The financial health of your business depends on three skills: how well you sell your services, how well you deliver your services and how well you manage the cash created from your services. Each one of those things is dependent on the other. If you don't sell enough, you won't have enough cash to pay the bills. You can be great at selling, but if you don't deliver on your brand promise, you won't get repeat sales and may damage your reputation. If you don't manage the cash you do create and understand how to leverage it efficiently, you will struggle to scale your business. Here’s how technology can help.
Selling Your Services. There is more to selling than closing the sale and getting the credit card. Many business owners focus on the number of leads they are acquiring but fail to track those leads through the sales process. While there are many ways to create a sales "funnel," tracking conversion rates from lead to prospect to sale is critical for making the most of your marketing dollars. Start tracking on a spreadsheet, and as your business grows you can invest in more sophisticated software, which offer automation and reporting functions that streamline the sales process.
Delivering Your Services. Where would we have been during the Coronavirus Pandemic without Zoom or Facebook Live? Technology gave us the ability to pivot and deliver great service to our clients during a time none of us saw coming. Platforms such as Trainerize and TrueCoach allow brick-and-mortar gyms to innovate hybrid and online training options and develop new income streams. The simplest way to know if your clients are happy is to ask them via free online tools and services. This is also a great way to get insight from your clients on what their needs are so you can serve them better.
Managing Your Cash. Every fitness business from small to large needs accounting software. The fact they can sync transactions directly from your bank, offer robust reporting and even help automate the reconciliation process should convince you to retire your spreadsheets and invest in an easier-to-use solution.
The bottom line on technology? It provides the data we need to make the good decisions that help us build what we all want — more profitable businesses.
Dean Carlson is a certified Profit First Professional. In 2016 founded Fit For Profit, providing fitness business owners with the coaching and tools they need to manage their cash easily and keep more of their hard-earned money. His experience as a gym owner came full circle in 2018 when he sold his award-winning gym Get Fit NH for seven-figures. He is passionate about helping fitness entrepreneurs stop worrying about finances and start building the business of their dreams.
