Despite what you may be experiencing, thinking or feeling about the current recession, there are still huge profits to made working in personal training and fitness. In fact, you could say that there has never been a better time for the industry than right now, after all, whilst many other 'luxuries' like buying cars, taking vacations and even dining out may be on pause right now, people don't simply quit their fitness, nutrition and rehab programs solely because of money.
How people feel about their bodies will never change, recession or not.
They will ALWAYS want to look, feel and perform better than they currently do and, whilst they may temporarily 'downgrade' a personal training package to a bootcamp or bootcamp to a gym membership to allow it to fit into their new budget, it's very rare that a person will quit their health and fitness goals entirely because money is tight.
(They'll quit for a thousand other reasons if they're not committed to their goals, but that's a different article!).
Most personal trainers and bootcamp instructors don't get this at all. The typical reaction amongst the vast majority of them is to batten down the hatches, reduce their outgoings by saving money on their marketing and hope that they can weather the economic storm well enough to start attracting clients 'once things settle down'.
The trouble is, this is 180 degrees in opposition to what they really should be doing... Marketing harder than ever!
You see, rather than the recession being a bad thing, you need to realise that it is, in fact, a brilliant opportunity for you and your business.
Think about it; because most of the business competitors in your market are reducing their marketing budggets, putting their client attraction strategies on the go-slow and waiting for the recession to burn itself out, they are decreasing rather than increasing their own visibility. In effect, they're creating a vaccum in the fitness market.
Where the public used to have 50 trainers, studios and gyms to choose from, they now have only 10 or so. Where there used to be bundles of ads, flyers and direct mail pieces vying for their attention, now there are far, far fewer messages reaching them, meaning that each one can be heard more clearly and have much greater impact.
Most fitness professionals don't get this, though those who have ventured byond the 'personal trainer' label and have developed a more entrepreneurial mindset certainly do... and they take advantage of it, enjoying the less competitive playing field while it lasts.
The trouble is, most of those who work in fitness and health lack the entrepreneurial drive necessary to succeed when times get tough. They can't see past the fact that their role is more than just writing exercise programs, spotting on exercise routines or writing nutritional programs. It's about leadership.
Leadership is about using your passion and purpose in a focused, clear and results-oriented way that inspires others to follow and take positive action themselves. Rolling over and playing dead during times of struggle or adversity is not leadership in any way, shape or form. It doesn't teach your clients to stick with their goals when things get tough for them does it? In fact, it sets an example that when things get tough with their programs, their diets, their lifestyles that they too should quit and try again 'when the time is right'.
Is that what you want to teach your clients?
Thought not!
So instead of getting caught up in the 'woe is me' recession-based conversations that are going around at the moment, take a 180 and focus on the opportunities that currently lie before you because there really are many, many of them... if you'll only open your eyes to them.
Forget reducing your marketing commitments right now, instead, ramp them up. Do more. Become more visible now than you ever have before. Get creative and most of all, have fun with it.
The truth is, no matter what you've been told about becoming successful, no matter how many self-help books you've read, no matter how many motivational seminars you've attended and tapes you've listened to, there really is only one way to become unstoppable in your quest for fitness business success.
Refuse to stop.
Now is the time to hit the gas, not the brakes.
Floor it!
Dax Moy
For more help in writing ads that will attract a screaming horde of new clients to your business, get yourself a copy of Scientific Advertising For The Fitness Professional and use the 21 Strategies to create magnetic ads that will get your phones ringing off the hook!
Showing posts with label dax moy fitness marketing personal trainer opt in list strategy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dax moy fitness marketing personal trainer opt in list strategy. Show all posts
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Does Size REALLY Matter?
You know, for the last few years I've been helping fitness professionals to grow their lists from zero to hero proportions very quickly, using very little money, very little time and very little expertise.
As well as the last couple of 12 days of fitness promotions, I've been secretly working behind the scenes with some pretty famous fitness professionals to help them write their copy and attract hoards of signups to their lists.
It's been great fun, a lot of fun in fact, and I've learned a ton about what works and what doesn't when it comes to growing large and responsive lists for selling fitness products.
Mostly I've learned what DOESN'T work.
See, like most people, I used to repeat the mantra 'The Money's In The List, The Money's In The List' over and over again. I subscribed to the (then) popular theory that the most important thing I could do to help my business and those who consulted with me was to build big lists.
So I did.
I built lists that were in excess of 30, 40 and 50,000 people. I even built one that had nearly 80,000 people in it with the belief that the size of my list was more important than anything else related to my business efforts.
It made sense when I listened to the 'Gurus'. They all said that you will only ever sell to a small proportion of any list you grow and so it makes sense to grow a large list.
So I did.
I grew these monster lists, wrote to them weekly, twice weekly then as much as daily and, you know what I found?
My largest list were the LEAST responsive.
Not only by percentage but by total volume of sales, period.
Where my 30,000 person list was pulling in say, 20 sales a week (yes, THAT bad!), my 750 person list was pulling in 25, 30 or more... of the exact same product, and sometimes using the exact same email!
It didn't make sense to me at first. In fact, it didn't make sense to me for a looong time.
I couldn't figure out why my 30,000 list was converting less than my 750 list. That is, until I started to pay more attention to the lists of the marketing experts that I was subscribed to.
I noticed that whilst I tended to keep my lists on the large side, jealously protecting them against attrition of any kind and boasting whenever I could about 'the size of my one', the marketing superstars OUTSIDE of fitness were doing something very different.
THEY were always chopping their lists down, deliberately making theirs smaller!
It didn't make sense to me at first, until I really took the time to look at what they were doing and when I did, when I finally understood the method in their madness and applied it to my own business model, my results exploded overnight.
What were they doing?
They were splitting, splitting and splitting again, each and every one of their lists so that those who were in the smallest groups were the 'purest' of their raving fans.... and the most likely to purchase.
Instead of keeping lists of 30,000 plus with mixes of genuine fans, freebie hunters, and everybody in between, they were walking their subscribers through a well thought out screening process to find out who were the real fans and who weren't.
A simple system they'd operate (and one that you can too) is to offer a report of some kind (let's say fat loss) in order to grow your 'feeder' list. These are all those who are generally interested in a product/service 'like' yours. Though they may not know of either you or your products yet, they're looking for fat loss info and don't mind who they get it from.
Once on your list, offer them something more specific, say a kettlebell fatloss workout or a nutritional program (or both) and have them subscribe to these niched reports and newsletters.
What have you done here?
You're 'purified' your list (slightly) by seeing:
a) Who actually opens your mails - most people only experience a 30% open rate anyway
b) Who acts on your mails - Who actually follows through your links and looks at what you're sending them to
c) Who is interested in the sub-niched material you're offering - Once you know that a certain proportion of your list is interested in fatloss with kettlebells as opposed to 'just' fatloss, you can now speak to them specifically about using kettlebells, easy!
But it doesn't stop there!
That's just the first layer of purification. There are many, many more you can apply.
Take our kettlebell fatloss list for example, we can now purify the list again by offering, say, home fatloss programs, bootcamp programs, challenges and tests, body makeover competitions etc, etc
See how it works?
Every time we take a list and purify it, sure, we make it smaller but we also make it much, much more likely that they'll respond to what you're offering. After all, each time they sign up to a new list they're putting their hand up to say "I'm interested!" aren't they? And the more times they do, the more likely it is that you can connect with them, befriend them, help them and yes, have them buy your products.
It's not exactly rocket science, yet you'd be surprised at how few fitness professionals ever purify their lists, instead focusing on size rather than responsiveness like I did.
At the time of writing this I have 45 lists in operation, each one following the list purification process and each smaller list making me more money than the last. In fact, I have a list of 200 people that makes me more money than my 30,000 person list!
Size really doesn't matter. Sure, the money IS in the list but it's not in the big one. It's in the smallest, most focused niche list you can build.
So get to building!
Dax Moy
www.personaltrainersuccess.ning.com
As well as the last couple of 12 days of fitness promotions, I've been secretly working behind the scenes with some pretty famous fitness professionals to help them write their copy and attract hoards of signups to their lists.
It's been great fun, a lot of fun in fact, and I've learned a ton about what works and what doesn't when it comes to growing large and responsive lists for selling fitness products.
Mostly I've learned what DOESN'T work.
See, like most people, I used to repeat the mantra 'The Money's In The List, The Money's In The List' over and over again. I subscribed to the (then) popular theory that the most important thing I could do to help my business and those who consulted with me was to build big lists.
So I did.
I built lists that were in excess of 30, 40 and 50,000 people. I even built one that had nearly 80,000 people in it with the belief that the size of my list was more important than anything else related to my business efforts.
It made sense when I listened to the 'Gurus'. They all said that you will only ever sell to a small proportion of any list you grow and so it makes sense to grow a large list.
So I did.
I grew these monster lists, wrote to them weekly, twice weekly then as much as daily and, you know what I found?
My largest list were the LEAST responsive.
Not only by percentage but by total volume of sales, period.
Where my 30,000 person list was pulling in say, 20 sales a week (yes, THAT bad!), my 750 person list was pulling in 25, 30 or more... of the exact same product, and sometimes using the exact same email!
It didn't make sense to me at first. In fact, it didn't make sense to me for a looong time.
I couldn't figure out why my 30,000 list was converting less than my 750 list. That is, until I started to pay more attention to the lists of the marketing experts that I was subscribed to.
I noticed that whilst I tended to keep my lists on the large side, jealously protecting them against attrition of any kind and boasting whenever I could about 'the size of my one', the marketing superstars OUTSIDE of fitness were doing something very different.
THEY were always chopping their lists down, deliberately making theirs smaller!
It didn't make sense to me at first, until I really took the time to look at what they were doing and when I did, when I finally understood the method in their madness and applied it to my own business model, my results exploded overnight.
What were they doing?
They were splitting, splitting and splitting again, each and every one of their lists so that those who were in the smallest groups were the 'purest' of their raving fans.... and the most likely to purchase.
Instead of keeping lists of 30,000 plus with mixes of genuine fans, freebie hunters, and everybody in between, they were walking their subscribers through a well thought out screening process to find out who were the real fans and who weren't.
A simple system they'd operate (and one that you can too) is to offer a report of some kind (let's say fat loss) in order to grow your 'feeder' list. These are all those who are generally interested in a product/service 'like' yours. Though they may not know of either you or your products yet, they're looking for fat loss info and don't mind who they get it from.
Once on your list, offer them something more specific, say a kettlebell fatloss workout or a nutritional program (or both) and have them subscribe to these niched reports and newsletters.
What have you done here?
You're 'purified' your list (slightly) by seeing:
a) Who actually opens your mails - most people only experience a 30% open rate anyway
b) Who acts on your mails - Who actually follows through your links and looks at what you're sending them to
c) Who is interested in the sub-niched material you're offering - Once you know that a certain proportion of your list is interested in fatloss with kettlebells as opposed to 'just' fatloss, you can now speak to them specifically about using kettlebells, easy!
But it doesn't stop there!
That's just the first layer of purification. There are many, many more you can apply.
Take our kettlebell fatloss list for example, we can now purify the list again by offering, say, home fatloss programs, bootcamp programs, challenges and tests, body makeover competitions etc, etc
See how it works?
Every time we take a list and purify it, sure, we make it smaller but we also make it much, much more likely that they'll respond to what you're offering. After all, each time they sign up to a new list they're putting their hand up to say "I'm interested!" aren't they? And the more times they do, the more likely it is that you can connect with them, befriend them, help them and yes, have them buy your products.
It's not exactly rocket science, yet you'd be surprised at how few fitness professionals ever purify their lists, instead focusing on size rather than responsiveness like I did.
At the time of writing this I have 45 lists in operation, each one following the list purification process and each smaller list making me more money than the last. In fact, I have a list of 200 people that makes me more money than my 30,000 person list!
Size really doesn't matter. Sure, the money IS in the list but it's not in the big one. It's in the smallest, most focused niche list you can build.
So get to building!
Dax Moy
www.personaltrainersuccess.ning.com
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Why is Dax Moy Over The Moon At Earning $158?
It's true, I'm over the moon because this afternoon with a single email I've earned $158.
Sounds strange doesn't it?
After all, $158 whilst still SOME extra income, it's hardly worth writing a blog post about is it?
It is if you understand what that $158 stands for.
Y'see, I recently starting playing about with offering trial periods on several of my products.
Last week I trialled The MAGIC Hundred and very quickly sold around 100 copies with very little effort at all. 100 copies at $59.99 is about $6000... not too shabby for 1 email methinks.
Today I sent out a $4.95 trial of my Look Great Naked Challenge and made 32 sales... within minutes netting me a grand total of $158.
But here's the neat bit.
In 30 days when those sales convert to my full fee of $225 I'm looking at making $7225
Again, these aren't outrageous amounts of money, but think about what I'm sharing here.
I made one post to each list and have brought in about $13,000 in sales.
The moral of the story is a simple one...
Offer a trial of your services and products.
Let people 'try before they buy' by allowing them to access your products for nominal fees and then rebilling them after a trial period elapses (clickbank allows you to do this EASILY)
The benefit to you is an easy flurry of sales because people have had the risk reduced or reversed and feel more comfortable hitting the 'buy now' button. The small $4.95 fee just doesn't feel scary at all, right?
Of course, it goes without saying that your program had better deliver. You'd better back up all your promises and give 'em some great stuff or they'll quit and you won't be able to rebill them for the remainder of the value. As long as you do that you're fine and will see a decent flurry of sales that you may never have experienced otherwise.
Give it a go!
Dax Moy
Join The FREE Community at
www.personaltrainersuccess.ning.com
P.S - Leave me a comment! : )
Sounds strange doesn't it?
After all, $158 whilst still SOME extra income, it's hardly worth writing a blog post about is it?
It is if you understand what that $158 stands for.
Y'see, I recently starting playing about with offering trial periods on several of my products.
Last week I trialled The MAGIC Hundred and very quickly sold around 100 copies with very little effort at all. 100 copies at $59.99 is about $6000... not too shabby for 1 email methinks.
Today I sent out a $4.95 trial of my Look Great Naked Challenge and made 32 sales... within minutes netting me a grand total of $158.
But here's the neat bit.
In 30 days when those sales convert to my full fee of $225 I'm looking at making $7225
Again, these aren't outrageous amounts of money, but think about what I'm sharing here.
I made one post to each list and have brought in about $13,000 in sales.
The moral of the story is a simple one...
Offer a trial of your services and products.
Let people 'try before they buy' by allowing them to access your products for nominal fees and then rebilling them after a trial period elapses (clickbank allows you to do this EASILY)
The benefit to you is an easy flurry of sales because people have had the risk reduced or reversed and feel more comfortable hitting the 'buy now' button. The small $4.95 fee just doesn't feel scary at all, right?
Of course, it goes without saying that your program had better deliver. You'd better back up all your promises and give 'em some great stuff or they'll quit and you won't be able to rebill them for the remainder of the value. As long as you do that you're fine and will see a decent flurry of sales that you may never have experienced otherwise.
Give it a go!
Dax Moy
Join The FREE Community at
www.personaltrainersuccess.ning.com
P.S - Leave me a comment! : )
Sunday, 26 October 2008
How I Quadrupled My List Opt-Ins and Sales
Well, this weekend's Personal Trainer Success Seminar with Craig Ballantyne in London was definitely a hit.
We had 35 VERY happy fitness professionals leave that room room by the end of the seminar with an action plan of EXACTLY what to to make a huge impact on their business success quickly.
Craig and I really spilled the beans on every single 'secret', strategy or skill we've used to build our businesses both online and of and, unless I'm sorely mistaken, we're going to be hearing one heck of a lot of success stories coming from that little group real soon.
Now, one of the BIG questions people were asking was how it was that Craig and I had managed to build such big lists of red-hot prospects who were interested in our products and services. Obviously, we spoke about many of the usual things that you probably know about like offering bonuses, 'selling the free', creating irresistible offers etc, but the room was practically agog when I explained the one thing that I've been doing recently to not only build my list faster but also to convert many of those prospects to customers.
I guess it's because it's pretty contrarian (Like a lot of my ideas) and goes against what most people think will work best.
What is it?
Well, it's FORCED OPT IN.
That means, quite simply, that I only allow people access to my site and the fitness marketing information on it once they've provided me with their contact details. The landing page has no clickable links, there's nowhere else to go, nothing to look at no information to learn. There's just the intro to the site and the opt in box... nothing else.
You'd think that would put people off, right?
But it doesn't.
In fact, it works the exact opposite way.
It serves to qualify my prospects and, if anything, make them want to know more.
I've quadrupled both the number of signups and the number of sales I make from visitors to my site from this one technique alone and I'm about to roll the system out to many of my other 'free access' sites very soon now that I'm certain it works.
You should too!
Just try it out on your site for a couple of weeks and measure the effectiveness of it for yourself and I'm sure you'll be hooked like I am.
Go on then, get to it! : )
Dax Moy
www.personaltrainersuccessacademy.com
P.S - Tomorrow I'll tell you about the other most effective system for converting visitors to my site. It too increased my opt ins by 400-500% when I first applied it... I'm stunned that I don't see any other fitness professionals using it!
We had 35 VERY happy fitness professionals leave that room room by the end of the seminar with an action plan of EXACTLY what to to make a huge impact on their business success quickly.
Craig and I really spilled the beans on every single 'secret', strategy or skill we've used to build our businesses both online and of and, unless I'm sorely mistaken, we're going to be hearing one heck of a lot of success stories coming from that little group real soon.
Now, one of the BIG questions people were asking was how it was that Craig and I had managed to build such big lists of red-hot prospects who were interested in our products and services. Obviously, we spoke about many of the usual things that you probably know about like offering bonuses, 'selling the free', creating irresistible offers etc, but the room was practically agog when I explained the one thing that I've been doing recently to not only build my list faster but also to convert many of those prospects to customers.
I guess it's because it's pretty contrarian (Like a lot of my ideas) and goes against what most people think will work best.
What is it?
Well, it's FORCED OPT IN.
That means, quite simply, that I only allow people access to my site and the fitness marketing information on it once they've provided me with their contact details. The landing page has no clickable links, there's nowhere else to go, nothing to look at no information to learn. There's just the intro to the site and the opt in box... nothing else.
You'd think that would put people off, right?
But it doesn't.
In fact, it works the exact opposite way.
It serves to qualify my prospects and, if anything, make them want to know more.
I've quadrupled both the number of signups and the number of sales I make from visitors to my site from this one technique alone and I'm about to roll the system out to many of my other 'free access' sites very soon now that I'm certain it works.
You should too!
Just try it out on your site for a couple of weeks and measure the effectiveness of it for yourself and I'm sure you'll be hooked like I am.
Go on then, get to it! : )
Dax Moy
www.personaltrainersuccessacademy.com
P.S - Tomorrow I'll tell you about the other most effective system for converting visitors to my site. It too increased my opt ins by 400-500% when I first applied it... I'm stunned that I don't see any other fitness professionals using it!
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