I'm going to attempt an ongoing series of articles related to my brief but successful experience in managing a commercial gym.  Team members like JL, Murph, Alwyn, and David Allen have been doing this for MUCH longer than myself. However, my experience in corporate America is invaluable in adding to my leadership style and makes my approach somewhat unique. *For those that haven't followed my story, I was the youngest account manager in US Land and throughout the world for a Fortune 500 company- from the age of 24-28.

My aim is to provide an honest and transparent insight into what  I have learned through my successes and failures in my time at Union Fitness. So read on nerds...

Scenario:

We have a personal training client that has been with us for about a year and a half. Some background on the client and their history with us:

  • The client is on their second trainer (purely a scheduling/availability issue). 
  • The client has been with us through price increases. 
  • Everyone on my staff loves them! And they work HARD and are consistent with training. Example- couldn't do a 20 second plank a year ago, is now doing 60 seconds easily. Was fighting to deadlift 95lbs, is now doing RDL's with 135 for reps. Mind you this client is in their 60's. 
  • Also, this client is successful in a tough industry aka they learned how to negotiate and have been doing it for years. 

The personal trainer that is working with them now has done a fantastic job in developing a relationship and pushing them toward their goals. The client has even taken the trainer out for dinner in the past. That tells me that they have the foundation for a strong and honest client/coach relationship.

The most important thing you can develop with your clients is trust. If they trust you, then they value the service you are providing. But I have failed as a manager in giving this employee the tools necessary to sell themselves. 

The last two times this client was up for package renewals, my employee came to me asking for discounts for the client. In the first scenario they had missed a previous special that we were offering and in the second they were asking out of habit. I mentioned this client is successful in an industry notorious for negotiating. In life, almost everything is negotiable, so I don't fault the client. They are doing their due diligence.

I should have addressed this the first time it came up, but here we are. One of the most powerful sales tools is REMINDING THE CUSTOMER WHAT YOU DID FOR THEM.

Not in a snarky way.

Not in an "I told you so" kind of way.

But in a "Hey, am I not worth the price of admission? Remember when you couldn't bend over to pick up the gallon of milk? Remember when you weren't strong enough to open your bedroom window?" kind of way.

This tool is widely underused for two reasons:

The salesperson doesn't have the type of relationship with the customer they thought they did (or would like to have). Or, in this case, it's an uncomfortable thing to push back on a customer and remind them of the value that YOU bring.

I'M WORTH IT, DAMNIT.

My takeaways as a manager:

Be more proactive and timely on opportunities to teach my younger and/or more inexperienced staff on sales training. It comes naturally to me after years of experience- I need it to be their default operating system as well.

Be more creative in how we prevent these issues. How about a Personal Training Loyalty Program? If someone has been with us for over a year, doesn't that say something about our service and their loyalty? What about after two years? That's commitment! Should we reward that? If so, how? Sometimes the value and results of your service are enough. And sometimes everyone needs a free T-shirt, or better yet some recognition, or even better still a handwritten note. The key here is be flexible, creative, and close enough to your clients and members to reward them accordingly.