A Fitness Marketing Blog Post From Big Chris

Hey there, hope you’re doin’ great and all the good stuff your doin’ for the world is coming back to you 100 fold ( and as a fitness trainer, the reach of your help goes FAR beyond what you could ever imagine )

This post is about what I call The BMF Factor... the thing that will separate you and your training business from almost every other one out there.

I just got back from having a massive cheat meal… Fettuccine Alfredo, Veal Parmesan, calamari, garlic cheese bread, fried mozzarella, a HUGE ice cream sundae and two Klondike bars. I love how the body and muscles feel so replenished after a big cheat meal like that… I don’t know if it’s a glycogen thing or what… but I don’t need to know…

Here’s what I DO know… I was 327 pounds and looked like a EX-football player… in fact I got it all the time “Did you used to play football?”

USED TO??? … damn…

So then I started working out again and eating pretty clean and actually got pretty good results… I looked like I dropped 30 or 40 pounds, but in reality my weight stayed the same… I just gained a lot of my old muscle back and pretty much lost a pound of fat for every pound of muscle I gained.

But hey, I was getting strong, something all of us big dudes love.

But after awhile I just wasn’t satisfied with the results and decided to get SERIOUS about my physique… and one thing I know is, when you want to improve something, go to to someone who’s been there, done that, made the mistakes, had the victories and knows what the hell they’re talking about, and while often times their rates may appear to be high, their ability to save you years of frustration in avoiding the same mistakes and pitfalls they’ve made, and give you the exact map to the shortest distance between Point A and Point B often makes hiring them worth 10 to 100 times what they charge.

So I hired one of the top nutrition coaches in the world… a guy by the name of Shelby Starnes…  for a year of personal mentoring… he says eat this, don’t eat that, do this much cardio in a fasted state, take these supplements and so on.

Doing what he says I’m down from 327 to 253, have veins all over, can see my abs, and get asked on ALMOST a daily basis if I’m a pro MMA fighter. ( I guess people see the veins, tattoo down the forearm, shaved head, brand new sports car and the huge house and tally it up as an MMA Fighter somehow… well I’m not, in fact most of those dudes could kick my Big Chris ASS)

Having one of the top nutrition experts in the world to mentor me has been paramount… I just follow his simple instruction and get the results I want… and with the carb cycling plan he’s got me on, I’m not hungry ( I can’t stand being hungry by the way… messes with my Chi), feel great, have lots of energy and haven’t lost strength except a tiny bit in horizontal pressing movements… but I’m still deadlifting 455 for 5 reps and barbell rowing 355 for 7 reps and 325 for 12 in super-strict form, even though the fat is melting off like crazy.

Being 6’6″ with a short torso and long limbs I’m a natural puller… you might notice I never post my squat or bench press numbers… and there’s a reason for that (=  … basically compared to my pulling number my pressing number suck… just don’t tell anyone cool ?  (=

My good freind AJ Roberts benches over 800 pounds and squats 1100… damn that would be nice… but I’m just not genetically built to do that though… oh well, I guess it’s the one down side of being 6’6″ … besides trying to find good clothes that fit and getting into those tiny little cars people drive… those things are death machines anyway, so what the hell… I’ll stick with the Harley, Vette and Truck.

After the cheat meal I dropped off the Harley to get some illegal “loud as a Slayer concert on methamphetamines” pipes put on it… I hope the neighbors don’t mind the noise… we live in a nice quite gated community with lots of respectable business types…. I’ll try to keep it down for them.

Oh, and I doubt the cops will throw up any road blocks for an old knucklehead like me with a loud motorcycle.

Now about the BMF factor, once you REALLY get it and apply it to your fitness business, it will COMPLETELY revolutionize it… just like I revolutionized the fitness marketing industry with my blogging strategies, and the fitness training industry with my Google tactics…  apply this stuff and your business WILL grow to a level you’re sure to be proud of

Ok, let me tell you a little story about the BMF factor…

Recently I blew out a hernia doing heavy box squats ( well, heavy for me anyway… AJ would laugh his ass off at me though and say his Grandma could squat that )… I had the hernia fixed four years ago and then about six months ago I blew right through the mesh the surgeon put in.

So I found a new surgeon who came referred by a good friend and scheduled to have the mesh repaired and the intestines pushed back into their place ( good times )

When the surgeon was telling me how much it would cost, I said no problem, and out of sheer curiosity asked him how much HE made for the 90 minutes of surgery… his personal fee.

He told me and I was blown away, not because of how much he charged, and he did charge a lot.. but because I make substantially more money per hour than he does.

Here he is a well respected and sought-after surgeon, helping put people back together… probably spent YEARS in medical school, has a HUGE staff of nurses and receptionists working for him… and peoples lives are literally in his hands on a daily basis!!!

And me, a guy who pretty much dropped outta school in the 11th grade, has just two employees, numerous drug related felonies that make me completely unemployable by most companies standards, and I make WAY more than this highly respected surgeon.

Plus… I have more freedom, work less hours and am able to help more people get what they want in life.

And it all comes down to one thing… The BMF FACTOR

Recently, in a blog post I talked about how mindset was critical for building a six or seven figure training business, and how even if you’re doin’ all the right business stuff, if your head isn’t in the right place, there’s a good chance you’ll sabotage all the results your marketing and sales COULD be bringing you.

I talked about how Positive Thoughts Plus a Clear Target That You Take Massive Action On Being Super Cool By Helping a Bunch of Other People Get What THEY Want In Life is the key to financial success.

What’s great is that as a fitness trainer you have the opportunity to help FAR more people than you could ever imagine… how?

Well for one, every time you help get someone into shape and lead a healthier lifestyle, you help them to possibly live longer so they can be around for the their friends and family longer… and you’re also  helping them to be a better influence on those around them… possibly motivating others to lead a healthier lifestyle… helping them to be a better and more positive conscious person… and on and on and on… the ripple effect is absolutely mind boggling

I commend you and appreciate all you’re doin’ for the world, and I’m super grateful to be in a position where I help trainers like you help more people, making me a part of that Funkalicious Woo Woo Ripple Effect ( TM ) … how cool is that?

So we spoke of mindset and how critical it is to your success and ability to help others.

And I talked about ACTION. Which is being super cool by helping a bunch of others get what they want in life

Well what are the actions that will allow you to help the most people ( AND make the most money ) ???

Well, there’s training groups and boot camps and possibly getting into info-marketing so you can help more than just one person at a time.

But the REAL key to helping as many people as possible is to be a BMF

Which for my G and PG rated audience ( which isn’t many of you these days… as I’ve purposely offended and scared off as many of them as possible ) stands for Be a Marketing Fanatic

For the other 99% of my audience it’s be a Bad Mutha Fucka ( al a… “which one is it?” …. “it’s the one that says Bad Mutha Fucka”  ) 

Jules was definitely one of the coolest movie characters of all time… what I wouldn’t give to be that cool just for one day

Ok, now here’s the key to being a BMF

Plug Proven Direct Response Marketing Strategies into your business, using all the best channels to pull people into your funnel

In yesterdays blog post about mistakes almost all fitness trainers make,  I talked about how in a perfect world the BEST trainers would be the one to make the most money

I mean it’s only fair right?

The better you are at getting people into shape, the better compensated you should be… but that’s simply not the world we live in

However, if you’re still in the trenches of your training business I implore you to be the absolute best trainer you can be. But the fact is that beyond a certain point, getting any better at helping people isn’t gonna make you much extra money… and it actually doesn’t take long to get to this point… if you’re reading this blog, I’m gonna assume you’re already there.

So… WHO makes the most money?

The trainers who are the best at creating the PERCEPTION that their the best … AND spreading that perception to as many interested and qualified prospects as possible

How is this done?

Through the kind of direct response marketing I teach… actually “preach” is more like it

Creating the perception that you are the best will, and that ALL comes down to MARKETING… but not the kinds of marketing they teach in school or in the cert programs… it’s a different kind of marketing.

So by all means, be a kick ass trainer and do everything you can to help your clients get from where they are now to where they want to be quickly, safely and in as fun and healthy as a manner as possible.

But be an even better marketer.

Here’s the definition of TRUE BMF is – A BMF Focuses on Helping People, is GREAT at HOW they Help People, and Is a MASTER of Perception and Uses That Mastery To Help a Many Other People as Possible Get What They Want in Life

Its NOT about manipulation… manipulation is a purely selfish act

The BMF uses Perception to help as many other people as possible, by guiding them to make the choices that have THEIR best interest in mind

So if you have a shitty training business and aren’t good at helping people get results, you can’t be a true BMF

Let me break that definition down for you a little deeper just to make sure you’re clear…

A BMF Focuses on Helping People, is GREAT at HOW they Help People ( MEANING if you’re a trainer, you’re a KICK ASS RESULT PRODUCING TRAINER), and Is a MASTER of Perception ( Spreading their marketing message) and Uses That Mastery To Help a Many Other People as Possible Get What They Want in Life ( Helps as many people get into shape as possible because of the ability to spread their powerful and irresistible message through solid direct response marketing strategies and funnels, and therefore is able to help more people with their kick ass workout and training program )

Through marketing you’ll be able to help a lot more people get into shape, meaning marketing not only allows you to make more money, but ALSO allows you to help more people.

Win/win

The more clients you help get what they want, the more you’ll get what you want.

So, exactly how do you spread your marketing message … or Positive Perception Position as I call it, to as many people as possible?

Well, here’s just a few…

One – Gather and display a massive stockpile of as many dramatic before and after pictures as possible

I’ve taken on consulting clients who’ve been training for 20 years and have ZERO before and after pics… and this situation is NOT uncommon trust me. Don’t be this trainer.

Two – Get as many specific video and text testimonials as possible… the best testimonials answer these questions

1. What was your life like before training with me/us ?

2. What were you skeptical about before joining ?

3. What SPECIFIC results did you achieve?

4. What’s your life like now?

Here’s a damn near perfect one over on the right

It’s got a GREAT before and after picture… where the dude just looks stoked on life in the after shot… even giving the ol’ hang loose sign… it has a headline that taps into something that a lot of men REALLY want… their REAL core reason for training… it has his whole name, where he lives and occupation.

Plus, it answers most of these questions…

1. What was your life like before training with ______ ? …” never able to get rid of gut, felt like he was one big clogged artery”

2. What were you skeptical about before joining ? … he didn’t answer this one, but a great answer woulda been something like… “I had friends try OTHER trainers in Irvine and they got no results at all, so I was SUPER skeptical of trainers”

3. What SPECIFIC results did you achieve? …” lost 33 pounds going from 183lbs down to 150 pounds in less than four months”  ( note: odd numbers are best… like the 33 and 183  )

4. What’s your life like now? … “people I’ve known for years don’t recognize me.. feel like a clean vessel… have never felt this way in his life.. have 10 times more energy, self-esteem and confidence… women are now noticing him left and right I’m getting a ton of positive attention” ( that last benefit there is the shiznit and why many people hire trainers in the first place, even though very few will ever admit it without some serious probing… no pun intended )

Let’s say you have 20 testimonials like this and your nearest competitor has 2… even though they may be the worlds best trainer… but just because you’re better at:

A. Asking for testimonials and before and after pics

B. Schooling your clients on the kind of information you’re looking for IN the testimonials ( like answers to the four questions above for example )

C. And displaying these testimonials and before and after pics in all the right places…

YOU are immediately positioned as the better trainer

Now, to REALLY position yourself as THE go-to trainer in your area, combine these two strategies with the next one…

Three - Get your site to the top of Google for as many of your search terms as possible…. and even better, own the whole damn first page of Google like many of my coaching clients do… like Sams here…

.. Now when your prospective client searches on Google for personal training, fitness training, boot camps, weight loss and any variation or combination of about 100 other terms that relate to you, your location and what you offer… they keep running into YOUR pages, and all those pages are packed with all the people in your local area you’ve helped to attain the exact kinda results THEIR looking to attain ( the testimonials and before and after pictures)… choosing YOUR service over everyone else’s is a no brainier

People often perceive what’s #1 in Google is #1 in terms of Value

Now, getting into the in’s and outs of how to do this is FAR beyond the scope of this post, but you should know there are three main elements of Google that pertain to you…

- Google Organic – which you I’m gonna be helping members of my new virtual mentorship training program with and making it as simple as possible, even having my assistant train people to do the work FOR them… but in the meantime you CAN learn quite a bit about in a free blog post I did by clicking here

- Google Local Business Listings – which is the OTHER free Google, and has changed QUITE A BIT recently… and has actually gotten to the point where Google trusts pretty much NOTHING you say about your business… but lately through much trial and error I’ve cracked the code ( for lack of saying it in a cooler more ninja sounding way) in their local algorithm and will be helping my new virtual mentorship training members with this one as well

- Google Adwords – Which has gotten so damn complex for your average trainer recently that unless Google lightens up on us a little, I’m having most of my consulting clients move their PPC dollars over to Facebook and their getting MUCH better results with it and getting a much better ROI … more leads and clients for less advertising costs… which is always a good thing. But it’s not the way most trainers have been doin’ facebook ads, I’ve developed a simple three step method that is getting results quite like nothing I’ve ever seen before… it’s pretty sick.

Four – You can do what I did when I started out training… now I’ll admit, every time I mention this it ticks a few people off… but it works… so here it is

I filled my group training sessions with local models I trained for free

Go-go dancers, figure models, fashion models, bikini models… you name it… the kind of women that have bodies most women would kill for and most men think about 24/7 … or at least three times every nine seconds 24/7

At the time I found them on Myspace, but I believe trainers are having better luck these days using Craigslist and Model Mayhem  ( HOWEVER… don’t quote me though, as I haven’t used this tactic in long time and can’t think of anyone currently using it off the top of my head.. so I’m sure if Model Mayhem and CL are the place places to implement this one)

My crowd was 20-50 year old men and women who were in decent shape but wanted to look great… so these models were PERFECT for my biz, but in some business this strategy will flat out not work… it’s definitely NOT for everyone… I’m just telling you what worked for me

Training these girls did four very important things…

- It created the perception to anyone coming in for a trail workout that I was a great trainer if all these models train with me ( or that I was a flat out stud and a chick magnet… which is the reality that went on in MY mind… but the first option was more likely closer to the truth for anyone but me )

- It got me some GREAT testimonials for my website

- Many of them referred their friends who PAID for training

- Guys would come in for a trial workout after spending all day in a boring cubicle, see these girls in my workouts and think “oh shit, this is the place for me, sign me up” … you wanna attract male clients ( which is a large percent of the population) ? Fill your group workout with VERY attractive female clients … the men go where the women are… every time, it’s just how we’re wired.

I’ve included examples of a few of the girls here, while the testimonials aren’t perfect, the pictures are worth a thousand words.

Now those are just a FEW of the ways to use the BMF Factor in you’re training business…

This being a blog post, me getting tired from the massive carb “heroin like” trance I’m falling into from the Alfredo… and the fact that I’m an embarrassingly slow typer… means I’m gonna have to wrap this up in a minute

I DID take typing in the 9th grade, but I smoked a few bowls of weed everyday before school, and typing class was first period… my brain just never “got it” … In the final test, I typed 7 words a minute, but only 3 after the teacher deducted for errors.

While I haven’t smoked weed for the better part of ten years, I still “peck” instead of type, people who see me peck-type and immediately begin laughing their asses off… so would you if you could only see it.

There are TONS of other ways to plug The BMF Factor into your business and spread the perception on a wide enough scale that you are THE only choice in your area when it comes to getting into shape, to make you some SERIOUS money and help as many people as you’re willing to help…

… And I’ll be walking fitness pros through it step-by-step in my upcoming Virtual Mentoring and Training Mastermind… helping them plug it all into their businesses…but just know that besides the testimonials, before and after, Google Local and Google Organic placements, having models in your groups and boot camps IF your business is a good fit for that strategy.. there’s also thing like…

• Local Listing Reviews – factoring in position, quality, quantity and believability
• Your CORE Sales Message
• Your Video Marketing Strategy
• Media Appearances - print, radio and television ( MUCH easier to get than most trainers realize and VERY under utilized in an effective manner)
• The Shape YOU’RE in ( this one I dropped the ball on for years personally… forcing me to become a master at most of the others )
• What I Call The “Community Hero Scenario”
  
• The Shape Your Clients are in
• What Your Clients Say About You – and to whom they say it to ( with a little schooling in this, you’re current client base can be a gold mine, very few trainers use this asset correctly )
• The Car You Drive – yep, it matters
• Your “Show” – or scripted presentation if you will designed to take them from point of contact to handing you there credit card
• What You Say and How You Say It
• Power Social Ad Messages Using a Three Step Sequence
• Your Body Language
• Strategically Placed High-Powered Lead Magnets Using Proven Direct Response Ad Copy on Them
• Literally EVERYTHING you do
• How You Position Yourself in Person and On The Phone – Do you qualify people or come from a place of neediness? … MOST trainers come from a place of desperation and neediness… even though they’re not aware of it at all.

You need to be completely detached from caring whether or not the person signs up with you, and be able to ask for the money, no matter how much it is with a straight face…

When I first started training I used to get so nervous just asking for like $200 – $300 for a month of group training… but now I can tell any trainer or studio owner in the world that if they want to do a day of consulting with me it’s $10,000.00 up front… no discounts what so ever… and ya know what? I could really care less if they take it or not, I know what I’m worth, I know that’s a drop in the bucket compared to what they can make doin’ what I tell them to do, and if I never do another day of private consulting in my life that’ll be just fine by me…

I have about 27 other streams of income, don’t need the money, and there’s about 73 other things I’d rather do with a day… and the crazy thing it, this makes them want it more…

Now it’s unintentional, and it’s totally authentic, but the less I want them as clients the more they want me ( women are the same way I’ve noticed, but that’s a story for a different day )

The more you NEED money and NEED clients… the less they’ll want to train with you… the less you want them even to the point of trying to talk them out of it … the more they’ll want to train with you…

So in my fitness training business I used qualifying scripts that would get people practically BEGGING for me to take them on as client… this took all the weirdness ( and cheesy salesman pushiness) out of it for me, allowed me to charge premium prices, and positioned me as the best around… and it made it so much damn more fun and relaxing… that pushy stuff creeps me out.. I don’t like to be on EITHER end of that kind of conversation.

I’ll be helping trainers put this “qualification process”  in place in their business the upcoming virtual mentoring program I mentioned above, but I’ll admit, when you’re broke and NEED clients it’s a little weird to pull off at first, but if you just plug my systems into your business, after you do it just a few times all the weirdness will go away and it’ll be like second nature

ALL of these things come into play

I work with some of the worlds top fitness pros who I won’t name but you would know from sites like Tnation.com, magazines like Mens Health and Mens Fitness and so on… who while being some of the top fitness experts in the world were GROSSLY underpaid, but now they’re plugging this stuff into their marketing are commanding what their worth

And I’ll be frank with you… I also have some coaching clients who aren’t really all that great of trainers… YET make high six and even multiple seven figures, cuz they’ve plugged in my BMF Factor

I’ll be covering some more of these strategies for you in the future in upcoming blog posts

But remember… it’s about marketing… perception… and being a straight-up BMF

While you may think you’re in the fitness training business… if you want to really succeed you’ll understand you’re in the YOU business

You actually don’t sell training… you sell YOU.

One of my favorite quotes is by Gene Simmons…. and it’s nothing more than “I’m in the Gene Simmons Business”

That’s how simple it is… there’s really no need to complicate it… even though that’s what our minds want to do… the mind goes ” it CAN’T be this easy… give me a problem to solve damnit!!!”

The mind makes a GREAT employee, but a HORRIBLE boss

You’re in the business of YOU… Gene Simmons gets this, so does Howard Stern, Bill Phillips, Jillian Michaels, Tony Robbins, Oprah, Donald Trump and most great politicians… love em’ or hate em’ … they know what makes people tick, they know what business they’re in, they know it’s all about perception and marketing.

It’s about matching peoples perception of you and your training business with them getting the body, life and experiences they want…. and more importantly, matching the relationship between giving YOU money with getting those things.

So don’t complicate it… but don’t forget it or not act upon it either.

What you do with this information is what matters… cuz just knowing it might make you a little smarter… in fact 99.99% of our industry has NO IDEA about this stuff… so it’ll make you A LOT smarter than them… but it won’t put any more money into your pocket UNLESS you plug it into your life and business.

Print this out and read it every day if that helps you… but more important implement it.

If you’d like my personal help putting this to work in your life and business for you, like I mentioned above in a few weeks I have a Virtual Mentoring and Masterminding Training Program… where I’m gonna help plug every single thing I know that is proven to work to make fitness businesses as successful as possible right into YOUR business

This is not a program about overloading you with information

It’s about taking your business from where it is now to between the $100K and $500K a year level in as short of a time as REALISTICALLY possible.

We’ll do this together by plugging in…

- The best “no fluff” client-getting strategies that are working right now today… and remember, things have a changed, a lot of the ways to get clients that worked just a year or two ago NO LONGER WORK… so having the RIGHT strategies is key

- Proven systems in place that allow you to convert as many leads, prospects and trials into paying clients as possible… let’s face it, you’ll NEVER be able to convert all of them.. but with the program I’m opening up, you’ll be able to convert the highest percent possible

- The best strategies to retain clients for as long as possible and ascend and upsell your best clients into high priced programs (something most trainers completely ignore but can literally double your income WITHOUT creating any extra work or costing you any extra money or time in marketing )

- Exactly how to scale your business, growing it to as profitable level as possible while you can continue to work less and less… even if that means no longer training at all but still collecting a consistent and predictable six-figure income from your business just like I do, while EVERYONE ELSE DOES ALL THE WORK FOR YOU

I’ve put all these strategies together for you in one easy to implement program, it’s the same stuff that my high-end consulting clients who fly in form all over the world spend $10,000.00 a day with me to learn, but this program will be a small fraction of that.

This won’t help you get rich quick… what it will do is fill the gap between where you are now and where you deserve to be.

I only want you to join if it feels 100% right to you in your gut and you can without question see the value in the program when I open the doors.

AND…. I only want to take on people who are willing plug the systems in to their businesses right away, not just get the temporary crack high that comes with joining a program with this and then never putting it to use ( ever had anyone come sign up for training and NOT show up for the workouts? If they’d just followed your program they could’ve gotten amazing results right? … but instead they just got the temporary buzz or HIRING a trainer without ever actually working out )

If you’re interested, keep an eye on the emails I’ll be sending you over the next few weeks, and even if you’re not interested, keep an eye out anyway cuz I’m gonna be sending you tons of cool free stuff you can put to work for you in your business anyway

Hope you enjoyed this post

Talk Soon,

Big Chris (=

I’d love to hear your comments below, and by the way while I don’t ALWAYS have time to respond to each and every one, they DO mean a lot to me and I appreciate them