Volo Innovations

Now don’t get me wrong I am grateful for every client I have ever had the opportunity to work with but as a fitness professional there are some clients that you REALLY like to work with, some that are fun and some that require more energy on your part. For anyone who has been training for awhile you will know exactly what I am talking about.

The good news is that you can train your clients but it also requires you to train yourself, have you ever watched the Dog Whisperer and he goes into these situations and trains the dog but also trains the owners?

The same applies to almost every situation in life both parties have to be trained to get the desired outcome.

By rewarding some behaviours over others, by keeping some promises not others, by having some expectations instead of others, you can create change.

You can train positive behaviours and negative behaviours so it is up to you to get the clients that you deserve.

Do you want clients that are:

• Respectful
• Patient
• Calm
• Open and accepting
• Walking billboards
• Loyal

Or do you want clients that are:

• Selfish
• Self centered
• Demanding
• Cheap
• Whiners
• Never satisfied
• Willing to change to save a buck
• Skeptical

The choice is yours; you can create the business and the atmosphere that you want for you, your staff and all of your customers. The customers you fire and those you pay attention to all send signals to the rest of the group.

I know that when you are getting started with your fitness business the thought of turning a client away seems like something that you would never do but I can tell you from personal experience that you will end up with clients that demand so much time and energy from you that they are taking away from your other clients. As a fitness professional you need to be able to give 100% to every client however if you have 1 client that is consuming 200% of your energy there is no way you are going to give the other clients what they deserve and they will eventually leave. In the end you will be turning away clients; it just won’t be the clients that you want to turn away.

So before you can start complaining about your clients you have to train yourself first to:

• Set boundaries
• Demand and earn respect
• Respect others
• Accept feedback and learn from it
• Be willing to grow every day

If you can get yourself whipped into shape I know that you will be able to train your clients and before you know it you will have the greatest clients in the world and a business that you love to be in every day.

No matter what your current situation is if you are reading this I guarantee there are millions of people worse off then you today. For a few simple reasons; first you can read, second you are on a computer and third you must have a roof over your head in order to be on a computer.

This time of year makes us all think about family, friends and great times. It is also a time of giving to these same people as well as to charity. I have mentioned several times that Nikki and I also own a training studio, Momentum Fitness, and we have been actively involved in charity fund raising events and donations for over 10 years. To date our gym has raised over $40,000 and donated over $50,000 in services to charitable auctions, charities from the local SPCA to larger cancer and heart and stroke organizations.

Every year in December we put on a Train the Trainer event. The work and effort that we have to put forward is minimal compared to the amount of good and assistance it provides.

Our clients and friends that contribute have a great time watching all of us get tortured! It is fun, enjoyable as well as healthy so it is win win for all people involved. 

How do you do it?

Here is an example of Momentum's annual charity event that we run this time of year.
Event: Train the Trainer
Charity: Room to Read
Date of event: December 19th 2009
How it works:
Clients buy:

• 5 minute time blocks for $50
• Single exercises for one trainer for $10
  
• Group exercises for all the trainers for $100.00.

The clients that have made a donation get to put their trainer of choice through any exercise(s) of their choice. For the group exercise all the trainers get together and do whatever is asked, some popular group choices have been group pushups, rowing completion and bench press competitions. Usually the clients choose the exercises they despise the most or ones they didn't think could be done and even a few that can't.

Some clients have a hard time and do not want to come across as mean to their much loved trainer, no problem, we can have another trainer decide the exercises that would be most suited to that trainer. Nothing like a trainer picking on a trainer to get some competition going!

We then have an open house style event where we put out drinks and snacks and invite all of our clients and their families down to see us get put through the paces. Whole families show up and watch the fun, have sushi and talk with other clients and trainers.

We like to add a group challenge like Sumo Suit wresting or a team obstacle course where we pit the trainers against each other. The best part is kicking back, raising money for a great cause and sharing a few laughs with clients. 

All proceeds that we raise are going to Room to Read, we can choose which country and even how the money is used. Another reason that we chose Room to Read is that it is non denominational, this is good for our business as we have a wide variety of clients from many different faiths. We also looked at what is the money used for, Room to Read builds libraries, stock them with books in local languages and provide educational scholarships for locals to gain an education. The final thing that made us go with them is that they have a very low percentage of the donations being used to run the charity. That means that every dollar we raise is making more of a difference.

Here are some tips for you to use:

1) Choose a charity, make sure you take into consideration your clientele and staff to find a charity that the majority will resonate with
2) Determine the event this will include the date and time as well as the format
3) Determine the denominations for the donations eg $50 for 5 minutes
4) If you have time contact local businesses for donations and hold a silent auction to boost revenues.
5) Contact the charity and find out how you can collect the donations. Each charity will have different rules for donations as well as the amount for clients to receive tax receipts. Make sure you follow these guidelines.
6) Arrange any fun activities for the day of the event and if children are invited have something for them to do or a person to keep them busy.

All of these tips will get you started on your next big fund raiser as well increase your profile in your community, great for marketing and building your business not to mention that you are helping a great cause. Your staff can get involved without having to donate money, a hard thing for some part timers but this is a way for them to give and have fun.

Thanks for your time now get out there and start to raise money and awareness by getting involved. Any suggestions or examples of what you are currently doing will help other in developing events so please make a comment.

There are many things that can make a trainer great but two that are at opposite ends are an extensive knowledge of the human body -book smarts or a phenomenal personality and the ability to relate to people- street smarts, rarely does a trainer have both.

Book smarts you gain over time with education, street smarts cannot be taught and this is where a lot of highly educated trainers fail. You can teach someone the anatomy, physiology and exercises needed to be a trainer but you cannot teach personality and in personal fitness this characteristic is critical in order for your business to succeed.

Some trainers at our gym were trying to figure out what credentials Jillian Michaels from the biggest loser has. Her website lists nothing from a university or any certification based organization, just that she did some martial arts when she was 14 years old. Yet she is a very successful trainer and one that many would love to be.

So how did she get there? Simple her personality and the fact that her knowledge is enough that a novice or beginner exerciser will perceive her as an expert, she speaks in an easy to understand terminology and she simplifies things by relating them to real life issues. 

Most highly educated trainers are not able to simplify their instructions instead they speak at such a high level that even other experienced fitness professionals are lost in a sea of lingo and terminology. For some academics this is an ego thing, see how smart I am, see my credentials and listen to me, but for others they just do not know how else to speak. The people that just don't know how else to speak there is hope; you can learn how to break it down. The first group is probable a lost cause because you can't compete with an ego, the ego always wins, lose the ego then you can succeed. 

For the record this is not a defense of Jillian Michaels whom has seen a wrath of negative reviews from trainer's blogs and fitness forms about her bad training style, lack of knowledge and unrealistic goal setting, and these posts just reinforce the fact that a personality is a strong way to overcome lack of experience and knowledge. For the record I have never seen the biggest loser I learned everything about Jillian and her message from her website and You Tube. 

So what do the book smart trainers need to do?

1. Develop a story: 

This will need to be a true story and it needs to show a vulnerability or obstacle, basically a personal triumph where you had to overcome a common problem. For Jillian it was being a fat kid with no friend, a self described loser, but she found martial arts and an instructor with a no excuses attitude that she tries to emulate today. This is a fantastic story it does two things one creates a sense of I know what you are going through and two it describes her training style as no nonsense so the client knows what to expect. I love this story. 

 

2. Speak at a low level:

The other day a friend did a nutrition seminar at our gym and he lost me when he started in on how the food breaks down into this chemical that then does this to prevent that from happening, needless to say our clients were even more lost. So dumb it down for your clients instead of quads and hamstrings use front and back of the leg. When asked how to build muscle don't go into how muscle fibers, myosin and actin and how it all breaks down and rebuilds instead talk about consistency, working to fatigue and patience.

 

3. Use analogies:

You need to be able to relate to you client to do this, you need to understand what they do for work and their interests from this you can make comparisons. For anyone who watches or does home renovations it could be ‘becoming fit is like building a new home it starts with a foundation and then we add the frame followed by the design we want' or for the gardener it can be ‘your muscles draw on nutrients much like the roots of plants draw out nutrients from soil the richer more fertile the soil the bigger and healthier the plant, it is the same for us and our food the more nutritious and healthy it is the better to build and grow muscle.

Keep these three simple easy tips close at hand remember to use them every day to recap:

• Talk to your clients as an equals not as children even when they act like it. 
• Share your story 
• Dumb down your answers to simple questions add to those answers an analogy or two and you will find a more receptive client.

Quick definition for those of you who have never heard of an elevator pitch; this is a 10-30sec or 100-150 word overview of a product, idea, project or service that is primarily used to entice investment. Entrepreneurs will need to master this if they wish to receive capital investment for their ventures but these wonderful tools have become a way for anyone to quickly describe what they do or offer. Sales people, project managers, job seekers and even speed daters have taken up the elevator pitch to help them succeed. The basic principle is to say enough about your offering to make the person you are pitching want, no desire more information.

An example for a personal trainer maybe;
"Hi my name is Barry Duncan, I am in the business of transforming lives by giving the people I work with the tools and skills they need to succeed in health and fitness, this easily transfers to the rest of their life and ensures success in whatever they do. My ‘Quick Fit' workouts allow people to achieve phenomenal results in short periods and they use my simple tools to maintain a healthier and active life style. "

You get the idea you want a "Wow that is fantastic!" or "Can you tell me more?" type response.

Why do trainers and fitness instructors need an elevator pitch? You are the ambassadors of the industry, everywhere you go and every person you talk to look at you as the example of what to do to be healthy. If someone asks you what you do you need something that inspires that person to become healthier or even better to use your advice and service to do so. A fitness professional is always selling at every function, party restaurant and especially in the grocery store.

The key to a great pitch is to be able to summarize the product or service you offer in a way that it elicits emotion from the person you are talking to.

A person that does Mommy Boot Camps may want to say "I motivate and inspire mothers to achieve greatness so they in turn can motivate their children to achieve greatness. My Mommy Boot Camps make mothers fit, healthy and confident to tackle the never ending expectations that are thrust upon them on a daily basis." or "I have transformed the mommy image from slippers and bath robes to running shoes and athletic gear from holding an iron fry pan to wielding iron dumbbells. This makes every mommy I know a force to reckon with and an inspiration to their children, friend and family."

Your pitches will need:

• A message for your target demographic
• A message that make people talk about you to others
•  Needs to be positive
• Needs to inspire people
• Elicits questions about what you do
• Motivates people to take action

My final tip is that once you have the pitch you will need to create a series of answers to potential responses from people. My next posting will be covering how to create a Q & A list that will wow your customers this should help you with these. Now all you need is a pen a piece of paper and some people to bounce the pitch off of.

GreatTrainers.com and Volo Innovations enter into a joint marketing agreement. This joint agreement will bring together 2 powerful online tools to help fitness professionals grow their businesses.

Thousand Oaks, Ca. Sept 4, 2008-Joint marketing agreement between GreatTrainers.com, and Volo Innovations will offer fitness professionals 2 powerful online tools to grow their businesses. GreatTrainers.com focuses on the marketing side of the fitness industry and Volo Innovations has online software that handles all the scheduling and business management side. By using these 2 tools together fitness professionals can not only generate more business they will have the tools to quickly and easily services their new clients and run their business.

GreatTrainers.com is an online fitness directory that utilizes a unique combination of Internet advertising and a 30 second television commercial, which has aired on FitTV and ESPN, to increase visibility and generate leads for their members. By creating a search engine for potential clients to find a great trainer in their area and then advertising the search engine, GreatTrainers.com has provided 1,000's of trainers with increased business and success.

Volo Innovations, an online fitness software provider for scheduling and business management based in Vancouver, Canada. The internet based software allows for trainers to access their schedule anywhere they are connected to the internet, whether that is through their iPhone or at the local Wi-Fi cafe. Additionally Volo tracks all of their appointments and billing and provides the clients the opportunity to book in real time. Decreasing administrative workload and increasing revenue.

For fitness professionals that are ready to take their business to the next level utilizing GreatTrainers.com in conjunction with the Volo software is a highly effective combination.