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kasers
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Something real funny happened to me recently, where I screwed up my first session with a new client - it turns out to be a good lesson on the relationship sale for Personal Trainers, so I posted it up on my blog - here's the article:
ANATOMY OF A FU*K-UP!!! The Personal Training Sales Process Gone Horribly Wrong! - A look into the pitfalls that screw up a new client every time ...
I take a lot of pride in how I've developed an air-tight sales cycle. Heck, I even brag about it sometimes. It's the same or even easier for other Top-Level Trainers so that's nothing new.
But I recently LOST a high-value, ideal client. These are the clients that have the potential to pay you your high rates, lead to many referrals, and fit perfectly into your specialty and future marketing efforts. In replaying this debacle in my head, I realized a lot could be learned from what went wrong. It deals with the entire client gaining and retention process for independent trainers. We'll be focusing on that heavily on Super-Trainer in the next few weeks, so this gives us an early opportunity by dissecting this disaster.More...
Part 1: Pre-Game
There's a whole part to this process that takes place before you and the client ever even meet. I call this the Pre-Game.
I did everything in this phase right. They found me through my website through some basic marketing I did on Craigslist. Craigslist is a goldmine for me whenever I need new clients, which I'm looking to add for the summer, now that it's easier for me to move around on my bike. I have no problem sharing this fact because a lot of trainers know about it, but few can really attract clients well through it. You need to know how to write good ads and have a strong website, and in a head-to-head I can always kick-ass.
You get a lot of flakes through here, but every now and then you get some very strong leads. You need to have a strong screening process so you can tell them apart in order to save yourself a lot of time. But assuming your game is tight, slowly but surely you'll be able to attract a very strong client base.
I'll keep the name of this prospect private for obvious reasons - her first contact to me was through email and went like this:
I'm looking for a personal trainer to come to my home in Forest Hills, NY. I have a gym in my building. I would also like for my husband to work out with me.
Right away this sounds like an ideal situation to train out of for me. If you read the Whistleblower Report, you know my entire success was based on training out of a residential building. If you were ever wondering how to train clients easily, these luxury buildings are a perfect situation. They’re a captive audience of high income individuals. They love the convenience of having a trainer come to their own residential gym to train them – and they're usually willing to pay a premium for this service. If you do a good job in these settings, people notice, and before you know it you have a nice group of clients that you train out of one location - almost like a private studio without any rent.
With any email inquiry I get, my goal is to get them on the phone as quickly as possible - the key is to create a relationship, and the telephone is a more personal medium. This was my reply:
Ok - good that you have a gym on location -
Good to know because we'll surely need it at times -
Fill me in some more on the goals of you and your husband -
As you know, I have a 3 session package you can try to start -
But before that we can begin to map out a gameplan and basic eating guidelines if necessary -
Give me a call at 917-555-8717 so we can talk some more - talk to you soon -
Besides getting her on the phone, you'll notice that I also was asking about her personally in the email - there are two reasons:
1. puts you in control (in sales, the one who is asking questions has control)
2. subtly begins the training process - if you can start the coaching process in some way quickly, you'll be the one the client choses to continue with.
Like I said, questions in the sales process means control - this client could probably sense this subconsciously (smart), and in her next email she responded with a simple, blunt question:
What is your fee?
This was a direct price question, and you need to somehow sidestep these until someone has met you and experienced your product. This is a basic rule in sales, that you should never quote the full price until they've clearly made the decision to buy. This obviously can't take place until they've met you and trained with you. If you do quote the full price, you run the risk of killing the sale at the very beginning; think about how many times you've told a client your price in the very beginning and heard them say "ok, I'll think about it".
I combat this by having a discounted three session introductory package - this allows them to experience my training first at a discounted price. This creates commitment and consistency on their part, and allows me to WOW them with my training up-front. This later allows me to charge more than had I quoted my full price from the beginning - so here was my response:
The first three sessions are $199 total -
You'll get an idea for what I have to offer, and I'll know if you're
right for my type of training (you may also to see some results
in this short time) - we can take it from there – thanks
You'll also notice in the tone of my email, that I created a velvet rope around my training. This is important because it's vital to your credibility not to seem desperate - you always want the client to feel you're screening them to see if they're right for you.
So she called me the next day – I've had hundreds of these appointment conversations over the years so it's hard for me to screw them up ( I talked a little bit about the sales conversation in a previous post). We discussed her goals and workout history- my objective again was to create more report, comfort, and begin the training process. Over the course of our next few emails and phone calls I planned out her location and determined how it fits into my route - tuns out it would be perfect and we were set for Monday at noon.
As you can see, I handled the pre-game, perfectly - if you follow these rules you can almost always schedule the first appointment without a hitch. The one thing to remember is to go slowly - don't rush things! This means give value first in terms of coaching and questioning, and don't quote your full price until the appropriate time. If they ask your full price, tell them this:
"I'd prefer that we waited until after the three sessions for me to tell you my full price. Training varies greatly from trainer to trainer, and I'd prefer you got a feel for my particular training style before we talked about price. I also need to find out if you're right for my training, because as you can imagine not every client is right for every trainer - how does that sound to you?"
This explanation will never meet with a negative response. They key is to get the training relationship started in any way possible, and do an amazing job in those three sessions. If you take care of that, you guarantee a new client.
Unfortunately, a lot of would-be great trainers screw the whole pre-game up. They convey a very poor image through their website, appear desperate, and can't create commitment and consistency. I’m lucky - through trial-and-error have learned to create a really appealing presentation to my prospects.
Part 2: In-Game
And of course, there's the face-to-face game of Personal Training. This part is just as important as the Pre-Game and happens to be where I screwed things up and lost this sale.
I've worked hard to make face-to-face interaction my strength. I normally want to get the new prospect face-to-face as fast as possible. I try to make such a positive impression through my preparedness and training style as to make the continuation of the training relationship automatic.
But in this case it was where I probably lost the sale - let me tell the rest:
So we scheduled the meeting for 12 noon the following Monday. When I made the appointment, this time worked really well for me. It fit directly into my commute in Queens and assured me no downtime. But this Monday, things got a little screwed up for me ...
I was out of town all weekend, and because of a scheduling problem ended up getting back the Monday morning of the session. With traffic and other set-backs I didn't end up even getting home until 12! I called my new client to tell her that I would be about an hour late (although I probably should have said I would be even later or have rescheduled). And needless to say, showing up late to your very first session doesn't make a very positive first impression to begin (read my post on punctuality).
After taking a shower and getting in my car, I had to call her again and let her know that I would be even a little later than 1:00. I was leaving the house ill-prepared and in a rush and don't know why I didn't reschedule. At this point, I was staggering into the session with my tail between my legs.
She was obviously slightly peeved by her tone, and told me we'd have to reschedule because she had to pick her children up from school. Since I was already on my way, I told her I would train her for a half hour at no charge, just to get acquainted. At that time I thought this was a good way to cover my losses, but it probably made things even worse.
Giving out free sessions is a common sales tactic in Personal Training, especially in the health-club setting. It's the desperate way trainers try to gain a captive audience to make their sales pitch. But in high-level consulting, it's not as useful - it communicates that you need the business. This isn't a strong position - it's not one that you can charge high rates and demand strong compliance from. That's why I never do it.
This was a client that probably had the check for $199 written and in her hand already, so backtracking this into a free session was a bad move for me. The first scenario had us committed to 3 full training sessions - this one had us set-up for a free 20 minute "quickie".
And to make things worse, I also happened to be a mess. I usually pay close attention to my grooming and dress, but today both were weak. When you’re an on-location trainer, the entire business and store-front is YOU. How you present yourself is even more important than the quality of the training, because like it or not, in business and life we judge books by their covers. We immediately and automatically make a judgment of the quality of a product or service based on how it looks or is packaged.
In this case, I showered, shaved, and my clothes were clean - but I wasn't my usual self. I wasn't wearing my usual, new training clothes, my hair wasn't as sharp as usual, and since I didn't have a chance to unpack, I wasn't wearing cologne or deodorant (if you're eating now, I apologize) I was training a gorgeous woman in the comfort of her luxury residence, and I didn't make the impression that I belonged. Not so bad, but considering I was rushing all morning, didn't eat, and knew I wasn't at my best, I didn't feel my best either.
During the session, I usually take notes in a progress book I create for every client. It has there name on it and consists of custom tracking sheets I've created for my business. Although I don't make a big deal about it, clients notice - it shows them that they're working with a REAL professional. And I usually plan all my client sessions in advance so I'm completely prepared and relaxed when I walk into the session. Today, I was messily scribbling notes into a small notepad - if she had read all of my sales text on my website that promises the world, she was now probably wondering "what the hell is up"?
And lastly, with the shortage of time, I couldn't deliver my usual high-caliber training session. I couldn't show my full range of training techniques and I couldn't finish with my patented stretching techniques. The stretching I do with clients at the end of a session is that last personal touch - it adds even more value to an already excellent session and ends things on an extremely positive note.
In addition, I usually have three full sessions to completely impress a new client with my knowledge and quality of training, but this was a one shot deal and I clearly didn't have the chance to do that.
Speaking of which, at the end of the session, I foolishly forgot to ask her for the $199 payment for the three sessions. Despite the poor impression I made, I could have still salvaged the entire deal had I done this. We just finished with scheduling our next session (which was 10 days later, since I was going to Vegas), and left it at that.
Although on my worst day I think I'm better than most trainers out there because I just care more and have more experience, that's not enough. I WOW clients in every aspect of dealing with me, from beginning to end. I challenge you to look at every part of your training and improve any area where you're not doing the same. This is what keeps my rates high, and makes my marketing almost automatic. That's why I often have a little trouble relating when trainers tell me about all their problems getting and keeping clients; I've been semi-retired for years.
Although my training today might have been "adequate", I didn't do anything to differentiate myself from the flock. I looked disorganized, needy, and might have smelled a little too! High-end customers are very savvy – they know what dealing with a top-consultant should look and feel like. This day, I didn't fit the bill.
So the end of the story is while I was in Vegas, I sent this client a follow-up email - she replied and told me she and her husband couldn't train with me at this time :-( There was a time when this kind of rejection in my practice was common place. But now, it was like hard wet towel-whip to the ass. I'm not used to being rejected - I've set things up so if anything, I'm the one doing the rejecting. It made me think a lot about what happened, and as you've just read I now realize what went wrong
In the world of high-end training, customers are extremely aware of every minute detail. Although it sucked, this was the kind of wake-up I needed. It's put my attention back on a process which I was starting to take for granted - learn from my mistake!
I don’t know which of my competitors will get the business – but I hope they enjoy it. Hey, I've got to let them eat sometimes too!
You can find the original article on my blog here:
http://super-trainer.com/anatomy-of...tfulls-that-screw-up-a-new-client-every-time/
ANATOMY OF A FU*K-UP!!! The Personal Training Sales Process Gone Horribly Wrong! - A look into the pitfalls that screw up a new client every time ...
I take a lot of pride in how I've developed an air-tight sales cycle. Heck, I even brag about it sometimes. It's the same or even easier for other Top-Level Trainers so that's nothing new.
But I recently LOST a high-value, ideal client. These are the clients that have the potential to pay you your high rates, lead to many referrals, and fit perfectly into your specialty and future marketing efforts. In replaying this debacle in my head, I realized a lot could be learned from what went wrong. It deals with the entire client gaining and retention process for independent trainers. We'll be focusing on that heavily on Super-Trainer in the next few weeks, so this gives us an early opportunity by dissecting this disaster.More...
Part 1: Pre-Game
There's a whole part to this process that takes place before you and the client ever even meet. I call this the Pre-Game.
I did everything in this phase right. They found me through my website through some basic marketing I did on Craigslist. Craigslist is a goldmine for me whenever I need new clients, which I'm looking to add for the summer, now that it's easier for me to move around on my bike. I have no problem sharing this fact because a lot of trainers know about it, but few can really attract clients well through it. You need to know how to write good ads and have a strong website, and in a head-to-head I can always kick-ass.
You get a lot of flakes through here, but every now and then you get some very strong leads. You need to have a strong screening process so you can tell them apart in order to save yourself a lot of time. But assuming your game is tight, slowly but surely you'll be able to attract a very strong client base.
I'll keep the name of this prospect private for obvious reasons - her first contact to me was through email and went like this:
I'm looking for a personal trainer to come to my home in Forest Hills, NY. I have a gym in my building. I would also like for my husband to work out with me.
Right away this sounds like an ideal situation to train out of for me. If you read the Whistleblower Report, you know my entire success was based on training out of a residential building. If you were ever wondering how to train clients easily, these luxury buildings are a perfect situation. They’re a captive audience of high income individuals. They love the convenience of having a trainer come to their own residential gym to train them – and they're usually willing to pay a premium for this service. If you do a good job in these settings, people notice, and before you know it you have a nice group of clients that you train out of one location - almost like a private studio without any rent.
With any email inquiry I get, my goal is to get them on the phone as quickly as possible - the key is to create a relationship, and the telephone is a more personal medium. This was my reply:
Ok - good that you have a gym on location -
Good to know because we'll surely need it at times -
Fill me in some more on the goals of you and your husband -
As you know, I have a 3 session package you can try to start -
But before that we can begin to map out a gameplan and basic eating guidelines if necessary -
Give me a call at 917-555-8717 so we can talk some more - talk to you soon -
Besides getting her on the phone, you'll notice that I also was asking about her personally in the email - there are two reasons:
1. puts you in control (in sales, the one who is asking questions has control)
2. subtly begins the training process - if you can start the coaching process in some way quickly, you'll be the one the client choses to continue with.
Like I said, questions in the sales process means control - this client could probably sense this subconsciously (smart), and in her next email she responded with a simple, blunt question:
What is your fee?
This was a direct price question, and you need to somehow sidestep these until someone has met you and experienced your product. This is a basic rule in sales, that you should never quote the full price until they've clearly made the decision to buy. This obviously can't take place until they've met you and trained with you. If you do quote the full price, you run the risk of killing the sale at the very beginning; think about how many times you've told a client your price in the very beginning and heard them say "ok, I'll think about it".
I combat this by having a discounted three session introductory package - this allows them to experience my training first at a discounted price. This creates commitment and consistency on their part, and allows me to WOW them with my training up-front. This later allows me to charge more than had I quoted my full price from the beginning - so here was my response:
The first three sessions are $199 total -
You'll get an idea for what I have to offer, and I'll know if you're
right for my type of training (you may also to see some results
in this short time) - we can take it from there – thanks
You'll also notice in the tone of my email, that I created a velvet rope around my training. This is important because it's vital to your credibility not to seem desperate - you always want the client to feel you're screening them to see if they're right for you.
So she called me the next day – I've had hundreds of these appointment conversations over the years so it's hard for me to screw them up ( I talked a little bit about the sales conversation in a previous post). We discussed her goals and workout history- my objective again was to create more report, comfort, and begin the training process. Over the course of our next few emails and phone calls I planned out her location and determined how it fits into my route - tuns out it would be perfect and we were set for Monday at noon.
As you can see, I handled the pre-game, perfectly - if you follow these rules you can almost always schedule the first appointment without a hitch. The one thing to remember is to go slowly - don't rush things! This means give value first in terms of coaching and questioning, and don't quote your full price until the appropriate time. If they ask your full price, tell them this:
"I'd prefer that we waited until after the three sessions for me to tell you my full price. Training varies greatly from trainer to trainer, and I'd prefer you got a feel for my particular training style before we talked about price. I also need to find out if you're right for my training, because as you can imagine not every client is right for every trainer - how does that sound to you?"
This explanation will never meet with a negative response. They key is to get the training relationship started in any way possible, and do an amazing job in those three sessions. If you take care of that, you guarantee a new client.
Unfortunately, a lot of would-be great trainers screw the whole pre-game up. They convey a very poor image through their website, appear desperate, and can't create commitment and consistency. I’m lucky - through trial-and-error have learned to create a really appealing presentation to my prospects.
Part 2: In-Game
And of course, there's the face-to-face game of Personal Training. This part is just as important as the Pre-Game and happens to be where I screwed things up and lost this sale.
I've worked hard to make face-to-face interaction my strength. I normally want to get the new prospect face-to-face as fast as possible. I try to make such a positive impression through my preparedness and training style as to make the continuation of the training relationship automatic.
But in this case it was where I probably lost the sale - let me tell the rest:
So we scheduled the meeting for 12 noon the following Monday. When I made the appointment, this time worked really well for me. It fit directly into my commute in Queens and assured me no downtime. But this Monday, things got a little screwed up for me ...
I was out of town all weekend, and because of a scheduling problem ended up getting back the Monday morning of the session. With traffic and other set-backs I didn't end up even getting home until 12! I called my new client to tell her that I would be about an hour late (although I probably should have said I would be even later or have rescheduled). And needless to say, showing up late to your very first session doesn't make a very positive first impression to begin (read my post on punctuality).
After taking a shower and getting in my car, I had to call her again and let her know that I would be even a little later than 1:00. I was leaving the house ill-prepared and in a rush and don't know why I didn't reschedule. At this point, I was staggering into the session with my tail between my legs.
She was obviously slightly peeved by her tone, and told me we'd have to reschedule because she had to pick her children up from school. Since I was already on my way, I told her I would train her for a half hour at no charge, just to get acquainted. At that time I thought this was a good way to cover my losses, but it probably made things even worse.
Giving out free sessions is a common sales tactic in Personal Training, especially in the health-club setting. It's the desperate way trainers try to gain a captive audience to make their sales pitch. But in high-level consulting, it's not as useful - it communicates that you need the business. This isn't a strong position - it's not one that you can charge high rates and demand strong compliance from. That's why I never do it.
This was a client that probably had the check for $199 written and in her hand already, so backtracking this into a free session was a bad move for me. The first scenario had us committed to 3 full training sessions - this one had us set-up for a free 20 minute "quickie".
And to make things worse, I also happened to be a mess. I usually pay close attention to my grooming and dress, but today both were weak. When you’re an on-location trainer, the entire business and store-front is YOU. How you present yourself is even more important than the quality of the training, because like it or not, in business and life we judge books by their covers. We immediately and automatically make a judgment of the quality of a product or service based on how it looks or is packaged.
In this case, I showered, shaved, and my clothes were clean - but I wasn't my usual self. I wasn't wearing my usual, new training clothes, my hair wasn't as sharp as usual, and since I didn't have a chance to unpack, I wasn't wearing cologne or deodorant (if you're eating now, I apologize) I was training a gorgeous woman in the comfort of her luxury residence, and I didn't make the impression that I belonged. Not so bad, but considering I was rushing all morning, didn't eat, and knew I wasn't at my best, I didn't feel my best either.
During the session, I usually take notes in a progress book I create for every client. It has there name on it and consists of custom tracking sheets I've created for my business. Although I don't make a big deal about it, clients notice - it shows them that they're working with a REAL professional. And I usually plan all my client sessions in advance so I'm completely prepared and relaxed when I walk into the session. Today, I was messily scribbling notes into a small notepad - if she had read all of my sales text on my website that promises the world, she was now probably wondering "what the hell is up"?
And lastly, with the shortage of time, I couldn't deliver my usual high-caliber training session. I couldn't show my full range of training techniques and I couldn't finish with my patented stretching techniques. The stretching I do with clients at the end of a session is that last personal touch - it adds even more value to an already excellent session and ends things on an extremely positive note.
In addition, I usually have three full sessions to completely impress a new client with my knowledge and quality of training, but this was a one shot deal and I clearly didn't have the chance to do that.
Speaking of which, at the end of the session, I foolishly forgot to ask her for the $199 payment for the three sessions. Despite the poor impression I made, I could have still salvaged the entire deal had I done this. We just finished with scheduling our next session (which was 10 days later, since I was going to Vegas), and left it at that.
Although on my worst day I think I'm better than most trainers out there because I just care more and have more experience, that's not enough. I WOW clients in every aspect of dealing with me, from beginning to end. I challenge you to look at every part of your training and improve any area where you're not doing the same. This is what keeps my rates high, and makes my marketing almost automatic. That's why I often have a little trouble relating when trainers tell me about all their problems getting and keeping clients; I've been semi-retired for years.
Although my training today might have been "adequate", I didn't do anything to differentiate myself from the flock. I looked disorganized, needy, and might have smelled a little too! High-end customers are very savvy – they know what dealing with a top-consultant should look and feel like. This day, I didn't fit the bill.
So the end of the story is while I was in Vegas, I sent this client a follow-up email - she replied and told me she and her husband couldn't train with me at this time :-( There was a time when this kind of rejection in my practice was common place. But now, it was like hard wet towel-whip to the ass. I'm not used to being rejected - I've set things up so if anything, I'm the one doing the rejecting. It made me think a lot about what happened, and as you've just read I now realize what went wrong
In the world of high-end training, customers are extremely aware of every minute detail. Although it sucked, this was the kind of wake-up I needed. It's put my attention back on a process which I was starting to take for granted - learn from my mistake!
I don’t know which of my competitors will get the business – but I hope they enjoy it. Hey, I've got to let them eat sometimes too!
You can find the original article on my blog here:
http://super-trainer.com/anatomy-of...tfulls-that-screw-up-a-new-client-every-time/
