As you reflect on the year past and the year ahead, I wanted to share some of the phrases I find myself using over…
And over
And over
AND OVER
When teaching gym owners how to get more leads and more clients.
There’s some gold for ya in each nugget.
1) Sell the Smile, Not the Braces
Sometimes this is stated as “Sell the Vacation, Not the Flight.”
Phrasing aside, the takeaway is this:
Keep your marketing focused on the outcomes and benefits your clients want, not the features and process of HOW you create the results.
Too many gym owners are enamored with the process. Their passion is the sets and reps and tools of the trade.
And this makes sense. You SHOULD love what you do. You should be a passionate expert in your craft.
But your prospects don’t care. They care about what THEY want.
In your marketing — in emails, on social media, on your website headline, even in your sales convos — relentlessly focus on the benefits they want and how they want their life to be different.
2) Obliterate Obscurity and Become “3-Mile Famous”
I’m pretty sure marketing legend Dean Jackson gets credit for this formulation.
But it speaks to a powerful truth of marketing, particularly for geographically constrained brick-and-mortar gyms.
Your goal is for EVERYONE in your immediate local area to know who you are.
You want to be omni-present so it’s impossible to live in your local area without having heard about you. We create this feeling of being “everywhere” by using multiple channels to build awareness about your gym and stay top of mind.
If you walk into a random coffee shop or salon near your gym and ask them about the best gym in the area, you want your gym’s name on everybody’s lips.
3) When People Can Do Things Whenever, They Do Them Never
I think I may have actually made up this phrase.
But I’m surely not the first to observe this phenomenon.
When people don’t have a reason to take action, they’ll procrastinate. That’s human nature.
This is why I’m such a big proponent of making time sensitive — and sometimes inventory-limited — offers.
It gives people a compelling reason to take action NOW.
4) People Don’t Buy When YOU’re Ready, They Buy When THEY’re Ready
And here’s why the above principle matters…
It’s actually less about some incredibly magical and compelling irresistible offer (though that doesn’t hurt).
It’s more about giving people a reason that catches them at the right time.
That’s why it’s so important to follow-up a ton in the first few days after a lead opts in. They’ve just taken action, and they’ll cool off quickly.
Related, it’s why we want to keep going back to our list with various time sensitive offers.
Your goal is to become and stay top of mind for them. So when something changes in their life — a scary doctor’s appointment, a disappointing dressing room experience, etc. — and they suddenly become recommitted to taking action on their fitness, they think of YOU.
5) When You Confuse, You Lose
Being clear matters. A lot.
As an alternative version of this saying goes, “The confused mind doesn’t buy.”
This is why it’s so important to have a clear headline and CTA on your website and in all of your marketing.
People need to know who you help, the results you create, and exactly what to do next.
BONUS TIP: If your pricing sheet is a mess and you have one frillion services, this too will create confusion and hurt sales.
*******
Alright friends, hopefully you’ll join me in getting these marketing aphorisms tattooed onto the backs of your eyeballs.
But not literally.
Because that would be weird.
Spreading the good word is an unqualified moral good,
