Fitness Business School – Create a Remarkable Business

Full Transcript

Hey, Pat Rigsby here. And in this episode, I want to talk with you about creating a remarkable business. So let’s get started.

Welcome to The Fitness Business School podcast – the show for fitness business owners who want to grow their income, increase their impact and improve their lifestyle. Be sure to listen til the end of this episode, because we have a brand new special offer exclusive for listeners. So stay tuned.

Over the past few days my mind has really been focused on this idea of building a remarkable business. And let me give you a, a few reasons for this, because I think you’ll be able to relate. So during the last week I had a couple different clients re return and join our coaching program clients that had you know, I’ve not done business with, since I think maybe at the, at the most recent 2014. So people that were clients of mine back when I had a franchise people that I knew well, but, you know, for whatever reason I hadn’t been working with in that fashion for the past, you know, six or seven years. And, you know, that was kind of the first trigger thinking, okay, what kind of relationship did we have? What kind of experience did they have that they would feel comfortable coming back to me and working together now, because I know so many people, when they work with somebody, they kind of feel like, okay, I’ve checked that box, I’ve done that thing. I’ve learned what I can learn from that person. Now I’m going to move on. So, so that was the first piece of the puzzle.

The second was talking with a few clients about referral programs and thinking about the tactical side of referrals and how you’re going to generate referrals. And you know what, when you’re going to ask and what you’re going to say and how you’re going to reward referrals, but, but trying to always remind people, the fact that, you know, the first domino in generating referrals, isn’t the asking it, isn’t the rewarding. It is earning the referral. How do you become refer a bowl and, and really create a business that people are excited about sharing with other people. And then the third domino in all of this, the third thing that I, that I experienced was I, I talked with a couple people that I’m in a mastermind group with, and we just had conversations about remarkable businesses and the impact they had on people and how they you know, were, were businesses. People were truly excited to be a part of, rather than just a business that kind of checked the box in that person’s respective life saying, okay, I go to a gym or I have a trainer because I need to go to a gym because I need to have somebody to help me work out, reach my fitness goals. Instead, businesses that people felt like, man, I’m so lucky that this is the, the training training facility in my neighborhood that I, that I have access to so many other people, people that I talk to, they don’t have access to something like this.

And it’s just creating that sort of business that, that I think it is just one that, that people rave about one that people bull just can’t help, but spread the word about it. And I contrasted that with what actually gets advertised most of the time, these days. And that’s, you know, this idea of a high ticket business. I can’t tell you how many times, just in the last week I’ve heard people talk about high ticket. I see I sent out an email and had a lot of replies from, from prospects and I had a number of have people talk to me about their high ticket program at no point in time. Did they phrase high ticket coincide with high value though? They didn’t mention that part. Right. And there are so many people saying, well, do you sell high ticket? Do you sell, do you sell high priced stuff? And you know, what, what kind of gets lost in the shuffle here is are you selling something that is so valuable, people are willing to pay a premium price, or are you selling expensive things and preying on desperate people?

And what I think most of the people that I have the good fortune to connect with and coach, and I’m guessing because you’re listening to this, you kind of line up with w with this sort of way of thinking is, you know, you really care about the impact you’re having on people. You want to leave this legacy of making a difference in people’s lives and leaving them better and helping them, you know, not only enjoy a better quality of life themselves, but it’s going to permeate throughout all the rules, relationships they have. And I know I’m all for charging premium prices. I’ve sold things that, that were pretty expensive. I mean, I found them and grew to franchise organizations and, you know, that’s probably the most expensive form of business coaching available, right? Yeah.

So the idea of selling things, at premium prices is, is definitely fine by me. But I think the important part is, is the value exchange. One that, that allows the, the customer, the client, the patient to still feel like they got this wonderful deal or that they are happy. And in some cases, even excited to make that investment because they know what they’re getting in exchange for that investment is just so much more valuable to them than the money that they’re paying. So, you know, I think if we want to build a marketable business, it really kind of starts with catering to client experience, really being focused on operating a client centric business. And honestly, most businesses in our industry are not client centric. Now you may think, well, Hey, that, you know, what do you mean? They’re not client centric. They have to go get clients to operate or members or whatever else, but the truth is they’re usually instructors her or trainer centric or their program centric or their equipment centric. They’re built around that, that side of the equation instead of focusing on the actual client and making them feel special and making them feel valued and appreciated.

So what, what do we need to do to really craft a truly remarkable business and one built around being client centric or putting client experience at the forefront of operations? Well, the first one is we need to make the person we’re serving feel truly important. We need to make them feel like they’re the star of the show show. You know, there, we’re kind of at a point I’m a, a big Disney fan and, you know, we’ve had annual passes for years and go on vacation there quite a bit. And there’s a lot of discord amongst people who go to Disney about the price changes and different things that they’re doing. But in truth, the reason that they can command those kinds of prices are that, you know, the basically instead of having rides, they have, they have experiences, right? They have attractions that you get to go be the star of the show on, right. It’s almost like when somebody goes, was on the ride, the jungle cruise, or if somebody goes on the ride, the Pirates of the Caribbean, your, the center piece, he’s kind of driving or in, in those cases, riding a boat through your room movie that you get to be the hero of the journey throughout.

And yeah, you know, that, that may seem like kind of a corny analogy, but if you think about it, I mean, that’s the, the difference, the theming, that this kind of putting it spotlight on the person that is being served instead of the spotlight. I mean, if you think back to the old school group, exercise classes and health clubs, it was, you know, the, the instructor was on a, a little stage. They had the, the microphone kind of strapped, you know, strapped to their face. And they were really kind of the star of this little hour long production and everything was about them, you know, and it wasn’t nearly as much about the club. It was very much about the instructor. And if you think about things like Peloton and those side types of offerings, same thing, it’s about the instructor. It’s not about the client. So if you want to make the client feel important, make them the star of the show. And that starts from day one. When they come on on, on to the floor of your facility, it’s the choreographed on boarding experience that makes it clear to them that they’re not just another face in the crowd. They’re just not another name number. They’re just not you know, anybody that, that helped meet a quota there that is truly, you know, value and appreciated and considered in an individual that, that the business feels fortunate, his selected that business to help them and go from where they are to achieving their goals. So that’s number one.

Number two, two is I think that if you, you want to have a remarkable business interacting with you needs to be enjoyable. Now I understand that not every facet of a, of the exercise journey, especially for somebody that’s trying to build new habits is enjoyable unto itself, right? Like when somebody is in the trouble, the middle of a challenging set, if their heart rate’s elevated, they’re breathing heavy. You know, they’re, they’re, they’re feeling like they’re under a little duress. That part of it may not be enjoyable in the moment for some of your clients that’s right. But that sense of accomplishment when they finished something, the thing that they did for themselves, and they’re recognized for it, and they’re congratulated for doing things right. They’re, they’re celebrated for building new behaviors and habits and being consistent. They’re recognized for showing improvement. A lot of the things that maybe, you know, in adulthood, we just don’t get a lot of sure. I will happily congratulate my child on a good report card or on, you know, learning new things or on adopting good behaviors.

But in adulthood, we just don’t get a lot of that positive reinforcement and that, that sort of external recognition. But if you make that part of what you’re doing, and you’re helping somebody enjoy a sense of accomplishment, that they are doing something for themselves, and you’re creating a community that they’re, they’re excited to be a part of, then it’s going to be, even if it’s hard. So that’s number two. And then number three, I think it’s important. If you want to create a remarkable business, you need to be a little bit different. If you look like everybody else, clearly that’s the opposite of standing out. If your business doesn’t do something different, and that doesn’t mean everything has to be a different, different, it means that maybe certain facets of what you’re doing are different, right? The format by which you, crane clients, the, the approach that you take, the, the language that you use internally, the, the atmosphere, the setting, everything about it, has the opportunity to be different. So yeah, you can kind of really just, again, choreograph the experience, the culture, the environment, so that it stinks hands out so that it becomes a destination that people are excited to be part of. So when you think about building the type of isn’t this that you want, when you think about building your ideal business, if you will think about a business that wins clients for life.

Now, they may not be paid seeing you all the time straight through. I’ve had dozens, dozens, and dozens and dozens of clients who would work with me and then take a break and do something different, but they still recognize the, that I’m their coach. And, and they come back when they need something, right? Like the two people that I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, but I’ve had dozens of those types of people. And if I think of, you know, players that I coached in college baseball, even a couple of decades ago, many of them still call me coach because they know that I’m there for them in that role for as long as I know them. And I think that if we create this type of remarkable business and build relationships with people where they know that, Hey, we’re there for them forever.

Then we, we have people who are ambassadors for our business forever, have people who can go out there and be walking, talking billboard forever. And we’ve created that type of business that does have that type of impact, that type of legacy that, that, that I touched on at the beginning of this episode. So when you think about building a truly wonderful business, a remarkable business, sure you can charge premium prices. And if you want to get lumped in with everybody else and calling high ticket, I, I suppose that’s your, that, that’s your choice. But I think building something remarkable is building something high value. And that’s the more important piece of the puzzle. You knew that, and you’re on your way to success.

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