Fitnesspreneur's Life

A lot of people avoid thinking about sales. It isn’t sexy. 

But you know what’s really not sexy? Being broke. And the time you put into executing a sale directly impacts how much profit comes from it.

So sell, sell, sell!

Here are three great tips that Mike Arce, the CEO of Loud Runner, recently shared on my podcast. He loves the psychology of customers and makes selling a game! You can, too!

1) Match Offers to the Avatar

Understanding your avatar is the crucial first step. This involves not just knowing who they are, but what their needs will be.

I find this part to be tons of fun! In a way, you’re role playing and get to imagine people’s lives and what they require.

Know your avatar and then craft everything around that.

With platforms, the usual social media channels will probably work. I’m talking Facebook, Instagram and/or Pinterest. Make solid content, but target it for your avatar.

You won’t be making videos of huge muscly guys doing free weights if your avatar is working women who just had a baby. Think it through and match the offers and programs to your avatar.

2) Make Your Offer Appetizing

Mike mentioned the importance of control when working with clients. You are leading them, not the other way around.

Since you’re in control, you can control just how attractive your offer can be. To do that, you simply choose the right words and images.

Smart wording can include making something exclusive or popular. You can add a time constraint (“Act now before this offer expires!”) in order to activate the sale.

All of these things, and more, can be used to make your offer more appetizing to people. They are simple and quick ways to press the relationship further and funnel your customers along to the next steps.

3) Make every impression count

I see so many businesses that aren’t prepared for every possible interaction. That simply means that they didn’t plan ahead.

Every detail, especially since stuff now lives forever on the internet, can be looked over. You don’t want to give a client a reason to walk away.

So if you’re shooting videos, make sure the right stuff is in the shot. Don’t leave ugly things like trash-cans in the background. You don’t want people to think of trash when they think of your gym, studio or boot camp.

Pay attention and apply that level of attention whether people are looking at your website or walking through the door of your establishment. One mistake and that person can head right to the door and go elsewhere. Do you want that to happen? None of us do. Make every impression count. 

Use these methods and embrace the psychology of selling. Read up on Mike and others like him who have thought of every situation. 

Preparation is what will lead to success. And that preparation means less work down the line.

Are you prepared?

It seems like the moment you walk out the door you’re hit with a wall of negativity. The news, the traffic, people’s attitudes. Nothing seems good anymore.

And when you’re working hard at building a business, even the tiniest drop of negativity can pull you off your game and change the course of your day.

Don’t let it!

I’ve got a three step system that flips the script on the haters and naysayers of the world. Check it out!

STOP

When someone comes at you, your first instinct is usually to go right back at them. Resist this.

Don’t let your emotions get the best of you and put aside your gut reaction. I know, that’s easier said than done, right?

You have to see that someone’s negativity usually comes from a place of judgement. They’ve got this attitude that they’re looking to unload on someone.

Stop that train right in its tracks. You don’t need that negativity and going negative right back only makes the situation worse. Be your best self by getting back to a space of positivity.

Expect that someone, somewhere, is going to bring some b.s. into your life. Be prepared so when it arrives, you stop it in its tracks.

LOOK

It’s time to take a look so you can try to figure out exactly what’s going on. Once you stop, take a look at what’s really going on.

Okay. You have to chill and be the bigger person. You have to determine why this person is acting this way.

These negative encounters are a way to learn and guide the situation. Maybe the person needs help and doesn’t know how to ask for it.

Diffuse the situation and get to a place where this negativity can be the foundation for a deeply positive experience. If you stop and look, you’ll learn a lot.

LISTEN

Listen to what they think is driving their actions.

Maybe that person is having a bad day, maybe they got some bad news right before they saw you, or maybe just life happens.

It’s all about your focus. When you seek to understand first and really listen to what someone says, you can get a better chance to help them and yourself.

Get a read of their body language. Negative people hold their bodies in a weird way. They’re tense. They practically vibrate with the juice inside them.

I like to turn these people around by making jokes. I love making jokes and making fun of myself. You’ll discover your own way to turn negative people into lessons for how to deal with adversity in your own life.

Just like that, the negativity can become positive- and it can be all from you!

Storytelling is useful when you’re working on your brand.

What does your brand story say about you and who you serve?

Recently on The Fitnesspreneur's Life Show podcast I had Mike Murphy, co-creator of the Visionary Planning System and we talked about the path a good brand takes their audience on.

 Here are some tips he shared.

 Your Brand Won’t be Built in a Day (or week or month or year…)

 Success is a marathon, not a sprint. So drink lots of water and get ready for at least a year and a half of work.

 In order to stick in people’s minds and have them come back to you, you have to be rock solid and steady for a long period of time. How else can you gain credibility and trust?

 All the great brands (Coke, Nike, Ferrari) gained credibility because the message was the same, everywhere on earth, over huge periods of time.

 Settle in and get some comfortable shoes. You’ve got work to do.

 Connect with your actual audience

 Forget being everything for all people. If you’re generic in your approach, you’ll be missing out on the real people that need you and your brand.

 Sometimes the people you think you’re supposed to help aren’t the ones you’re meant for. It’s like dating! You think you know what you want, but then you meet the real love of your life and BAM!

 Understand who your actual audience is because you may be attracting the wrong kind of customer and, thus, creating the wrong kind of business for yourself.

 Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

 When making content, don’t hurt yourself. Do what’s already out there but do it better!

 Find out what people are talking about. Find out what books they’re reading. Find the pages on Facebook that are similar to what you do. Then take those topics and make content about that.

 If you get too out there and make stuff that doesn’t interest anyone, you’re wasting time and money.

 We call this verifying your audience. You’re inserting yourself into the conversation and not starting some new thing that maybe no one wants to join you in.

 Just find out what other similar brands and topics are doing and do that.

These few tips can save you a lot of time, money and frustration so you can carve out faster more effective path to your ideal audience.

For more info on getting in the Visionary Planning System, click here http://vitobiz.com/VP_SneakPeak

The human being craves freedom. So why then are so many of us stuck with jobs that feel like a ball and chain?

It’s because we believe that time is money and that we should be rewarded for all the hours we work.

Work smarter, not harder. And find the right career that gives you these five essential freedoms.

1) Time Freedom

The clock itself is broken. It’s only got 24 hours in it.

If you don’t maximize those hours, you lose the potential for making money.

The stars have to align to get paid. You and the client have to be there together. Your schedule may not work. Their schedule sometimes goes out the window.

This is no way to live!

Find time freedom by working in something that you control, not the other way around.

2) Location Freedom

We are will still doing business like we did a hundred years ago?

It used to be that location mattered. Foot traffic determined how much income your business generated.

The problem of course is that now there’s a gym and studio everywhere! Parks are being overrun by boot camps!

Wanna stand out? Go global! 

Free yourself from the shackles of geography. Let others fight for a finite amount of customers.

The world is your marketplace!

3) People Freedom

If you love your employees and co-workers, congrats. But a lot of times the people we work with can be a little uninspiring. 

That’s because you don’t have the best of the best working alongside you. You have the people that can commute or that are doing this job because it’s convenient. 

Don’t you want specialists who want to succeed as much as you do? What if they’re far away?

So what! You can now bring anyone from around the world to you in an instant when you automate your business.

You now have the freedom to work with the people you want, not just the people you have near you.

4) Financial Freedom

Does this sound like you? The modern person living in today’s world is living in a hamster wheel, always turning, going nowhere.

I’ve seen so many fit pros struggle with finances because they’re not making any serious money and they don’t know how to turn what they do into larger earnings.

Having absolutely no financial freedom can seem like being stuck. You’re go, go, going in that hamster wheel but getting nowhere.

Starting a business or striking out is hard work. And if you’re not savvy enough to stay afloat, you’ll become like the millions of fit pros who have gone underwater.

Don’t be a statistic. Find a way to get the financial freedom you and your family deserve.

5) Purpose Freedom

This one is as big as it gets. Simply put, what is the purpose of your life and does your business allow you to achieve it?

We all have a purpose. From big reasons to little reasons, you are meant to do something.

So why waste time doing something that doesn’t get you to that?

Isn’t life short enough?

“You can build a dream in just 15 minutes.” – Craig Ballantyne

The above quote is just one of the many nuggets that I took away from my latest interview with Craig Ballantyne, productivity guru, editor of Early to Rise and Fitnesspreneur, when he came on The Fitnesspreneur’s Life Show podcast and after reading his book, The Perfect Day Formula.

If you want to have the future you desire, you’ll make the time now.

Focus and productivity all start with the night before.

Craig teaches us how to deal with random and instead turn it into focus.

The system that Craig puts forth is a framework that can get anyone to work on their top priority project. 

1 - Start the Night Before… and then Keep Going.

At the end of every workday, Craig does a brain dump.  

He writes down everything that he needs to do the next day.  

Then, he prioritizes his list so that he doesn’t spend the precious moments of the next day wasting time.  

Then, he spends the first fifteen minutes of every day focused on his top priority- nothing else.

2 -  Control your Life. Set up Rules.

Little by little, you can set Rules of Life that encompass all the things you value.

You want more health?

Create rules of life that control your health like, “I won’t eat 3 hours before bed.”

You want more wealth?

Create a rule of life that says, “I will spend 15 minutes every morning working my top priority.”

Just taking the time to think about what you value most, and creating rules of life and you will find yourself gaining control of your choices.

3 – Push Past Your Comfort Zone.

Whether it’s physical work, like losing weight, or creating your brand, success all happens all in the mind.

It’s going to require you to move beyond your normal routine and find out what you’re made of.

You become more comfortable with being uncomfortable by developing your skills, getting a coach, and putting yourself in the environment of people who are willing to challenge you! 

4 – Put Your Ego Aside.

Pushing that comfort zone means you need to be able to take criticism. 

If you’re looking for non-stop praise and people to blow sunshine up your you-know-what, then you’re not looking to make a change.

Analyze what you’re doing, and be honest with yourself. It may not feel good, but it’s truly necessary.

5 – Be Descriptive in Your Life Plan.

Ambiguous goals get ambiguous results.

Whatever the goal is, be specific and clear.  

Make sure you can smell it, feel it, and breathe it.  Then you are on the right path to making it a reality.

What you can control is your destination and the rewards that await you. 

6- Live a Life by Design, Structure Creates Freedom.

We need more structure to have more freedom.

This is why we have rules, laws and agreements. They give us all the opportunity for a safe, happy life.

It’s the lack of structure with our days and our plans for success that have led us to missing the mark in our lives.

When I was younger, I accepted the fact that as a trainer, I wasn't going to make any money and that I was stuck.  I accepted that working on the floor was going to be something that I'd live with for the rest of my life and that I was stuck cutting corners on my life in order to do a job that I loved.  As life happened to me, I realized that I needed to start taking ownership.  I needed to start creating a life instead of letting it happen, and so I did. 

As a trainer, a million things can get in the way of you actually training your clients. If that happens and there’s a no show, there’s no dough.

So, I've decided to do something about it in my life.  You can too- or you can choose to stop here and live on the floor for the rest of your life. 

Nutrition

Do you want to help your clients even when they’re not in the gym? Then help them establish healthy behaviors. The best way to do this is to make sure they’re buying their nutritional products and supplements from you.

You don’t need to physically carry these products. No inventory is needed. You simply provide an online store with links and let the automation handle the billing and shipments.

Online Coaching

Use the internet for online coaching and spend little to no money at all.

Everyone is doing it. Universities are even doing it. But for some reason, our industry is slow to catch on, so YOU need to pounce!

Put a series of videos up in a Facebook group and invite users who pay a monthly fee. Simple, right? So do it!

High-end coaching programs

Authority is important. When you become a subject matter expert, that is what people value and are willing to pay top dollar for.

Everyone is looking for new esoteric information. Everyone wants to dig deeper and go beyond what the everyday person gets.

So become an expert by getting published and getting your name out there. Once you’re an established presence, you’ll be able to command a higher price for your services.

Network Marketing

The boogeyman is here!

Nah, I’m playing. I swear that’s what some people think this is. I get it, people have been burned, but you don’t throw out the idea of small businesses because one small business was terrible, right?

Network marketing, for my money, is the best model there is. People just don’t know how to do it right.

It’s about building teams and building culture. You’ve got each other’s back because you’re all in this together. No one allows one person to falter because the shared goal is the most important thing.

Go in on network marketing and make big bucks.

Mobile Apps

By the year 2020, an estimated 5.3 BILLION people will have smartphones. Crazy, right?

You need to be ahead of the curve and provide some apps for those people on the go.

Look, the idea is to be there for your clients and being in their phone is like being next to them.

Apps are a great way to extend your sessions and compliment them. I give my clients fitness homework, checklists, and meditation reminders on my app. If there’s information you need them to have, you can put it in an app.

Being on the forefront of something like mobile apps impresses your clients. That means more referrals and more money.

You are the future of this industry, so use the technology to get us all to that next level!

Culture has become a big buzzword in many industries. And when my latest guest, Ashley, came by my podcast, she shared some incredible tips on created a positive (and lucrative) workplace culture.

 Whether you’re a small staff just starting out or a whole floor of specialists, your business can find success by following these three important tips.

-----> GRAB FREE CHEAT SHEET: http://vitobiz.com/building-the-right-culture-in-your-business-cs

 Find People That Care

 You need people that care about being at work. Everyone knows when you’re phoning it in. Everyone can tell if you’re distracted or frustrated.

 As Ashley mentions over and over again, leadership and intention begin with you. Your values are your business, so set the tone of how you want your employees to behave and speak.

 People make choices based on how good they think they'll be taken care of. So make the values of your company specific to them. People want direction. People want to learn. Guide them.

 Create a Killer Environment

 Putting together a killer workplace environment that brings out the best in everyone should be a priority. The facility itself needs to be of a high quality.

 An environment for better living needs to look and feel nice. Your employees will feed off the energy of your environment, and in turn will add to it. We can serve more clients by having a diverse philosophy of training within that facility. But it has to be right.

 The environment that houses your community makes your trainers’ jobs that much easier. It creates a level of morale that’s clearly different. Imagine how much more they’ll want to market and spread the word for you if they know what a welcoming facility they have!

 Have Programs The Reflect Your Business Principles

 Your programs are the backbone of your income. They are the most essential part of your mission. You need to have ways to generate income that your employees will want to sell.

 A quick way to think of this is, “Does this program excite me? Would I buy it?"

 So if you're going to have nutrition programs, have the ones that people are going to want to do. Have products that you and your staff use!

 And don’t think everything is set in stone once you open your doors. Talk to your employees and see what skills they bring to the table. See what they want to get going. Encourage them to use technology, apps and social media. Some of that stuff costs nothing! But the empowerment you give to your employees can't be measured!

When I was a kid I remember going to the circus and being impressed by those tightrope walkers high above my head. Those dudes really took their lives into their own hands and that’s a powerful thing. It stays with me to this day.

I’m always encouraging my coaches to live like those guys, with their lives on the wire. Nothing brings your mission into sharper focus than realizing that one false move can throw your balance off and

You too can life like those tightrope walkers. All you need are these three things to live your authentic self on the wire.

Courage

We talk a lot about courage and think that only firefighters or soldiers have it.

Courage is doing something when it’s not easy or convenient. It’s all about putting yourself out there without getting too worried about the consequences.

Even the dangers we think are out there really aren’t. We get in our own way and courage is putting all that junk aside.

Courage is important because it inspires. It challenges you and those around you. Having courage is necessary if you’re going to step out onto the wire.

You have to be willing to put yourself out there. You can’t care what’s going to happen. Great things will happen if you have courage.

Conviction

Courage puts you on the wire, but conviction keeps you there.

Conviction is a willingness to stand for something more, like a set of principles that you would die for. It means not being satisfied and being driven by those principles in everything you do.

The people with the most conviction will fight tooth and nail for those principles. Is that you? It better be if you want to stay balanced on that wire.

You’d be surprised how many people watch your actions. Having conviction is not only important for you, but the people you’re inspiring. Have conviction and see how much easier being a leader becomes.

Commitment

When you walk the wire, you have to commit. Day in and day out, you have to be there. You can’t stop and go whenever you want. 

We all know those people or clients who shortchange themselves and cheat on their workouts. They don’t get healthy and they let excuses drive them.

You can’t be that. You’re on the wire and if you falter, you fall.

You have the power to make your story an integral part of your business. Having commitment is an important aspect of that. Commitment is what keeps you moving on the wire toward success.

Being a fitness coach isn't as easy as you might expect. A lot of hard work goes unnoticed and since this industry is competitive like any other. Only the, best can reap the fruits of success. Mandy Ingber is an author of two books. She has been a fitness coach for twenty years, and during that time she has had the pleasure of working with film superstars such as Jennifer Aniston, Brooke Shields and Helen Hunt.

What makes her approach so special is that she believes that you need to teach your students from your own experience and that speaking as your authentic self attracts people towards you. 

GRAB YOUR FREE WORKSHEET: http://vitobiz.com/H_EmbraceSelf-LoveWithMandyIngber

Turning vulnerability into a strength

We all go through periods of self-doubt in which we battle low self-esteem and negative self-image. Mandy has dedicated her life to discovering ways to use these emotions as a fuel for exercise and a motivation to improve yourself.

By sharing personal stories from her own life, she bonds with her students on a much deeper level than most fitness coaches out there. This makes her class more dynamic, while her students learn the most valuable lesson of all- to open up and use the energy from within to achieve the things they want in their lives.

Her approach is rather unique because she addresses people with kindness when they are most fragile.  By doing so, she plants a seed of self-love in their hearts and minds. Mandy encourages her students to seek their true selves because that is one of the most important ingredients for success.  

Yogalosophy

Mandy is currently on a book tour promoting her second book 'Yogalosophy for Inner Strength,' but this success didn't come overnight. Her first book Yogalosophy came out in 2013. She sees both of these best-selling books as a continuation of her growing popularity. 

She made the first steps by starting her own website almost ten years prior to the publication of her first book. Mandy made it her calling to share her philosophy with the world.  Not only did she want to share with her students, but she decided that she wanted to share her ways with people that she could not reach in class.

A DVD that she released got her one step closer to realizing her full potential of becoming a best-selling author. 

Devote yourself to your goals

Ideas are cheap.  In fact, they are free. The best way to get things done is to create habits that will make you productive. If you dedicate two hours per day to take care of your body, you can dedicate the same amount of time to the goal you want to achieve. 

Mandy wrote both of her books by devoting two hours a day to writing. After 5 and half months, she had a manuscript. If you really want to accomplish something, you will find time, regardless of the obstacles you are facing.

Nothing will kill your sales faster than being generic. If you’re like everyone else, why would people stop at you specifically to buy your products? Can’t they move on the next person whose the same?

Social media is the perfect tool to showcase your uniqueness. But most people don’t know where to begin. Here’s five places.

Step 1: Share Your Personal Story

We all have a personal story. We’re all unique and telling that story through social media is compelling stuff to your tribe.

The origin of you, how you got to where you are, is a great way to make yourself relatable. It shows your emotional connection to your subject matter and is way more powerful than certifications and equipment.

You’ve got to put your personal story out there and show how it changed your life. It illustrates that you, too, are a work in progress, looking for people on a similar journey.

Step 2: Understand a Niche Problem

Find your tribe. Find that collection of people who have a specific problem or are looking for a specific lifestyle change that you feel compelled to serve.

Understanding their problems is at the heart of how you can interact with them online. You have to recognize the problems your niche faces and then dig deeper. Find niches within the niche.

Digging deeper and understanding your niche’s problems will lead you to incredible revelations. And it’s valuable content. 

Step 3: Make a revelation/solution

Let’s now attack those problems with workable solutions that will benefit your clients by finding revelations and sharing those on social media.

Revelations come in all forms, from the most unexpected places. But they won’t reveal themselves without that exploration that comes with interacting with your tribe.

It’s all about relationships, and peeling back the layers can take you and your tribe to great places.

Step 4) Challenging Question

With so much content coming at your tribe, how can you interact with them in a way that shows they’ve understood your message? Ask a challenging question.

This is the call to action that encourages more engagement between you, your tribe, and the work that binds you. 

That phone has changed the game. So interaction is key. A challenging question is a great way to fire up that interaction.

You end with a challenging question.

Step Five) Attractive Visuals/Video

Content is more than words. There’s a visual component to all of this that you can’t forget about.

Be sure to include attractive visuals.

Think about it, your average client is bombarded with content. And studies have shown that you need more than double the amount of pieces of information to make decisions than what you used to.

So be bold and colorful with the graphics (or videos) that you’re including in your posts. Social media needs to engage the senses and an attractive visual is a great way to do that.

Be memorable. Build your relationship with your tribe.