Ask a "successful" personal trainer/small business owner anything

[SageFit]

How did you get capital to start up the business?

Initial business start up cost was around 100k, though I went a little more into design and decoration then most people would. You could easily start an adequate facility with around 60k, maybe even less though there's always a lot more cost then you realize. Figure that by the time all was said and done I spent 150k in the first year on it. I had it from a mix of things. Saving money from working since I was like 16. Training people privately on the side, even when working as a trainer. I trained at parks and homes even when working in a facility. Stocks did me well too, which I continue to do today.

[BodyQuest1]

Sage, how did you get your awesome website to Top 3 of google?

[MMAbrah23]

Sht nig you young and you gettin it. What college you go to? What degrees did you get? When did you start? How many years in colly my dude?

[SageFit]

Sht nig you young and you gettin it. What college you go to? What degrees did you get? When did you start? How many years in colly my dude?

Queens College, NY. Nutrition Exercise Science. Started training at 19 or so. I did 6 years total in college. 2 years as a biology/pre-veterinarian major, 4 years in nutrition/exercise science.

[SageFit]

Sage, how did you get your awesome website to Top 3 of google?

Traffic, SEO, reviews. For our area we're one of the busiest places so google takes note of that. We also get a lot of internet traffic through different sources. As for SEO we are actually hosted twice, once through hostmonster and once through the design company I used. Instead of cancelling my hostmonster subscription since we got new webhosting, i left it up as it adds extra links to the site and extra chance for people to find it in a search.

[PerFit]

It is, but we go off volume. Figure we do over 330 sessions a week + we have group classes and that's for just 1 facility.

That reminds me of a very important thing I forgot to mention. Sometimes volume works better then per cost. For example with my facility I could of charged 40 per 30 minutes but I would have less clients. The money would add up the same but then you have to keep in mind that every extra client you get is free marketing for you. So, you have to take that into the equation when figuring price out. 10 clients paying 300 is better then say 7 clients paying 300 because you then have 30% more marketing power in that group. This is VERY important to understand.

I understand what you are saying but I tend to find the opposite. I always want to position myself as the most expensive in town. I apply this to our group training as well. Reasons for this are:

1) You get rid of the annoying clients who just want the cheapest in town.
2) You position yourself is the perceived best in town. Those who are serious about it will look for the higher end.
3) You have a greater profit margain
4) The lower your prices, the more clients you have to find to fill the spaces.

I get that more clients means more word of mouth but will also mean more work and more behind the scenes time as well. Sure is margainal but it adds up. You could also argue that if you are doing a good enough job focusing on your smaller group of clients, they should yeild even more referrals for you. I see more and more people around here lowering their prices but thats just a losing game. The lower you go the more clients you have to find and in most cases, the more painful they have.

Also, what happens when you book out? Sure its great when you have all these clients but if you are booked out and maybe even have a waiting list, you want to be making as much as you can from each hour.

Once again if its working for you thats awesome from the perspective of a fellow studio owners.

But wouldn't 7 clients paying $300 be better than 10 clients paying $300 because it is less clients to retain? Plus more individualization for the client. Easier for you to track everything of the clients. Possibly better chance to produce results.

i agree with this

[PerFit]

[QUOTE=SageFit;998471733]

I use EZfacility for all my training. I've been using it for like 6 years, even before I opened my places. It's about 100-150 a month but it just makes life a hell of a lot easier and more productive. I can schedule with it, do my book keeping, all my billing, e-mail blasts, contact logs, save info, etc. People can even register online using it. Good program and well worth it once you can afford it.

We use ezfacility too.. cant reccomend it enough.

[GBLynden]

What company do you use for your insurance? Do you know what insurance your trainers use?

[SageFit]

What company do you use for your insurance? Do you know what insurance your trainers use?

I insure them and we all use K & K insurance.

[SageFit]

I understand what you are saying but I tend to find the opposite. I always want to position myself as the most expensive in town. I apply this to our group training as well. Reasons for this are:

1) You get rid of the annoying clients who just want the cheapest in town.
2) You position yourself is the perceived best in town. Those who are serious about it will look for the higher end.
3) You have a greater profit margain
4) The lower your prices, the more clients you have to find to fill the spaces.

I get that more clients means more word of mouth but will also mean more work and more behind the scenes time as well. Sure is margainal but it adds up. You could also argue that if you are doing a good enough job focusing on your smaller group of clients, they should yeild even more referrals for you. I see more and more people around here lowering their prices but thats just a losing game. The lower you go the more clients you have to find and in most cases, the more painful they have.

Also, what happens when you book out? Sure its great when you have all these clients but if you are booked out and maybe even have a waiting list, you want to be making as much as you can from each hour.

Once again if its working for you thats awesome from the perspective of a fellow studio owners.



i agree with this

While I see your point I have to disagree in what you're saying for the following reasons:

1) You can weed out those clients you don't want by the intensity of the workouts.
2) It makes the assumption that people who would be serious about training can also more easily afford the packages or are more likely to spend on it. To me PT is a very high end luxary when people are spending 5000 a year on it. As serious as someone might be that's still a large amount, heck it's the price of a midrange car, so I like to lessen the burden. We get a ton of younger clients from 20-30 years old (in fact it's probably our largest age range now) that have a hard time affording it as is. Some of them are extremely consistant and ended up being our best clients, but it's still borderline too expensive for them.

[ATXpt]

Do you have a list of resources that helped you along the way? I'm currently studying for NASM, but love any additional sources to help my career.

Books,videos,magazines,websites etc...

I graduated with a marketing degree and have been working in the field for about 2 years now out of college, but my passion continues to be fitness so I'm gradually making my moves.

[SageFit]

Bumping as I am now starting a newspaper ad campaign shortly so I will update with the costs, pic of the ads and the response. It is a 2 month campaign for each location with a half page full color ad running in every issue.

[PerFit]

Bumping as I am now starting a newspaper ad campaign shortly so I will update with the costs, pic of the ads and the response. It is a 2 month campaign for each location with a half page full color ad running in every issue.

What are you promoting?

A and B offer?

Call to action?

Testimonials etc?

[arian11]

Bumping as I am now starting a newspaper ad campaign shortly so I will update with the costs, pic of the ads and the response. It is a 2 month campaign for each location with a half page full color ad running in every issue.

Are there even any more hours in the day for you to train more people?! Heh, can't wait to see these ads.

[BodyQuest1]

Bumping as I am now starting a newspaper ad campaign shortly so I will update with the costs, pic of the ads and the response. It is a 2 month campaign for each location with a half page full color ad running in every issue.

NICE! Please post pics of ads

[SageFit]

NICE! Please post pics of ads

Once I get it running i'll give you guys all the info I have on it. It's even an experiment on my end as I haven't done any paper advertising since opening but I have some cash to kick around right now for the new year. If there's ever a time to advertise, it's now.

[Keltron]

I've got a few friends at a really big company that's about two or three blocks away from where I work. Also I have a former client who's the president of a company with about 100 people and another former client who's vice president of a slightly smaller company. The president just fell off one day.. But when we were working together, I spoke to him about coming in and doing a presentation on mobility/flexibility and offsetting the stress of sitting at a desk all day by way of foam rolling/stretching etc. He had a very keen interest in it. That's one idea I have. any other ideas on how I can get the employees of these companies as clients?

I also have some $150 gift cards. Maybe have some kind of raffle box? Or if it did the presentation I could say that there will be a raffle at the end where I'd award a gift card to two people.

[SageFit]

I've got a few friends at a really big company that's about two or three blocks away from where I work. Also I have a former client who's the president of a company with about 100 people and another former client who's vice president of a slightly smaller company. The president just fell off one day.. But when we were working together, I spoke to him about coming in and doing a presentation on mobility/flexibility and offsetting the stress of sitting at a desk all day by way of foam rolling/stretching etc. He had a very keen interest in it. That's one idea I have. any other ideas on how I can get the employees of these companies as clients?

I also have some $150 gift cards. Maybe have some kind of raffle box? Or if it did the presentation I could say that there will be a raffle at the end where I'd award a gift card to two people.

Actually I have something similar with New York Hospital. They employ over 3000 people so I give them a special rate of $200 for 10 sessions as opposed to $300. I give those clients to my newer trainers and it works out well.

[Keltron]

Actually I have something similar with New York Hospital. They employ over 3000 people so I give them a special rate of $200 for 10 sessions as opposed to $300. I give those clients to my newer trainers and it works out well.

Ok great but what specific things can I do to get some clients from these avenues?

My friends work for a gaming company. If I just email all of them and say "Hey, anyone that works at your company gets a discount. Spread the word." They'll say, "Oh cool.. if I know of anyone who's interested I'll let you know." And that'll be the end of it. Same w/my two presidents.


What specific things can I do?

[SageFit]

Ok great but what specific things can I do to get some clients from these avenues?

My friends work for a gaming company. If I just email all of them and say "Hey, anyone that works at your company gets a discount. Spread the word." They'll say, "Oh cool.. if I know of anyone who's interested I'll let you know." And that'll be the end of it. Same w/my two presidents.


What specific things can I do?

Hard to say. In my situation they came to me from the top and said they wanted to run a special with us that they could send out in their company newsletter. From their end it could end up lowering health costs and making employees more productive. It's win win for them so we didn't have to reach out to them. Sorry don't know what else you can do in your situation.

[SFT]

Ok great but what specific things can I do to get some clients from these avenues?

My friends work for a gaming company. If I just email all of them and say "Hey, anyone that works at your company gets a discount. Spread the word." They'll say, "Oh cool.. if I know of anyone who's interested I'll let you know." And that'll be the end of it. Same w/my two presidents.


What specific things can I do?

I know that he is trying to help everyone out with this thread and answer questions, but at some point you need to sit down and come up with something on your own too. I could think of many different ways that you could market to these people. You ultimately will need to try different methods to see what works.

Just calling people goes a long way. You say you knew some guy who was interested, but he dropped off. The simple answer to me would be call him, try to set something up, and just go with your instinct. Maybe offer X amount off of a package of 10. Or you could offer a free pass to 1-2 group fitness classes. You could even run a free group fitness class for them to come in and try as a group.

From what I've seen, the key to finding more business is getting on the phone and getting out there in front of people. While it is important to maximize your success with each presentation or interaction, the volume is also important. Some people will not likely work with you until they see your name 5, 10, maybe even 20 times. If they finally hit the point where they know they need to be involved in exercise and they've seen your business name everywhere for the last year or two, there is a good chance they will come to you.

[SageFit]

Ok guys here are the ads which are going in a City wide paper as well as some local magazines which get delivered to some high income co-ops. These are just the initial copies so they still have some mistakes on them, such as "smalll". Definitely a good chance to reinforce the rule that you always need to look over everything you do in marketing. Anyways hope this helps. I like the bright and deep colors, it should make the ad pop out for sure.

[BodyQuest1]

Ok guys here are the ads which are going in a City wide paper as well as some local magazines which get delivered to some high income co-ops. These are just the initial copies so they still have some mistakes on them, such as "smalll". Definitely a good chance to reinforce the rule that you always need to look over everything you do in marketing. Anyways hope this helps. I like the bright and deep colors, it should make the ad pop out for sure.

Nice Sage! I like the colors and design how many leads have you gotten from that ad so far this New year?

[SageFit]

Nice Sage! I like the colors and design how many leads have you gotten from that ad so far this New year?

It actually starts going out today I believe. Either that or tomorrow. So i'll keep you all updated with a count and how many leads turn into clients over time. Good little research project for everyone.

[arian11]

Ok guys here are the ads which are going in a City wide paper as well as some local magazines which get delivered to some high income co-ops. These are just the initial copies so they still have some mistakes on them, such as "smalll". Definitely a good chance to reinforce the rule that you always need to look over everything you do in marketing. Anyways hope this helps. I like the bright and deep colors, it should make the ad pop out for sure.

Thanks for posting the ads. The links are blocked at work but I'll check them out when I get home.

Quick question on your members, do you have an idea of what part of town they travel from? Is everyone from a close by radius? I ask because I just started reading The Business of Fitness by Thomas Plummer and he talks about the 12 min drive rule and how advertising in a city wide newspaper might not be effective because you are advertising to a bunch of people who live too far to come to your gym. So I'm wondering what your reasoning is for the city wide paper advertising you decided to do. I guess it might be different in NYC with the subway; people may travel farther than they would in say Miami, Florida.

[SageFit]

Thanks for posting the ads. The links are blocked at work but I'll check them out when I get home.

Quick question on your members, do you have an idea of what part of town they travel from? Is everyone from a close by radius? I ask because I just started reading The Business of Fitness by Thomas Plummer and he talks about the 12 min drive rule and how advertising in a city wide newspaper might not be effective because you are advertising to a bunch of people who live too far to come to your gym. So I'm wondering what your reasoning is for the city wide paper advertising you decided to do. I guess it might be different in NYC with the subway; people may travel farther than they would in say Miami, Florida.

I'm in a residential area so we don't really have subway access. Only my new location is really effected by mass transit at all. Ok so let me give you an exact rundown based on my groupon that we did last year...

Click the picture attached to see a % and bubble layout of where the groupon clients came from. Now I know Groupon isn't an exact ideal way to show you demographics but it give's you an idea of the the map layout and distances people are willing to travel. 12 minute drive seems pretty accurate but remember that marketing doesn't necessarily mean the lead needs to come from that area. To me it's about getting the name out there. Heck, even if we just get people to go to the website that means more of a chance of better google placement.

Anyways look at the pic

[BodyQuest1]

It actually starts going out today I believe. Either that or tomorrow. So i'll keep you all updated with a count and how many leads turn into clients over time. Good little research project for everyone.

ok!

[NorwichGrad]

Outstanding work, kid! You got skills as a marketer, trainer and businessman.

Question on marketing. You had mentioned that a great deal of your clients are moms. How did this come about? Was it a result of:

A) Targeting this specific demographics by asking the question, "Ok, how can we attract moms?"

OR

B) You first created your own "Sage brand", if you will, and then the groups of people that came to you was a result of the atmosphere you created that attracted them.

Hope the question makes sense. I guess what I'm asking is did you follow the "build it and they will come approach" or did you know right from the beginning who you were going to cater to?

Thanks!

[SageFit]

Outstanding work, kid! You got skills as a marketer, trainer and businessman.

Question on marketing. You had mentioned that a great deal of your clients are moms. How did this come about? Was it a result of:

A) Targeting this specific demographics by asking the question, "Ok, how can we attract moms?"

OR

B) You first created your own "Sage brand", if you will, and then the groups of people that came to you was a result of the atmosphere you created that attracted them.

Hope the question makes sense. I guess what I'm asking is did you follow the "build it and they will come approach" or did you know right from the beginning who you were going to cater to?

Thanks!

I knew the type of area I was making my first facility in. It's not the area I live in, it's a very specific ummm how can I put this "Mob Wives" type area. Word gets around quickly here and I decorated the place with these women in mind. It was all about the look and cleanliness of the place when I first started. Now it's about the training.

[arian11]

Did you bargain for free rent or reduced rent at the beginning of your lease? Or did the owner give you any kind of deal like that without even asking? I've been hearing that I should ask for 6 months free rent and settle for 3 months when I'm looking for the location for my gym.