Lifting the Bar

So, at this point, you have done all the hard work required to brand your PT business and to align it with your true passions. In addition, you have marketed yourself to prospective leads via numerous social media channels. As a result of these sales prospecting activities, you have gained a promising lead to whom you have offered a complimentary session. During the course of the complimentary session, you have put into action the basis of the 'know, like and trust' factor. Then, as the session winds down, you direct the person to the member's lounge where you prepare them for the sales presentation. However, from this moment, something in you changes. Your heart rate goes up, the air conditioning suddenly feels as though it went up 10 degrees and you feel a little apprehensive. There's something a bit different about you now - you're not the relaxed, energetic, bubbly personal trainer that confidently conducted the complimentary session. The process of telling someone why they should hand over hundreds (if not thousands of dollars) in return for your service is probably the hardest aspect of business for most personal trainers. As a personal training manager, I witnessed it time and time again. A personal trainer would bumble their way through a sales presentation because they lacked confidence and belief in what they were trying to sell to their potential clients. Don't get me wrong. I remember a time when I could stand in front of 100 personal trainers for eight hours and talk about exercise science until I was blue in the face. However, if you had asked me to stand up and tell them why they should spend thousands of dollars on my mentoring program I would have clammed up in seconds. It's the fact that we have a lot of emotion invested in our services that does it. Am I really worth that amount of money? and/ or Why would anyone want to listen to me? are common thoughts that sub-consciously go through our head. We also can't help but consider a 'No, thank you' as a poor reflection of our self-worth and take the statement to heart. So what can we do in order to remain calm when we are at the point of sale? There are a few tips and tricks that good personal trainers and other sales people do that we can learn from to ensure we are calm, collected and in control of the situation when we ask someone for their custom. Developing Confidence in Your Own Abilities It goes without saying that you need to be proud and confident in the product or service that you offer potential clients (even if you aren't in reality!). As a lecturing colleague of mine used to love to say to me, 'Fake it until you make it', and it is very true. As soon as you seem to be even the slightest bit unsure or uneasy about what you can offer your client, you will have lost their trust in you and your systems. As I mentioned in Chapter 7 with reference to partnerships, you must come across as being professional, organised and full of enthusiasm about what you can offer them. Clients are no different as you are effectively looking to partner with them also. Being Aware of Emotional Basis for Decision Making Whenever we purchase a service or product, our decision is based on an emotion of some kind. It's in our nature as human beings; some emotions are closer to the surface than others but they're always there. For a client wanting to purchase a personal training service, it's no different. In fact one could argue some of the emotions associated with purchasing personal training services are as high as you'd find in any other industry. For example, potential clients for PT services might include teenagers wanting to lose weight because they are being picked on at high school, adults not being able to do the activities they've always dreamed of because they are so out of condition, women wanting to shape up for their wedding or to combat the 'post-baby bulge' and the list goes on. Like all good sales people, successful personal trainers have the ability to tap into these emotions and use them to emphasise the importance of why the potential client needs their product or service. The moment that person walks through the gym door for their complimentary session, good personal trainers will start sizing them up by playing '20 questions' with their prospective client; drawing out as much information from them as possible without being overtly pushy (well, good PTs don't anyway!). Part of any good questioning technique is asking your potential client the right questions and follow-on questions. If you ask any good sales person about what two key phrases are in their armoury they should say: 'What else?' and 'But why?'. Responding to a potential client's answer to your leading question with, 'What else?' achieves a couple of key things. Firstly, it keeps the focus on the client so you spend very little time hogging the spotlight. People love talking about themselves and this creates the perfect platform for you to draw the right information out. Secondly, as a result of obtaining the right information from them, you are able to make a more informed assumption about who they are and what their obstacles or issues may be with regards to exercise. All this information becomes invaluable at the point of sale when you are attempting to enlighten them about the additional benefits of your service that they never even realised were there. For example, one of the key questions that I generally ask my leads is, 'What key things do you want to get out of training with me?', to which the lead usually gives the generic reply, 'Lose weight, get stronger'. Now, instead of replying to them, 'Great! We can achieve that,' I would then turn around and say, 'What else?' With a little bit of probing, I then discovered that my client also wanted to improve the quality of their sleep, or have better nutrition, more energy, to be able to complete a Tough Mudder and be able to keep up with their kids in the backyard. Did I then turn around at this point and explain how I could offer all of those things? ABSOLUTELY! All of a sudden just losing some weight and gaining a bit of strength became a whole lot more valuable and exciting! Similarly, asking the question, 'Why?' also keeps the spot light on the client but has the added advantage of exploring the true reason why they gave you that answer in the first place. This will help you to uncover that all important emotional motivator behind their decision-making process. For example, they said they want to lose body fat, get fitter and feel better, but why? Using the question, 'Why?' allows you to dig a few layers deeper if the client is happy to have an open conversation with you. You'll know you have unearthed the real emotional motivation when they finally feel comfortable with you (i.e. know, like and trust you) and openly reveal the real situation they want to rectify or never repeat again. Typical emotional motivators can be things such as wanting to look amazing for a wedding, fixing a weak knee because they missed out on a ski trip they had always dreamed of going on or getting stronger and fitter because they were playing ball with the kids and couldn't keep up with them. It doesn't matter what the reason is, what does matter is finding out what it actually is. During the sales process you can use this information to highlight the benefits and instil the confidence your prospective client needs at a time when they feel unsure and doubt the value of your PT service. By bringing up the story, it not only reminds them of why they are there in the first place, but it also gives them confidence in you and your training abilities, as you have clearly listened to them and understood their needs. Prepare a Script to Use in the Sales Process A well-prepared and rehearsed script goes a long way to alleviating a lot of challenges associated with the sales process; it keeps you in control of the conversation, keeps you on track and gives you confidence so you don't find yourself bumbling your way through the sale. It doesn't need to be elaborate; a simple set of steps will suffice and ensure that once you have reached a critical point in the conversation, you are able to identify exactly what direction the next question will take you. Be sure to use a price sheet as part of your sales pitch. It gives both of you something other than each other to focus on and helps to dissipate any tension that might be present about money. In addition, a price sheet allows you to focus on selling your service rather than an hourly rate. Ensure you offer all of the services that are included in the price listed on the sheet. It demonstrates value for money and helps to get the prospective client out of the mindset of paying for an hourly rate and into the idea that they are purchasing a well-rounded service. Don't Be Too Attached to the Outcome of the Sales Process To conclude this business section of my book, I'm going to leave you with a great tip about price presenting which I was given when I started out on my personal training career. It has stayed with me ever since because it is just as relevant today as it was when I was first told it many years ago. The greatest tip I ever received when selling a service was not to care. By this, I mean don't be overly attached to the...