Weekly edition of the Q&A .... 

Questions covered below; 

Do you do your business metrics at the end of each week / day / month I have a client, who is very self conscious about their weight,  weight thems each day sometime more than ones,   they are loosing weight, turning to the gym on their own doing everything doing everything i just and staying  accountable

When to ask clients for feedback, like when is the right time?

 Best camera to film content on?

Some more ideas to help keep clients accountable

 I want more social proof, should I just ask people who I already help? It just feel weird in my head saying “can you leave me a Facebook review” “can I use your photos” “can’t you do a video message for me” it feels a bit uncomfortable, similar to the sales talks/calls.

An unplanned episode we recorded whilst doing a LIVE on one of our Facebook groups. 

We cover some common mistakes whilst generating leads, and a clear step by step process on what a lead is, the difference between cold and hot leads, and a simple process to follow. 

Any questions or feedback please drop us a line @ [email protected]

Questions covered this week; 

I have an obese client I am working with.  From the start have made sure the client has complete autonomy and built the plan around what they have felt they could do, given them the daily accountability that they requested.  Goes well for two weeks then ghosts me for a week, then gets back in touch etc and we get on a call.  From the start she said she has given herself two years to lose what she needs to which is great that she is realistic, however even though we've talked about doing it in smaller chunks, just to focus on the actions for each day she continues to get demoralised by how much she has to lose, which causes the ghosting/self sabotage.  But she doesn't want to give up which is great.  The hardest part is she is just so tired all the time, only sleeps 4.5 hours at night, gets home from work at 3 then naps for two hours because she is so tired.  Currently we are trying to start getting her to go to bed a bit earlier and reduce the nap time in the afternoon as that is impacting her feeling tired for bed at night.  Nutrition wise we are just concentrating on getting in 3 meals a day as she was not eating until she'd get home from work before she'd nap, then dinner and then late night eating as she was staying up so late.  Movement wise we are working on getting in 10mins of walking when she gets home from work before she naps, my hope here is this perhaps refreshes her enough to perhaps not need a nap and therefore bring her bedtime forward as she will be tired enough for it.  I'm really trying to get her to focus on how she feels, as often in those two weeks she's noticing improvement in energy etc but then this ghosting/self sabotage kicks in.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

What would you say is a good rate of check ins from clients 50% or above from clients

Had a few enquires about online training and was wondering how I would move into this

I still struggle with check ins. I’ve read up more about it, I’ve communicated that they don’t benefit me and tried to convey to individual how it benefits them- but still have people just ignoring it. Trying to change check in process, make sheet so they can see progress, I’ve adapted it to days which suit the individuals too 

For group content would you say life you can have set themes on days e,g  Monday asking what everyone goals are, Tuesday Techniques focused , Thursday could be a different theme each week , Friday Wins for the week.   Add a q /a in time  etc suggestion from this

When presenting a 14 day challenge is is best to use it as an isolated element of your marketing schedule or is it something that you can present as a starting point into your business throughout the year?

Going on from today Instagram post : would you personalised each weekly check in form for each client ?

 Fitness question today. How often would you recommend a deload week, if at all? And what determines when you would need one. Thanks 

How would you deal with a client who wants to only work on one or two body parts - e.g wants abs and a bigger bum but doesn’t want toned arms. My instinct is to still take a full body approach to avoid imbalances but with slightly more emphasis on the body parts they have asked to work on to keep them happy.

Any questions or comments, please fire through to [email protected] 

We were thrilled to be joined my Ollie and Jenz for this bonus episode, and talk through "Raising the standards of coaching" 

We talk through; 

What it means to them to be a professional PT.

What does raising the standards mean to them.

How having strong values plays an important role of professionalism and standards throughout your career.

And much more.... 

We would highly recommend the FFC LVL 1 for any new or existing coaches out there. 

You can find the PFCA on Instagram @the.pfca or via their website; www.thepfca.com 

Any feedback as usual guys, please fire through to [email protected] 

In this weeks Q&A we cover; 

When bulking how often do you recommend weighing clients, I’ve been doing it slightly different depending on the client, one used to be obsessed with weight so I tend not weight her as often but just for the average client who is on a bulk 

What information would you gather when creating meal templates for a client?

How to take some clients online as I’m full for 1-2-1 PT

How to make sure clients stay on track whilst I am away... Usually they say everything you want to hear but don't follow through

Do you think male trainers who train females need to make the female menstrual cycle a main priority on their knowledge list ? I know the basics but not enough to give advice.

What tips do you have for using MI in a consult and keeping it centred around drawing out the prospects struggles so you can better position your service. I sometimes end up drawing out the prospects solutions, which has them feeling good and wanting to try go it alone for a bit longer

Should you have a target for how many enquiries you receive each week? What is a good number to aim for?

Any question or feedback, please contact us on [email protected] 

This weeks questions from the group; 

Interested in your thoughts on having a FREE trial option in particular for website traffic?  Would be done through an email series over a certain time period, eg 5, 7 Days where they get an email each day with a video and then perhaps a task to do.  A way to not only let them have an experience with the hope they would sign up but also to capture email addresses.  Thanks!

How to manage clients that don't want to track cals? At the moment I give them options such as cal counting, food diary and taking pictures of foods and ask them which would suit them best. How do I get the message to land that nutrition needs to be managed to achieve their goal?  

How would you recommend structuring when you put time in for consults? I currently have slots available during the times that I want to fill (though this may now be irrelevant as I'm more focused on building the online coaching side of things right now over face to face).  I have it set so people have to book with 12 hour notice. Though I find this could effect how I plan out my week ahead. Would you suggest having a set couple of days dedicated for these calls?

Would you suggest weekly live videos/ebooks/Zoom calls or something else education wise for clients as seeing them face to face 2x a week can be hard to educate

How do you deal with a situation where someone enquires into your business, they’re a cold lead and from the first conversation you’ve had you’re not 100% if you’d work well together? I'm looking for advice on navigating client goal setting – should it be me coming up with goal suggestions based on the info they've given me or should I be directing the conversation in a way that leads them to come up with the goals themselves? 

Current have 4 client knows both in online and 1 to 1, Would you say its good a point start up the private Facebook group

How valued are welcome packs? I think this would be a key thing for me to create with me going more online based. I received a basic nutritional info welcome pack from an online coach I used myself and I wasn't that impressed.  I felt I wanted more info on how the service works (coaches welcome , how check ins work , programming, how to use truecoach as a client, helpful tips, maybe a myfitnesspal user guide etc )

I've set myself a goal of speaking to 5 new people a day.

I’ve not watch the webinar yet so no questions, I’ll ask tmrw after watching it if I feel lost When it comes to having a FB group as part of your service. 

What types of weekly content and resource would you provide for them?

Any questions or feedback > [email protected] 

Stuart Mackenzie owns FitPro Sales Agency which is responsible for over £3m in sales for personal trainers, gym owners, online coaches and course providers in the fitness industry. FitPro Sales also provides education & mentoring for coaches who want to develop their ability to sell their services and take their business to the next level.

We’ll be focusing on selling the right way. Sales isn’t about twisting someone’s arm to pay you at the point of sale. Sales starts with YOU, your product and the message you portray. Understand this and sales is very easy.

You can find Stuart on IG @stu_fitprosales 

Any questions or feedback, use [email protected] 

Any questions or discussion points, please fire through via [email protected] 

Questions covered this week are;

Been offered to join a business networking group for refferals with other businesses for £580 a year. Did a zoom call as a visitor. What's your experiences with anything like this I've never done it and do you think it's would be worth the investment? Thanks 

Any tips for running a group program?

How much is too much when it comes to free content?

 I have my 1-2-1 clients (face to face) set up on TrueCoach. When I am not with them they have access to their programme on the app to help them stay consistent with their weekly gym routine.  Am I giving them too much ? As if/when I take on online clients and hybrid clients they will get a similar service. I use a iPad when in the gym and it makes it easy for me to load up clients workouts on TrueCoach and add notes. I can’t see myself changing it as it’s works well, I also think it looks quite cool and professional 🤓😎

My coach has set me targets on a weekly basis to cover 12,000 steps daily, along with a cardio and weights target.  I currently train 3 times a week, 2 weights, boxing class and hit at least 10,000 steps.

What is the best way to get someone to fill in a questionnaire via instagram?

should I contact the people who will answer at the Insta stories  questions or that can come across a bit pushy ? 

I'm not attracting my target market (mums 35-40)  as client's, most of my clients are younger (early 20’s) how can I attract more clients in my target market category. I've done a market research survey to find out their barriers/pain points, what else can I try? 

Anticipating that some people won't go for highest price package due to price. In this instance shall I push them toward lower price options or remote only even when they need 2 sessions/week?

Should my social media message stay the same now that I won't be taking on clients. Trying to focus more on education and personality than calls to action or triggering. I feel bad that I can't currently help people but obviously still want to grow ready for my next online coaching intake etc.

How would you go about starting off the market research after the survey

Opinion - in which ways, if any, might "Zoom style" video PT be more effective than in person. 

Do we REALLY think is possible to offer same level of service via video as compared to conventional Personal TrainingWhat are your thoughts on online coaching for prospects who are complete beginners?

When is the best time to invoice a client? I know I should know this but I'm still not 100% sure if its best to do this once they've signed up or at the end of month one. 

What are the pros and cons of having a membership at the front end of your business vs the back end or both? 

how to deal with buyers remorse.

Welcome back to another session. 

If you have discussion points/feedback/questions you'd like us to include in next weeks session, please us the email : [email protected] 

Questions covered this week; 

One of my target markets biggest barrier is time.  So I'm working on a short Time Management and Goal Setting Course to run either FREE or for a small monetary value.  Time Management will have a lesson on Getting Structure into your Week & Doing a Weekly Meal Plan, the  Goal Setting is How to Find Your Motivation and then how to make an action plan.  Each one will have a homework action to be done before the next one.  Would love your advise on, how long you would run that for?  over 7 days or 14?  And any tips on how you would market that?  I really want to hit those trigger points hard.  Aside from running it online thinking it could be something I could do within the community in a in person setting.

Want to start small group training (3-4 people in a studio/functional area of the gym). Done this once before and had decent success. Shall I format it as a 6/8 wk kind of thing with a set start/end date or is there another way of making it a longer commitment? Wouldn't know how to manage the latter if one of the group members fell off for example. What are your thoughts?

Whenever I get a new enquiry, they usually ask about pricing. Should I give them a rough idea when responding to them via email or get them on a call to discuss? At the moment I am giving them an idea of what packages start from and inviting them to a pre-consult call where I will talk them through packages in more detail. Keen to know if you think that is the right way to go about it! 

Been invited by my client to BNI networking event on zoom next Wednesday. I've never been to one. From experience do you think this is worth investing in? Thanks

Do you recommend having different tiers to online training?Is it 'deemed' bad in the fitness industry if you have clients on 1x 1-1 sessions per week? I have gained a few... each are on track, smashing goals etc but people seem to talk down on it!

How to deal with leads that are looking for training programmes or sessions with minimal coaching. I’m not sure whether I should be offering programming/basic packages when they are less likely to get results from it.

2 questions this week: How would you recommend dealing with a prospect in a consult that thinks they are fine with nutrition and don't think they need any support with it? Also, how would approach a prospect that is currently doing Keto and look to get them open to trying a more balanced approach - would you use open questions through MI to try and draw out the drawbacks of it from them?

I am going to start reaching out to people and ask them if there is anything I can help them with. Do you have any tips for how to go about helping people online for free, to what extent should you help people for no cost & is there a certain point when you should ask for a sale?

4 days left to sign up for May's PT Business Transformation Program > click the link to register your interest and find out more! https://form.jotform.com/210252285481350 

Question covered this week are; 

When doing a movement/ posture analysis, would you incorporate into a consultation or do it as part of the first session? 

How to get online clients currently in a 6 week challenge to continue with online service past the 6 weeks? Got a small group of online guys who have all been excellent, want this to continue and to convert them to monthly online service. Any advice on this?

How do I make my working times more clear on social media

Do you think there is an upper limit to how much time should be spent on the gym floor each day? For context I've been on the gym floor 6/7 hours a day and sometimes feel a bit drained by the time it comes to my on business side of things and social media content creation where the quality has dipped the past couple of weeks. I know a better nights sleep will help slightly, but wanted to get your opinion on it!

I wanted to sign up to this months EIQ nutrition course but I’m going to have to wait a couple of months until I have the spare time to be able to put my all into it. In the meantime, are there any books or podcasts that you’d recommend related to nutrition? 

When do you decide if something is worth the effort or not? Thinking of projects and online group intro stuff when do you do the cost benefit analysis and decide to stop or keep going. Do you complete it and see how it goes? Survey first then do it? 

I'm in 2 minds as to what to do when the gyms open back up in Ireland don't know whether to go all in online or split it half online and half in person. Any guidance? I know it's prob personal preference at the end of the day

I've found quite a few clients just want weekly sessions and don't want to pay extra for a programme, check ins etc... I don't mind that to a certain extent but it would be nice to have more people on packages where I can get them better results and be paid more for it.

 Do you have any advice on this? E.g. should I still take on these clients/how to convince them to go for the full package