Fitness Business School – Is Your Business Invisible?

Full Transcript

Hey Pat Rigsby here. And in this episode, I want to talk with you about one of the biggest challenges, new, and even sometimes current, business owners face. And that’s just being invisible. There’s a lot to unpack here. So let’s get started.

Welcome to the fitness business school with Pat Rigsby, the podcast for fitness entrepreneurs who want to make more income, have greater impact, and enjoy more freedom in their ideal business. If you’d like an accelerated route to these goals, email me at [email protected] and put BGA in the subject line and I’ll get you all the details about our business growth accelerator program.

For the vast majority of fitness business owners, the path they went through to, to start their business or the path they followed, it’s it’s often the same from, from all the ones that I talked to. And man, I talked to a lot of them. I’ve probably spoken with more individual fitness business owners than anybody else on the planet over the past 10 or 15 years and the most common path people follow, it sounds something like this: You know, a trainer leaves the gym they were training at, it could be a big box gym. It could be a training facility, you know, but they, they leave a gym they’re training at and they say, okay, I’m going to go out on my own. I’m gonna do what these guys do. I can make more money or I have a different vision or whatever their impetus is. They’re going to go out and start their own thing. And more often than not, you know, they’re going to take a few clients with them. Yeah. It that’s, that’s something that we don’t love as business owners, but that’s kind of the nature of the business. It’s a relationship centric thing. So they’re, they’re probably going to take a few clients with them and they’re probably hoping that those clients will refer a few more people and maybe the new business owner reaches out to some people that they know to spread the word that they’ve got their own own business, but honestly, that’s kind of hit and miss too. They don’t often think that their crowd, the people that they know, the relationships, they have bear a lot of fruit when it comes to new business. So, you know, they, they look around and they say, well, I don’t have enough business right now. I don’t have enough people. So I’ve seen it.

Some people run Facebook ads or some people they’re, they’re posting on Instagram and they’re doing different things. So they start to borrow some ideas that they’ve seen other businesses, maybe even the business they were working at use. And so they haphazardly put, put some stuff out in social media, probably if they’re like most expecting a windfall of clients to rush through their door, thinking it’s that simple. And before long, they figure out it’s not. So, you know, if they’re smart, if they’re aggressive, they’re going to invest in, you know, a few products or coaching program or an agency to try to get some, some additional clients. And depending on the route they choose and how much they’re willing to engage in it. Sometimes it works out well, sometimes not so much.

So they hit a plateau, right? The buzz of being a new business dies off and they’ve kind of tapped out all the low, low hanging fruit to build their, their, their base clientele. Now it’s a job now, it’s, you know, now, now it’s hard. It’s work. And they’re spending most of their time training the people they have and, and, you know, scrambling to replace anybody who leaves. So it’s kind of one in one out at best. Some of the tactics that they try might work. A lot of times, they don’t. And more often than not, they are super inconsistent about the execution of anything. And almost always things don’t work as well as they originally hoped because they figured out what so many of us already know this stuff’s not easy. And they’re frustrated because with their current clients, things are good, right? Like clients may be really happy with the experience they’re having. Maybe they’re getting really positive results. And so the business owner knows they’re doing a good job.

They know that, Hey, you know what? I can help people. I’m making a difference. My clients are happy. They know that maybe they’re better than the, the local gyms, the training businesses that have popped up recently, they know they’re doing a lot better than when people just join a health club and kind of go it alone. So why aren’t people referring me more business? Why aren’t more people seeking me out? I’m good at this stuff. I mean, look, I’ve heard this story probably at this point, thousands of times, and the solution’s not easy, but, but the answer it’s, it’s pretty simple, right? The people who are your ideal client, your perfect fit, they, a lot of times they don’t even know you exist. You become just one more business in the, the light industrial park, down the corner that nobody can see from the road. You become a business that most people aren’t aware of and your clients may love, but they’ve got their own busy lives.

And so they’re not just walking out the door saying, man, how can I promote Pat’s business today? You know? So you’ve allowed yourself to blend in. You’ve allowed yourself to spend all your time, serving the people you do have, and not much of any time pursuing new people. And when you do pursue new people a lot at times, it’s with that desperation mindset that, you know, a is not a great way to be strategic. And then B rarely works because people who are desperate are rarely consistent. So the great things that are happening inside your facility are invisible to the outside world. Frankly, they’re invisible to the people who need it most.

So the, the answers to stop being invisible, stop being anonymous, stop blending in. You need to be that business that your ideal prospect thinks of when they want to solve their problems. When they want to reach their goals, how do you do it? Well, first you got to know who they are. You’ve got to know who you’re trying to serve. Go look at the clients that you have, that you love working with. Go look at what you know about them. Where are they from? You know, why did they come to you? What do they like about training with you? What’s important to them. You know, if you could figure out who your person is, then we gotta go be where they are. And sure. That’s not the, the appropriate, like, articulate way to put it. But if you know who your person is, you can figure out where they are online and offline. You can lean on your current clients to kind of point you in the right direction. You can say, yeah, they, where do you live? Where do you, where do you work? What are your thoughts, hobbies, where do you go to church? What do you look at online? Do you look at Facebook or Instagram? And you can find out where they are. You can ask your current clients too, to introduce you. And you can just kind of piggyback the things that you know about them and say, well, if all my best clients are on Instagram, maybe I need to be on Instagram too. Or if many of my best clients live in these three subdivisions, then maybe I need to be visible there.

And then once you know who you’re trying to help and where you can reach them, you have to show up relentlessly. So that your person that is currently invisible to you and you are invisible to, they become aware and they know how you can help, how you can help them solve their problems, how you can help them reach their goals. I know seems really simple, right? It seems very straightforward, but most people just don’t do it. They don’t do it with any sort of consistent any sort of at all. They just don’t go out there. So, okay. I’m going to, when the real estate in these people’s minds in their attention, right? They, they, they think, well, Hey, I’m leaving, losing, because orange theory is in class, a real estate, along all the busy roads in our area. Right? Right. Or, you know, these other people have all these advantages as well. Not real complicated. You don’t need thousands of clients in your business to be successful. You need to go probably get a couple of hundred people, two that, that are part of your target market and want some help solving their problems and reaching their goals. You need them to become aware of you, how you can help and really start to see you as that bridge from where they are, to where they are fire to be. And again, and it’s not easy, but it is simple. It is very simple. And in fact, all the roll material is there for the taking. I mean, you have current clients now that you can start to learn from, to ask, you can find out where those other people like them reside, where they can be found, and then you just have to be there, right. And connect with those people and follow up with those people. Do that time and time again. And you’re going to have all sorts of success. I mean, I’ll give you a super simple example of this before we wrap up this episode.

So I know that my ideal client are in independent business owners who want to build a successful business, ultimately their ideal business, where they’re having the type of impact they want to have. They’re earning a meaningful income for the work that they’re doing. And, you know, they, they want to have a business that doesn’t own them. They want to have a business that may be meshes well with the lifestyle they want to lead. So that’s, that’s my perfect person. It’s a, a person that is, he really is a fitness business owner that fits yeah. That criteria. So where are those people? Right. Well, I know that yeah. Events that they go to when, when we’re not involved in the pandemic, I know they’re going to play. This is like perform better. So I go and speak it perform better. I know where they can be found online. So I put, you know, I put lead magnets out. I give away copies of my book on the social media platforms. They freak. And then once I connect with them, initially I follow up and I tried to give him as much great stuff as I can for free. I try to give them things like what we’re through this podcast or my email newsletters for free. And then I make offers. I invite them to get more involved with other ways that I can help coaching programs, where we can solve their problems they’re facing right now and help them build the business they want to own. And that’s it. It’s not any more complicated than that. It’s basically rinse and repeat, do that day after day. And before you know, it, you have a really, really successful business that not only are you proud of, but you’re happy owning. So if you feel like you are invisible now, if you feel like you’re being lost in the crowd of all the businesses or all the solutions that are available to your target market, this is the path forward. This is the path out. So no more invisibility identify who you want to help be, where they are and make sure they know how you can help. And you’ll do great.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Fitness Business School. And before you go, I have a quick announcement. When I first connect with a fitness business owner, they almost always ask me, “How can I get more leads or how can I get more clients?” Well, I have an exclusive offer for you and it’s going to help you do just that. As a listener of this show, you can test drive Fitness Lead Academy for six full weeks for just a dollar. Fitness Lead Academy is a one of a kind program where you get done-for-you marketing tools and coaching to attract more qualified prospects and convert them into paying clients. Imagine having three marketing emails written for you each and every week for easy-to-deploy promotions provided to you that are proven to convert and they’re ready to use and proven ads and social media posts given to you each and every month as well. Plus you have access to three weekly live video coaching sessions to help you with everything from dialing in your brand to navigating things like building funnels and getting ads approved. You get all of this and more when you join Fitness Lead Academy. And to prove that FLA can serve you as your virtual marketing department and not only save you plenty of time, but also consistently bring you more leads and clients, you can get access to the entire coaching program for six full weeks. Again, for just $1. If it delivers for you in the way that I expect it will, you can continue on for just $199 a month. So basically, just one additional client each month and you’re ROI positive. And I’m sure that if you apply what we give you, you’re going to get more than just one additional client each month. And you’re going to likely save at least 10 hours a month to take advantage of this special offer. Just go to TestDriveFLA.com to try it out for six full weeks. If it’s not what you’re looking for, you can cancel it any time.

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