Alloy Personal Training Business

In this episode, we discuss how and where to find great personal trainers for your business. And before we dig into that, we talk about what we are looking for in a trainer.

When we first opened, we had independent contractors, so we didn't have employees, which is a huge mistake and actually illegal in this day and age.

You’ve got to have a systematic approach to what you do. It's your business, it's your risk, you know your money to start this entity. You need to set up a business system so that when you go to hire coaches, you're literally just filling a place on the team. You're not hiring another entrepreneur to run a business in your business. You're hiring someone to run your play.

We've got internships, which are accredited college internships. You’ve got mentorships, which is a half internship and based on adults and you can decide whether you want to charge or not.

Another avenue for potential trainers is existing clients. And you could also go for community outreach or maybe working even through your current trainers.

Stay tuned to get to know the nuances.

Key Points of Discussion:

• The thing about business systems: You go out and find the right athlete (3:44)
• Don't forget that people have to enjoy their time with you (5:24)
• A systematic approach would help me get them from zero to hero faster… (6:54)
• Where do you find these trainers? There are four different ways (7:44)
• Source one: Accredited college internships (8:02)
• Mentorship: Teaching someone who's maybe in a different career (14:35)
• Existing clients: You know a lot about their work ethic (17:12)
• Community outreach; maybe working even through your current trainers (22:00)

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Additional Resources:

• Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, we discuss why the active aging (50+ age group) market provides the greatest opportunity for fitness businesses.

Matt has pulled some really good data we discuss. We talk about what the metrics, the economic metrics, are showing us.

We also talk about what our personal experience has been with this crowd. We've been here 28 years and we've seen some real traction with this particular population for lots of different reasons.

Forget about fitness. Like if you're in any business, you can't ignore the fact that this group has the most money and they are growing in numbers and people are living to be quite a bit older because of medication and other things. You're going to see this population continue to grow and they're going to want to stay active.

This 50 plus market indeed makes for a massive opportunity - We're really good at it and we're really good at scaling it.

Why should people look at active aging? What's the future of this market? Is it as boring as people think? Stay tuned to find out.

Key Points of Discussion:

• Group training more scalable than one-on-one servicing (5:52)
• There are more than 75 million people in the 50+ group right now (6:23)
• People learning you lose a significant amount of muscle after you turn 30 (8:09)
• They want to be able to go snow skiing and do all these things (8:09)
• You have to be more technical to train someone who’s over 50 (9:30)
• I find this age bracket more compelling than I do “only” six-pack abs (10:25)
• This group has got these tangible goals, like: “I want to move better.” (13:04)
• 70% of the disposable income and only 5-10% of marketing dollars there! (13:31)
• 80% of all savings alone are in this group (15:04)
• Believe it or not, they spend more time than millennials online (15:23)
• They spend $7 billion online a year (16:33)
• Older clients are going to stay longer and pay more (21:09)

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Additional Resources:

• Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, we discuss the history of the Alloy brand and why we decided to move to a franchise model.

We share with you our journey from when we started this place, to kind of where we evolved and to where we're at today. It would be pretty impactful for people that are looking to speed up a business or start their own.

We turned 27 recently. Back when we started, I was sort of paying my way through school as a personal trainer and personal training was a very new industry. There wasn't a lot of validity around it. No one really knew what we did, but everyone needed a coach. That still holds true today.

What were we really doing? Showing people proper exercise, coaching, basic good nutrition and holding people accountable. That was it. And of course there's always a market for that.

That's something everyone's going to need. And everyone's had a sports coach since the beginning of time. So it made sense. It just wasn't really an industry. So I was bouncing around between different health clubs and going into people's homes.

And I thought it'd be neat to put all of these experiences of private coaching into four walls.

So to bring those in and try to control the customer experience around it, like have a place just dedicated to training. So I had a client that was willing to invest. It wasn't much, but we invested enough to open a 1,500 square foot training center. And I brought in some friends of mine that were in the industry to work with sort of their clients. And that was the birth of it.

Stay tuned as we go into further detail.

Key Points of Discussion:

• A client was willing to invest. We opened a 1,500 sq ft training center (2:17)
• In 1998, we did $1 million in training; we'd expanded to 3,000 sq ft (3:14)
• 1999: I was almost out of business as I had independently contracted staff (4:18)
• We systemized what many consider more of an art - personal training (5:29)
• Around 2000, we finally scratched our way back (6:02)
• We switched our one-on-one training over to “small group training” (6:05)
• Around 2003, we transitioned everyone over to this small group setting (9:37)
• We started to see there might be something for even a larger group (11:05)
• Larger groups: A lower price point drew younger clientele (11:36)
• We expanded eventually to around 8,000 sq ft (12:28)
• We started doing a lot of consulting for other trainers (12:54)
• Birth of licensing: A gym owner said, “Can you bring it into my facility?” (12:56)
• Fast forward to earlier this year: We had licensed 2,000 clubs worldwide (13:47)
• Alloy fitness franchise is a personal training franchise, but it's scalable (16:30)
• Two types of people that would be good for any fitness franchise (21:02)

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Additional Resources:

• Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In the ongoing four-part series on sales, we took what we call our starting point session, which is our one-hour sales session where someone comes to the gym and they're physically in front of us.

In the previous three episodes, we've done step one, which is the meet and greet or the peeling the onion, you've taken them on to the floor, you've done the functional movement screen, and then we've put them through a workout. So now you're sitting down with them and it's the crux move now.

In this episode, we deal with the last part of the sales process. We explain how to close the sale. It’s about when you've got the client teed up to this point where you're going to sit down with them and ask them for money. Stay tuned as we walk you through the process.

Key Points of Discussion:

• Your rate sheet: Anything more than four options is too many (7:54)
• Review what you've done that day with them and their goals (8:31)
• Make a prescription and circle the option that you think is best for them… (8:37)
• Don't let your income hold you back from selling a membership (9:41)
• Sales have much to do with body language, eye contact, and enthusiasm (12:12)
• Slide it over, make the suggestion, and be quiet until there's a 'yes' or 'no' (14:02)
• Put more effort into steps one, two, and three (18:50)
• It's not like you're selling them something they shouldn't have… (19:07)

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Additional Resources:

• Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, we discuss the initial workout - the sample workout, and why it's so important to the sales process.

The key to the sample workout is something that we spoke to in the first two episodes, which is the way that people learn. So you're going to have some people that are auditory learners. Those are the people that you are going to handle with “peeling the onion”. They typically want to spend more time in the office.

Maybe they like to see that there's a process to what you do that would be handled by the assessment or the functional movement screen.

And then, there would be people that would come in and they don't want to talk at all. They cut you short on your questions. These people are typically a little bit more fit. They come from a background where they're already exercising or they consider themselves more fit. They just want to know that what you have to offer is going to be enough for them.

We talk about the way to structure your initial workout. We believe in a scripted sales process. So that means that the sample workout also needs to be scripted.

If you're paying attention during the peeling of the onion, then you're going to know that what their hotspots are - what they are for the heavy guy that wants arms or the lady that wants to lose this little piece of fat. So this is your chance, not only to show them that there's things in the gym that are unique for them, but also to just give them a few exercises that address specifically those areas. Stay tuned to learn more.

Key Points of Discussion:

• You’re going to handle the auditory learner with “peeling the onion” (1:27)
• There are those who just want to know what you offer would be enough (2:07)
• Scripted sample workout: Basic movement patterns, and the emotions... (2:58)
• Why are we doing a sample workout? (4:33)
• Let the beginner level client feel safe and comfortable (6:15)
• You can give intermediate clients more advanced cues (8:24)
• Those who are beat up but really fit: They need more advanced workouts (9:56)
• Their actual fitness level versus what they think their fitness level is (15:47)
• The workout is part of the evaluation (16:55)

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Additional Resources:

• Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In Part two of a four-part series revolving around sales, we are going to talk about client assessment. We’re essentially going to quantify movement.

Our promise to customers is looking good - that's usually weight loss. The second one's feeling great. Now, feeling great, a lot of time, has to do with movement quality. We're going to talk about what we call the functional movement screen (FMS).

Now, in case you’re not familiar with the FMS, it's pretty technical. It came out of professional athletics. There's a lot of really good data to back up its validity.

The FMS is built by a couple of high-level physical therapists that are sports performance oriented, and is used in the special forces. So you’ve got to try to dumb all that down to fit the general fitness population.

Nonetheless, when you look at predictability of injuries based on certain scores around the screen, they're repeatable and reliable. And they've used them with the fire department or even with big energy companies for light pole workers. If people can get their scores to 14 or better, their chances of getting injured are exponentially higher.

We're trying to set ourselves apart from other facilities, certainly other training studios, which offer a good workout, like meaning you're going to get sweaty. But there's a lot of smoke and mirrors around it. It's fancy, there's good music, there's a lot of screaming, there's a headset.

But are the exercises being applied correctly? And when we get someone in who, in our peeling the onion, says that they have an injury or a concern, this is your chance to show them that there's a process to what we do.

Have a component in your sales process that shows people that you know what you're talking about, that you're an expert in what you do and makes them comfortable, and it shows that you care and that you're different from the place down the street. And for the person that learns by seeing, this is a very good visual tool. You make things stickier for this individual.

In today's age, to sell something, you have to be an expert and people are not uninformed. Like no one suffers from a lack of information these days. If anything, we've got too much information. But if you don't somehow align yourself as an expert in their eyes, and what better time to do it than when you were about to ask them for money, you're crazy.

Key Points of Discussion:

• Promise to clients: Looking good (usually weight loss), and feeling great (2:45)
• Feeling great, a lot of time, has to do with movement quality (2:56)
• One in the 45-50 age bracket will likely be having chinks in their armor (3:00)
• Putting a tangible score to people's movements (4:04)
• We're going to use what we call the functional movement screen (FMS) (4:13)
• It is important to show them a real process (5:40)
• The movement quality measurement shows them that it's all about them (5:57)
• Get them to understand you know how to apply the workout and template (6:04)
• In a group setting, let them know: “Don’t worry, all this is being recorded.” (6:20)
• We know exactly what to do with you and so we love the FMS (6:29)
• The original FMS test was so hard that it would make people often fail (6:49)
• You don’t want to give them a test so tough they can't pass it the first time (7:08)
• You have a dowel and a board. You do tests, and they ask questions… (10:20)
• Taking out all hard things and replacing them with things that are doable (10:40)
• We worked alongside FMS creators to come up with the modified screen (11:34)
• People are going to fall into four quadrants (13:21)
• The first: They move well, so functional and they have no pain (13:28)
• The next bracket: We see this a lot: Moves well, has pain (14:03)
• When the screen does serve to make you look really smart (15:30)
• It makes us look more scientific (16:13)
• The goal is to let them know they're in good hands (16:24)
• And remember, you're actually collecting relevant data (17:46)
• In a lot of ways, you're protecting them from themselves (17:59)
• There's another quadrant, that doesn't move well, but has no pain (18:47)
• There are a lot of people that fit into the “doesn’t move" category (18:53)
• As part of our franchise, get an FMS certification to go along with it… (20:47)
• Taking the data and applying it correctly… (21:18)

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Additional Resources:

• Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, we will be discussing the "meet and greet" portion of the sales process. We're going to be talking about sitting down and getting personal, digging in and finding out why someone's there, and convincing them that we're the place that can help them.

If you can't sell, you can't help people. So, of all the things you want to do - Get people in great shape, with you being intrinsically motivated to change lives - None of that's happening if you can't sell. So, you've got to lean into sales and have a scripted sales process.

A scripted sales process, as opposed to shooting from the hip, is infinitely more successful, even with someone that's talented.

And if you're looking to scale your business or open a second location, finding an amazing salesperson that we can slot in there and just let them do their own thing versus running a script, is very difficult to do. So start by having a scripted sales process, and we're going to walk you right through ours, so stay tuned.

Key Points of Discussion:

• It's funny that the sales systems of those who are successful, are similar (5:23)
• Shoot from the hip sales is not a consistent customer experience (6:12)
• Seeing to it that there’s no over-promising and under-delivering (7:26)
• “Meet and greet”, aka “goal and needs analysis”, aka “peeling the onion” (8:20)
• Collecting ahead of time a little bit of info based on their phone call (8:34)
• You should have reviewed the info when you sit down with this person (9:05)
• Walk them around the club; introduce them to coaches, and clients (9:13)
• Then you walk them back; this session needs to happen in an office (9:49)
• When you sit down for this meet and greet, be in a private setting (9:57)
• You say you've reviewed their goals and have a few questions for them (10:56)
• Don’t sit across the desk; face them, and give them eye contact (12:07)
• Have a real conversation, like you’re at a coffee shop (12:40)
• Ask enough of “why” questions; that’s peeling the onion (12:47)
• Get them thinking what it’s going to be like when they get into shape (14:23)
• Why they failed in the past, and how we're going to be different (14:50)
• Dig deep and help them formulate a meaningful goal (15:24)
• Try to get people off of the superficial goals (17:06)
• You don't want to make people cry, but it happens as it's personal to them (17:41)
• Convincing them that you're the place that can solve that pain (17:53)
• Ask meaningful questions, and then, shut your pie hole and listen (18:48)
• We tell them: “All right, listen, now we're going to go out into the floor…” (19:26)
• Just run the play; just run the script (21:45)

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Additional Resources:

• Core message of "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber on YouTube
• Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, we discuss the importance of consistency. In fact, many people maybe take it for granted, but it plays out in the customer experience in a big way. You see, if you want to scale your business, you want to then hire another trainer and then another one, you're going to want to make sure that you can turn to those people and say: “This is how we do things.”

And that no matter if they're working with you as the original coach or one of the people in your business, there's no lapse in customer experience. So build a playbook, and then you have to run the play.

Take, for example, your experience with a haircut. It’s not just about the haircut, but also about the customer experience at the barbershop. Likewise, when it comes to personal training, it’s not just about the workout.

Being able to deliver effective workouts just barely gives you the right to even be in business in the fitness studio space. Being able to deliver a great workout with a really amazing customer experience around it - that's really hard. But if you can do it right, now, you're cooking with oil. Stay tuned for the nuts and bolts of consistency.

Key points of Discussion:

• He says, “I'm not going to that barber again,” and it’s not about the haircut (2:27)
• Besides a good workout, your coaches should be giving same experience (6:15)
• Same protocol, but it felt different, because one person asked for 20 reps (8:56)
• On a different trainer’s schedule, they should get the same experience (9:31)
• Recommended: a communication tool to go from one coach to the other (11:00)
• Clients “getting married” to coaches often about working around injuries (15:09)
• It’s about the seven core tenets discussed in Episode 4 (16:46)
• Mediocre firms clocking higher customer satisfaction due to consistency (18:03)
• You have to build the play before you can say: “Run the play.” (21:24)

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Additional Resources:

• Core message of "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber on YouTube
• Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, our guest, Rami Odeh, tells us about his journey of early success, near failure and a return to success with the sale of his training gym. 

Rami started like a lot of people, in corporate America.  He then went back to graduate school to chase his dream of opening his own business. 

After graduating, he got a fresh start as a personal trainer and loved it for the instant impact it had on lives. This led him to open his own facility and propel a much larger number of people to the heights of success.

It wasn’t sunshine and roses forever though.

He moved the gym to a new building that he bought, ran into debt, and almost lost all that he worked so hard for. This eventually led him to overhaul his business model and once again taste success again.

He’s seen and done it all. 

Stay tuned to know what and who all, apart from his grit, saw him through tough times.

Key Takeaways:

• Rami’s sports and corporate background (1:47)
• The one corporate meeting that got him to go back to graduate school (2:31)
• Did an internship in a gym; loved seeing an instant impact for what he did (4:51)
• Worked in large gyms; graduate degree in exercise science was an asset (7:04)
• His foray into in-home training; did it for about two years (8:27)
• Finding a place to open his own facility (9:48)
• Took up a part-time job at a hospital; helped help him market his gym (11:18)
• The first 8 years, the biz grew 30% a year; they were doing $1 million (13:42)
• Moved the gym to a bigger place; great revenue, not great margins (14:50)
• Got real close to walking away from it all (21:07)
• Had a third party personal training company coming into his gym (21:40)
• Looking at short-selling the building (25:21)
• Went about learning from the near failure; revamped everything (27:56)
• Grew year over year and went into profits again (30:01)
• Community support and a spiritual anchor really helped him (33:25)
• Sold the business and kept the building (39:38)
• Living a life of gratitude (42:32)
• He’s an author and has moved into talking about spirituality and exercise (45:26)

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Additional Resources:

• Book "Quiet the Noise"
• Rami's Linkedin
• Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!

In this episode, we speak with Anthony Wilkins, co-owner of Alloy for Women, about his transition from trainer to business owner and the challenges he's overcome.

He also lets us in on his background, how the women’s concept gym got to where it is, and the things he’s learned along the way. His experiences can help those of you who are maybe thinking about opening your own gym or maybe changing your personal training model.

Anthony also talks about how he dealt with some sort of an identity crisis around going from being a coach at an established center to an owner, starting from scratch and gaining a foothold in Suwanee, Georgia.

Key Takeaways:

• Zeroing in on Suwanee after research. “You have to do your research.” (9:07)
• Getting to know people big in the community, and leveraging that (12:27)
• Figuring out how much cashflow one wants to always have on hand (15:11)
• There's no clocking out when it is your baby (16:52)
• The ability to ask for help is the biggest skill that one’s going to need... (17:50)
• “80% is what I think you can do. The other 20, you need to come along.” (24:52)
• In the light of close relationships built, it’s tough when changing location (35:28)

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Additional Resources:

• www.AlloyforWomen.com
• Learn About The Alloy Franchise Opportunity

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You can find the podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you haven’t already, please rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts!