Fitness Business School – Thinking of Success Backwards

Full Transcript

Hey Pat Rigsby here. And in this episode, I want to talk with you about how I believe that most fitness businesses get business success backwards. I’ll explain more this episode.

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.

One of the biggest mistakes I see business owners make, and our industry is getting really caught up in what they do instead of who they serve. Really I think a simple way to look at this would be is we create solutions and we’re in search of problems, right? Like it’s a solution in search of a problem, instead of figuring out what problem we’re going to solve, and then creating a solution, that’s going to be the best path to alleviating that problem. So basically, you know, we, we build the training program that we like, we do the marketing kind of cobbled together, and it’s not reflective of the, the offer that we make. It’s not specific to the target market. We want to reach it. Doesn’t speak to any specific pain points or goals. It’s more or less just building something and hoping that we can find an audience for the thing that we built that happens a lot in the software world. But, you know, the the beauty of it, there is a lot of times those people are spending their own money, right?

They’re going out there, they’re getting venture capitalists, they’re getting investors to come in and kind of fund their idea. And in our world, most of the time, it’s us putting the money up. It’s us investing all the time and effort to build this thing. We’re so excited about that. We’re so passionate about, but it’s not about us. The solution that we create isn’t about us. I mean, what’s great is we have a really, I think, potential for a great business model. I mean, there’s so many advantages to being a service business and, you know, and to be able to create great value. A lot of people about high ticket. It is that’s a business model when in reality, it’s, you know, it’s a, it’s a more expensive value exchange as the way they should be looking at. They should be looking at it as saying, okay, what’s up. It’s a big enough problem that I can solve. That somebody would be willing to invest a substantial amount of money to, to get rid of that problem, to reach that goal. And, you know, the, but the way that most people approach it is how can I sell something expensive, going to worry about my end of the transaction, but not think about the other side of the transaction. And, you know, you wonder why businesses fail it’s because they go into this thinking, okay, I’ve got this wonderful solution to no specific problem. I’ve got a training program that, that I’ve crafted through all the certifications that I’ve got, the experience that I’ve, that I’ve had. And I’ve put together that this method of training that I’m really excited about, but I’m not speaking to any specific target market.

I’m not saying, look, you know what? I know you feel this way. I know your experience dancing this thing, and I’m here to help. And because of that, we end up competing on price. We end out compete, competing just on convenience instead of becoming the best solution for a specific person. So that’s what I, I think that’s what I’m speaking to. When I say we get business backwards, we start at the thing that we want to do the process. We want to deliver the equipment. We want to have the tools. We want to be excited about that. So the methods that we’ve learned that mean something to us, but frankly, they don’t mean a lot to the person that we’re speaking to. The problem that they have is what means a lot, right? To them, the prospect of feeling better, they’re looking better, being more confident, being healthier, that promise that you potentially could make to them to be able to go out and say, you know what, if you work with me over the next six months, you’re going to feel so much better. Your life’s going to improve so so much. And then you deliver on it. You start to deliver on it from day one. They start to experience this and feel better almost instantly, even if they have, I haven’t lost weight yet.

Even if they haven’t gotten substantially stronger yet they feel, I feel a sense of accomplishment because they know they’re on the right path. They know they’re moving forward, as opposed to, Hey, come in. This is the thing that we do. Maybe you fit, maybe you don’t best of luck to you. That’s kind of the way that most fitness businesses work. And let me tell you a little secret that model’s going to die. That model’s going to die really, really soon, because there’s more competition than there’s ever been. There’s more training based or coaching based or serviced based fitness. Then there’s ever been. There are so many places that you can, you can go to have an instructor led workout. There are so many things that you can do online, where you can connect with a live streaming coach. Now, if all we’re doing is saying, Hey, this is what we do come in and participate no different than them, except that we have a much smaller marketing budget. We have less visibility either online or from the location we have. We’re not spending as much on advertising. We don’t have a nationally or internationally recognized brand.

So how do we get we compete if we’re not going to lead with solving the problem that the prospect actually wants to solve. So if you want to be successful, please heed this warning. Please pay attention to this stuff. Start with the problem. Start with the person that you want to reach and the problem that they want to solve. Think about how you can best solve this problem. I know that every time that I get an inquiry, when somebody says, Hey, do you help people build, you know, build businesses with high ticket offers or high ticket sales. I always turn the tables back and say, okay, well, what problem are you going to solve? That merits you being a really expensive solution. Okay. What value are you going to deliver the, that merits, that type of exchange, that type of investment, because I’m, AOK with expensive offers. I think that they’re expensive things in every field, but usually the expense correlate with the quality, it correlates with the thing that you were receiving in exchange for that investment. And all too often, right now, we’re saying, okay, I want to be really expensive. I don’t really care who I help. I don’t really care what I do as long as I can charge a lot of money and that model’s not going to work, frankly, any model that starts with just the solution that we want to provide with no concern for the person or the problem is going to struggle. So as you kind of put your business under the microscope, we’re, we’re heading into what I think is one of the bigger opportunities over the next 12 to 18 months that our industry has ever seen. As you put your business under the microscope and try to set yourself up to succeed in this kind of evolved business landscape. Start with the problem, start with the person that you want to help start with the thing that you want to really be the partner, the leader, the coach, and helping somebody accomplish. And if you start there, then all we have to do is figure out the most effective, the most efficient, the best way to get them from where they are, to where they want to be. And we can charge whatever the appropriate fee is for the value we’re delivering, do that. And you’re going to be poised to have a great visit.

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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