offline advertising protocols, TV and print protocols, writing protocols, telephone protocols, consulting protocols, evaluation protocols, training protocols, training protocols, protocols of blogs, optimization protocols and web design and much more. .
Now, every member of my team is empowered (through protocols and systems) to deliver MY systems to THEIR customers in exactly the same way that I set out in the company’s standard operating procedures manual.
This means that the customer experience is much better, results come much faster, and customers are happier than ever with their results.
It also means I don’t have to worry about whether or not a new trainer can get a result with the clients I give her, she just follows the systems and voila! the results appear 🙂 Wouldn’t you love that for YOUR business?
Wouldn’t you love to know that, without a doubt, everything that contributes to the customer experience of working with you has been thought, written, and fine-tuned to such an extent that, like me, you can comfortably double your money-back guarantees? money on fat loss? (or any service you provide)
You can only trade at this level with a system backing you up or, trust me, you’ll be broke in no time.
But where should you start? What kinds of things could you (and SHOULD) systematize? Well, the short answer is EVERYTHING, but here are some more specific ideas to get you started.
1. Your Voicemail – Leave a great message that is warm, welcoming, and directs people to a page on your website where they can download your latest report while they wait for their call.
2. Your phone script – Don’t make your calls as you go. You will make mistakes that way and lose people. Instead, have a script you follow that guides people through a ‘soft’ consultative approach designed to get them to meet with you instead of selling.
3. Your query script – Again, leaving your query process to chance is like leaving money on the table.
Have a script that you use EVERY TIME to talk about the client, their wants, their needs, their schedule, their budget, their role as a coach, and how you can help them. This will be WOW! much more than you will ever believe possible.
4. Your evaluation system: Before the training, have an evaluation protocol that you will guide the client through. Do it at the same time each time and give them a written report outlining your findings.
5. Your scheduling system – Do you have a standardized way of writing and presenting your client’s schedules? If you’re not missing out!
The actual experience your client pays for is not the ‘babysitting’ during their training hour, but the program itself. Standardize on this protocol and make sure you have a wow factor by adding photos, adding links to video demos, and more.
6. Your Nutrition System: Do you have a systemized approach to teaching sound nutritional approaches to your clients? Do you find yourself repeating the same advice over and over again?
I used to spend more time explaining my nutritional principles than almost anything else, so I created my Elimination Diet Nutrition Tip which is now given to every customer AND has been downloaded by over 43,000 people on the web.
This single act has created a secondary income stream that is worth THOUSANDS to me every year.
7. Article and Blog Writing – Do you have a system that you use to create articles each week for your website, blog, and ezine directories?
I don’t mean just sit down to write and wait for inspiration, I mean a real system that you can follow step by step to create valuable content for profile building. If not, you need one and fast!
Writing is one of the most valuable things you can do for your business, and without a system, you’re building your business on hope and guesswork. Not good.
Create a system that takes you step by step through writing, submitting, and promoting each piece of valuable content in your head.
8. Your time management system: Have you set aside hours of the day and days of the week for the different tasks you need to complete?
For example, I no longer work with clients on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These days, I spend the first 2 hours writing articles and posts (FYI, it’s 9:26am on Tuesday as I write this, so I’m on time).
From 10 am to 12 pm I will be working on one of my ‘projects’ which will either be an online product or an offline course of some description.
From 12 to 13 I’m going to have lunch. From 1 pm to 2 pm I will write or rewrite another module of my tutoring program and from 2 pm to 4 pm
Knowing what my week looks like IN ADVANCE means I can judge how long my projects will take and what assets I may need to speed them up.
9. Your advertising system – What ads and promotions will you run in March 2010? Did you know? Do you know what you’re running in December and where you’ll be running it?
If you don’t, you don’t have a strategy for your ads, and therefore you’ll probably end up taking every “opportunity” that magazines and newspapers present to you, instead of “sharpening your interest” with ads that run in sequence. . , you will lose your impact by making things up at the last minute.
Just plan your year ahead so you know where your ads are going, when they’re going out, what they’re saying, what artwork or text you need and when you need it, and your marketing will be ten times higher. impactful (This includes online and PPC ads too!)
10. Your Training System: You know what you’re weak at and what’s holding you back from being the superstar you really could be, right? Establish a strategy for learning new skills throughout the year.
Plan courses, home study and even book purchases to link to improving in these areas and commit to studying rather than reading or training whenever you want and your knowledge, skills and abilities will soon stand out above all else. your competition
Work to be the best coach you can be, not just the best salesperson.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that these 10 areas are not related to fitness marketing. All are! In fact, marketing is about everything you do to attract, serve and keep your customers and there is no better way to do it than what I suggest here.
Most personal trainers and fitness professionals don’t want to hear that. They want an SEO “quick fix” or sneaky pay-per-click tactic that they can use to double their traffic, but in reality, being on page 1 of Google and getting more traffic through to your website means nothing if you do. that the customer who actually buys, you and your services, is not up to the task.
Systemizing yourself and your business is truly one of the most powerful customer engagement strategies you can employ to grow a fantastic business that customers will love and you will love to be a part of.
So get to work today. Commit to working on at least one new service daily until you have all the components of your business systematized, then sit back and watch the customers roll in 🙂
For your success!