When it comes to growing my personal training business I am all about predictable lead generation. Having the ability to generate client consultations on demand and at a rate that is comfortable for you is an incredibly powerful tool. One of my favourite ways to do this is the Beta Program.
The Beta Program is simply a short-term offer that piques peoples curiosity. We're all waiting for the next big thing, we want the latest and greatest, and we want to be one of the first people to get this new, bigger, better thing. You and I both know that our clients are guinea pigs; great trainers are instinctive, we make decisions on the fly and based on what we see. This instinctive adaptive nature makes the Beta Program a logical fit. The next time you are training a client and have a brief "ah ha" it's time to turn it into a client attraction campaign.
Email, Facebook ... even flyers can all work to promote your Beta Program. A short-term program at an aggressive price point encourages people to join to determine if this new "ah ha" provides better results. The basis of your Beta Program could be the very fact that you are running a short defined program and tracking to see if additional interaction in that time period provides better client results -- don't over think it.
Set a limiting factor of scarcity on your Beta Program to make it truly exclusive -- the more exclusive it is the more that people want it. For my coaching clients the usual number to start with is six. The nice thing about six is that it's generally not intimidating or daunting for even a brand new trainer. Create high value and expectations, call them a couple times a week, send them regular content emails, create a series of documents with tips, tricks, activities and even homework. The more interaction you provide in the program the better because it further adds to the exclusive feel of the program.
Now you get to practice your sales and closing skills in a small, exclusive, and safe environment. There's no pressure. If everything goes wrong, run another Beta Program, recruit six more people and make some changes. That in itself could be the premise of the Beta Program. Your participants don't even necessarily need to know what it is that you're testing. The mystery can even add to the appeal of the program.
Converting these clients to regular paying clients should be done in what I call a three-Point manner. This means that when you first meet them you are going to present them an offer to become a regular paying client. In fact, not doing so is doing them a disservice. We know our clients can't reach their goals in 2, 3, 4 or even 6 weeks. Deep down they know it, too. Day one you should be giving them your best offer to make a longer commitment now. It doesn't change anything -- they still participate in the Beta Program -- it just means you're going to take care of them even after. We've shown in our facility that with the right offer more than 80% of participants will often commit within the first couple days of the program.
For those that don't commit you or your assistant should be calling them midway through the program and asking them what they've loved most about the program. We call this the feedback pitch, but be sure to prompt them to give you something positive. After you've gathered their feedback you can reward them by providing a continuation offer (and if they happen to give negative feedback you can thank them for helping you know how to make things even better; apologize and offer to make good by providing the same offer.) This second offer will generally capture most of the people that didn't convert on day one.
As I'm sure you can guess, as the program nears its end I suggest you throw out your last ditch effort to anyone who still hasn't converted. This is the final phase of our three-point conversion system. In this phase it truly is a last ditch effort but you still may capture a couple more from this otherwise unqualified group. The best part of all of this is you could easily organize and launch this to an email list in the next 60 minutes ... Do you hear that? That's opportunity knocking.
Cabel Mcelderry, now known as the Profitable Personal Trainer, struggled as a solo personal trainer for nearly eight years before learning the strategies he needed to transform his barely six-figure business to a seven-figure (and growing) training studio in just a couple years. His studio (One-to-1 Fitness) now 5 years old has won multiple awards for business excellence. Cabel has been recognized as one of the top 100 fitness entrepreneurs in North America and is currently one of 50 nominees for Optimum Nutrition's Canadian Trainer of the Year. Cabel still trains a handful of clients as his passion to help others will never fade but has also evolved. Cabel now also mentors fitness professionals in an effort to help them achieve similar or better results than his own. www.ProfitablePersonalTrainer.com
The Beta Program is simply a short-term offer that piques peoples curiosity. We're all waiting for the next big thing, we want the latest and greatest, and we want to be one of the first people to get this new, bigger, better thing. You and I both know that our clients are guinea pigs; great trainers are instinctive, we make decisions on the fly and based on what we see. This instinctive adaptive nature makes the Beta Program a logical fit. The next time you are training a client and have a brief "ah ha" it's time to turn it into a client attraction campaign.
Email, Facebook ... even flyers can all work to promote your Beta Program. A short-term program at an aggressive price point encourages people to join to determine if this new "ah ha" provides better results. The basis of your Beta Program could be the very fact that you are running a short defined program and tracking to see if additional interaction in that time period provides better client results -- don't over think it.
Set a limiting factor of scarcity on your Beta Program to make it truly exclusive -- the more exclusive it is the more that people want it. For my coaching clients the usual number to start with is six. The nice thing about six is that it's generally not intimidating or daunting for even a brand new trainer. Create high value and expectations, call them a couple times a week, send them regular content emails, create a series of documents with tips, tricks, activities and even homework. The more interaction you provide in the program the better because it further adds to the exclusive feel of the program.
Now you get to practice your sales and closing skills in a small, exclusive, and safe environment. There's no pressure. If everything goes wrong, run another Beta Program, recruit six more people and make some changes. That in itself could be the premise of the Beta Program. Your participants don't even necessarily need to know what it is that you're testing. The mystery can even add to the appeal of the program.
Converting these clients to regular paying clients should be done in what I call a three-Point manner. This means that when you first meet them you are going to present them an offer to become a regular paying client. In fact, not doing so is doing them a disservice. We know our clients can't reach their goals in 2, 3, 4 or even 6 weeks. Deep down they know it, too. Day one you should be giving them your best offer to make a longer commitment now. It doesn't change anything -- they still participate in the Beta Program -- it just means you're going to take care of them even after. We've shown in our facility that with the right offer more than 80% of participants will often commit within the first couple days of the program.
For those that don't commit you or your assistant should be calling them midway through the program and asking them what they've loved most about the program. We call this the feedback pitch, but be sure to prompt them to give you something positive. After you've gathered their feedback you can reward them by providing a continuation offer (and if they happen to give negative feedback you can thank them for helping you know how to make things even better; apologize and offer to make good by providing the same offer.) This second offer will generally capture most of the people that didn't convert on day one.
As I'm sure you can guess, as the program nears its end I suggest you throw out your last ditch effort to anyone who still hasn't converted. This is the final phase of our three-point conversion system. In this phase it truly is a last ditch effort but you still may capture a couple more from this otherwise unqualified group. The best part of all of this is you could easily organize and launch this to an email list in the next 60 minutes ... Do you hear that? That's opportunity knocking.
Cabel Mcelderry, now known as the Profitable Personal Trainer, struggled as a solo personal trainer for nearly eight years before learning the strategies he needed to transform his barely six-figure business to a seven-figure (and growing) training studio in just a couple years. His studio (One-to-1 Fitness) now 5 years old has won multiple awards for business excellence. Cabel has been recognized as one of the top 100 fitness entrepreneurs in North America and is currently one of 50 nominees for Optimum Nutrition's Canadian Trainer of the Year. Cabel still trains a handful of clients as his passion to help others will never fade but has also evolved. Cabel now also mentors fitness professionals in an effort to help them achieve similar or better results than his own. www.ProfitablePersonalTrainer.com
