You don’t have to be an expert, but you do have to be a continuous learner – Mark Schaefer
The greatest challenge I faced as a personal training business owner was not leads, nor sales, and not even retaining clients! It was the fact I was alone in business and wondered if my performance was industry average or following the best business practices to achieve optimal results.
As a business owner, life can be tough! It can be lonely. It can be frustrating. And it can be rewarding. But most of all, as a personal training business owner it is unique and often only fellow personal trainers understand what you go through on a day-to-day basis.
And that is just one unique aspect of the Industry Leaders Roundtable.
In 1994, the Roundtable concept came to Australia for gym owners. It was 10 to 12 non-competing gym owners coming together 3 to 4 times a year to explore how to do business better – defined as more profitable, less stress and different to your competitors. As a member of the first ever Roundtable, I experienced first hand the benefits of stepping out of my business to work on my business and loved it so much I started Australia’s first Roundtable for personal trainers in 2006.
Eleven years later, we are now the longest running Roundtable program in the country with hundreds of thousands of dollars saved by business owners, thanks to our examination of the costs in a PT business. We have helped owners make hundreds of thousands of dollars in both turnover and profit by examining sales processes and the financial make up of products. And we have saved many PTs from burn out as we help them put into perspective work and life.
The Personal Trainers Industry Leaders Roundtable is the most unique program for business owners for 5 reasons:
For many the most important aspect of being a member of this group is there are no competitors allowed on the same Roundtable. This enables open, frank and honest conversations, all critical to building a deep level of trust.
I would love the opportunity to tell you more about the Victorian Personal Trainers Industry Leaders Roundtable, if you are keen to improve your business. I appreciate how busy you can be as a personal trainer, so I will fit in around you!
Just click here to make a time and then I will buzz you.
Look forward to chatting with you.
JT
Commerce Bank in the US ran a campaign with their staff to “Kill The Stupid Rule.” This meant that bank managers and tellers were encouraged to examine how the bank did things and if they were able to reduce the friction points in the business, then they would be given a $100 cash bonus.
In many businesses we have had ‘rules’ based on industry history or even based on what was the trend when we opened.
Consumer expectations have changed and you may not have updated your rules to meet their new demands.
These rules can and do create friction points in the member joining or staying.
I’m going out on a limb. I’m going to say it, “Most sales people are failed by the people that employ and or manage them!”
During this week’s show learn what you need to do to manage your sales team.
Check out all previous shows here: http://www.activemgmt.com.au/category/jt-in-the-raw/
There are countless books, blogs, podcasts and opinions on what makes an effective leader.
These five fundamentals are a good place to start:
For FREE – check out www.FitnessBusinessPodcast.com
For less than 50 bucks a year – check out:
For less than 250 bucks a year – check out:
Sometimes we think we know want members want, but why not let them tell us? – Chris Stevenson
Use the code 'Active' to save 25 and grab your staff marketing tool for only 25 bucks!
or Become a Silver Member and get it plus more FREE!
One difference between a good fitness business leader and a great fitness business leader is that great leader’s self-evaluate performance.
This week’s show is focused on questions you need to ask yourself after your day of work; a tour; a price presentation or even a 1:1 meeting with a team member. Indeed, the more you self-evaluate the more you can innovate, change and improve for success.
The 3 questions you should ask at the end of the day if you want to be transformational leader:
Check out all previous shows here: http://www.activemgmt.com.au/category/jt-in-the-raw/
You need to take care of your team, communicate often and communicate simply – Trina Gray
What would you think when the maintenance man, who can barely speak English and needs to visit a dentist for two prosthetic teeth to complete his pearly whites, in a hotel looks at your squarely in the eyes and says “Good morning. Have a great day.” Then brings his palms together, fingers pointed to the sky and bows.
What would you think if this happened many times every day?
What would you think if the maintenance men were just a sub-contractors and not even an employee?
And what would you think if the employed housekeepers, wait staff and receptionists all replicate that behaviour every day every moment?
What would you think?
Welcome to #JTInTheRaw show 53 where I chew the thin on business and today I’m going to challenge each and everyone of you to lift your game! More to come…
But first thanks to everyone for their well wishes on show 52! Two weeks ago I celebrated a year of shows and you guys rocked with your compliments. I’m grateful!
It was in show 52 that I talked about having a scoreboard in your business. The quote of the week was “People play differently when they are keeping score.”
Your actions you are doing daily to achieve your weekly, monthly or even annual goal are captured on a visual scoreboard and updated regularly.
If you missed show 52, click here.
I did receive 5 questions from viewers asking for some more details on what the scoreboard should look like. Thanks Ben from Brisbane, Oliver from London, Peter from San Diego, Ingrid from Montana and Tina from Sydney for your question: what should my scoreboard look like?
My final tip on your scoreboard that is my favourite. I like to see where I should be to get my end result compared to where I actually am – shows if I am winning!
Oh and your scoreboard is not a communication board to post reports, status updates or other general information that will distract the team from the results they need and want to see.
The simpler your scoreboard the more engaged your Team.
I’m sure that helps Ingrid, Ben, Oliver, Peter, and Tina.
If you haven’t watched show 52, pop 52 in the comments and I’ll send you the link.
And if you know anyone whom you think needs to build a scoreboard or needs help building their scoreboard then pop their name in the comments below and they’ll get a notification to watch the show.
As some of you know, I just had a wonderful 8-day holiday in Thailand and as a guest in the resort I couldn’t help but notice the hospitality of the staff.
I can say unequivocally that every staff member when they walked past me did not avoid eye contact as we passed.
They smiled.
They said good morning or good afternoon.
And they put their hands together and bowing.
Every single person! From managers to maintenance men. It was part of the resort’s cultural DNA.
In many gyms I visit this is one missing link. And I guess I scratch my head in wonderment! I mean these are not high paid staff in the resort – in fact I suggest they could be paid a fraction of what your staff are paid. So do this not because they are highly paid.
I guess for these staff it is very much they are proud to have their job and proud of where they work. So they accept the cultural requirements of the resort.
My question is WHY WHY WHY can’t we instil this into the culture of our businesses?
Let me share the behaviour of the resort staff made me feel very welcome. It broke down barriers so I felt comfortable asking for assistance. And I am a raving fan of the service – even though I didn’t really any “actual” service.
If you want your members to have those similar feelings, the perhaps work with your team on their engagement with your members and clients.
I have been to many gyms and it is chalk n cheese in the consistency of the eye contact and warm welcome. If you think this is an important component to the service, then get to work! And make it part of your DNA.
Now a little education on social media: Facebook LOVES social media graphics because as humans we are visual creatures.
We are naturally drawn to beautiful, interesting images, on every social media platform.
Sure, Facebook wants to promote their advertising platform, but they also are highly conscious of your user experience. If your posts don’t get engagement, that tells Facebook that people don’t want to see your posts, and your reach goes down.
You lose your connection with your audience, growth slows, and opportunities dwindle.
The flip side, however, is that you are REWARDED for posts that people engage with. And people engage with visual content.
At Active Management, we have stunning social media graphics that are strategically designed to drive engagement and grow your business. You don’t have to waste your time trying to figure it out, just add your logo to our ready-made graphics and you’re good to go (it’s easy, and we show you how).
This means FREE traffic for your business, and cheaper results for paid traffic.
Even if you’re running Facebook ads, improving the reach of your organic posts is rewarded with better results for your ads.
Facebook does keep score, and factor your page ranking into your media buying power!!
But for many of you highly engaged, organic traffic is all the power you need to grow your business with social media.
Think of it as free advertising.
We have a full collection of social media images ready for you:
You can buy one set for 110 bucks by clicking here.
Become a silver member and get every set included in your membership. That means you get 770 bucks worth of social media memes for only 249 – a third of the price – plus loads of other resources to help you run your business easier, faster and more productively. Click here for membership details.
This week, I am delivering a presentation via Zoom to the team of Life and Soul in Broome before heading to Brisbane to speak at the Go Health Clubs conference.
Oh and by the way, on the 27th July I will be in Perth for FitnessBiz Brunch. The theme of the event: differentiating your business by leadership! To grab a ticket click here.
Next week, #JTInTheRaw will be back from a location in Sydney.
To finish up today, quote of the week returns to the hospitality industry.
“Eye contact and smiling will cost you nothing to create an impact in your business.”
Check out all previous shows here: http://www.activemgmt.com.au/category/jt-in-the-raw/