When Big Chris called myself and my partners and asked us to make a guest post I jumped at the opportunity…

It also gave us a moment to reflect on how we built the largest Pilates studio in our market and took the same ideas and opened up a fitness bootcamp that has over 100 paid members in less than 3 months.

So how exactly did we get so many fitness training clients so fast?

Well, check this out…

We actually never intended to start a bootcamp…

Not until we noticed the excitement generated by Chris and Bedros Keuilian at our first mastermind meeting last summer.  We ‘d just moved our Pilates studio from a 1200 sq foot space where all our trainers and clients were constantly tripping all over each other to a 3000 (now 4500) square foot studio, so expansion in a down economy wasn’t anything new.

So when we saw the 4500sq ft. loft space available for Crossroads Bootcamp we couldn’t refuse.

The first question we asked ourselves was how we could take the same systems that built our Pilates business to create a profitable bootcamp, and fast and how we could clients as fast as possible.

Even though the bootcamp market was different we still determined our success would come from 3 main areas that are related but are three totally different skills nonetheless.

So here is the quick outline…

1.  Marketing

If you want to get more fitness training clients as fast as possible, you have to create awareness for your business that will get the phone ringing and your email box full.

2.  Sales

You don’t just have to have a good product; you also have to develop a system that turns marketing leads into paid clients.

3.  Training Clients and Getting Results.

This one should be a no-brainer.

***If you can’t produce spectacular results that you can document with measurements and before and after pictures you simply don’t have anything to sell.

Before we explore specific things you can do in all of these areas, it is important to note that when starting a fitness business, it can seem pretty uphill.

However once you attract and convert those first few clients, then help them achieve their fitness goals, their results will become part of your marketing program.

There simply is nothing more effective than the real life experience and success of your clients.

We incent our clients with short term goals and challenges to maximize each participants focus and competitive spirit.  We support and encourage our clients each workout – but just beneath the surface we know they’re going for their personal gold because nobody wants to be upstaged by the person next to them in class.

We offer workshops to educate our clients and build our presence as an expert in our community.

Our workshop yesterday was called METABOLISM 101 where we highlighted the specific results of our bootcamp training as opposed to ineffective and misspent hours doing traditional isolation exercises or mind numbing long slow distance on the treadmill or elliptical.

The first couple times I made that presentation I was talking from theory and basically saying “trust me.” Fortunately, by offering several winning fat loss programs at our Pilates studio and the overwhelming success we had with our recent 21 day bootcamp fat loss challenge, I opened the workshop by simply stating:  “You don’t have to believe me- Just take a look at these results”

In 21 days our group of 35+ participants:

• Lost 42 lbs on the scale
• Lost over 126 inches
• Lost 116 lbs of body fat and
• Gained 114 lbs of fat torching muscle!

Better yet checkout the 21 day before and after pictures here

The beauty of the 21 DAY FAT LOSS CHALLENGE is that it not only gives new people the motivation and structure to join your gym…  it also turns into a ready made marketing piece when they succeed.

Getting your clients excited spreads the word; getting your clients results sets your gym on fire.  Success breeds success.  Get your clients the results you promise and they’re going to tell their friends, family and co-workers.  And they did.

Ok, here’s a little more in-depth breakdown of our model how to get fitness training clients as fast as possible…

Marketing

You have to make the phone ring, fill your mailbox and get walk-ins.  Since you are reading this blog and are probably members of Market Annihilator (if you aren’t… you’re missing out on a TON of new clients… it’s hands down the best $197 a month you will ever spend)

I won’t talk about techniques and how to get a website that works because that’s already covered in the Market Annihilator program in-depth anyway.

What we will say is that once people start seeing your message it has to speak loud and clear to their needs, hopes, lacks.

So if you are a 24 year old male elite bodybuilder and you are trying to go after the middle aged female market (one we know like the back of our hand) you can’t make them think you are training them for figure competition or how to be the next CrossFit games champion.  You have to speak to their listening and use language that ignites a need and response in them.

Sales

While great internet marketing is important, we’ve seen way too many fitness businesses assume that a killer website that gets tons of traffic is going to fill their classes.  While some people will join online most will need to speak with you or see you in order to become your client.  In the Pilates studio it usually just takes giving them a short session where they can feel all the deep muscles that traditional training misses.

With our bootcamp a short trial membership accompanied with an actual assessment will convert 70-80% of the trials.

We make it clear that we have a unique solution to our client’s needs- but it will take a commitment on their part for them to be successful.

***We sell results- NOT sessions … which is why 100% of our bootcamp clients and 90% of our Pilates clients are on EFT.

If you aren’t doing this you are killing your business and doing your client a great disservice.

If you have to ask for another $300-$700 bucks every few weeks the relationship becomes about collecting money rather than driving results.

Big point: It’s MUCH easier to sell 6 month EFT than small series of sessions.

Put your best sales staff on the front line.  Give them a script and a clear system for reward. ( Chris has a tested and proven script available you can tweak to work in your own business, you can access for like a buck by clicking here )

They must be well compensated for their sales since sales is what drives all of our businesses.

That said, your sales staff must be motivated by more than money; they must have a true passion for the work you are doing and the promise of joining.

Consumers want to buy, but they need to believe in the value too.

Training and Results

It should go without saying, but I feel it must be said: If you can’t deliver results, you won’t be in business long.

I tell our trainers that my old big box employer sells two year memberships for $299 at Costco.

That’s only $12.40 a month!

WHY would anyone want to give us more than 10 times that amount for a gym with no treadmills (or worthless ad/ab machines) that’s open for classes only and for 1/6 the hours at that?

The answer is easy: it’s the energy we bring to our classes and the results our people get.

Simply belonging to a gym is no guarantee of results…  our clients believe we have the key to their personal success and by giving them the results they signed up for, we do.  IT SIMPLY IS… ALL ABOUT RESULTS.

Ultimately carefully documenting and communicating your results becomes your most powerful marketing message.  Before and after pictures, videos and testimonials are not only essential in marketing: they are critical.

You must get results- sell results – and get more results.

What’s been exciting for us as owners of two very different fitness businesses is that applying these 3 basic principles along with all that we have learned from our experience in Chris’s Coaching and Mentoring Program and Bedros’s MASTERMIND group has helped us grow and expand in one of the worst economic climates in recent history.

While our bootcamp gym and our pilates studio may be worlds apart in atmosphere, exercise technique and client base, the methods we learned for creating momentum, a community presence and a place people feel good about being a part of is exactly the same.

It’s hard to believe we’ve only been in business at our bootcamp location 3 short months…  it seems like longer since we’re just doing what we’d already been doing at Pilates1901.

And we can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next!

I’d love to hear your comments about this post below.

Hope you enjoyed this post about how to get more fitness training clients as fast as possible… Scott Lofquist is a lifelong fitness enthusiast and owns a Kansas City Boot Camp and a Kansas City Pilates Studio

And if you’d like to learn all my in-depth client keeping strategies, then you’ll DEFINITELY wanna check out the…

Client Retention Blueprint

• Are you tired of clients canceling on you?
• Frustrated with people who don’t stick with your program long enough to get results?
• Sick and tired of trying to find new clients all the time just to replace the ones you lost?

Clients who stay longer often do two things…

• They get better results
• They refer more of their friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances

Here’s how the Client Retention Blueprint works…

• Your clients get better results because they stay with you longer
• Now, because they get better results and are around longer, they refer more people to you
• Because of your ability to keep clients for years and years, you don’t constantly have to deal with the hassles and headaches of feeling pressured to try to get more clients all the time (Sure, you’ll wanna get new clients on a regular basis… but you won’t NEED to since your income just grows and grows … unlike most trainers, as you get new clients you’ll be keeping the old ones… instead of constantly trying to replace those lost clients… no more dealing with the revolving door 19 out of 20 trainers are plagued with)
• And most importantly… you can make A LOT more money WITHOUT having to spend more on marketing

Click Here To Learn More