Fitness Business School – Understanding How We Buy

Full Transcript

Hey, Pat Rigsby here and today I want to talk with you about how we buy and how understanding that is gonna help you grow your business. 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 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.

It’s almost interesting to me to see how we as business owners kind of lose sight of how we make our purchases, whether it is services or products or whatever,
and how we want buyers to make purchases when we are the one on the other side of the fence when we are the one doing the selling. Because when we are the one doing the selling, we basically want people to buy when we are ready.

We want people to buy the format that we prefer, we want people to buy and just inherently understand the, you know, the, the benefits that we offer, why we’re better, why we are different, all that stuff. But when we’re on the other side of the fence, we are not at all like that. We don’t behave
that way in the least. So think about, think about it like this, and I’m gonna give you a couple examples and just kind of kind of talk my way through it. So bear with me in, you know, in, in hopes that one of these examples will make that little light bulb go off over your head and you’ll say, wait a minute, I get it
now. So imagine that you are taking a road trip and you know, you’re, you’re, you’re making a drive and you’re gonna go, you know, a cross country or on vacation or something like that.

So when you start the road trip, you have a full tank of gas and, you know, so the last thing on your mind is, Hey, I need to get gas. So you are completely uninterested in finding the closest gas station and you know, in what you know, where you’re gonna get gas, what gas prices are, and what state, whatever
else, right? Now that, that doesn’t mean you don’t understand the benefits of having, having gas on the car to fuel your trip or whatever else. It just means that this is not something that’s a priority to you at the moment. It’s not something that’s really on your radar. Now, contrast that with, if you’re driving
down the road, and let’s say you’re down to, depending on your threshold of comfort with, with, with less gas in your tank. Let’s say that you’re under a quarter of a tank or you’re underneath of a tank, and now you’re starting to become interested in where you’re gonna stop.

And it’s one of those things where you’re looking for the right kind of variables to all be I’ll be kind of synced up, like, Hey, if we’re gonna stop and get something to eat along the way, then, you know, let’s make sure that there’s somewhere close by that has food or, you know, we wanna stop somewhere
that, that that’s clean, that you know, that we’re gonna want to, if we’re gonna need to go in, use the restroom, anything like that. So we’re starting to vet options. We’re starting to think about what we’re looking for in a purchase, but if we’ve got a quarter of a tank of gas, we aren’t necessarily feeling
urgency. There’s just awareness, there’s interest. And then at that next stage, let’s say that we’re down to like that eighth of a tank. Now we’re ready. We’re going to, we know that we are going to be stopping at one of the next few exits, and we’re just choosing between the options available.

But a choice is gonna be made. One of these options is going to be the one that we select because we know that this decision, this action is imminent. Now, the, the stage that not everybody gets through or gets to at least is desperation. Now this is, you know, the gas light is on in the car,
you’re just hoping to make it to the next exit, and you’re gonna take anywhere over the gas pump. Doesn’t matter what the price is, doesn’t matter how clean the restrooms are, doesn’t matter whether or not the gas pumps are well lit and it’s in the evening or whatever else, it’s you know, there, there’s
that urgency factor. But those are kind of things that we, like stages we go through when we buy. Now, we don’t necessarily pass through that last one, but sometimes we do, right?

Like recently there was you know, a pretty significant storm in my neighborhood. Trees were, trees were knocked down lots of shingles were pulled off, roofs, that all, all, all that sort of stuff. And as usual, whenever that happens, there are plenty of roofers in the neighborhood. There are signs out, they’re
they’re, they’re seeing business because they know insurance will cover roof damage. But for a homeowner, there’s some desperation, right? Because you’ve got bear spots on your roof. I mean, I can go down the street here and see all these beautiful homes that, that, you know, probably four
or five of ’em have like tarps over the sections of the roof to cover areas where the shingles have been stripped bare. And, you know, so again, there’s some desperation there, but when it comes to what we sell, it doesn’t always get to that sometimes, you know, there’s just that stage
of being uninterested.

The, it’s not that there’s like disdain for something or whatever else. It’s not even that there is a lack of awareness that there are benefits to what we do, right? It’s just, I’m not interested in that at the moment. I’m busy, I’ve got other things on my plate. Maybe my, my situation hasn’t gotten bad enough
that I feel like there’s any urgency. Maybe I feel comfortable with the fact that I get out and take walks and, you know, I’m physically active and I don’t eat terrible. So maybe it’s just not something that a a priority to me at the moment. Doesn’t mean I’m a tire kicker, doesn’t mean I’m a
poor prospect down the line. It means that this just isn’t something that’s important to me right now. And, you know, if you train young athletes, if they’re in the middle of a sports season, they’re focused on the sport a lot of times.

I mean, that’s probably why they come to you. So they’re just not interested in that moment. They’re interested in the games that they’re playing. Doesn’t matter what we believe they should be doing or whatever else, they’re just not that interested. Now, you may see that next stage people become
interested because, you know, maybe they are you know, maybe they’re experiencing something that kind of prompted them. Maybe they have a vacation that’s coming up and they want to be in shape. Maybe they saw a picture of them and they weren’t exactly thrilled with how flattering or maybe
unflattering it was. I mean, it, it happens all the time, right? Like, I mean, we see people get interested in things all the time for random reasons. My next door neighbor talked to me about getting his house painted because we had our house painted last summer, and if we wouldn’t have had our house
painted, I’m sure that he wouldn’t have been interested.

So whatever the triggering reason is, people start to become interested and then they go through a vetting process, a discovery process, and ultimately they have to decide if that interest is gonna turn into readiness, if they’re actually gonna take action. But usually that, that kind of vetting or discovery
process involves a a number of things, right? Like they’re gonna start looking around online, they’re gonna ask questions, they’re gonna get referrals. They’re going to start to a assess what the investment, not just of money, but sometimes of time and energy look like. So people start to kind of dig in and try
to understand how to make a good decision, because nobody wants to make a terrible buying decision. And it’s not just about money. So often we default to thinking, man, it’s about money. And you’ll see people price their services at $237 a month instead of 2 49 or 2 99, thinking that that’s the difference
maker that, you know, somebody saving $14 a month or $17 a month, or $21 a month is why they’re going to buy.

When the reality is, you know, it over a certain point for, for each of us, that becomes less of the variable, right? Like if somebody’s going out and buying a new car and they’re deciding between a car that’s $43,000 and $47,000. Honestly, I don’t think that $4,000 is the difference maker for them. I think
that the perception of value becomes the difference maker, Hey, is this worth investing a little bit more? Not how do we save this amount of money because we’re already in, right? Like, very rarely is saving five or 10% going to be the deciding factor for somebody who’s making a meaningful buying decision.
Now, if they say 50%, sure that’s, that’s completely different, in fact, even 25 or 30. But if we’re talking about, you know, 10% or less, usually the difference is going to be made up in these other variables.

So when we’re thinking about how people buy, we have to understand that just because we’re ready doesn’t mean they’re ready. Just because people are interested doesn’t mean that they’re supposed to buy right now. It means that we have to help them through that discovery process. And it also means
that sometimes when people are desperate, they may buy, but that may not be the best long-term sell for us. I mean, we saw that a lot back back a couple years ago, and I’m sure it still happens now, but it really was prevalent right before the pandemic. A lot of people were buying business coaching services
from these, these providers that promised this incredible result in a short period of time. And they were charging people like a thousand bucks a week, and they probably bankrupted as many gyms as they actually helped. But almost all the gyms that I talked with that, that had joined that and in many cases
asked me to bail them out later, were, were people who were in a stage of desperation.

And so they were making this impulsive buying decision. Well, the problem with impulsive buying decisions is it’s kind of like that. Let’s stop at the gas station that I is here because our gas light’s on, that doesn’t mean all of a sudden we’re a fan or an advocate of that station. It was just a band-aid solution to
get us through this time. And if you’re like me, you’re trying to find clients who come along and stay with you for years. You want people to stay with you for the next 2, 5, 7, 10 years if at all possible. And those are not desperation buyers. Those people are ready. They’ve made an informed buying decision. They’ve
gone from interested in to ready by really kind of digging in and understanding why they were gonna buy, and they made the right decision for them. And it doesn’t even mean that we were their first choice, right?

Like we didn’t necessarily have to be the first gym they joined, or the first business coach they hired. It was more like, you know what they felt informed, they felt like they were making the right decision for them, and we were able to, in some cases, win them over because now they had context and they
understood what they didn’t want as much as the things that they thought they did want. So when you are connecting with a prospect, when you’re talking with somebody about you know, becoming your client, or even when you’re trying to identify where you should market and whether it’s a neighborhood
or who you’re gonna target on Facebook with ads or whatever else, understand that people aren’t always gonna be on our timeline. They aren’t gonna be on our clock. They aren’t necessarily gonna go as fast as we want them to go, but you know, this is how people actually make buying decisions.

And so if we understand that our, our job can be to try to move people from uninterested to interested, it can be to help move them from interested to ready. And sure if somebody comes along and they’re desperate, we can help them. But we need to make sure that even if they come in under those kind of
adverse circumstances, we’re going back to that interested to REI stage and we’re still checking all the boxes with a check there so they stick around. But if you think about that and you think about every step of this relationship being one, that your job is just to move them to the next step, you become so much
better. You become so much more successful and you get client to stay, pay and refer. So that’s how we buy.

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

Before you go, I’ve got a quick announcement. When I first connect with fitness business owners, they almost always ask me how I can get more clients and make more money. Well, I’ve got an exclusive offer for you and it’s gonna help you do just that.

And as a listener of this show, I would love to invite you to a conversation where you and I can talk about our new program, the Business Growth Sprint.

The Business Growth Sprint is a one-of-a-kind program where you get everything you need.

We actually work with you one-on-one, unlimited, one-on-one coaching and support.

We design a marketing plan for you.

We give you assets to execute the plan.

It’s unmatched in our industry between the level of coaching, the frequency of accountability, the simple step-by-step nature and the completeness of how it’s gonna guide you to making more money and improving your personal income fast.

Imagine having every tool, template, ad, and script that you need all ready-to-use. Plus you’re going to get one-on-one access with me and the other coaches on my team to make sure that everything from your business growth plan to your marketing and sales system is done, turnkey, ready to go.

And what’s great is there is zero risk. We guarantee that you are going to add at least $4,000 a month in recurring revenue, or $20,000 a month cash collected as part of this program in just four months.

So if you are interested, if you’d like to discuss and see if this is a fit, just shoot me an email at [email protected] and put Sprint in the subject line and I’ll get you all the details.