steps to achieving your goals

One of my favourite past times is spending time with my family and it is something I plan into my week. What I want to pass on today is the reinforcement of the need to set goals but more importantly the need to break them down into a step by step process. It may sound like an extra job but taking the time to do this will be a vital part of your success.

Sabina (my eldest daughter) was casually remarking to me how it would be so hard to count past 100 and how she couldn't do it. I calmly took her to the number chart on the wall and highlighted to her how easy it was to count to 1000 if she could count to 100; and how easy it was to count to 100 if she could count to ten - which she can do. From that point on she started counting and made it right up to 200. This was monumental for her, small for you I know, but there is a lesson to learn from this.

Are you trying to create a sustainable and profitable PT, fitness, lifestyle or wellness business? I’m guessing you are or you wouldn’t be reading this. The lesson I’m highlighting will apply to your business success.

Where ever you are in life the big dreams can seem too big and out of reach. In reality it is only a matter of breaking the dream down into achievable segments to get you to your destination. The power is in the process as Sabina found out. Once she knew counting in blocks of ten could lead to making it to 100 she worked on counting to ten, then 20, then 30 and so on. Same with you; break it down, see the process is achievable and you have the motivation to go and achieve because you can see a path to take you there. The key is making your path clear and visible. Something we are passionate about teaching people like you.

These are the steps to take to get your PT business success:
• Think big - get your goal front of mind and don't disbelieve it. When your thinking says it can't be done, correct it to be, "it is possible and I will find the way"
• Break it down - what is it that you need to address that will allow you to get that dream or outcome. There is always three or four things if not more you need to attend to.
• Get a strategy- For each area of challenge or concern put together 4 or 5 (or more) strategies that will help you improve the areas needed to be addressed that will drive you to your end point.
• Commit to you and honour it - by following the strategies to the letter and all of a sudden the points to come out of the 'Break it down' phase are being improved and addressed. Sticking to the strategies consistently will drive you to your dream.

There you have a simplistic and broken down approach to getting your desired outcomes. Constant attention to the process and details will ensure massive results, guaranteed.

David Virgo

if I could accomplish one thing today, what would it be?

This is the question I ask myself every morning to help me focus my time. Time is my most valuable resource. I have two under 5's, a wife who I dig hanging around with, and 5 businesses in 2 different countries to manage. Things can get busy.

In the past I used to waste my precious time answering dozens of emails which weren’t important and spending far too much time surfing the internet wondering what useless consumer products that I needed to buy next. Don’t get me wrong. My work capacity and output were great. I had reasonable systems for managing my health and my business. How come I was still busier than a beaver, but not really getting the time to develop my businesses and live the life I wanted? This was hurting my business and my home life.

Here’s the thing I came to realise – being efficient and being effective are two very different things. Being efficient is working economically (whether the task is important or not). Being effective is doing things that get you closer to your goals. Just because you’re doing something that takes a lot of time doesn’t make it important. Doing something well that isn’t important still doesn’t make it important. I needed to become effective and then work efficiently towards my goals. My time was at a premium, and I was investing my time and getting little return on investment (ROI).

Since I have started my morning routine asking myself “If I could accomplish one thing today, what would it be?” my effectiveness has sky rocketed. Try this simple technique and see if you can boost your effectiveness.

Dave Liow

7 key customer service strategies for PT's

Ask any business owner worth their salt and they will tell you that on average it costs 6 times more to get a client than to retain an existing one. The costs include all of the time and money you spend on marketing and promotion. Couple this with a statistic from IHRSA (International Health Racket and Sports Association) which says that 46% of new clients come as a result of word of mouth referral!

With these things in mind it still staggers me as to why most Personal Trainers don’t place a much bigger emphasis on retaining existing clients and giving them reasons to spread the 'word of mouth virus' to more people. Perhaps it is because they either don’t understand the implication for profitability or simply don’t know what they can do to influence these factors. The purpose of this article is to remove the second of these excuses by giving you strategies that you can implement today.

• Welcome Packs – clients are often spending a substantial sum of money up front, or are entering a direct debit contract on the basis of a result they are hoping to achieve in the future. As we live in an instant gratification society, my advice is to give clients something tangible at the point of sale to help positively reinforce their purchase decision. The simple act of giving a backpack containing some merchandise, educational articles or fitness equipment tends to reduce 'buyers regret' and will separate you from personal trainers who don’t do this.
• Confirmation calls – trainers that take the time to confirm appointments save themselves from a lot of cancellations. It also shows the client that you care about them.
• Set Homework – many personal trainers make the mistake of delivering a great session once or twice a week but not following up with their clients outside these times. You are doing yourself and your clients a disservice if you don’t set homework or follow them up outside of session times. Homework should include specific exercise prescriptions – cardiovascular training, resistance training, flexibility exercises and group exercise classes that are appropriate to their training goals. Other homework tasks should include a focus on incidental exercise and diet.
• Follow Up – whether this takes the form of a phone call, e-mail or SMS doesn’t really matter, but follow up contact is vital. For a new client this may be a call to reassure them that it’s normal to feel sore after their first workout and that this will get better as their body adapts to training. For an experienced client this may be to check that you have worked them hard enough.
• Thank you cards – showing gratitude is one of the most powerful relationship building techniques you can use. It positions you as different from other Personal Trainers. Think about it, when was the last time someone you have purchased from took the time to send you a thank you card in the mail? My suggestion would be to send something physical in the post to your clients 4 times per year.
• Monthly Newsletter – a regular newsletter builds you credibility with existing clients as well as any prospects you have. Some rules about newsletters are that they must be regular, i.e. don’t be the trainer who sends out their monthly newsletter every 6 months! They should also include relevant information that you clients can either use or directly relate to such as an exercise of the month, recipe of the month, success profile of one of you clients, quizzes, recognition of client birthdays or special achievements, etc.
• Client Appreciation Days – the imagination is the limit as to what you could do here. You might have a day at the cricket or the football, a movie night, a bush walk, a picnic, etc. The key thing is to make the events something your client base would appreciate. Again a key thing here is that you are doing things that the average Personal Trainer does not and that is what will separate you in the eyes of you clients which in turn builds incredible loyalty.

There you have it, 7 useable strategies that if implemented will give you an edge in customer service over the great majority of your competition. Some of the strategies may sound simple, however please do not make the mistake of thinking that simple is not powerful. If implemented, these strategies will make the world of difference to customer retention and referral which in turn will have a dramatic influence on your income.

Aaron Whear

Dave Liow

Dave started PTing at the beginning of personal training in New Zealand in the early 1990s. “Why compromise when you can have it all?” is a slogan that Dave has always lived by. He managed to complete a Masters in Physical Education and kayak 3 days a week while maintaining a successful PT business for a number of years. Dave isn’t one for compromising so decided to continue personal training, managing a gym, and became a senior lecturer for occupational therapists then in exercise science.

Dave became an exercise rehabilitation and athletic training specialist based in Wellington, New Zealand specialising in helping clients return from injury to high performance. Dave was the head trainer for the New Zealand Black Sox for two successful World Series campaigns, and worked with NZ hockey as a head trainer and regional trainer for NZ Women’s and Men’s Hockey for several Commonwealth and Olympic Games. He was also the head trainer for the NZ Titleist Men and Women’s Golf Academy for several World Championships.

Dave is a qualified coach and mentor and has lectured and worked with hundreds of trainers mentoring them in technical, business and personal development.

Dave recently moved from New Zealand to the live in Sunshine Coast to live in eternal summer with his wife and two young daughters, while directing his health and fitness businesses in New Zealand.

Dave really enjoys developing business vision with trainers, and creating actions and systems to drive momentum to create their dream job and life.

David Virgo

David was born in the Upper Great Southern region of Western Australia in a country town called Narrogin.

David completed Year 12 in Narrogin but in between spent 3 years attending Hale School. Being bought up in the country allowed David the opportunity to play a wide variety of sports. Showing promise in cricket and football these were the sports that he put most of his efforts into. He then moved up to Perth as soon as he finished Year 12 to focus on playing cricket. David was in the Western Australian state cricket squad for 4 years and to this day still holds the record for the highest individual score achieved on the Mt Lawley Cricket Club’s home ground. He captained the Mt Lawley cricket club and later on coached the club.

In May 2000 a diagnosis of Leukaemia turned David’s world upside down. This turned out to be a pivotal point in his life as it forced him to take stock and look at his own values and lifestyle, making him realise his passion was in assisting others to grow and develop. This is when he made the decision to get into the health and well being industry. He now runs his own health creation and performance enhancement company called Lifestyle Improvers where he specialises in assisting and teaching others to build mental resilience and lead a more engaged and directed life.

He is happily married to Adriana and they both share their lives with Sabina, Tyrone and Daniella in their beautiful self built family home in the Perth suburb of Morley. He can be found spending time with his kids, reading or surfing, a skill he only recently learnt.

Aaron Whear

Aaron is the ‘trainer’s trainer’. With over 15 years experience at all levels he has a proven record working with all levels of trainers in developing and refining success strategies. In an industry where trainers have a very short life span Aaron has stood the test of time and long jeopardy. His specialty is success strategies for our industry. Aaron understands the fundamental platform for any success is having a strategy. With a proven background of success in business, sport and life, Aaron has a natural instinct for developing a personal game plan for your business. Aaron says “The difference between those that succeed and those that don’t in this industry is defining what you want and having a clear plan on how to get it. As health professionals we understand this in writing health and fitness programs however so many personal trainers miss it in their own businesses”

In business, sport and family life Aaron plays with a Game Plan. The result is he is a leading business owner, sporting warrior and supportive husband and father. Having worked with hundreds of health professionals Aaron’s Game Plan is tailor made for our industry.

Aaron began his career in the fitness industry as a gym instructor in 1992. He quickly moved his way up the ranks firstly as a personal trainer and then as a gym manager. It was during his role as a gym manager that Aaron realised there was a gap between what gyms required from employees and what training providers were delivering to students. This lead to his move into Fitness Leader education and a strong desire to help bridge the gap between education and what is required in the “real world” as a fitness instructor.

Aaron’s obsession is developing the next generation of successful personal trainers as business owners.