… and why you should too…
Personal training is selling. Heck, everything in life is selling if you think about it… Even just deciding on what movie to see is selling.
So, don’t you think you should learn how to be a good seller? Arguably, the answer is YES!
Even if you don’t like the idea of sales, or you consider yourself shy, you can still be good at sales without being unethical, pushy, slimy or annoying…
Let me explain…
When I was just starting out, I was terrible at sales. I was shy and afraid of upsetting anyone I came into contact with. But…
When I talked with really successful
trainers, they all told me I needed to learn sales…
So I did. I worked for the gym as a salesman. I really wanted to train at the gym, but they wouldn’t let me, so I did sales instead.
It was awful.
I had so much anxiety and I didn’t’ know what I was doing. Then… one day… the gym hired a sales professional and I convinced him to take me under his wing.
He taught me how to set pricing, how to make phone calls and how to talk with people so they would want to sign up.
After a while, using his techniques, I got pretty good at selling. I was signing 1 person up per day during the summer month (which was unheard of at this gym)…
…and I was making about $2,000 per month!
Not bad for a college kid… but I really wanted to train. I still hated sales because I was so shy and got anxiety attacks every time I called a potential member.
After about 6 months, I finally started training. I met a top trainer who took me under his wing and taught me everything he knew on getting clients and becoming a top-notch trainer.
In fact, we worked so well together I ended up working for him for about 4 years.
Let me tell you, training was great and between the two of us, we were making about $20,000 per month!… yes, per month!
But, I was only getting about $3,000 of that and I was working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week! I knew I needed to figure out how to go to the next level…
Then I met Carol…
Carol was a former sales trainer for Xerox. Now, I’m not sure if you know anything about Xerox, but they were the number 1 sales training company in the world in the 1980s and 1990s!
People went to work for Xerox just to get the top sales training… and Carol had been one of the trainers. You see, Xerox invented the fax machine… and they needed to sell companies on getting a fax machine. The only problem was nobody else had a fax machine…
… so they needed to be the best of the best salesmen if they were going to sell a business a fax machine that would only work if other businesses also bought a fax machine… well… the rest is history!
Anyway… I convinced Carol to let me buy her lunch and she proceeded to reveal all of the techniques and tools for selling.
It was incredible! Literally overnight
I became a sales whiz!
Before Carol, about 1 out of 5 people would sign up with me. After Carol… 4 out of 5 would sign up!
Before I knew it, I had over 25 clients and was making a solid $10,000 per month. I was in heaven. I had the confidence to know that if I met with a potential client, I had an 80% chance they would work with me.
I also had a 92% retention rate, which means clients would… on average… train with me for a year and half. It was so comforting to know I was financially secure.
Here are the keys I learned from
Carol, which you can learn too:
- Why asking questions is 10x more powerful than trying to “sell” someone on your services. Once I started asking the right questions, the clients sold themselves on working with me.
- 2 simple phrases that automatically make clients commit to working with you. When you say these phrases, a client will realize how valuable you are and why they must work with you.
- When you should talk about price. Most trainers do this too soon, and they kill any chance of signing a client up.
- 3 simple tools to build instant rapport with a person so they know you’re trustworthy and they don’t think you’re here to trick them.
- 7 of the most powerful questions you can ask someone. These questions cause a person to clarify and articulate what they need and why so they can easily see why they should work with you. These 7 questions impacted my confidence and abilities the most.
- What to do if a person says “no.” I used to be afraid and discouraged, but Carol showed me how to respond so that I would give myself the best chance of signing a person up even after they said “no.”
- How to follow up with someone if they aren’t ready to sign up with you at the moment.
I’m putting together a sales course that will be part of my training academy so I can devote an entire lesson to these techniques.
Don’t worry… you’ll have an opportunity to be part of the course, and I’ll make sure I email you when it’s time!
Until then, leave me a comment and let me know if you have any questions!