The saying “What you do today improves all your tomorrows” was certainly the case on my first visit in 2011 as my business has flourished since then, and yet again FEB 2012 has easily over delivered for me.

Today I will share 10 things I learnt or was reminded of while I was at FEB.

Did you ever know something which could have helped you but forgot about it? or never did anything with an idea when you thought about it and then you forgot about it totally? I did, and was reminded of it at FEB by Andy Lopata.  More on that below.

I had two specific BIG ah ha moments which are sure to help me be more successful with my business, plus I learned loads, here are the top 10 things I learnt at FEB in 2012!

1. Sell your idea first and build it second.  I have been doing this quite a bit but it was nice to be reminded. Basically this means, design the outline of what “information” you want to sell, then get enough people interested to do it before you write out every last word and add all the details.  This strategy saves you time as if your initial marketing does not bring too many sales you can cancel the project without having wasted too much time on it.
2. Be your authentic self.  No bullshit or pretence, be yourself and don’t try to be “like” your favourite fit pro.  Learn from their good traits but do it your way.
3. Put your successes on display.  Get nice professional frames for my published research work, media, achievements etc
4. Information products may be better than hiring staff.  Selling your nutrition and/or exercise knowledge to your followers in smaller bit sized and affordable amounts maybe better than hiring staff as it uses you time better.  If you start hiring staff you have to invest more time, but to sell more information products you only do the work once for a recurring income source.
5. Our client’s goals are far more important than ours.  Sometimes as busy fitness professionals, dealing with all the aspects of business, we can forget what THE single most important thing is AT ALL TIMES, our clients.
6. I have more qualifications than Dax Moy…… BUT he is still the best (and most expensive) PT in theUK! Why? Lots of reasons why I’m sure but he has the most amazing persona and has a clear purpose and vision on how he can become the greatest and grandest version of himself, and has done for some time from what I gather.  Before FEB I did not know what my real purpose was, thanks to Dax stimulating my thoughts, I now know.
7. Have a limited company if you earning more than £35K ish a year.  This will allow you to continue to pay 20% tax up to around the £300k mark.  However this is not my area so Speak to Andy Crawford about this one (he is on facebook for those who don’t know him).
8. Don’t hire trainers! Most of the top players on the round table on Saturday night agreed that the point at which they started employing trainers was the point at which their business became A LOT more stressful.
9. Leverage your current network and mailing list.  For me I intend to do this to get more speaking opportunities with my target market type clientele, thanks to Andy Lopata.
10. Be even more helpful.  In general I’m a helpful guy and I do a lot for my clients but I know I can do more, especially for certain ones who need that extra bit of TLC and a 10 minute chat.  Sometimes we can all forget to say or show how much we care.

At FEB I also spoke to lots of people who were my “friends” on face book, who I had never spoke to before, I love that.  I do find it difficult though to always recognise people from their photos, I was name badge scanning a bit! I recognised the name more than the face.

Also I met some keen young fit pros, they scare the shit out of me, they are so young and so switched on, nothing like I was at that age, great effort guys and gals you are all destined for great things as far as I can tell.  You guys keep us older guys on our toes by being so hungry to learn.

Also this year I felt that I knew more people, which was great and made the experience much more enjoyable all round.  The first year I was there I didn’t really speak to anyone or know much about who everyone was, I just sat in awe and listened and took it all in, went back to Swansea and changed my business forever.

This must be said – If you missed FEB – Your not right it the head!

Hopefully see you there next year!  Let me know what you learnt from FEB this year by leaving a quick comment below, share your thoughts and ideas with our little community people, that’s what its all about after all – our community!

Peace

Rich x

Chris was with me in LA this last weekend at the James Malinchak event, and his latest BLOG post tells you a little bit about that event as well as why too many trainers are running a huge risk relying on Facebook as their sole channel for marketing…

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Hey,

So incase you didn’t know I’ve been inLA for the last 7 days studying with one of the smartest guys I’ve come across and the leading speaking business coach in the world!

I’m going to challenge you today with a few thought provoking questions to take your business to new levels and invite you to join me in a journey to raising the bar and taking yourself to new heights!

This post is straight talking and may piss a few people off, but hey I’m just commenting on what I see EVERY single day on Facebook (actually one of the reasons your business sucks right now)!

I’m going to take these 7 reasons and break them up into daily short articles over the next 7 days so that not only can you learn from them but have a ariel view of what you’re doing every single day and actually take some action on some shit!

So here are 7 reasons your fitness business sucks right now!

1. Facebook is your only form of marketing
2. You’re diluting your message
3. You have no positioning in your local area
4. Thinking about expanding before you’re ready
5. You have no marketing strategy
6.Pissing about with things that make you NO money
7. You try to be somebody you’re not

1. Facebook is your only form of Marketing

I’ve been guilty of this in the past, I’ve relied far too heavily on Facebook to market my business and sat within a HUGE comfort zone and not got out there and actually connected with people.

Now don’t get me wrong, Facebook is a GREAT tool for relationship building with people, it definitely SHOULDN’T be your ONLY focus on getting new clients.

Facebook can actually be hugely counterproductive and actually stop you from getting to the fastest way to the cash!

This is what I see each and every week on Facebook from other trainers. “My bootcamp starts monday go here to sign up”

This message then gets repeated every 4 weeks and becomes just noise!

Let me tell you right now, Facebook is not about SELLING, it’s not a place to push your business each and every day!

I use Facebook for these reasons ONLY.

1. Connection – I connect with my current customers, I build relationships with people who are prospects and I serve people through articles and videos to provide VALUE to those that are on my Facebook, to move them closer to the ‘Buying Line’.

Quickest way to burn that relationship that you have is to try and SELL, people LOVE to buy but HATE to be sold too, remember that!

You may have heard this a million times but people love to buy from those that they ‘KNOW, LIKE and TRUST’.

Interact and build relationships with people and help people through the content that you provide. It’s really that simple, when people are ready to buy, they will, with a gentle nudge to a taster week, or a seminar.

2. Social Proof – This is a huge part of Facebook, it is a social platform, think of it as an online coffee shop, people go there to socialise with friends, they go to Facebook to browse, NOT to be sold too!

Facebook marketing is a form of ‘Pattern Interrupt’ Marketing. You are basically catching their attention through the media you are providing through your Facebook profile.

The only way you can do this effectively is through ‘Social Proof’ in the form of before and afters, video testimonials, interviews with clients etc.

So if you’re using Facebook but DON’T have any of that then I’m sorry thats the quickest way to turning your clients off. Simply putting a status up saying “I have this starting here” is just noise, it’s bullshit and nobody wants to hear that shit!

What would happen to your business is Facebook was taken away from you tomorrow. I mean imagine the Facebook servers crashed for 14 days, what would you do, if Facebook is your ONLY form of marketing how would you grow your business?

What would you do?

I can tell you now MOST people would be stuck, BIG TIME!

Most trainers wouldn’t actually know what to do, most trainers have no marketing plan, don’t know where their clients come from, don’t know how much a new client is worth to them, nor do they know why their business isn’t growing.

People ask me all of the time how do you fill a bootcamp with 30 + plus, well I don’t know 1 way to get 30+ people to a Bootcamp, but I know 10 ways I could get 3! In fact I have about 30 ways I could get 10.

Why would you ignore another 29 ways of pulling 10 new people into your Bootcamp?

That’s just plain f*cking silly, right?

Building a business is EASY…

Skillset + Mindset + Get OFF YOUR ASSET – James Malinchak

You need to understand you’re a local business, whilst most businesses are depersonalising their message with customers you need to turn up the personalisation a not or two.

Build real connections. Marketing in a Local area is TOTALLY different to mass media marketing across the country.

I picked this up from Dan Kennedy which was really cool. “National elections are WON by the work done to win local elections, your business should be ran as though you’re running for Mayor”

Especially with the work that we do, you need to become such a pillar of the community, pull people together, be accessible. Sitting behind the computer screen will make people less likely to do business with you.

Whilst companies in your local area do exactly the opposite you play on this fact, people actually still like face to face relationships. Technology has turned us into a bunch of unsociable people that simple rely on using phones, Facebook to communicate.

I could go on for another 3 pages on why Facebook is actually holding your business back, and that goes for any social media really, but I won’t.

I will ask you this question though. Would you be prepared to close down your Facebook profile for a month and actually get out there and do some real life meeting and relationship building?

Would you be prepared to start playing a more active role in your community offline and become the leading authority in fitness in particular your niche market?

If that makes you squirm inside at the thought of doing it then thats a great indicator that you should.

I hope that has really hit home with you and made you just sit and THINK about how you’re A) portraying yourself and B) relying on Facebook far too heavily.

In the next article I will share my views and observations on how SO many Fit Pro’s are KILLING their business by diluting it so much it no loungers looks like what they want it to be!

PEAAAACE!!

Be sure to ask your questions and comment below!!

Chris

PS – If you haven’t already invested in yourself the Masterminding group I’m putting together I’m putting a 7 day deadline on it before I raise the price!

On June the 9th Paul Mort and Myself are holding an Short Jam packed ‘PURE’ Content event AS A BONUS to reward those that invest in themselves. This event alone will be worth the entire investment and more. You will walk away with several ‘plug and play’ strategies ready to roll on the Monday morning in your business.

Register here http://bootcampmarketingsystems.com/i-want-in

BTW – If this event doesn’t totally change your perspective on your business and blow it up I’ll give you ALL of the investment back and mentor you for free for a month!

Joining any professional association or registering with a regulator may seem like an unnecessary use of your time and money, particularly in testing economic times.

Paying out your money and not seeing an immediate (or any) tangible return is frustrating.

Our industry is plagued with young and inexperienced ‘health & fitness professionals’ who have taken sub-standard qualifications, who may not have public liability insurance or first aid training or who are simply claiming to be what they are not.

These individuals are stealing your business and may be putting the public at risk.

How many number ones, expert trainers can there be in one area?

I ask myself the question, why cant we just give your word that we will “be a good fitness professional” and leave it at that?  After all, we are on the whole, decent folk trying to help people.  Apparently some people are not as trustworthy as you and I and need to be reminded to keep their tools sharp.

In addition to the fairy tale websites of some trainers, you may have seen the sharing and licencing of testimonials and case studies by some bootcamp franchise groups.  These are just little signs that the public are not getting a fair and honest deal when it comes to fitness marketing.  American people giving testimonials for British bootcamps is that honest straight up marketing?

REP’s is an optional thing and no one has to join and as I’m sure you know, in our industry you don’t legally need any fitness related qualifications to be a personal trainer.

This article may be something I regret, as last time I wrote something about REPs I felt the wrath of many fitness professionals who did not feel the same, plus I spent the following few days responding to all the bloody comments.  That was a big pain in the arse! lol

My mother always taught me if you have nothing good to say, then say f**k all! (She always did have a foul mouth)

But seriously, it’s easy to criticise organisations such as REPs and I’m not here to get into the politics or conspiracy theories that they are fascists and “they take backhanders to get courses certified and all that”.

However they don’t get off scot free, even me who is pretty laid back, and I try not to sweat stuff I cant control, can see they are far from perfect… in many ways they do not represent our industry (for whatever reason). They have not even delivered on some of their basic goals, such as raising public awareness of who they are, and pushing the fitness industry standards up.

They do not check your paperwork with a fine tooth comb or come after you if you don’t submit it, people commented last time I wrote an article and said they had nothing checked for over 3 years.  It’s a self regulatory kinda thing I guess! ;-(

With regards REP’s my thought process and decision to join was simple, as I outline below.

For some people however joining REP’s or similar organisations it’s not a simple decision.  It becomes some deeply thought out philosophical decision or one that is politically driven, driven by negativity or a sort of righteous stance against the machine…its all good in tha hood either way, we all make our own choices in life.

All that aside, here are my, reasons why I rejoined REPs again this year:

1. It’s our only choice for now.  They are the only independent professional (cough) body who can confirm what I say about myself is true.  Until such organisations such as the main man – Dax Moys, personal trainer mastery come to fruition, REPs is all we have got.  Like it or not, I believe you should be independently checked to make sure you meet the MINIMUM standards if you’re a health professional.  Properly qualified, insured and first aid trained.
2. My clients like it.  My professional and corporate clients like professional associations and are members of them themselves.  I work with solicitors, barristers, doctors and dentists, all of whom are members of professional and/or regulatory bodies.  They have specifically said they initially came to me because I (my set up) is professional and the real deal, someone who can get results.
3. It covers my arse … a little bit more.  Im not an expert on this and have never been to court.  However I do know in today’s world it’s more likely that you will get sued or taken to court by a client if you screw up their health or worse.  Some of the Dr’s I work with have 1-2 legal cases ongoing at any one time, and this is apparently the norm in their profession.  If in the unlikely outcome that you end up in court for hurting someone (whether it was your fault or not).  As long as you were working within the boundaries of your qualifications you have insurance and up to date first aid – you should be fine. I believe many trainers tread a fine line and do not stay within the boundaries of their quals, I have seen some diagnose medical conditions and prescribe treatment, er that was a Dr’s Job last time I checked? And you can get in deep trouble for prescribing supplements to specifically rectify medical problems (unless your qualified). I would imagine being a member of a professional organisation is better in the eyes of the court/judge/law etc.  I am a member of REP’s, and other similarly disorganised, (bullsh*t) associations such as the SMA (sports massage association) and BACR (cardiac rehab, these are quite good in fairness).  Each of these bodies checks my skills and paperwork are up to date. This would potentially show the court that I have taken every step possible to protect my client.  Alternatively, if you did hurt someone and were not a member of any regulatory body and in addition your insurance, risk assessments, PAR Q and or first aid had slipped……well, negligence comes to mind, and that’s all the court has to prove.  These organisations also offer different levels of service and legal advice to its members if they are in the sh*t.
4. It’s cheap & easy.  Membership costs £29, or £84 with insurance and the online application is relatively easy if you have your paperwork in order.  You need photocopies of your qualifications including first aid and copies of your insurance, with cover up to £5,000,000.  You also need a copy of your CV and a letter of authenticity, to authenticate your fitness qualifications. 

That’s why I rejoined REP’s.  Would  I join a similar organisation if it existed and offered something better? Yes.  Until now I guess I use reps to give myself a little more credibility over some of the other numpties and less professional trainers in my town.

(I say this tentatively) Agree or disagree? Leave your comments below, are you a lover (member) or a hater of REP’s?  Can you find a few reasons why it may be worth it?

Peace x

PS – See you at F.E.B this weekend, please come say Hi to Tim and I! x

A guest post from one of the smart guys in the UK group training market, Sean Ryan.

I met Sean for the first time last November at one of Paul Morts infamous Masterminding events in Marbella. The fact that Sean was actually at the event makes him a smart cookie in my mind…

Anyway, he sent me through this article as a response to the article the other day about Pricing Strategies For Personal Trainers. Enjoy

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Over the past 12 months I have learnt a hell of a lot from three different people. Tim Goodwin, Paul Mort and Dax Moy; each of these guys have helped me develop not only my business but also the way I think about life and the experiences it provides. One of the latest golden nuggets was a simple piece of advice; to improve your marketing and customer service try to look and learn from outside of the fitness business.

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Last weekend I took the girlfriend away for a break in London and we stayed at a big named hotel. From the moment we walked in the staff were very friendly, greeted us with a smile and were happy to help in any way possible.

On check in, the lady again was very helpful and happy; they gave us a complimentary upgrade to an Executive Room. The only difference between that and standard was some free bottled water, slippers and a coffee maker.

Straight away I sent a message to my mum, “Guess what? We just got upgraded!” and that was when it hit me.

***

As Personal Trainers and Bootcamp instructors I still feel the strongest piece of advertising we have is word of mouth, nothing sells a product better than someone who has used it and had a life-changing experience using it.

How can we generate more word of mouth? Easy, achieve better results and stack even more value (give them something to talk about!).

How can we do this? Well, as soon as I was upgraded at the hotel not only did I feel special (c’mon, upgraded for free? Awesome!) but I told people straight away – and that is important! Straight away to my circle of friends I made this hotel seem amazing (and to be fair it was a pretty amazing hotel!).

Perhaps we, as coaches, can use the same principle on our PT or Bootcamp packages!

For example….

If a person signs up to your standard Bootcamp program, once you have taken payment from them, upgrade them to the next level package you have…free of charge!  The difference in programs doesn’t have to be huge at all. It could even be a program that isn’t listed on your site…an ‘executive’ standard program. The difference could be a longer coaching call. A 28 day meal plan rather than a 7 day meal plan. A free KCA.

• If someone joins your standard give them your gold.
• If someone joins your gold give them your platinum.
• If someone joins your platinum give them more stuff; maybe your cookbook (if you have one), a KCA or something else you can offer them!

For the upgrades I advise using something you have already made; like a 28 day meal planner, that way it doesn’t cost you anything to give them a upgrade as all your hard work is already done! Doesn’t mean you can’t throw in KCAs, Coaching Calls or suchlike.

It doesn’t cost you anything to give your clients even more value.

Try it, see what you think

Sean Ryan

www.ministryoffitnessmk.com

PS. For more information on how to create packages to help stack value make sure you check out Tims last post on PTC speaking about Pricing Strategies in terms of how to stack value to make the price of your programs less daunting, positioning the highest price program first to make the lower priced programs more attractive.

What tasks am I on about?

• Websites
• Graphic design
• Accounting
• Managing emails
• SEO related tasks

…and many other less important tasks, that are ESSENTIAL to your business success, but should not be performed by you.

Every day I see posts in forums and groups on Facebook with Fitness Professionals doing most of these tasks, struggling, wasting crazy amounts of time getting nowhere.

You are an ELITE personal trainer, that is why you sit and read my BLOG posts, however you are NOT:

• an elite graphic designer
• an elite website developer
• an SEO expert
• an admin assistant
• an accountant

So why get your head in to these tasks? Here is what I believe you should be doing:

1. marketing your services as a fitness professional
2. being a fitness professional
3. or educating yourself to be a better fitness professional! (skills and business education)

But hiring other experts is expensive?

Some EXPERTS are a big investment? The keyword there is INVESTMENT! Nothing is an expense if they save you time, allowing you to do the work you are supposed to do more of the time! Hiring other people to do the work they are really good at takes the pressure off you to try to be an expert in.

My Go To Resources For Outsourcing Work.

Fiverr.com – this has got to be the biggest revolution in outsourcing and a perfect way to get started. Micro-sourcing tasks through Fiverr has been my go to place when I need some little jobs done, such as logo design, headers for websites, short articles, wordpress installations, website fixes and SEO work!

In fact my current graphic designer is someone I discovered on Fiverr. Rachel was charging $5 for website headers which were better than headers I paid 30 times that amount for! She now has a website called HeaderValley and can be hired to create headers for $45 (still an absolute bargain)… If you use her services, be sure to say I sent you

For bigger tasks such as full on web development, use Odesk.com

They have a great system for tracking work being done and also a great way to hire virtual assistants. I’ve hired SEO admin staff for as little as $2 an hour and had books converted to Kindle format for less than $50.

If you are looking for writers, go to Guru.com and you’ll find people to prepare your cookbooks, ghost write your book, or create unique articles for your BLOG… On there you’ll find experts on pretty much any subject.

My final suggestion is for accounting and legal stuff. This is serious stuff that requires experts… every penny I’ve spent on these services has been worthwhile, because it is something I feel no fitness professional should be doing.

Whilst you DO need to know your numbers, accountants and lawyers know what to do to keep you on the right side of the law and the inland revenue/IRS etc etc

If you are in the UK, accountant Jamie Crampton, is someone I’ve heard great things of, and someone who has experience handling fitness professionals figures

Let me explain.

I am in the fortunate position that I’m in demand, for which I am thankful.

But maybe sometimes I get too in demand and busy.  Stupid busy…..eg im so busy I do stupid things and make mistakes!

There are so many channels which people now contact us and send messages on:

• Facebook, comments and messages
• Twitter
• My blogs
• Text’s
• Phonecalls – mobile and landline
• Emails (and junk emails)
• Face-to-face

It would sometimes feel like I was drowning in messages (most of which, it seems were not even forme.), overwhelmed.com…….

Overwhelm is a term sometimes used to describe what I feel like when this happens and your brain is on information overload.  (this information overload causes loads of “turbulence” in your mind and leads to you becoming less productive.)

I’m partly to blame myself for making the situation worse, subscribing to anyone and everyone’s lists doesn’t help the tranquillity of my inbox.

That’s why I started to switch off a bit to some of the incoming channels.  Just one or two, it couldn’t d any harm could it?  – I started to leave or delete my junk mail and was not checking facey half as much.

Too busy to check my junk mail! Yes.

Sometimes I would see that there were 200+ messages in my junk mail and I would just press ctrl + A and hit the delete button.

Honestly I can’t believe how stupid I may have been.

One day, last year, I was forced to check my junk mail because someone’s regular message had been marked as junk, automatically by my anti-virus software.

I have two anti-virus software programmes installed.  You gotta be safe right?

While I was rummaging around looking for the missing email I saw a personal training enquiry from my website.  Happy days!

I subsequently signed up the guy and he stayed for 2 “terms” of 3 months and has now moved onto my maintenance programme, all this will bring an income of around £5k in before the year is out.

Do I check my junk mail these days?  Hell yes.

Do you check you junk mail or are you too busy like I was?

What do I do if I see any signs of overwhelm on the horizon?

Take a break from work, exercise (running down the woods or beach(bare foot) work well for me), practice mediation and silence and STAY OFF the laptop for 48-72 hrs!

Leave a comment below and share your experiences of information overload or overwhelm, which lead to you missing something important.

Take care,

Richard

Do your prospects often baulk at the price when you quote you fees for PT or bootcamp.

Personal Trainer Pricing is tough, because it is (or should be) a premium priced service. We can’t ignore price as irrelevant , it is extremely relevant to your prospects. However there are a number of things we can do to make it a less important factor in the decision process, as well as use some psychological “trickery” to change the perception of the ‘cost’.

Higher Perceived Value Of Your Service.

One of the best ways to reduce the relevancy of price is to increase the ‘perceived’ value of your offer.

Now I am not saying you should be deceiving your prospects about the true value of your service, all you are going to do is ‘STACK’ the value in your marketing. Lets look at two ways to present your services.

1. Personal Training – £80 per hour

OR

2. Personal Training Package

includes:

• 12 1-on-1 fat burning PT sessions with your own personal coach
• FREE Kinetic Chain Assessment, and body analysis at the start and end of your training
• FULL access to your coach by phone/email/text
• The XYZ nutrition plan to shred fat from those “hard to shift” areas of your body
• Our unique Goal Setting Protocols that make your training lazer focussed getting your results in double quick time!

All for just £320 a month

Same programs, same service, presented very differently, one demonstrates significantly higher value

The Contrast Principle

I have a big dog and a little dog, the little dog is not that small, but when you compare him to my BIG dog he seems much smaller

Robert Cialdini’s powerful book “Influence” is a must read for any business owner. In it he talks about the contrast principle which is basically presenting your HIGHEST priced products/services first, then, if there is price resistance, offer the cheaper STANDARD program.

Here is how I used this in my own Personal Training Business. Training with me, the top guy in the company was the highest priced PT package at over 800 Euro per month. I comparison my other coaches were considered very reasonable at 585 Euro per month. I would always tell prospects my fees first and then the fees of my other trainers.

If I’d presented the 585 euro a month first, the prospect would immediately think that is a lot of money to invest in training.

However having heard my more expensive fees first and then the lower amount, the 585 seems cheap!

This one concept for pricing is hugely powerful in any product of service you are selling.

The Take Away Method

No, NOT that kind of Takeaway dummy!

This is something I learnt from one of my business mentors, James Malinchak. The basic idea is combined with the contrast principle and the value stacking methods above, but actually works to get more people to invest in your higher priced packages.

You first present your highest priced services as per the value stacking method.

Then present the second highest priced package, simply by saying.

“Exactly the same as the XYZ premium package, except you DONT get access to Tim Goodwin for your personal coaching, instead you’ll be coached by one of our GetFit Trained professionals to coach you through your program”

By taking things away of VALUE when you drop the price, your prospect will often desire the thing that has been taken away from them, making them want to sign up for the higher priced package. Psychologically very powerful selling techniques.

But I Don’t Have a High Priced Package?

Simple… Create One!

Even if you never intend on selling the high priced service, it is way more beneficial to marketing your ‘standard’ priced services by using these techniques. PLUS you’d be surprised how many people actually take you up on your PREMIUM product!

Go ahead create the all singing, all dancing EVERYTHING included package that is priced extremely high with the intention never to sell one, but ALWAYS offer it, with the intention to go down to the next level service which is your ‘normal’ service… which seems like a damn good deal!

That’s Personal Trainer Pricing the ninja way!

In the comments section below tell me your experiences with being sold something in this way.

The rules also state your timeline ‘cover image’ cannot contain the following:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

This Cover violates the "call to action" rule.

Whilst some people are complaining bitterly about the changes, you can kinda see Facebooks point of view that they don’t want FB to become some great big billboard for everyone and their dog’s business.

As a Facebook ‘user’ (from a social media perspective), the last thing I want is yet another place to be bombarded with advertising and interruption style marketing… That’s why I turn the volume down on my TV during the adverts!

What does this mean for your business Facebook Fan Page?

OK, this may not seem like the popular opinion… but have a Fan Page to have real social engagement with people who want to engage with you and you business and product.

I want to show you an example of a small business that I have close ties with here in Portugal that “gets it right” with Facebook Fan Pages and has NOT had to do many changes to conform with the new layout and rules.

The company is a Mountain Biking guide. Go check out http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mountain-Bike-Adventure/8562843001

• You’ll see that they have close to 1300 “fans” grown organically, not force fed or tricked in to being a fan
• Read many of the status updates, they are about clients that have enjoyed their experience, new trails that have been built, plans for the future and chat about what routes are being ridden that week.
• You’ll see the timeline is plastered with photos! Lots of photos of clients (recognition), the scenery and the weather!
• There are plenty of videos on the timeline too! Mostly showing what the experience will be like if you come riding with them.

Now the thing to note with this fan page is that it is NOT done with marketing in mind! All the interaction is genuine social engagement, not forced or done with any specific agenda.

Here’s the point…

People want GENUINE social engagement, not a marketing message.

People like RECOGNITION that they are part of an experience and they can relive that experience through the videos and photos, not some slick marketing video or brochure.

People actually want to INTERACT with others that have enjoyed the experience and encourage other bikers to come and give it a try! Not done so as part of an affiliate or referral scheme.

This small company probably not only has more Fans than your page, but a hell of a lot more activity than your page, which is way more valuable.

You can learn a lot from a business that does social media right! And not because they have read a book or bought a course, or hired an “expert”, they are just…

SOCIAL )

We often get in to a rut of reading the same stuff, by similar authors on similar subjects. Or the biggest sin of the Fit Pro, only ever reading books about heath and fitness related stuff! The more varied your reading the more open you mind becomes to new ideas, new opportunities and developing a unique and strong business.

A rather heavy Amazon box landed on my doorstep today, with a bunch books that is a bit of a departure for me.

What I Am Reading Right Now!

Guerrilla Marketing – Jay Conrad Levinson

This is probably the 3rd time through this book, but to be honest with you it should be the bible of ANY small business, or solo entrepreneur interested in saving money with their marketing, and avoiding the common pitfalls of wasting money with ‘old-school’ brand building marketing, only suitable for large corporations with large egos to polish!

Understanding what media is out there for you to utilise, which is low cost or no cost, is essential for a PT or bootcamp owner. This book will make you think completely differently about your current marketing practices.

So What’s In The Box?

Onward – Howard Schultz

This is the guy is the Chairman, President and CEO of “the 3rd place” (Starbucks)… I’ve read books about Starbucks before, its back story, how it was started, the philosophy etc etc… This one talks about Leadership.

The quick flick through shows this to be a little more “raw” a book about Starbucks… Why should you read this? If you are going to become a “leader” in this industry, managing other people or building a brand then this is the book to read…

Content Rules – Ann Handley and CC Chapman

How to create Killer Blogs, podcasts, videos, ebooks, webinars and more… that engage customers and ignite your business.

Other than being the longest title of quite a small book, this kind of thing is right up my street (and should be yours too!) If you are not creating content, then its more than likely you business is not being as successful as you’d hoped! Content really does RULE! It positions you as an expert that people want to engage with and buy from.

This first paragraph from the book says it all!

“…instead of creating awareness about your company or your brand solely the old-school way (by annoying people with advertising, bugging them with direct mail, or interrupting them with a phone call during dinner) now you have an unprecedented and enormous opportunity.”

Story Theatre Method – Doug Stevenson

If you run live events, STIPTs, or have a desire to make a living from speaking then you need to understand story-telling. One of my coaches, James Malinchak makes millions of dollars a year telling stories from the stage! Break down any of his presentations and you’ll find 90% of it is stories!

This book is about creating presentations around a story telling method… You need to read this book, because having the ability to tell stories will revolutionise your marketing and ability to engage with prospects and clients much better.

That’s just three books from the box, which are very different from the stuff that has been recommended to you in the past. Go check them out!

However speaking to many personal trainers via our, webinars, blog and podcast’s and colleagues who are also personal trainers, they are afraid to put their prices up.

Afraid because they think they will lose customers.

I asked one trainer the other day when was the last time they put up their prices and they said never, no surprise he was struggling for money only charging £20-£25 per hour! It hurts to say he also did discounts…..nuff said ;-(

I asked them “does that mean you have never improved or none of your costs have increased?”.

The look on his face said “of course they have and so have I, I’m a good trainer”, he went on to say he had been on loads of courses, gets good results and works hard for his clients.

If you are having some second thoughts about putting your prices up here are three reasons why you 100% SHOULD:

1. It’s April.  It’s a good time to do it.  That’s when the price of things goes up for everyone! People are already expecting it so it’s not a huge surprise when you say it.  Also if you do this every year or two your clients get used to it.

2. You are worth it!  You have hopefully improved yourself and invested in your business for the last 12 months.  You have been on courses and learnt lots of helpful stuff to improve your client’s progress towards their goals.  You have read books to improve your self and as a result have written articles and recipe planners to give to your clients.  This means you now offer more, charge for it.  ”You dont get paid for the hour, you get paid for the value you bring to the hour” .(forget who said that one but its so true).

3. Your costs are going up all the time.  The price of fuel, food, rent and rates, insurances and everything else is going up FAST!  Your margins are being squeezed constantly and you should not be the one who pays for all these price rises.  Did you ever hear a big company or business moaning and saying “we will have to pass these costs onto our customers”, well that’s what you have got to do.

I’m afraid my customers will leave me…

If someone says that they don’t want to stay with you if you are putting your prices up, say sorry that they feel like that and thank them for their custom.

If you put your price up by £5-10 per hr or the equivalent and people decide to leave, either you’re a crap trainer (or just not compatible with each other ) or they were probably going to leave anyway – for what ever reason.

You don’t want people staying with you because you are the cheapest or your rates are excellent anyway in my opinion.

You want them to stay because your helping them changing their life and giving them the tools and support to do it for themselves in the long term.

There is no correct way BUT here’s how I did it

Creep your price up, don’t just double it.

I went from £300 for a 6 week package back in the day to £450 per package and then from there I went to £600 for the same package.  This all happened over 2 years.

Then I decided not to do 6 week packages any longer (as I believe they are a waste of time for lots of reasons) and now I’m getting £1800+ per 12 week package.

Give your customers some period of notice, tell them on their next bill they will pay the old price but the one after that its up to the new rates.

New customers will not know any different.

Still afraid? Maybe you really are not ready quite yet.  Maybe you should do a bit more personal development so you can justify it.  Check out my podcast called personal trainer secrets , also on itunes, and it gives lots of help to get better results with your clients and will really help your development to become an elite personal trainer earning the big money.

I hope this will encourage you to increase your rates with confidence because your worth it.  Bloody hell that sounds camp as Christmas, its from one of them expensive women’s products, “L’oreal –  because your worth it” LOL .

Please leave your comments below and let me know your experiences on putting your prices up.