A Fitness Business Marketing and Guest Post by Chris McCombs

Hey there, hope you’re doin’ awesome… in this post I want to talk about a few key things ALL fitness trainers need…. well, at least the ones that wanna be successful that is

As I’m writing this the wife and my two little girls are swimming out back having the time of their life

You could say the Fam is finally getting settled into our new pad. The wife is 5 months pregnant so she’s nesting like crazy, getting everything ready for the new baby.

Pretty funny to see her go, baby in the belly, looking cute as ever… running around organizing and getting everything squared away in the house so it’s just perfect for the new little one.

Even though she doesn’t look 20 weeks pregnant in the picture on the right, trust me… she is

After I bust out this post for you I’m gonna  head down to the Dodge dealership… gonna get a new Dodge Viper… IF I fit in one that is… I’m 6’6″ 280lbs and have been a truck and Harley for so long.. I’m not sure I’ll fit

But if I do fit, I’m getting one, since they’re about to discontinue them, I figure now’s the time… Still gonna keep the truck, Harley and SUV though … the kids won’t fit in the Viper (=

Ok, so before I head over to the Dodge dealership, check this out…

There are a few key things that ALL trainers who want to kick SERIOUS ass need to have in place

If you don’t have these systems in place, get on em’ ASAP… they’ll change everything for you

1. EFT… EFT… EFT

You’ve probably heard me cover this a million times, and there’s a good reason for it

It works… most good trainers know they SHOULD do it, but very few do

EFT alone, if done correctly, can over the course of a year double your income

It’s hard to get ahead when your collecting cash and checks every month

Automate it

It’ll make your life easier and your bank account bigger, guaranteed

Honestly, I find it SUPER hard to take any trainer serious who isn’t using some form of EFT

2. Before and After Pics

Ever since Bill Phillips came onto the scene people expect to see before and afters.

If you don’t have em, people will automatically assume you don’t get your clients results

So get before and afters and show em every chance you get… on your website, your blog, the wall of your gym, the welcome packet all new clients get, in your newsletters, your direct mail pieces and so on

And the more competitive of a market you’re in… like say Orange County Ca where I’m at… the more you need em’

If your competition has twenty good sets of before and afters, and you only have one or two… just know your sending a message to your market that says, “go to our competitors, they get better results then we do”

BTW, here’s a before and after of your truly a few years ago… on the left I’m 359 pounds, vicodin popping, weed smoking, powerlifting, Cheetos-eating fat

On the right I’m 216 pounds carb-depleted, cranky, just-lost-WAY-too-much-muscle-with-my-fat OCD whacked outta my mind nuts

( This time I get ripped I’ll be closer to the 250 or 260lb range… been carb cycling and keeping the weights heavy… f*** that low-calorie high-rep muscle wasting stuff… I learned my lesson the hard way last time )

3. LIVE by this formula: A prosperity mindset + a worthy goal + massive action + helping tons of other people = owning a kick ass HIGHLY successful business

If you don’t know what a prosperity mindset is… go read “Think and Grow Rich”

Having one is mandatory IMO.

Add to it a worthy goal… one that is specific, good for all involved and gets you fired up

Take massive action in the direction of your goal

And make sure that your business model is one that helps a shitload of other people to be happier, healthier, whatever… not just your bank account getting bigger

You can’t just sit around and meditate on the vibes of being in the feeling place of having what you want like is the hip school of woo-woo thought these days, you GOTTA take action in the direction of what you want… visualize, meditate, feel good and whatever else works for you, but DON’T NEGLECT ACTION and HELPING OTHERS

4. A Blog… but actually a good one, not a shitty one that does nothing for your business like 99% of trainers have

For me, money and business are about freedom ( well that, helping others and providing a nice and secure life for my family)

Freedom to do what I want, when I want… work my own hours on my own terms… dress how I want, wake up I want, be able to afford whatever I want to buy, not have to worry about money and not being chained to the rat race that so many people let run their lives

Freedom baby… freedom.

There’s a few things in my life that I can point to as giving me a lot of the freedom I enjoy today… they are…

- Applying the Emyth to my life and focusing on being an entrepreneur… not a technician or a manager

- Systematizing and outsourcing 100% of my training business and most of my info-marketing business

- Hiring a full-time personal assistant

- Figuring out what my 5% is and getting others to do EVERYTHING else

- Deciding to become an information marketer

- And blogging, this blog… the website you’re on right now, has freed me from the prison of trading hours for dollars more than just about anything I’ve ever done in my life

A blog is your platform to… among other things…

- Establish yourself as an expert

- Build credibility in your niche

- Start win/win relationships off with the giving hand

- Build a feeling of reciprocity among your readers and followers

- Become a well-known celebrity for what you do ( like an internationally known fitness guru, or even an in-demand LOCAL fitness celebrity if you want to stay local)

- Connect with your audience on a core level

- Get your message out to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands people at time

- Build of tribe of loyal lifelong clients and customers for LIFE

- Create something once and get paid for it over and over

- Suck in qualified traffic from the search engines every single minute of the day

I could go on and on, but the point is, blogging is a damn good thing… and when done right it can be HIGHLY profitable as well

For example, take this lil’ ol’ blog you’re on right now… doesn’t look like much right?

I mean it looks pretty cool, but there’s TONS of more impressive looking sites out there… however if I told you this blog is on pace to do seven figures this year you might have a hard time believing it… but it’s true.

This little blog in my little tiny niche bring in thousands of dollars every single day – and a good portion of that comes in when I’m sleeping (=

Now I’m not trying to impress you with this, I’m just letting you know what’s possible on the internet these days for fitness professionals just like yourself… and even if you’re a complete computer dunce just like me, with the technical skills of a baboon.

Blogging is all about marketing, but not in the way most people think about marketing, it’s kinder, softer, more cool and under-the-radar way to market yourself.

I don’t care how good you are at getting people into shape… if you’re not a great marketer you’ll never have a great business

FAR too many fitness professionals are only focused on being great at getting people into shape… but they’re HORRIBLE at marketing themselves…

Like it or not… when it comes to making money, getting people into shape is FAR LESS important than marketing.

There’s a joke that me and a few of my friends have… and it’s that the trainers with the most certifications ALMOST ALWAYS make the least money.

You know the ones… they have seven different certifications and can name every bone, muscle and organ in the human body … yet they’re always broke… these types of trainers are a dime a dozen in the fitness industry.

That’s simply because they’re so focused on being good at what they do, that they COMPLETELY neglect becoming good at the MARKETING of what they do.

If they’d just take some of that time and money they spend on all those certifications and invest it into their marketing education… they could EASILY make five to ten times what they’re making right now.

Certifications will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to get you more clients or make you more money… NOTHING ( besides maybe increasing your level confidence in yourself… and increased confidence can lead to more clients)

Proven marketing systems and strategies are what it REALLY takes to have a great business.

But MARKETING HAS CHANGED

Because of all the hype and scams out there… people are naturally distrustful and highly suspicious of anyone trying to sell them on just about anything… ESPECIALLY on the Internet.

There IS one way to thrive in this world of skeptics and suspicion…

And it’s Blogging

A blog actually allows you to ethically sneak in under their radar, and become a trusted and well-liked friend and authority… a friend who they’ll look to for ALL their fitness needs.

With a blog, you develop win/win relationships with your customers… you start by helping them get what they REALLY want in life, THEN THEY give you some money, you then help them get MORE of what they really want in life, and then they give you MORE money.

You keep helping them get what they want.

They keep giving you money.

It’s a win/win relationship in the truest sense of the phrase.

And not only that, but…

Blogging Allows You To Create Die-Hard Fiercely Loyal Clients and Customers For Life

With a blog you’re able to connect with your audience in a way that just isn’t possible using any other form of mass communication.

Your audience will like and trust you on deep level… allowing you to convert many of them into lifelong clients and customers… and this is one of the true secrets to success… having people willing to give you lots of money for years and years.

AND… with a blog you can work where you want and when you want, doing work once and getting paid for it over and over… being seen as one of the top fitness experts in the world…

I Can’t Think Of One Tool That Can Add As Much Freedom To Your Life as Having Your Very Own High Authority Fitness Blog

And with a blog, there’s TONS of ways to monetize it… I’ll be doing a post in the near future showing you how you can make money on your blog from…

- Your local training business or boot camp… using one of two proven strategies… OR even fusing the two…

- There’s a way to set-up your blog so you come up for just about anything ANYONE in your local area would search for locally in the search engines

- And then there’s the Local Celebrity Blog, where your blog positions you at the Go-To Fitness Expert in your entire local area

- And you can also make money on your blog from Info-Marketing and Affiliate Marketing … two of the easiest, most fun and coolest ways to make money that I know of

In an upcoming post I’ll tell you all about it

Your blog can literally make you an industry super-star

Did you know that in the early 70′s Sylvester Stallone couldn’t get a good gig in Hollywood for the life of him?

He kept getting one rejection after another

So finally he just went out and wrote Rocky, making sure he was the one to star in it no matter what the big studios wanted. If they wouldn’t let him star, they couldn’t make the movie, it was that simple.

Well, to make a long story short Rocky became his ‘personal star vehicle’… the thing that launched his entire successful career.

That’s exactly what this blog has done for me, and it’s what blogging can do for you as well… it can be your ‘personal star vehicle’

Just like Rocky was Sylvester Stallone’s Personal Star Vehicle, your blog can be YOUR Personal Star Vehicle, making a fitness celebrity, authority and Guru in hardly no time at all.

Bill Phillips did it with Muscle Media 2000 and later with Muscle Media… YOU can do it with your blog.

IF this whole blog thing interests you… I can confidently say I have the absolute BEST resource in the world for you to help to create your own six or seven-figure fitness blog, one that helps establish you as THE go-to person in your niche, helps you get a TON more customers and clients on auto-pilot, helps you KEEP clients and customers for life and can make you money even while your sleeping… actually lots of ii if you just follow the simple system

Check out Fitness Blogging Profits by clicking here to get your own client-getting money-making high-authority fitness blog

5. Have a direct response SEO’d website pulling leads into your business for you 24/7

This strategy alone makes me 6 figures a year and takes me no time at all anymore

It’s very simple

One of the keys to getting clients from Google is that you want to be at the top for TONS of keyword terms… not just one or two… you want to be at the top for TONS

You want to where if someone in your area searches for the type of solution you offer… that there’s no way they can miss you

Most trainers treat their website like a brochure, something to show off to their clients, but if you treat it as a serious funnel for your direct response marketing efforts, your competition won’t stand a chance.

There’s nothing like knowing your website is out there pulling in clients for you day in and day out.

Ok, now, here’s what works for me… I simply combine my location ( city, county) with my service type (and similar services)

By “service type” I mean the type of service that you offer ( like “boot camp” or “personal training”)

Here’s some of the service type names you’ll probably wanna come up for… STARTING with your most important and targeted ones first and then working your way down the list…

• boot camp, boot camps, bootcamp, bootcamps
• personal trainer, personal training, personal trainers
• fitness trainer, fitness training, fitness trainers
• weight loss, weight loss center, weight loss clinic, weight loss program
• health club, health clubs
• gym, gyms
• fitness center, fitness studio
• workout
• exercise

Next, you’ll wanna multiply the locations you serve by the service phrases.

So say for example you serve Dallas Texas and you offered personal training, boot camps and a fitness studio, you would want to come up high for…

• Dallas boot camp, boot camps, bootcamp, bootcamps
• Dallas personal trainer, personal training, personal trainers
• Dallas fitness trainer, fitness training, fitness trainers
• Dallas weight loss, weight loss center, weight loss clinic, weight loss program
• Dallas health club, health clubs
• Dallas gym, gyms
• Dallas fitness center
• Dallas workout
• Dallas exercise

(Also, don’t forget to include the appropriate zip codes to the appropriate pages)

Now, these can’t all be on the same page… you need to have a whole bunch of different pages on your site for all these different terms... one for each of your main kw phrase combination’s… for example, one for all the combination’s of ‘Dallas personal trainer, personal training, personal trainers’ and so on

Let’s say for example you serve Dallas and five towns around Dallas, you’d want a minimum of 45 optimized pages – now I have no idea if there even are five towns near Dallas, I just dig the movie so I’m using it as an example.

In fact, the more pages the better… cause the more page rank your site will have and the more terms you’ll be able to rank for.

Now, about site structure… I like to use a three tier site structure…

Home Page > Which links to a site map OR category page > Which links to your optimized pages

( Now don’t make this confusing cause it’s not… trust me I’m a total computer dunce)

Now, on these optimized pages make sure…

• You have your main 1-3 keyword phrase variations for the page in the title tag of the page and keep it to 64 characters or less
• They’re sales pages and are micro optimized versions of your core sales message ( You can add a video to these pages to do most of the selling for you)
• Have your main kw’s for that phrase in the body copy of the page making up around 3-6% of the text on the page ( give or take)
• Slip your main keyword phrase into the headline
• Point links from some of your other pages to that page with your keywords as the anchor text
• Add your keyword links to a site map or category pages on your site and link to that site map from your home page footer

Next, be sure to get as many links as possible pointing to all your deep optimized pages ( NOT just your home page) and make sure that a lot of these links have variations of your main keyword terms as the anchor text… but don’t use your keywords in ALL the links cuz that’s not natural… and ‘not natural’ is ‘not good’ in Googles eye’s.

If you’re main keyword term was ‘Dallas Personal Trainer’ here’s how I would have my links…

• Dallas Personal Trainer – 40%
• Dallas Personal Training – 10%
• Dallas Personal Trainers – 10%
• Personal Trainers in Dallas – 10%
• Personal Training in Dallas – 10%
• Personal Trainer Dallas – 10%
• Click Here – 10%

Now keep in mind, this isn’t an exact science, but the key here is to use variations of your keyword phrases in the page and in the links… and some of the links should include words that aren’t in your title tag.. like “click here”

Now, here’s some of the best ways to get links… ( not all links are created equal… the first and the last on the list are my favorites)

• Put out high quality content that people will WANT to link to ( link bait) – these are Googles favorite kinds of links, but unfortunately for a local fitness business they’re usually the hardest to get
• Get listed in the best of the paid directories ( like the Yahoo Directory, BOTW, JoeAnt and Gimpsy)
• Add high quality content to Squidoo and HubPages ( avoid your links being “no followed” in HubPages by making your content as high quality as possible, linking to it, and getting a nice amount of fans) – link to your site from within the body of this content
  
• Add articles to the best of the article directories like EzineArticles and Isnare … and then add your links to the author resource section at the bottom
• And my favorite… offer high quality guest posts to popular fitness blogs ( these links can be extremely powerful… but you’re content better be good) These blog links can be time consuming to get, but if they’re from popular fitness blogs, they can carry a TON of weight in Google… this can also work for authority sites like T-Nation… so it doesn’t have to be just blogs.

Can take a few hours to set up, but after that it’s one of the best client-getting strategies I know of

If you’d like a more step-by-by version of how to do it… then check out Market Annihilator Simple by clicking here it’ll walk you be the hand through the entire process

6. A client converting sales system in place

If you get the blog rolling and your SEO Direct Response Website up like I talk about above, your phones should be ringing off the hook like crazy

Well, if you don’t know how to convert those leads you’re not gonna make a lot of money

You need a system, a system that quickly takes high quality leads and prospects and turns them into long term, high paying EFT clients

Here’s the one that works best for me…

First, the prospective client calls in.

Now, on the phone, your job is to find out if they’re serious about getting into shape, if they can afford it and will make a good client, and then getting a decision out of them.

You wanna have a set of extremely powerful questions which you should have scripted out in advance ( that’s what works best, you can actually get our script, along with video tutorials on using it, and recordings of role play calls.. by clicking here )

Using these powerful questions, you’re gonna…

A. Tap into Their Pain On a Deep Emotional Level – Through the questions you’re gonna ask them, you’re going to find out the REAL reason they’re calling and get to the bottom of motivating pain making them look for a fitness trainer .

You’re going wanna dig deep SUPER here.

Just keep going deeper and deeper.. with question like “how’s that?”, “what do you mean?”, “why’s that?”

You’re looking to peel the onion down 3 to 6 layers to really find what’s eating em’ … once you have them there, then you want to tell them how you can help them, but only of they’re a good fit for you and wiling to do certain things and meet your requirements… but of course you do this in a cool and confident way, and NOT in a cocky way.

B. Investment – Next, you’re going make sure they’re willing to invest the time, effort, and money to reach their goals… plus you’ll sandwich in some questions about if they’re willing to eat the right things and so on… to make sure it’s not all about the money… AND to prepare them for what’s ahead.

If they don’t meet your requirements you simply terminate the call, if they do, you continue walking them through the script.

Funny thing is, when you do this right, they’re actually gonna wanna PROVE to you how they’ll make a good fit for your program.

It’s almost like THEY’RE gonna try to talk YOU into training them, instead of the other way around, which is what most trainers do and is a HUGE mistake

And next…

C. Decision – You’re gonna see if they’d like to come in for a free trial workout… but ONLY if they have all of their ducks in a row (like finances, approval from any decision makers like husbands, willing to workout with a trainer, not leaving town for an extended period of time soon and so on)

Basically at this point we want to make sure that when they come in the only possible reason they wouldn’t sign up with us is that they don’t like your workouts, don’t like the trainer or don’t feel you can help them reach their goals… which are valid objections but extremely rare.

You make it so when they come in the gym they’re almost guaranteed to sign up, cuz you got every single objection that most people have completely out of the way with on the phone… finances, decision, time, effort, etc.

You then get their credit numbers over the phone to hold the trial workout, explaining there’s a fee if they don’t show up, but no cost for the trial session as long as they DO show up… don’t worry, if done properly 99% of people will HAPPILY give you their credit card info over the phone, it just takes knowing what to say and how to say it… and this will make sure they almost ALL show up.

You also explain how at the end of the workout it’s gonna be a “yes” or “no” decision on YOUR part AND THEIR part whether or not to move forward with the program… and you simply explain that you don’t allow “think about it’s” … it’s simply “yes” or “no”

Ok, now…

When they come in the gym… greet them enthusiastically, have them fill out your waivers and medical sheets, and then simply confirm everything you went over on the phone with them, so they’re aren’t any objections at the end of the workout.

Then take em’ through your trial workout and if you train groups have a few of your best clients pump them up on you and the results you get people.

Now at the end of the workout simply spend about five minutes taking them through a series of questions that gets THEM to tell YOU how much they loved your workout, convincing themselves why you’re such a great trainer and how your program is definitely something that can help them and something they NEED be involved with, and then through a small series of “assumptive close” type of questions you guide them to signing up for the program which is best for them.

If you train groups or boot camps you can do this during the last five minutes of the workout while you have everyone else on abs or stretches or something simple, where you can keep an eye on the group while signing up the new client

This is the 30,000 foot view of the EXACT SAME STRATEGY I used to go from a pretty closing percentage to signing up 143 out of 144 prospective clients in just five and a half months

I realize this system is FAR beyond the scope of a blog post, especially one loaded with so many strategies, so if you’d like a more in-depth look at how the entire thing works, video tutorials, the scripts, objection sheets and recording of role play calls so you can see how it all works in action then I have great news for you.

I’ve put the entire system together for you for an and EXTREMELY affordable rate… CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

7. To NEVER give up

Seriously, don’t look at problems as being a negative thing

They’re here to guide along the way… help you learn and make you stronger

Negative broke-ass people dwell on problems, blow them outta proportion and attract many more problems ( Been there)

Positive, successful and happy look for the seed of something good in every perceived problem, hurdle and obstacle

Get it in your gut on a core level that you’ll succeed no matter what

8. An army of raving fans

Create a friggin army of people who love you

Treat your clients as Dale Carnegie talks about in “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, get people the best results you can, show them you care about them getting what they want in life and be grateful for each and every customer and client you have

9. Many funnels

Your blog and direct response site are great… mandatory in fact.

But you should ALSO be using direct mail, print ads, PPC, Facebook Ads, online classifieds, contents, local media, referral strategies, retention strategies, joint ventures, strategic alliances, endorsed offers, free Saturday boot camps, human billboards, lead boxes and on and on and on

The more you do the better.. NEVER rely on just one or two ways to get clients

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