Fitness Business School – Thoughts on Lead Generation

Full Transcript

Hey, Pat Rigsby here and in today’s episode, I wanna talk with you about my take on lead generation. Let’s get to it.

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

So many clients come into our ecosystem, or even prospects join our free Facebook group or become part of our email community. And if you ask them what they need most or what, what’s the thing missing? Lead generation is hands down, the most common response and lead generation is a necessary piece of
the pipeline in building a successful business. But here’s the thing, it’s not exactly the same thing as client generation. And sometimes I think people use those two ideas or terminology interchangeably, right? Like getting a lead is not the same thing as getting a client. And so I want to go into some thoughts on
lead generation that may help you depending on where you are in the journey, there’s definitely something for you. And what I want to cover. So each lead comes into our pipeline at a different stage of potential readiness to buy. And the reason I say pipeline rather than funnel is a funnel typically benefits
from gravity, right? Like a funnel is pointed towards the ground, right? Bigger, you know, the big opening at the top, and people come down through and gravity takes care of the rest. Lead generation kind of implies that you’re the one who has to move people through. There is no gravity doing the work
for you. And so each league comes in that pipeline at a different stage of potential readiness to buy.

Now, I need to throw a disclaimer in here. That doesn’t mean that there’s any readiness to buy from you. It’s just if they come in, they’re basically saying, I’m interested in solving a problem or achieving a goal. And maybe you are somebody that can help. Typically leads that come from things like referrals or
through Google Ads or Google business listings, they’re usually a little further along in the pipeline towards being ready than ones that come from general lead magnets or that you connect with at a health fair or opt-in for a contest or sweepstakes or, you know, put their name in a lead box if you’re
going kind of old school. And you know, that’s not always a hundred percent true, but on average that’s completely true. They’re just people that are at different stages of their journey. And so some of them are pre-sold when they get to you because the person referring them obviously has kind of planted the
seed and maybe greased the skids to get them in. Or if they’re searching around on Google and actively pursuing a solution, you know, that’s different
than you running an ad that basically is a commercial while they’re trying to be entertained with social media. One thing that I would encourage you to remember is that all leads come with an associated expense. You know, I used to simply say you pay for the leads that you get. Well, when I say there’s an
an expense, there’s a, there’s a cost either money or time or some combination of both. There are no free leads. There’s something that you’ve done to get that person into your pipeline. Maybe you went to a networking event and met somebody. Maybe you just happened to, you know, run into somebody and
have a conversation with them in a very organic setting at a children’s sporting event, taking walk, whatever. But you still invested time in a conversation with that person.

You know, there’s always a cost and that’s, that’s the challenge because most of us are relatively busy. So investing time, there’s definitely a cap on that. And not everybody’s got some sort of unlimited budget to go invest financially in lead generation. So keep that in mind that no matter what, every lead
that you get, you had to do something to connect with that person. And maybe that investment, like we see some people get leads into their pipeline off Facebook for, you know, less than a dollar because they have a lead magnet that that works and they’re getting people into their pipeline that way. And some
people are really good at networking and they get people in that way, and some people spend significantly more time and effort and you know, so it’s all over the board. But in general, there is no way around the fact that you are investing money or time to get leads. Now buying leads that are potentially more ready to join or purchase or enroll, that’s typically more expensive because they’re more valuable. You know, getting somebody to opt in to a form for a call
typically costs more than getting them to download your lead magnet about healthy meals or exercise at home or something like that because it’s a bigger ask. It’s catching up with somebody and connecting with them at a stage that is way further along and there’s definitely a higher probability that they’re
gonna make some sort of decision. And so you’ve kind of narrowed the potential options that they have at that stage.

So those leads are more expensive always. And, and you may be thinking, well, how’s a referral more expensive? Well, think about all the time and effort and energy that you invested in building a relationship with somebody that compelled them to refer, you know, so, so there’s that, that comes with this, right?
Like you already had to invest everything to build the goodwill with one person in order to get that introduction to another, you know. But the next thing that I want to, to, to kind of talk through is understanding that people being ready to join or buy isn’t the same or people potentially being ready to
join or buy is not the same thing as ready and willing with credit card in hand. In fact, the most common variables that I think determine if someone is ready once they engage with you are, and I’m just gonna kinda list them out, a fit between your offer or your promise and the outcome they desire. So there has
to be a match, right? They have to believe that you can get them where they’re trying to go there, the convenience of the solution that you provide. So you may be the most awesome coach in the world, but if they want fat loss and your system requires them to be in your gym three days a week and you’re two
hours away, you’re probably not gonna get them the perceived value relative to the cost. You may be great at what you do, but if they feel like it’s a $200 service and you’re charging $500, their perceived value would be the deterrent. Their previous experiences and their feelings associated with
them. Sometimes it’s, they had a negative experience that we’ve got to be able to overcome. We’ve gotta be able to share how we’re gonna be different, or maybe they had a positive experience and they want to replicate that. I’ll tell you, the one that probably gets overlooked the most is the magnitude of
that prospect’s desire. If they don’t have enough desire to change, then they’re not gonna get out of their comfort zone and invest time and money and rearrange their life and do all the things necessary to come train with you. And then what other potential options do they believe are available for them to
pursue this desire?

Because we are not usually the only show in town. Usually there are other options available and they need to vet everything to understand what’s the best fit for them. Now, sometimes because somebody comes from a referral, all that’s already kind of happened, happened a little bit before they arrive at
you. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, it means that it wasn’t the conversation you had with them, it was a conversation somebody else had with them. But those are the variables that determine if somebody is ready to buy once they engage. So even with the most qualified a prospects that you
encounter, there has to be a fit between the business and the prospect. And because of that, they don’t all choose us no matter how qualified we think they are. We may think, man, I was sure that person was gonna buy, well, maybe they did buy just but not from us. Or maybe we checked all the boxes, but one, maybe their desire wasn’t strong enough, it wasn’t strong enough for them to rearrange their life or something else, right? So in fact, I would tell you that if half of
the people who engage with you about your solution, and I don’t mean opt in for an email list or download a lead magnet or something, I mean actually have a conversation with you. If half of those people who engage with you via messenger or text or walk through your door or whatever else, if half of
those people actually by you are knocking it out of the park. Because again, we are not the only show in town. So how can we make the most of the leads that we get to get them to kind of lean in and move towards us and not the other options available? Because we can get lots of leads by doing different things.

And like I said, the doesn’t matter if we’re talking about really you know, ready people or people who are kind of far out from being immediately
ready, they’re just kind of loosely interested and they’re just starting to explore options or, or get into a discovery mode. Well, how can we influence people to to, to get the best possible result with the leads that we get on average? Well, the first would be having a really clear offer. People need to know what’s
in it for them, how you’re going to help them solve their problems and achieve their goals and do it in a way that mitigates some risk and makes them believe this is the right solution for them, the perceived value of your offer. Again, you know, I don’t think people are as cheap as a lot of people in our industry
like to give them credit for being, they think, well, everybody wants inexpensive, everybody wants the lowest price.

I don’t think that’s at all true. I think that what is true is everybody wants to get a good value for what they invest. They may be willing to invest in something that is relatively expensive, but they’re not gonna do it thinking that what they’re getting in exchange is poor quality and merits a much lower price.
Everybody wants a good deal. We can use social proof, we can use social proof of case studies. Referrals are basically walking, talking social proof. We can use testimonials on a website. We can use reviews on platforms like Google. We can use social proof in so many ways possible. And one of the cool things
about getting somebody in the door to experience what you do is they’re surrounded by social proof. They’re surrounded by people that are evidence of what you do and what kind of environment or atmosphere you create demonstration of expertise. People need to believe that you can help them reach their goals, solve their problems, achieve their desires.

So whether it is teaching people something on a podcast or YouTube video or sending out an email or letting them experience what you do or going in public speaking or posting things on social, they need to see some sort of demonstration that you can help. You can make things more convenient. Now, you may say, well, how do I do that? You know, they’re, I mean, first market to people who are in close enough proximity to you to consistently use your services at the rate
that you would want somebody to come in and participate. Also you can be really responsive when people engage. So that’s convenience as well. You can do things that make it easier for people to engage with you, easier for people to show up and be consistent with you and easier to buy.
And then, you know, your ability to address the most common concerns and objections people have. Like invariably people are gonna say, well, this is what I need to do differently if I’m gonna get this result, or this is where I get stuck, or this is what I’ve struggled with in the past. And you need to be able to
address those things, and that’s how you can influence those leads to get people to come to you at a higher than normal rate. Now, if you’ve got a limited financial budget, how do you make the most of it regarding lead generation? And I know that’s, this is an important one for a lot of people. Well first of
all, build out your follow up addressing the things that I just, just went over as like the influence the lead influencers. This will maximize the value of every lead because again, this isn’t a race to who has the most leads.

This is how do I get the most right, right-fit clients. So the better the follow up, the more valuable you make every lead next sell face-to-face, not on a sales page, not trying to do it via email, like engage with another human being and spend time with them. Make them feel important and you’re gonna convert a
higher percentage along those same lines. Treat every lead with great care, be responsive, be engaging, be interested. The more you do of that every lead, like if you’re treating every lead like it’s gold, if you’re treating it as it’s this precious thing, you are going to get more return on your investment in generating
those leads. Do more networking and referral generation. Those are typically higher probability leads because you are moving the relationship along faster. A lot of times somebody gets somebody to download a lead magnet and there’s this goal of, Hey, how do I get this person to reply to an email or fill
out a form to do a consultation or something like that? Well, what’s great is you’re the goal of those kind of email based leads. The people who opt in for lead
magnets and stuff is to get them in a conversation. Whereas with a referral or with networking, you’re starting with a conversation. So you’re already at that stage of the relationship. Another thing that I really like for people who have a limited budget or just want to create a little more leverage is spend
time on things like Google business listings or Thumbtack or Bark or something, because they’re basically not like a lot of social media platforms where you feel like, Hey, I’ve got a post daily or multiple times a day to derive any benefit. You still have to manage some of this stuff, but you can do it with a lot
less frequency. And so it’s basically working on your behalf. A lot of times when you are not actively managing it lean into doing more things like public speaking or strategic alliances. In fact, those things were probably a little bit more common early on in my career before everybody kind of got bit by the social media bug and they’re just as effective as they ever were, but there are fewer people trying to do them. So do more of that. Invest a limited amount of money in list building,
but be okay with playing the long game those leads. And if you’ve got a limited budget, learn to do basic list building paid lead gin on your own, figure out that like it’s, I don’t think that getting people to opt in for lead magnet running those types of ads is not, I’m not gonna say it’s easy because it’s not, but it’s not
complicated enough that you couldn’t figure that out and do it at a rudimentary level and, and do okay.

Now if we’re talking about a lot of the more sophisticated stuff, sure you’re gonna need to either create your own expertise or you’re gonna have to invest in somebody else’s expertise to do it, but to go keep the pipeline full with some of those kind of early stage leads, you can probably do some of that and then
make more offers to the leads that you have so you maximize the return on investment. That’s why we talk about using super signatures and doing weekly offers with our coaching clients because we want them to make more offers and maximize the value of every lead they get. All right? So
that’s what we do it for on a budget. Now, if you have limited time, but maybe you are at a stage of business where your budget allows you to get a little bit of help, how do we make the most of it? Well still hire out for Legion. Think of hiring somebody to manage your you know, your, your paid legion
efforts as a part-time employee. And you know, if you’re hiring an agency, remember we’re not, you know, we’re, it’s a contractor, so we’re not having to go worry about benefits and that sort of stuff for that person. You’re paying them for this service, but also be very realistic with what you’re expecting of
those people. If you’re saying, I want you to generate leads, well that’s what they’re being paid to do. They’re not being paid to convert those leads into clients LA unless that is specifically what you are asking of them. Now you can build or you can pay others to build assets like your Google Business listing stuff,
Thumbtack, bark, all that. You could optimize your own follow-up, whether it’s email or text or whatever, or you can pay somebody else to optimize it or even manage it. You could improve your offers or you can make more offers again, because that’s a leverage thing. So some of this sounds like
the same stuff you do if you had a limited budget. Well, the difference in my mind is you find ways to create leverage. So you’re not having to do all the daily legwork by improving an offer. You get to kinda ride the benefit of that work for a very extended, you know, extended period of time for as long as that offer stays viable.

Do more internal marketing because you’re already in the, you know, you’re already in the building or your team’s already in the building. So just make that part of the conversation they’re having, the sessions they’re holding, and then track your numbers and improve every step of the pipeline. If you’re
tracking your numbers and you’re paying other people to do stuff, it gives you things to hone in on and look for opportunities for improvement. Now, keep this in mind. Not everybody is in a position to invest enough in paid lead generation and the management of paid Legion. In fact, in my opinion, and this is
not probably the opinion of people who run advertising agencies, you should not spend more than $1 per dollar spent on ads. You shouldn’t spend more than $1 on ad management. So if you are spending $500 a month on ads or, or you’re ready to spend that, then your ad management cost should not be
more than $500. If you’re, if you’re okay spending $1,500, then clearly you can spend more on ad management. Cause we wanna make the most of that money, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to spend a thousand dollars for somebody to manage your ads and then your budget’s like 300 bucks. So keep that in mind. And if it’s the case that you can’t really spend a whole lot of money, do more with the suggestions that I just shared on somebody with a limited budget. Do some simple list building of your own and leverage other people’s expertise. I mean, we cover a lot of that in Fitness Lead Academy, which after the $1 trial is $69
a month, and you can learn stuff and you can use our ads, but you have to manage them yourself. But you can get feedback from our team on how to manage them, and then you just have to go be the technician.

And that’s a simple way to do it. If you are in that position for $69 a month, you get the creatives, you get the copy, you get the, the actual lead magnets and you get the coaching on how to do it. But you know, you also, I think probably want to have the goal of eventually being able to hire help in that area because that’s what we’d do with training, right? Eventually most of us wanna hire some help and be able to grow beyond our own shadow and not be the only service provider. So we want to be able to hire out in things that may not be our wheelhouse. But keep in mind that trying to generate clients through lead generation without a strong conversion process is basically the same thing, is trying to lose weight by just going in and doing training, but having a terrible diet.
It won’t work nearly as well as you’d like it. And even though you’re working hard during the training session, even though you’re spending money on lead generation, you gotta do the two together if you want the type of results that you likely want from your lead gen effort. So that’s kind of a primer on lead
generation. Hopefully it helps. I mean, we get so many questions about Lead Jan, we talk about it so much and I think sometimes people just get turned around and confused. So I wanted to add some ideas and some clarity and some understanding so you can make this a more successful part of your business.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Fitness Business School.

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