How To DOMINATE Your Next Fitness Expo Or Trade Show

When you think of fitness trade shows and expos what's the first thing that comes to mind? Free samples, $12.00 sandwiches, a spray tan?

A REAL fitness professional thinks about business and personal development opportunities.

Most personal trainers I know plan their trade show trips months in advance and for a variety reasons:

• Continued Education Courses
• Reuniting with friends that you only see at trade shows
• Industry information
• Free stuff
• Try new things
• Wear workout clothes and not workout
• Networking

If Bono Was A Personal Trainer, This Is What He'd Do.

Have you ever been watching the television or scanning through a newspaper and come across a 'hard luck' story? The media and consumers love a hard luck story. They love it when the 'little guy' takes on a corporation or a conman is caught in the act ripping off a regular family, so why not make the victim your client and cash in on some free publicity?

Almost every day someone somewhere needs help. Recently in Australia, we've experienced some devastating weather which has effected thousands of people in a variety of ways.

Via social media, I noticed a LOT of personal trainers organizing events to raise money for the flood victims, which is fantastic and much needed, but it got me thinking how we could do EVEN MORE.

Using this situation as an example, what if a personal trainer got their clients together and actually went to the aid of these people physically. Helping with the clean up, helping in the distribution of supplies etc.

I'm not suggesting that you help in these tragic situations strictly for the publicity, but it will come. Call it karma or whatever you like, but good things happen to active, good people.

There are some television shows that thrive on hard luck type stories. Victims of fraud, utility bills, banks, peers, you name it and these people need personal trainers.

Last year I wrote about a woman that was kicked out of her gym for being TOO FAT. She was too 'heavy' for the cardio equipment in the gym and asked her to get off.

While I agree with the gym...they do have to adhere to the recommendations of the equipment for insurance and warranty reasons; the smarter thing would have been to offer her training and show her a variety of other options to work out.

Regardless, a savvy personal trainer named Steve Clausen caught wind of this and rushed to her aid! Steve got himself national media coverage for not only taking on the client for free, but the media covered the progress of his client...gold.

Read the article here.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take a look through the newspaper and find someone that you can help. Then contact the newspaper to explain what you're going to do and they may just put you in contact with that person.

Speaking of people who need help...who's Charlie Sheen's personal trainer?

I'd love to hear your opinion and or stories about free publicity in the comments section below and while we're on the topic of charity, why don't you go ahead and click the facebook and twitter icons at the top!

Keepin it real!


Ben

10 Must Haves BEFORE You Run Your Next Promotion

I don't know about you guys, but there is nothing more exciting than running a promotion. I love brainstorming for ideas, scouring through online and offline media looking for something I can design and translate to suit my business and then of course launching and watching the people 'roll in' (no pun).

To me that's the fun stuff; but without some basic infrastructure to capture my new prospects, it can all be a huge waste of time, money and a poorly organised business will ultimately be damaging to a reputation.

"You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win." - Zig Ziglar

I have a question for you...Is your fitness or personal training business ready to grow?

Off the top of your head you might answer "Hell Yeah It's Ready, Show Me The Money!" But think about this; if you ran a promotion or did some marketing and you had 300 people phone or stop by your business in 1 day, how many would you have to turn away?

A friend of mine recently ran a promotion and they had 350 enquiries in a very short period; over just a few days. I know that they booked a large percentage in for consults and sessions (because they're awesome) though I would have to assume that quite a few must have slipped through, because this incredible result was completely unexpected.

With any promotion, you can try to assume what the response will be like, or if you've run a similar promotion in the past; calculate.

I've put together a simple checklist that you can implement to make sure that your business is actually ready to grow by capturing the precious prospects that come along.

10 Must Haves BEFORE You Run Your Next Promotion.

1. Business Cards:

I don't care what anyone else says, you still need business cards and plenty of them. Have some in your wallet, on the front desk, in your glove compartment every where!

Personal Trainer Business Cards

2. Information Sheets, Tri Folds:

Your business information nicely presented in a trifold brochure is always a must have. You can be conservative on who you give these to as they do cost slightly more than a business card or A5 print out, but some prospects deserve in fact, some will demand something like this.

How To Make Free Fitness Brochures

3. Someone To Answer Phones:

Sounds simple enough, but what if you're booked solid with clients and you're launching a one day sale? Have a friend help you out, but make sure they're clear on what they have to say/ask. If you do have a friend that knows very little about your business answering your phones, instruct them to simply get information on your behalf to call back via a checklist.

4. A Clear And Professional Voicemail Set Up:

It's amazing how many people don't have a voicemail set up. You don't have to sound like Sean Connery or some crazy, over-caffeinated energizer bunny; just a simple thank you/welcome message and ask the caller to leave their details {name, phone number and a brief message}.

5. Appointment Cards Printed:

Now that you've spoken to and hopefully booked in some of these prospects, where are you what are you giving them to remind them of your appointment? A well branded professional appointment card is a must, especially for new clients.

It makes you appear more professional and they're also great for branding purposes.

6. A Specific Lead List For Call Backs And A Pen:

Print out a template sheet and keep it near your phone to write down names, numbers and some details about every call you receive.

7. Clip Boards And Pens:

Clipboards are a high theft item! No one knows why and it baffles criminologists around the world, but that's no excuse not to keep them. Someone needs to invent a long elastic or retractable cord that attaches to these things so they always go back to the same spot, but either way...invest in several.

8. Sales System Perfected:

When was the last time you practiced your sales presentation? The sharper and more confident you get at presenting your business and service to prospects the smoother, more professional and faster you will close the deals.

9. Promotion Within A Promotion:

Running a promotion that generates leads is one thing, closing them is another. Sometimes it's handy to arrange a promotion within a promotion, meaning that when they nibble on the original offer, you hook them with the second.

10. Adequate Signage So That People Can Find Your Business:

Again, seems very simple, but how easy is it to find your business? I have been to studios and gyms in the past when I've had the address and still couldn't find them. Do you have adequate signage and directions? Is there a nearby landmark? Do you have a google maps image that you can send in an appointment confirmation email to prospects?

Use this checklist to run through your fitness business right now and see how you stack up and again before you run your next promotion and you will be prepared for all of your leads.

Have I missed anything? Do you disagree with the items I've listed? I'd love to read your comments below and as always, please share this article on facebook and twitter by clicking the icons at the top of this post!

Have a great day!

Ben

How I Turned Two Hours Work Into Ten New Clients

In my article 6 Reasons You're Not Making Six Figures; I briefly mentioned an advertisement that I'd placed in veterinary clinics and how it was the most profitable piece of A5 paper I'd every produced. After several emails asking me for more information about this promotion, I thought I'd give you more details about how and why it worked so well for my personal training business.

There's an obscure and rarely used saying that goes along the lines of location, location, location (you may have heard it). Most people immediately relate this to the physical location of their personal training business or fitness centre, while in reality, this mantra should be applied to all of your marketing and promotional activities as well.

Whenever it's time to design a new marketing or promotion strategy, I create an avatar of who my material will be targeted towards before I decide where I will be presenting it. I decide if they're male, female or if I'm targeting both, their approximate age, income, goals etc. etc.

Once you have this information you're in a much better position to find locations to present your marketing materials.

I decided to design a promotion targeted at wealthy pet owners. My avatar was female, aged between 30-45 years, that was doing some basic exercise a few days a week, but is not achieving their desired goals due to perceived time constraints. This may seem quite broad on the surface, but that's when advertisement positioning comes into play.

My strategy was simple; get my ad in front of wealthy women that love their pets more than themselves.

I called several veterinary clinics in my area and made appointments to speak with the owners or managers. I brought along my sales material (advertisement, testimonials, qualifications etc.) and pitched my idea. Most were open to the venture and in return I offered them free training sessions.

I made a simple flyer with the headline:

Your Pets Health Is Vitally Important To You...

When Was The Last Time You Invested In Your Own?

They loved the concept and the confrontational nature of my advertisement and in turn we created a similar, reverse targeted advertisement for them which I displayed in my training studio.

What else was on the poster?

• The flyer had a before and after image: I chose one of my clients who was quite overweight sitting on the couch as the before and the after shot was them much leaner, healthier and happily walking their dog in the park.
• I had two testimonials, both of which mentioned their busy lifestyles, families and pets and how they are now able to enjoy more social activities than BEFORE they began personal training with me.
• My contact details and a picture of me with my friends dog.

I also offered the potential of a service where we could train as a group in the park WITH their dogs on Saturdays and it was just about socializing the pets, throwing balls and things like that (very simple).

This was a very successful promotion for me and I ran it from time to time, generally in the beginning of Spring when my target market was most vulnerable to this kind of advertising.

Give it a try and let me know how you go!

Ben

Related Articles:
10 Personal Training Business Tips
Personal Training Brainstorming
Half A Tonne Of Fat And Counting!
Six Reasons You're Not Making Six Figures