BOOST YOUR BUSINESS
EDUCATION CONNECTION
Bedros Keuilian | www.PTPower.com
Jason Karp, PhD l www.Run-Fit.com
Maximize profits with group personal training There’s a good reason why more fitness professionals are shifting away from the oneon-one personal training business model and into group training and boot camps. In addition to being less expensive for potential clients, boot camps and group personal training facilities are also a lot more profitable and have lower startup costs than their one-on-one training counterparts. Here’s why: With this type of business model you have lower overhead, higher profit margins and a bigger pool of clients to market to. You’re able to reach a lot more people in your community, which helps to position you as the go-to fitness expert. Here are a few tips to maximize your group training profits:
Decide your target market Boot camps and group training businesses have an advantage when it comes to attracting clients. They’re less expensive and more exciting, which is a great selling point when you’re meeting with a prospect, but if you really want to maximize your profits, you have to figure out who your target market is and cater to them specifically. Think of who your ideal client is and build your marketing message around them. Work with local businesses Partner with as many local businesses as possible and work together to promote each other’s businesses. For example, try a local beauty salon. Offer the owner a discounted rate or even a free month, if they’ll let you market to their clients and customers, ideally though direct mail or email. Also, offer them incentives to promote your business, like $50 cash back for every person they refer that turns into a paying client and promote their beauty salon to your clients. Starting strategic partnerships with local business owners is a great way to maximize your marketing budget. Focus on referrals The key to getting more referrals into your boot camp or group training business is to have your new clients bring in a friend within the first two weeks of signing up (when they’re most excited). One easy way to do this is to go to any office supply store, buy blank certificates and use them for a “bring a friend” offer. Hand out these certificates and specify that the offer is only valid for the first two weeks of the program. By creating that sense of urgency, your clients are a lot more likely to bring in referrals. Show appreciation to your referring clients with a Starbucks gift card or handwritten note.
Bedros Keuilian is the founder and CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp. Get more free fitness business boosting tips and tactics on his blog PTPower.com.
10
| WWW.FIT-PRO.COM | MARCH-APRIL 2014
Getting ahead of the fitness game If you spend time on Facebook, you’ll see many posts and ads about marketing. I’m bombarded by emails and Facebook posts promising five new clients with these top six marketing strategies. There’s certainly a lot of propaganda in the fitness industry. How do you become successful in an industry known more for its bodybuilder reputation than for its lucrative status? Well, for starters, you need to be lucky (or be Jillian Michaels). If you aren’t lucky, here are strategies that will put you ahead of the game: Get an internship. If you’re in school, most college majors require students to get an internship. Pick your internship wisely. If you want to own a gym, intern at a gym of similar size to what you want to own and learn from the people who work there. Find a mentor. If you’re about to graduate and want to learn how to navigate the undefined career path in front of you, find someone who is doing what you want to do and ask him or her to be your mentor. Do you want to be a personal trainer? Group fitness instructor? Health club manager? Do you want to be the next exercise DVD queen? Do you want to work for a company or be self-employed? Do you want to write magazine articles and books or speak at fitness conventions? Learn from someone who can give you advice and feedback, evaluate your work and put you in contact with decision makers. Be productive. In a society in which everyone claims to be busy, what really matters is not how much you undertake, but what you actually accomplish. Don’t be busy; be productive. If you’re in school, decide what’s more important—studying 20 hours for your psychology exam or choreographing your first exercise DVD. Publicize. While I was a graduate student, I invited the editor of Runner’s World magazine to attend my presentation at the American College of Sports Medicine conference. He attended and was impressed. I made a new connection and he included my research in Runner’s World. Since then, I’ve written a number of articles. Although great work often happens in dark garages or amid the noisy espresso machine in Starbucks, it’s not enough to do great work; people need to see and hear that you’re doing great work. Publicize everything you do. If you don’t, no one is going to do it for you. You never know who is watching or listening.
Jason Karp is a nationally recognized running coach, 2011 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year and owner of Run-Fit. As a PhD in exercise physiology, he writes for numerous running, coaching and fitness magazines, is the author of five books, an industry speaker and 2013 World Maccabiah Games competitor. www.Run-Fit.com