But to this day, communication remains our most cherished form of intimacy. We talk for an hour every morning. Teaching each other what we learned during our own respective morning study. Reviewing our individual and collective goals. Sharing the truest parts of our emotions on any given day.

Our evening's end in virtually the exact same manner. Discussing our triumphs and joys over the past 12 hours and reminding each other how much the love that brought us together against unlikely odds still pulses deeply.

You’re not reading the wrong column. This isn’t a cheap or half-cooked version of some kind of cheesy romance novel. But it is a reminder. And one that I often feel fitness professionals need more than they may realize they need. The heart and foundation of every great relationship is communication. The worth of your fitness business, your clients’ successes and even your revenue is directly tied to the worth of your conversations. Likely, so much more than you realize.

Falling in love with the idea of having a thriving fitness business is very, very easy. Searching high and low for the loudest or most convincing sales and marketing experts who promise you massive revenue boosts with a super-secret-retention-system is also easy. But putting in the day-to-day effort of cultivating world-class relationships by increasing the importance you hold for the quality of your conversations is the undeniable key (and certainly less easy than looking for the single-serving-solution).

Don’t count reps or stick to the program. Talk to people with more care. It is perhaps the single greatest client-retention tool you’ll ever read about.