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Dax's Challenge to both of us...and what's in it for you.

Here's the conclusion to Dax and my conversation. He's issued a challenge and I accepted...
...will you?

*****************************************

"Why not?" I asked, worry evident in my voice as he continued. "Well, because I'm going to ask you to do the very same thing that you want the rest of the industry to do... take action!" "Not a problem my friend" I replied "I've gotten to the point where I regularly take action on my ideas."

"Yes, but most of those ideas and actions are now well within your comfort zone, correct?"

"Well... I guess. They certainly don't scare me the way they used to." "And that's the problem mate." Said Dax "You see, compared to the industry we're trying to influence, you, I and the other six-figure earners are now seen as 'comfortable'. You know, the people who read our stuff or who listen to our audios and attend our seminars think that we're rolling in money and that everything we touch turns to gold." "But that's not true!" I replied "Yes, I do very well for myself by comparison to the rest of the industry, but I've worked hard to get here and every new project is a flight into the unknown. It's the same for all the guys I know.

None of them has their success handed to them and all of them take a lot of risks and soak up a lot of failures too." "I know that and you know that, but the truth of the matter is, compared to most of this industry, we're seen as super-successful, privileged and 'different'. To most, whilst our pay-packets are much bigger,they see the risks we take as somehow smaller than theirs" He went on, "So, if we're going to ask the industry to take action on things that are outside of their normal comfort zones, I think we're going to have to do the same." I now knew why he said I wasn't going to like it. Dax was planning something that, in all likelihood, was going to stretch me more than I'd become accustomed to recently. But what was it? "What is it you want me to do, Dax?" I asked.

"Not so fast Pat. A little background is needed first if you will..." was his reply. He then proceeded to ask me about my various products, how much they cost, how many had sold, what my profit was and in no time at all had almost as good a profit and loss statement of my business as I had. "These aren't B.S figures?" He asked. "What do you mean?" I replied. "You know, those magic marketing dollars that appear on websites and such 'I earned $50,000,000 in 3 hours selling a little known secret left to me from a favorite aunt' type of thing" he said "I mean are these honest-and-for-true dollars that you ACTUALLY made?" I 'got' him now "Yes, they're real. They're not hype-marketing dollars" I replied.

"Good! We can't afford for hype and B.S to come into the test. If it's going to be a fair one, we need to accurately measure responses based purely upon the facts. No hype, no marketing crap, just a plain and simple assessment of whether or not the industry will take action or if they're too lazy to do so."

By this point I was getting a little frustrated and said "But I'm still not clear on what you want me to do!" I'm not ashamed to say that what came next, shocked,stunned and, well, terrified me. "Ok Pat, here's what I want you to do my friend... give it away." was the simple statement that got me.

I thought I'd misheard. "You want me to do WHATT??!!" "Give it away mate." he repeated. Now, for those of you that know me personally, you'll know that I'm a pretty calm, even, centered person, not given over to outbursts but I guess the shock, no,the utter stupidity of the idea just got to me. "Are you nuts??!! Why would I want to give away the very stuff that has already made me over $125,000 and is likely to make me even more in the next year or so.

You call this marketing?" "No Pat, I don't" he replied "I don't call this marketing at all. I call this walking your talk." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Pat, I've only known you for just over six months and in that time I like to think we've become pretty good friends. You've told me time and again what's wrong with the industry and you've told me time and again that 'something has to change' in order for it to grow right?" "Yes, but how it THIS change?" "I learned a long time ago that whenever someone says 'they ought to do something about that', that they use 'they' to mean someone other than themselves. In essence, they absolve themselves of the responsibility for change by creating a 'they' who, in some fictional world is responsible for the problem. We all do it from time to time, but some more than others." "Go on..." "Well, the 'they' in the eyes of the industry are us.

The very people who're writing the books, giving the talks and making the money. It stands to reason then that if the industry is going to change that it needs to start at the top and filter down" "But how does giving all my stuff away create the kind of change you're talking about?"

I asked "It doesn't sound like the kind of thing that's going to lead to action." "You're right, but remember our first aim here was to see if PT's were too lazy to take the action required to be successful. If you lower the hurdles to the floor and they still don't take action then you know that it's laziness and nothing else that's holding them up. At the very least, you can use what you learn to create a 'Too damned lazy to get off your ass' PT marketing guide" he joked. "But giving it all away, that's a big step Dax. I'm not sure what it'll actually achieve. Couldn't I just write a report and give that away?"

I asked. "C'mon Pat, that's not the way to grow... besides, I've got a plan!" He said cheerily. "You're not actually going to give it away for nothing."

"Oh, I got it, a sale!" I said, cheering up slightly myself.

"Oh no mate, not a sale. That'll serve no-one. That's just marketing. A money-making process. No, you're going to let them name their own price." I still can't believe it but I was stunned for the second time in 5 minutes. "Name their own price?? But some of these products are selling for hundreds of dollars! I can't just let people name their own price!"

"Can't, or won't?" he asked and brought me crashingdown to earth. "The truth of the matter is that you CAN let people name their own price my friend, it's just a case of WILL you? In essence, it's the same question we're asking the industry isn't it? WILL you take action on your success?

There's no 'can' or can't' about it is there? Every single trainer out there CAN, but will they?" So here I am at this point in the proceedings trying to actually 'walk my talk' and taking part in Dax's little experiment.

I've got to say that I'm more than a little uncomfortable with the idea and worried about what the outcome may be, yet at the same time I'm intrigued to find out whether Dax's assertion that most failure is merely a result of 'lazy thinking' is correct or not. But I guess there's only one way to find out and that's to take the leap right?

So here's what I'm going to do. For the next 48 hours I'm going to let my all of my subscribers email me directly at pat@fitnessconsultinggroup.com and name their own price for the entire bundle of products including:

Fitness Riches - the best selling book on the business of fitness of all time ($49).

The PT Business Action Plan - the same tools that we use with all of our coaching clients and in our own business ($49).

The Referral Manual - 23 referral systems that you can plug into your business today ($27).

There'll be no haggling, no bartering, no back and forth emailing, I'll (I still can't believe this) accept your 'bid' for the lot and send you the link for the downloads. Those who take action will be getting a bundle of tried and tested personal trainer success systems that are worth over $125 for whatever they feel is a fair price.

There's another cost too. I want you to include in your email EXACTLY how much you intend to make in the next 12 months as a result of USING (not just reading) what I send you.

Remember, this 'experiment' is about action, so it's important to me to know that those who get their hands on the materials will actually do something with what they read rather than sticking it on their shelf and forgetting about it. So that's it!

That's all there is to do. It's the lowest possible hurdle you could imagine really. Name your own price for an entire library of materials that have already helped over a thousand trainers around the world to generate new business and greater profits, send me an email with your bid and method of payment at pat@fitnessconsultinggroup.com before midnight on Saturday and I'll send you the whole lot for that exact sum, no haggling. Well, that's it.

That's all you have to do. But will you? We'll soon see! : )

Pat

P.S - Dax reckons that I won't get more than a handful of emails as everyone will be waiting for some kind of 'catch' or upsell or, well, something. There's none of that 'waiting in the wings'. Just send me the email, name your price and it's all yours.

P.P.S - I'll be reporting back on Monday to tell you whether Dax's 'Lazy Ass' theory was right or not...

Can You Handle The Truth?

Apparently Dax's rant ruffled a few feathers as I had a handful of people unsubscribe yesterday and even a couple of nasty notes.

Obviously we've struck a nerve...so if you can handle it, read on...

********************

"Well, the way I see it, most PT's are in the same boat as most of the clients they're trying to attract. They 'kinda, sorta, maybe' know what they should be doing. They know what they should be doing. They know that to do these things makes sense and yet, well, they just don't do it.

And, in many respects, this wouldn't be the worst thing in the world except that they then turn hypocrite and charge the public for advice about taking positive action, making changes to their lives and adopting new, positive and empowering habits.

It's like taking money under false pretences."

"Wow, that's a pretty strong statement Dax. I'm not sure that the bulk of the PT industry would agree with you there" I said "In fact, I think that a good deal of them would be pretty upset and even offended by that."

"Yes, but that's just my point Pat" he replied "It's the BULK of the industry that get upset and offended all the time whenever anything remotely sounding like truth rears its 'ugly' head.

Yet you never hear the top guys in disagreement do you?

Why is that?" Dax asked.

"Well, I guess it's because statements like that don't apply to them" I answered "They're already achieving the things that most of the industry only dream of."

"Yes, but that's only part of the answer" Dax replied "the other half is that they're successful BECAUSE they're already doing the things they should be doing. They're successful because they're walking their talk and actually DOING the things that they write and talk about. There's no gap between word and deed.

I also think that those who're offended in any way by these kind of statements need to ask themselves 'why?' After all, if the comment doesn't apply to you because you know that you walk your talk, what's there to cause offence?'"

I couldn't help but agree with Dax's assessment of the situation. Certainly all of the really successful people I've been fortunate enough to know personally were all examples of Dax's 'walk the talk' idea. They all did the very things that they expected of their clients, their staff and their readers and, without fail, they were all VERY successful, and not just in PT but in every area of their lives.

"OK Dax, I agree with what you're saying but what can we actually DO about it? After all, you've already said that there are infinite books on the subject of success and on marketing, but if they've not worked to change people's attitudes to success then what do we need to do differently?" I asked.

"Well, the answer is both simple and complex at the same time" he answered.
"The simple part is that they need to take action. LOTS of action!

They need to take action to get into great shape themselves by following the nutrition and exercise plans they give their clients.

They need to take action to define their own excellence and stick to it, even when the going gets tough.

They need to take action to determine the purpose of not just their businesses but their lives too and then establish the habits that allow them to live their lives 'on purpose.'

They need to develop a fashion for passion and dedicate their lives to working in a field that they love rather than the one they think will bring about the most financial improvement.

They need to take action on learning new knowledge, skills and abilities and then testing what they've learned against the real world (NOT writing a book about it before they know what it'll do!)

But like I said, this is simple, but simple isn't always the same as easy. In fact, it rarely is.

And that's why most of the industry are stuck in limbo when it comes to their financial success, they are out of the habit of taking their own advice."

"So that brings us full circle again" I said "You were telling me that you had an idea about a 'lazy test' to find out if the industry were simply too lazy to bring about their success or whether there were other factors that were making their success harder to come by.

Want to spill the beans?" I asked, eager to find out what the answer would be.

"Well, it's a simple answer Pat, we need to give the industry something that we know 100% will work and then challenge them to bring it to life" said Dax.

I've got to admit, I was a little disappointed. Dax had built me up to this point and I was expecting nothing short of pure genius... and this wasn't it.

"Dax, I don't mean to be rude but I've been doing that for years. I've got ebooks galore, audio downloads etc that I've created for the industry and sold very effectively and to great profit. But you know as well as I do that the number of people who actually DO the things that I (and others) teach in our success books is only a very small percentage.

I don't see how selling more will change anything as far as PT's taking action is concerned" I added.

"You're right Pat, but I'm not talking about selling books and audios for profit, I'm talking about creating a 'ripple of intent' throughout the entire industry by getting them to take action and keep taking action until they're actually getting their own successes rather than reading about the successes of others."

"Sounds great!" I answered "But how?"

Dax actually started to laugh as he answered "You're not going to like it mate!"
*************************************************
I'll lat you in on what exactly Dax has in mind tomorrow...stay tuned.

Is it true? Are you too damned lazy for success?

I've just been talking with my good friend Dax Moy over in the UK about what it is that makes some people a success in life while others seem condemned to make the same mistakes over and over again and rarely, if ever, get more than a rung or two up the ladder before dropping off of it and landing hard on their butts. Now, as a writer of one of the most successful goal achievement programs of 2007, I expected Dax to say something about having a lack of definite focus, a lack of vision, a lack of purpose or something equally goal oriented in nature but after only the briefest of pauses, he returned an answer that honestly shocked me.

"Pat," he said "the truth is that most people are simply too damned lazy to take action on the things that they know they must do in order to be successful. Instead of taking action, they wait, wait some more, let the opportunity pass them by and then bitch, whine and moan about the 'bad hand' that they've been dealt."

Now understand, Dax wasn't angry or bitter when he said this, the statement left his lips as matter-of-factly as if he'd said 'lovely weather today' and yet something about the statement really bothered me.

"Dax, I didn't take you for a cynic" I said "I thought you were about bringing out the best in people, helping them to set and achieve their goals and leading them to success!" "I am Pat, but that doesn't mean that a little straight-talking isn't called for. In fact, the more success a person desires, the more honesty they MUST expose themselves to... even if it hurts!

There's no B.S in success my friend."

Even as he said it, I knew what he was saying was true but I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe that laziness and laziness alone could stand at the heart of the problem that most of our industry was facing. "Maybe they just lack the knowledge" I said. "Rubbish mate" said Dax is his London accent "There's more readily useable information available on Amazon right now than has ever been available at any other time in history. You can learn all there is to know about assessments, programming, nutrition, injuries and yes, marketing too."

"Maybe they lack the skill" I said. "That's rubbish too Pat and you know it. Skill is merely a function of practice. If they actually practiced what they learn every once in a while they'd be rolling in money." "Maybe it's a lack of ability. Maybe some things are just too hard" I said, as my last feeble attempt to somehow fight the corner of those who were absent. "C'mon Pat, how hard is it really to be good at something you supposedly love?

How hard is it to generate passionate clients when you're passionate yourself?

How hard is it to put up a website, write a few articles, create the occasional press release? It's not!

In fact, these things are done numerous time a day by the guys in this industry who're considered successful. But they're not successful BECAUSE they do these things. They do these things BECAUSE they're successful!"

Of course, by this point I knew he was right and was content to quit arguing on behalf of the industry. It wasn't going to change the truth that Dax had just blasted me with, but it kind of left me a bit flat, which was not typical of the uplifting and positive conversations that he and I usually share.....

...Then Dax said something that put a little sparkle back into the conversation and really got me fired up again. He said "You know me Pat, I can be pretty blunt sometimes and pretty forward about speaking my mind, but I also believe that any good theory (even when they're mine) should stand up to a real-life 'acid test'before you buy into it. After all, we both know that the most damaging thing to success is falling in love with your own theories and making assumptions based upon your own beliefs right?" "Right..." I agreed "so what's on your mind?"

"Why don't we test this 'lazy failure' theory of mine and see if it holds up?" "OK" I answered "how?"

FREE Stuff

That's the key to your marketing success.

It's that simple...give away free stuff and you'll make more money.

One of my friends spends a great deal of money on Pay Per Click ads but doesn't work hard to capture the traffic that the ads drive to him. Sure, he turns some of the visitors into paying clients - but how many of those prospects leave without him ever knowing they were there?

How many will click on his ads again and again, eating up his ad budget when he could have been building rapport with them for free by getting them to subscribe to his newsletter?

He needs to give away something of significant value to the prospect for free to capture them as a lead.

OK - simple enough you say. Everyone does that.

Apparently not.

Let's take it another step further.

My favorite way to sell personal training...free sessions.

I can already hear the 'doctors don't give away their services for free' comments coming my way.

Save your breath...it's a bad argument.

The highest paid doctors in the U.S. are cosmetic surgeons in Beverly Hills and guess what...they give free consultations:)

But let's be honest...I would assume that pretty much everyone has been to a doctor...you know what to expect.

What % of people have worked with a personal trainer?

Let's see...about 14% of the people in the U.S. belong to a fitness facility and only about 3% of the members of fitness facilities utilize a personal trainer.

I'm not very good at math, but I'm pretty sure that's less than .5%.

So we expect people to pay in advance and assume all the risk for something that they likely have zero experience with...and are unwilling to let them test drive it.

No wonder most trainers are poor.

We let every prospect have a free 'test drive'...not just prospective training clients, but also prospective gym members. I wouldn't expect anyone to agree to a 12 month commitment without trying it out first. (Yes, most all of our clients make 12 month commitments.)

If you want to dramatically improve the response rates of your ads, marketing pieces, seminars and anything else you do to generate business - offer a free trial. I suspect you'll be rewarded with response rates that double or triple what you're used to. And if you can deliver on what you promise in the ads - you should have no problem turning these 'test drives' into paying clients.

Using PR To Generate Business

Public Relations as a marketing strategy can take the form of writing articles or columns for local newspapers, magazines, websites, offering an advice column, being a content expert for the media; television, radio or newspaper interviews, writing a press release, or having stories published about your clients and how you helped them.

Public Relations can be great for building credibility and prospect awareness, but generally does not result in an immediate surge of sales. The major benefit of PR is that it positions you a recognized expert and creates awareness of you and your services.

Getting press coverage for your business just for the sake of seeing your name in print is a complete waste of time. Public relations should be an integrated part of your overall marketing strategy.

As a fitness professional, the easiest way to get media coverage is to start locally with your neighborhood or regional newspaper. It’s easier to get your message heard by them then the national press also they are always looking for good stories about local business owners. Getting local coverage can lead to larger coverage. Also, don’t forget local newsletters and similar publications. They are generally much easier to get into and can help set you apart as a recognized expert.

When you pitch a story have an angle. Ask yourself, why is my story newsworthy? What's different about my service or my business that goes against the norm? Don’t try to use the reporter as your sales person. They hate a slick sales pitch. If you simply want to sell your services - buy an ad.

A great way to go about this is to piggyback current events or to make your pitch about one of your clients and how you have helped them. Make your client the subject of the story. This approach has the added benefit of giving you a client for life. Like I said - whenever possible, try to tie it into a national event or trend.

When you get press coverage be sure to leverage it.

Here are 6 ways you can leverage the press you get for maximum effect:

1. Send out a press release when your article or interview comes out.
2. Create a press kit that includes your bio, company overview, services offered, and all the interviews or articles you have done.
3. Put your press kit on your website by making it electronic.
4. Get reprints of your article and send it to your prospects as part of their direct mail package.
5. Send your press coverage to your local chamber of commerce if you belong. They are always looking for good stories about their members to print up in their newsletters.
6. Use your coverage to land speaking engagements. Send a reprint of your article to pertinent meeting planners and associations you want to speak at then follow up with a phone call to pitch your presentation.

If you want even more advice on how to grow your business through publicity, check out Jim Lbadie's Ultimate Publicity Kit at http://www.howtogetmorepublicity.com/ as I've just scratched the surface here.

Later.

The 6 Stage Sales Cycle For Fitness Professionals

Stage 1- Identifying your ideal target market. Decide exactly who you are trying to reach with your marketing message. Most fitness professionals are to broad when they are trying to identify their market and in turn their message is not specific enough to have great impact.

Stage 2 - Lead generation—finding prospects in your target market.
There are several kinds of marketing activities you can do to assist in this process including:

Direct mailings
Presenting to area associations in your target market
Public relations
PPC Ads
Joint Ventures

Stage 3 - Prospect qualification—examining each of the potential prospects and qualifying them according to set criteria. One of the marketing efforts you can use at this stage is to make them fill something out—whether that’s an information request form, intake form, or requesting a free report.

Stage 4 - Individual consultation or assessment - where they have proven at some level they are a qualified prospect and they get to meet with you and have an individual consult or assessment—which is usually a soft sales presentation to determine if there is a good fit. Finding the prospect’s pain through questioning, identifying needs through an assessment, building value through a trial session and providing credibility with marketing materials like articles about you in the press or testimonials can develop value in your services and increase the level of confidence your prospect has in doing business with you.

Stage 5 - Sales Close – Offering your services to the client and asking them to take action. Steering clients to one or two options, assuming the sale and employing a ‘takeaway approach’ by telling the prospect that your service is not for everyone and might not be right for them unless they are genuinely serious are all effective ways to close more prospective clients.

Stage 6 - Providing the service. Once you land a client that’s just the beginning of the relationship, not the end. You always want to have an upsell, a next step. Use your ongoing marketing efforts to tell them about how you have helped other clients with different kinds of offerings. Keep them informed about your successes and media attention. Ask them for referrals on a regular basis. Don’t ever stop marketing to them.

The most expensive thing you can have is a short term client because it takes 6 times as much to find a new client than to service an existing one.

Would you like to be wealthy?

A few things to think about if you want to become wealthy:

Working 50 hours a week, if you want to make $100,000 a year, your ‘work hours’ need to be worth $40.

To earn $150,000, they need to be worth $60.

To earn $200,000, they need to be worth $80.

That’s not your per session rate – that’s what every working hour must yield. So, perhaps now is the time to start delegating some of that $7.00 / hr. work, huh?

On a related note, here are the top 20 millionaire’s success factors according to the book The Millionaire Mind, by Thomas Stanley, Ph.D.

Millionaire’s Success Factors

Being honest with all people
Being well disciplined
Getting along with people
Having a supportive spouse
Working harder than most people
Loving your career / business
Having strong leadership qualities
Having a very competitive personality
Being very well organized
Having an ability to sell
Making wise investments
Seeing opportunities others do not see
Being your own boss
Willing to take financial risks given the right return
Having good mentors
Having the urge to be well respected
Investing in your own business
Finding a profitable niche
Having extraordinary energy
Being physically fit

Look that list over and see what areas you consider yourself strong in and what areas need the most improvement. I certainly am.