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Sales 101

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 Overview

Every fitness professional wants to increase their bottom line without sacrificing the quality of
service they can provide. One of the most effective ways to do this is to improve your sales
system.

Whether you are looking to improve an existing system or introduce one for the first time, this
document will guide you through the process. We will discuss the psychology behind sales, the
importance of setting up a sale properly, sample sales presentations for different groups,
overcoming objections, and increasing the value of a sale.

Finally, the last section will present a complete sales system that you can begin using in your
business today. However, to get the most out of this document, you should read each short
chapter and take notes on where you can improve.

You will find a variety of scripts in this manual. Study them for your use and internalize them to
create a more natural presentation. Once you create your own system, use it every time to track
its effectiveness. Modify as needed, but do so only after you have adequately tested what you are
doing currently.

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 Contents

Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Start with Yourself .......................................................................................................................... 4
Qualifying Prospects ....................................................................................................................... 5
Building Value ................................................................................................................................ 7
Meeting the Prospect..................................................................................................................... 10
Finding Their Pain ........................................................................................................................ 12
Selling Fitness: Sample Presentations .......................................................................................... 17
Takeaway Selling .......................................................................................................................... 20
Overcoming Objections ................................................................................................................ 22
Post-Sale ....................................................................................................................................... 25
Increasing the Value of the Sale ................................................................................................... 27
Fitness Sales System ..................................................................................................................... 29

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 Start with Yourself

Sometimes becoming better at fitness sales is not about the presentation. Sometimes its not
about the offer. Sometimes its about you.

When I first left coaching and took over running a personal training department, I didnt instantly
start closing deals at a high rate.

Actually, I was pretty pathetic at closing and only generated any sales at all by being willing to
get in front of more people than anyone else did.

I remember that during my first pay period, my closing percentage was 12%. Yep 12%.

The Psychology of Selling Personal Training

Honestly, it was just a mental thing with me my own personal hang-ups about money. I had
never made more than $30,000 in a year, and the thought of someone investing $300 or $400 a
month on personal training seemed extreme to me.

I tried to sell in spite of this hang up, but Im sure that it showed in the way that I presented our
programs and my lack of confidence.

After reading a couple sales books and going back through Think and Grow Rich, it finally hit
me: Selling should be easy. Youre just helping people get what they want. I was getting caught
up on dollars, but Id spent the previous 7 years convincing parents to spend tens of thousands of
dollars to come play baseball under my guidance at a school theyd never even heard of before I
started recruiting them.

If people really want something, theyll find a way to make it happen. Put another way, my job
was to find out what the prospect was missing that they couldnt live without.

As soon as I got that through my head, fitness sales became easy. I instantly went from a 12%
closer to a 60-70% closer. Once I lost the head trash, I was able to sell to anyone. In fact, though
I wouldnt recommend them as your target market, Ive sold training to people that were
unemployed, cashiers at McDonalds, and any number of other people that Id have never
guessed could or would be willing to invest in training.

Ill say it again: If people want something badly enough, theyll often find a way to make it
happen. So dont let your hang ups about money prevent the prospect from getting what they
want. After all, its ultimately about them, not about you.

Once youve gotten out of your own way when it comes to selling personal training, you can
move on to the mechanics of fitness sales.

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 Qualifying Prospects

One of the biggest mistakes we see fitness professionals make is assuming everyone is a
prospect. This couldnt be farther from the truth. In fact, this assumption could cost you
thousands of dollars each year in marketing to the wrong demographic.

How do you make sure you are spending your limited marketing and sales time with the right
people?

You have to qualify your prospects.

Here are a few ways to make sure youre getting the right message to the right people and that
the right people get in front of your sales system.

1. Using Direct Response Marketing Offer a free report or something similar on your site, in
your ads, or even on your business card to get people who are interested to raise their hands
and let you know they at least have mild interest in what you offer.

Free gifts are especially powerful because this will further separate you from the competition and
build value in your program from the get go.

2. Find a Niche By specializing in an area of health, fitness, or the like, you are already
targeting a specific market and positioning yourself as the fitness resource for their specific
wants and needs.

Your niche could be training moms, rehabbing injured professionals, working with the
military, providing bootcamps, offering youth athletic development programs, training adult
clients as though they were athletes, etc. The list goes on. Ask yourself why you do what you do
and who your ideal client is, and go from there. Youll be grateful you did.

3. Focus on Referrals Referrals are pre-sold on what you have to offer and usually provide
little if any sales resistance. Find out later how to inject referrals into your sales system.

4. Sell More to Your Existing Clients If someone has already said yes once, they are far more
likely to say yes again provided you havent given them a reason to do otherwise.

Make it easy for clients to buy. Offer supplements (Prograde is a great company to work with);
equipment; done-for-you fitness, nutrition, or health solutions; longer memberships;
accountability programs; and workshops, clinics, or add-on workouts. Let them know constantly
with a newsletter or other weekly communication, with announcements after sessions, and by
giving them free or discounted trials of the extras.

5. Become an Expert I really doubt that Alwyn Cosgrove, Eric Cressey, Bill Hartman, or
Mike Robertson would get a lot of resistance from a prospect, regardless of their fees. You can

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position yourself as an expert by doing more public speaking, writing more articles, releasing a
book (even if its self-published), and doing more publicity work.

6. Use Testimonials If you ever had a doubt about the value of testimonials, the success of
Nutri-Systems should have eliminated it. Every piece of marketing material should use them.
You should have a Wall of Fame at your facility. You should have testimonials on your website.
You should make before-and-after pictures a condition of doing business with you. Why beat
yourself up trying to convince someone that you can get them where they want to go when you
have a ton of clients that can do it for you? It is clich but a picture is worth a thousand words,
especially when that picture has such a powerful emotional attachment.

7. Know Your Numbers One of the biggest mistakes that I see fitness professionals make is
paying little if any attention to their closing percentage. They work hard on getting their website
up and running. They send out postcards and hold seminars all in the hopes of generating leads.
But the real name of the game is turning those leads into high-paying clients.

Do you know what percentage of prospects you convert into clients?

Dont guess.

Do you know the exact number?

If you dont start tracking that TODAY! Only then can you test other approaches in your quest
to close more prospects and know if the changes you made are paying off.

8. Define Your Uniqueness You have to let prospects know EXACTLY why they should do
business with you instead of turning to the big box club trainer, P90X, Weight Watchers, or the
Ab Circle. Saying you get results isnt enough. Do you think your competitors say they dont?

9. Care About Your Prospects Goals Remember, if someone takes the time to come in to an
introductory session or do a trial at your bootcamp, they probably have at least some interest in
buying. Let them know you care, and use the opportunity to find out more about them as a
person.

Qualifying your prospects and distinguishing yourself from the competition is a lifelong process.
You may never become the undisputed expert on fat loss. But you dont need to. As long as you
are qualifying those that come to you in some way and separating yourself from the other
gyms or personal trainers out there, you are a couple steps ahead.

But what do you do with those qualified prospects? Its all about value.

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 Building Value

What is value? If your goal as a fitness professional is to over deliver to your clients, you must
first have an understanding of how value is measured and what constitutes good and poor value
in the eyes of the potential client.

How is value perceived and measured? Having researched this question for a while, I think I
have a definition: Value, in the eyes of the potential client, is simply the difference between the
anticipated price of your training programs and the actual price.

If the price of the program anticipated in the potential clients mind is higher than the price of the
service or product, they perceive it to be a good value: I would have thought you would charge
more.

Yet if the asking price is higher than the anticipated price, the potential client perceives the value
to be poor: This is too expensive!

The secret in selling fitness is to control the anticipated price.

The Initial Session, Orientation or Assessment

There is a division of thought in the fitness industry on whether trainers should provide
complimentary introductory sessions or assessments: Some fitness experts feel that it
undermines the perception of the trainer as a professional. These experts want trainers to be
perceived in the same light as doctors, lawyers, etc.

Unfortunately, less than 1% of the population has any experience working with a trainer, so it is
an unknown to them. Offering a session or assessment alleviates the perceived risk for the client.
Plus, if you can get them in the door, your likelihood of getting them to buy for a reason other
than price goes up dramatically.

So remember the idea of an initial session, orientation, or assessment is to help you build
rapport and develop the relationship between you and your prospective client. This free initial
contact accomplishes a few very important points:

Kills the risk for the prospect

Allows you to attract a larger number of potential clients
Gives you longer to build rapport
Provides you a greater opportunity to build value
Remember youre solving someones problems. Thats not a tough sell.

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Building Value by Building Rapport
It is important to also remember selling fitness is not something you do TO a person; its
something you do FOR a person.

What makes this concept so important is that people will typically buy from someone they like
and someone they believe is trying to help them.

To maximize your effectiveness at selling fitness, you need to have good people skills, such as:

Having a positive attitude

Finding a common element/bond
Always listening
Maintaining eye contact while one is talking
Asking the right questions
Showing empathy
We can sum these skills up with the phrase rapport building.

If you build rapport, you build value in your services, and you get that much closer to closing the
sale.

Your Attitude: A Key to Selling Personal Training

The first thing that you can do to separate yourself from the average personal trainer is to control
your attitude. The attitude you project, both verbal and non-verbal, is a direct result of your
beliefs and perceptions about you and the people you serve.

If you believe youre the best in your market at what you do, that you can truly help the
prospective client, and that you want to help that person, it will show in your attitude.

Also, because you earn your income from the fees a client pays, over time you may stop thinking
of prospects as human beings with needs, wants, and goals and start seeing them in terms of how
much theyre worth to you. This is a guaranteed way to be ineffective at selling fitness.

One way to avoid this pitfall is to ask yourself two simple questions before talking to any new
prospective client:

1. What common ground can I find with this person to build a relationship?

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 2. How can I help this person get what he/she wants?
By asking yourself these simple questions, you will put yourself into a frame of mind that will
project a positive, sincere attitude. Remember, people are more likely to become clients of
someone they like.

Moreover, you will start to see yourself as a problem solver rather than a trainer. A prospect
comes to you in order to change something about his/her life, not to hire someone to watch him
do pushups or squats.

Once you see the issue from this angle, you will start to connect with people much better and
build value without knowing it. After all, what would be more valuable to a client: 4 sets of
deadlifts, pull-ups, and planks; or shedding 30 lbs of fat and 4 dress sizes?

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 Meeting the Prospect

Now that you understand the importance of building value, well discuss what to do when you
actually meet your prospect for that initial assessment, consultation, or orientation.

First Impression
It is extremely important to make your prospective client feel comfortable when they enter your
facility. Set a positive tone by greeting them enthusiastically. Use eye contact, a smile and a
handshake to reinforce your greeting.

The way you greet your prospective client can create an environment that makes them feel
important, impacting everything moving forward.

Its your first impression.

It often makes the difference between a sale and a be back client (a client who tells you they
will think about it and be back later). A positive attitude and a confident approach are quite
important. Remember, the first impression also includes the look of the facility and your
appearance.

Be prepared to make the right impression.

Building Rapport
After the initial greeting, you must now begin to establish rapport with your client.

The ability to form a powerful common human bond and a connection is vital to getting a
prospective client to open up to you and let you know how you can help them most.

In order to build rapport, start by politely asking questions about the other person in hope that
you will come across something you have in common (a sport, hobby, or some other mutual
interest).

You are essentially trying to find out how this person is like you. If a connection is found, the
rapport process begins. Once a common bond is found, the potential clients attitude towards you
changes and the conversation becomes more comfortable. Remember, rapport is nothing but a
feeling of commonality a common bond.

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Take Control

The greeting is also the point where you take control. Almost all prospects are in a foreign
environment and will be more comfortable if they feel as though you are going to lead them
through the process. After all, people want to be led.

After you have greeted your prospect, ask them for their permission to start learning more about
their fitness goals.

Example: Do you mind if we go through a few questions, which will help me find exactly how I
can best help you?

Remember, the purpose of the greeting is threefold:

1. Take control
2. Create a warm, friendly environment
3. Create a good first impression.

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 Finding Their Pain

As we outlined, your goal is to build a quality relationship with your prospective client, one
where they not only like you, but also trust you to open up. Your goal now is to find the
prospects pain, or to discover why they want a personal trainer. Without uncovering the why
that motivates your prospect to exercise, you will be unable to motivate them to buy.

Remember, the prospective client is driven to purchase by the emotions that your service is
going to give them, not just by the service itself. Find out why they are in front of you and
relate your services back to that reason, and your sales will skyrocket.

Inner Motivation
Before you can help a prospective client with their wants and needs, you must keep in mind what
motivates people to buy. People do things for a reason. Human behavior can largely be broken
down into two groups: The desire to gain pleasure and the need to avoid to pain.

For example, some people want to get in shape to look better, a form of pleasure they want to
gain. Others want to get in shape so that they wont feel ashamed, embarrassed, and possibly
ridiculed all forms of pain they wish to avoid.

Many times, behavior is the result of a combination of one wanting to gain pleasure and avoid
pain. Human beings will do much more to avoid pain than they will ever do to gain pleasure.

Once you understand your prospective clients behavior, you need to take the next step. You
have to get them to a place of dissatisfaction, a feeling that they are not getting the results they
want because they are not reaping the benefits of what your training program has to offer.

Getting someone to a place where they feel an inner pressure to buy is true motivation. When a
prospective client has inner pressure, they feel compelled to buy because it is what they want
to do, not because you have locked them up in a room and used one hundred and one closes until
they finally gave-in and bought.

Inner pressure is the most powerful tool for creating a shift in behavior and must be done to bring
a prospective client from a prospect to a client.

Remember, people buy wants, and wants are emotional, not logical or rational.

Emotional wants (inner pressure) happen at the unconscious level. Potential clients do not walk
into the facility and say, I really want to feel more self confident and I think I can accomplish
that by getting into shape.

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Instead, they come in focused on the features and will tell you, I want a 3-day per week
bootcamp, and I want to work with kettlebells, and I want to In order to make your service
appeal to a potential client at a deeper level to get them motivated to buy you will have to
uncover what their emotional wants are.

So when they tell you they want a 3-day per week bootcamp, or that they want to work with
kettlebells, you need to find out why.

The PAR-Q
The Questionnaire is perhaps the most important tool in finding their pain. The time spent going
through a Questionnaire with your prospect allows you to find out about them; what they have
done in the past in terms of exercise; and what they want now, not only with regards to exercise,
but in the bigger picture what makes them tick.

It is here that you must use quality questions to probe for their emotional wants and needs.

The Questionnaire will serve as the key resource to provoke a dialogue between you and the
prospective client regarding their fitness goals and how you can best help them. You will start
with background questions to fully qualify the prospective client and to gain an understanding of
their ability to make a decision.

During this process, you will need to listen as well as ask the right questions. By asking the right
questions, you will uncover a prospective clients real wants. Then, by carefully listening to what
they say, you will obtain valuable information, which can be used throughout your introductory
session.

Note Failure to qualify a prospect is one of the largest reasons for losing a sale. Failure to
qualify the prospect wastes your time by building a sale for non-existent needs or for a prospect
who has no real intention of buying.

Listening
A fitness professional that is also a successful salesperson talks half as much as he/she listens.
This is because if you say it, they can doubt it, but if they say it, it is true. An effective
salesperson doesnt tell people things; they ask questions. You need to develop a comfortable
questioning style that allows you to maintain control while the prospective client makes the
decision. Also, remember that it is not what you say; it is how you say it. You may think you are
saying it one way but the important thing is: How is the prospect interpreting what you are
saying?

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Aids to Listening:

Look at the speaker

Take brief notes
Picture the prospects situation
Be patient Dont interrupt
Question to clarify
Watch your non-verbal signals (body language)

Questioning
Types of Questions:

1. Open-Ended Questions Use when a prospective client is talkative and to start needs
analysis. Try to use as many open-ended questions as possible. These questions allow you to
listen and the prospect to do all of the talking.

Example: Ms. Jones, tell me how weighing 30 lbs. more than you want to is affecting you?

2. Close-Ended Questions Use when a prospective client is unresponsive, when you wish to
direct the conversation to a specific topic, when you need a specific answer, or when you are
looking for confirmation.

Example: So Ms. Jones, how much weight do you want to lose?

When selling fitness, one of the most gratifying parts of the sale is having the Questionnaire
section go smoothly. Ironically, when that happens, and the level of rapport is high, you will be
tempted to make one of the biggest mistakes: trying to sell a program before building value.

Think of yourself like a Fitness Doctor. Dont prescribe a treatment until youve done your
examination.

Continuing to Build Value

The best way to stay in rapport, continue to be in control and move into value building part of
your session is to give your prospective client a brief overview of what his/her session will
consist of.

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Example: Ms. Jones, before we get started today, I just want to let you know exactly what we
will be doing. First, I will be taking you through a brief assessment to identify any areas or
limitations that we should address in your program as well as provide us with a starting point
to allow us to more effectively measure your progress.

Then we will move into a demonstration of some of the movements that well be integrating into
your program so you can see what types of things you should be doing to achieve your desired
result.

Afterwards, I will review the session with you and address any questions that you may have
before we go over the different types of training programs that we offer to see what will be the
best fit for you. How does that sound?

As simple as this sounds, it can be very comforting for your prospective client. Many people
become nervous and uncomfortable when they do not know what is expected of them; again,
they will feel as though you are in control, helping them through the process.

Being in control and giving a clear rundown of what is about to happen all build trust and value
in what you are offering. Without trust and value, a sale is almost guaranteed to fail.

Relating Back to Goals

Now that you clearly understand what your prospective client is looking for in a program (future
fitness goals and motivation), you can meet his/her needs by demonstrating exactly how you will
be able to help.

This can be done by taking the prospects information from the Questioning segment of the
session and tying what you do to address the most important benefits that are most important to
your prospect.

Whether youre going through a One-on-One Assessment or Screen and then demonstrating
some of the movements youre going to integrate into their program or a Group Orientation
where you are teaching basic movements and progressions, the key is tying everything you do
back to the prospects goals.

Remember, your prospective client is not buying the features of your services; he/she is buying
the emotional benefits he/she will receive from those features.

Because they already have so much information to take in and process, you cannot assume that
they will make the connection between features and benefits on their own. Therefore, you must
verbally tie the features directly to the benefits that they want.

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Example: Mr. Jones, you get all of your workouts personally designed for you, even the ones
you perform on your own. What that means to you is that you will get in the shape you want
without wasting any time. Does the ability to have no guesswork when it comes to your workout
appeal to you?

If youre in a group environment, tie each movement back to the benefit. When you are working
with each personal individually, spend time correcting their technique and connecting what
theyre doing back to their goals.

After the value-building part of the session, ask your prospective client if he/she has any
questions and answer any concerns. An excellent closing question is, Now, what do you feel is
the most beneficial part of what we did today?

Once they have answered this question, you can move to the program presentation.

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 Selling Fitness: Sample Presentations

Heres a simple presentation of the programs you have available that has worked to sell tens of
millions (yes, millions) of dollars worth of personal training.

Step One Obtain a Positive Confirmation: Ms. Jones, do you see how you and I working
together will get you to your fitness goals? (Wait for the prospect to affirm your statement with
a yes)

Step Two Present Your Programs: Then let me show you the programs that I think would
be a fit for you. The first program I have is our 3-sessions per week program, which is only an
investment of $399 per month. The second program I have for you is the twice a week program,
which is only an investment of $279 per month, and finally we have our one session per week
program which is only an investment of $149 per month.

Step Three The Assistant Buyer Offers Options: Based on your goals and experience level,
I suggest we start with either the two times per week program or the three time per week
program.

Step Four Call to Action: Which one of these programs can we get you started on today?

Step Five Let Them Decide: Let your prospective client decide which is the best fit for them.
Wait for the prospect to give their response. If you are the first to speak after you ask, 9 times out
of 10 you will lose the sale.

At this point, the prospective client will either pick one of your options or ask a question that will
help you better clarify the right solution for them.

Heres what this 5-step process accomplished:

By getting the positive confirmation or commitment, you have mentally prepared the prospect
for the purchase.

By offering options, you have eliminated the choice between a yes or no and are asking
them to choose between three different programs instead. Any program that they choose is a sale.

By directly asking them to select a program and take action today, you have effectively led them
toward achieving their goals exactly what you should do as a professional.

Here are several other variations of the script that you can use:

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Semi-Private Sales Script
Step One Obtain a Positive Confirmation: Mrs. Jones, after going through a session, Im
sure you see the benefits of working with one of our coaches, getting your program personally
designed for you and of having a consistent source of motivation and accountability to ensure
you reach your goals, right? (Wait for the prospect to affirm your statement with a yes)

Step Two Present Your Programs: Then let me show you the options that I have available
for you. The first program I have is the three session per week program, which allows you to
work with one of our coaches during each of your 3 weekly training sessions.

It is only an investment of $399 per month.

The second program I have is the two session per week program, which allows you to work with
one of our coaches during two sessions per week and them youll execute the program we design
for you on your own during your 3rd weekly session.

This program is only an investment of $299 per month.

Finally, we have our one session per week option, which is perfect for people with hectic
schedules. Youll personally work with a coach one day each week and then use the program we
design for you to execute your other sessions each week. This program is an investment of only
$199 per month.

Step Three The Assistant Buyer Offers Options: Based on your goals and experience level,
I suggest we start with either the two times per week program or the three times per week
program.

Step Four Call to Action: Which one of these programs can we get you started on today?

Bootcamp Sales Script

Step One Obtain a Positive Confirmation: Mrs. Jones, after going through a session, Im
sure you see the benefits of being part of our fitness bootcamp and having a consistent source of
motivation and accountability to ensure you reach your goals, right? (Wait for the prospect to
affirm your statement with a yes)

Step Two Present Your Programs: Then let me show you the options that I have available
for you. The first program I have is the four session per week program, which allows you to
attend all of our 4 weekly camp sessions.

It is only an investment of $199 per month.

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The second program I have is the three sessions per week program, which is our most popular
program that allows you to choose 3 weekly sessions per week. This program is only an
investment of $169 per month.

Finally, we have our two sessions per week option, which is perfect for people with hectic
schedules. Youll choose two sessions that are convenient to you to attend to reach your goals.

This program is only an investment of $149 per month.

Step Three The Assistant Buyer Offers Options: Based on your goals and experience level
I suggest we start with either the two times per week program or the three time per week
program.

Step Four Call to Action: Which one of these programs can we get you started on today?

Group Sales Closing Script

Step One Obtain a Positive Confirmation: OK everyone lets bring it in. You guys did a
great job today. You worked hard, and hopefully you clearly see the benefits of being part of our
fitness bootcamp, right? (Wait for the group to affirm your statement with a yes)

Step Two Present Your Programs: Then let me tell you about a special offer I have for you
today as thanks for coming in and trying out our camp. If after today you know that this is the
right place for you to achieve your goals, you can enroll in any of our 6 month programs today
and get your 1st month entirely free. We have a four session per week program, which is only an
investment of $199 per month. The second program is the three session per week program,
which is only an investment of $169 per month, and finally we have our two session per week
program which is only an investment of $149 per month.

Step Three The Assistant Buyer Offers Suggestions: Most of our clients choose the 3-
session per week program as its the best balance of flexibility and results.

Step Four Call to Action: If youd like to take advantage of this Special Offer and receive
your next month free, just come and let me know which of these program options youd like to
get started with.

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 Takeaway Selling

The underlying principle behind the concept of takeaway selling is the law of supply and
demand. Simply put, the less accessible someone is, the more value is placed on them. This is a
hard concept for some fitness professionals to accept but it is crucial in becoming the expert in
your area.

If you can grasp this way of thinking and put it into practice, you will be amazed at your results.
You will see that the busier you are, the more people want your services. The less accessible you
are, the more appreciated you are. If you put this into practice, you will see that the less supply of
you creates great demand and the virtual absence of resistance.

How do you effectively do this?

You can simply say that your services are not for everyone and youre only willing to accept
clients that are truly committed to achieving their goals. Then go a step further and tell the
prospect that you require clients to be walking billboards for you.

This is the exact opposite of most sales tactics you see fitness pros use.

The feeling of urgency has proven to get people to take action. By using the techniques in this
manual, you will find that more prospects are eager to make the buying decision and train with
you!

Takeaway Approach Example

Step One Setting the Stage: Mrs. Jones, before I show you the program that we have
available, I need to tell you that working with one of our fitness professionals isnt for everyone.

I know that you mentioned that you were committed to losing that weight and keeping it off this
time, but since we are 100% committed to our clients success, we require the same commitment
from our clients.

Unless youre truly dedicated to achieving your goals and unless youre ready to be a walking
billboard for us, then this may not be for you. So are you committed Mrs. Jones? (Upon
positive confirmation, show programs)

Step Two Present Your Programs: Then let me show you the programs that I think would
be a fit for you. The first program I have is our 3-sessions per week program, which is only an
investment of $399 per month. The second program I have for you is the twice a week program,
which is only an investment of $279 per month, and finally we have our one time per week
program, which is only an investment of $149 per month.

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Step Three The Assistant Buyer Offers Options: Based on your goals and experience level,
I suggest we start with either the two times per week program or the three time per week
program.

Step Four Call To Action: Which of these programs can we get you started on today?

Step Five Let Them Decide: Let your prospective client decide which is the best fit for them.
Wait for the prospect to give their response.

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 Overcoming Objections

One of the most difficult parts of the sales process is handling objections. No one wants to be
rejected, especially when they know how great the program is.

But as an experienced trainer or coach, you should expect to hear objections. An objection is a
natural impulse for the prospect, who is being asked to spend a substantial amount of money in a
place that might be unfamiliar to them. However, it does not mean that they dont like what you
have to offer.

So how do you handle objections?

Once a prospect has given you an objection, the first thing you want to do is relax. Dont get
defensive; its imperative not to take it personally.

When you hear an objection, your goal becomes to find out what the prospects real concerns
are.

Objections are really nothing more than a prospects request for additional information. They are
a perceived barrier between the prospect and the solution. Lack of understanding, disbelief, lack
of value, and reasons that you have yet to uncover cause a prospect to state an objection.

In my experience, a lack of value or, more specifically, the price you have quoted is not worth
the benefits they perceive is the number one reason for an objection.

If you find that most objections stem from a lack of value, you will have to focus more on
building value throughout the entire sales process. How can you do this?

Ask more questions to dig deeper and find their true pain
Take them through a more rigorous introductory workout
Put together a new member welcome bag with branded shirts, water bottles, etc.
Use more testimonials: Put up a Wall of Fame or a 20lbs Lost Club, 30lbs Lost Club, etc.,
and explain it to prospective clients during the welcome tour
Treat prospective clients like royalty, going so far as to give them a free gift (can be as
simple as a shirt or water bottle) just for taking the time to do an assessment
Building more value in your program is a work in progress, and only by tracking your numbers
(and seeing your closing percentage skyrocket) will you know when youve built enough value.

When you do get objections after youve presented your programs, here are a few tips on
addressing prospects concerns:

Dont argue

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 Get a specific objection narrow it down to one
Keep it interactive
Focus on the benefits
Keep it a win-win situation
Listen-Listen-Listen
If this still isnt working, and youre confident youve built as much value as possible, there still
remains one more alternative to parting ways with the prospect. Enter the Downsell.

Selling More Training with Downsells

If the prospective client wants to join, but they cant afford your main program and youve
isolated this as the only concern then use a downsell. A downsell is simply a less expensive
option that can still help your prospect achieve their goals and help you get them involved now.

If your business does not employ downsells, youre missing out on every prospect that says no.
You dont have to hit a home run every time in sales, and the downsell is a perfect chance for a
single where you would have struck out otherwise.

The main goal is to get the prospect involved in your business. Thinking back, some of my best
clients started out on a downsell and ended up staying for years. All they needed was a smaller
first step, and once I gave it to them, they were hooked.

Heres an example downsell script:

If you receive an objection: Ms. Jones, do you feel as if youd benefit from our camps?

If yes: Then what is holding you back from joining?

If its money, spouse, time, or any other objection, present this: OK, well how about we do this.
You can start with our camp for only one session per week for an investment of only $99 per
month. That will allow you to begin benefitting from what we have to offer without as much of a
financial or time commitment. Im confident that, if you put in the effort, youll still be able to
reach your goals. Would you like to start with that today?

Remember:

Prices and packages can be substituted.

Always have 2-3 options. No more. No less.
Always assume the sale.

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If you cant narrow the concern down to one thing or you cant alleviate their concern easily, this
is where having a Free Trial is valuable.

If your prospect came in to take advantage of a Trial, you can simply say: Ms. Jones, no sweat.
Thats exactly why we offer the Free Trial of our programs, so you can see if this is a good fit for
you.

Then you use the trial period to build the value needed to get the prospect to commit to your
program.

While not the same as a downsell, the principle is identical: make a lower risk option available to
get prospects in the door. Do this and youll sell more instantly.

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 Post-Sale

Once the new client selects a program, show excitement and be complimentary of their choice to
make a commitment to reach their health and fitness goals.

At this point, ask the new client to retrieve financial information for payment while you retrieve
the appropriate paperwork.

Recommended Payment Options/Agreement Completion

Once the new client decides on a package, and they have filled out the basic info of the
agreement, it is now time to take care of the payment.

Clients have two options for paying their membership dues. They can pay for all of their
membership today, referred to as paid-in-full (PIF), or they can agree to make a down payment
with an EFT payment drafted out of their account on a monthly basis for the length of their
chosen program.

If client chooses EFT, you need to outline the options for paying monthly.

Example:

Ok, the program that youve chosen is $200 down and a monthly investment of only $200,
which will be billed on the 5th of each month. What credit card will you be using for that?

Finally, before you ask the new client to sign the agreement, make sure everything is filled out
completely and correctly. Once the agreement has been signed, be sure the client receives a copy.

Note: In the past, personal training was popular to run on a cash or check, month-to-month basis.
This may be fine for longtime clients that youve known for years, but once your business grows,
youll find it being worse than a headache. The way to stop this is to only use EFT or PIF. Once
you stop chasing down clients for their payments, youll have plenty more time to focus on the
important aspects of growing your business. Besides, no trainer wants to be a debt collector for a
living!

Post Sale
After you have closed the sale, compliment the new client once again. Make them feel good
about their purchase and let them know that they are now on their way to achieving their goals.
Make them comfortable, knowing exactly what to expect. If they have any questions, answer
them thoroughly and with a smile. If they need to schedule anything, schedule it right away.
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This is a process of assimilation getting the new client to feel comfortable and a part of your
companys family. You may even want to walk through the facility again and just help them start
to feel more comfortable in the environment.

And dont forget to welcome them to the family!

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 Increasing the Value of the Sale

There are two main ways to increase the value of the sale immediately after the prospective
client has chosen a program and converted to a client: Using upsells and asking for referrals.
Each is an indispensible part of the personal trainers toolbox when it comes to growing their
business and serving their clients better.

Upsells
When they sign up for their program, most clients will be more excited than ever. They are likely
more eager than they ever will be to start seeing results.

This is the perfect time to provide a more complete solution to the new client through an upsell.

Remember, they came to you to get a result, not just to buy personal training or a bootcamp. So
if you could offer them something additional that will enhance their results for instance, a
Nutrition Coaching program, a supplement package, additional sessions early in the program to
accelerate their progress you would be helping them get what they want.

If you have trouble selling twice in a row, you might need to revisit the first section of this
manual: Start with Yourself. You have to realize that they are coming to you for a solution to a
problem and that you have the power to accelerate the solution with a separate program,
supplements, additional equipment, or any number of things. You are the fitness expert, and your
job is to help them in any way you can.

But how would you go about asking for the upsell?

Heres an example script:

I truly appreciate you choosing [Your Business] to help you reach your goals. Now that you are
a member of the [Business name] family, wed like to extend a special offer to you.

You achieving your goal is going to be a result of combining the effective workouts well be
doing here in class with eating supportively, so we offer a 12-Week Nutrition Coaching Program
that many of our successful clients take part in. This program teaches you everything you need to
know about eating in a way that will support your workouts, accelerate your progress, and
improve your overall health.

Normally this program is $299, but as a new client, Id like to give you $100 off the program so
we can make sure you get started off on the right foot.

Would you rather join the morning or the evening class?"

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Asking for Referrals
Another way that that you can increase the value of the relationship with your new client is to
ask for referrals at the point of sale.

Prospects are never more excited that when they initially decide to join your program and finally
know theyre on their way to achieving their goals. Furthermore, they want to be able to help
their friends out if possible. And referrals are the highest quality leads you can get.

Sounds like a win-win-win.

This is perhaps the easiest way to increase the value of a sale, and all it requires is to ask:

I truly appreciate you choosing [Your Business] to help you reach your goals. Now that you are
a member of the [Business name] family, wed like to offer you the opportunity to share your
fitness experience with your friends!

Because of this, Id like to extend a special offer to you. If you have anyone in your family, or
friends that you think would also benefit from our programs, list them here and well call them
and offer them a 14-Day Trial Membership as a gift from you.

Plus, as an added bonus, if you provide us with four people that we can invite in, you will
receive a free [t-shirt, gift card, cash bonus, etc.] as a gift from us.

So lets go ahead and fill in this card, and then we will call the people you recommend and
invite them in as your guest.

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 Fitness Sales System

Heres a simple 7 Step Process you can use to move a prospect through your entire sales system.
It incorporates what weve discussed so far, but if you feel yourself lacking in one area or
another (for instance, you have a hard time building enough value), emphasize that area during
your own sales system.

Step #1: Initial Contact

The initial live contact could be face to face or over the phone. It could even be via email, but
ideally it involves a conversation. Your goal is to start building rapport, start the questioning
process, and initiate the value build during this initial contact.

This is a mistake most fitness pros make: They forget to start building the relationship at this
step. However, youre never guaranteed Step 2 or 3, so you need to build a relationship with the
prospect at Step 1 to increase the likelihood of the follow steps happening.

Your goals during the Initial Contact:

Build rapport
Ask questions
Build value
Schedule their initial session, orientation, or assessment
Step #2 The Confirmation

Confirmation calls, emails, and texts are critical if you want to maximize the likelihood of your
prospects showing up for their initial visit. This is probably an uncomfortable event for them, so
they may try to avoid it due to fear or anxiety.

Your job is to make it more comfortable for them. After all, you cant sell if they dont show. So
make sure that you reach out to the prospect the day prior to their visit and provide them with
directions to your facility. Tell them what to wear and what to bring. Alleviate all their fear and
anxiety.

Step #3 - Initial Session, Orientation, or Assessment

The objective of this session is to learn more about the prospect, strengthen your relationship
with them, and display the value your programs have to offer as it specifically relates to their
personal goals.

So sit down with the prospect and start the rapport building process we covered earlier. Utilize
your questionnaire to learn more about their specific needs and goals. Discuss how you feel

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youll be able to help them and then start displaying that through your assessment and
demonstration of how your program will move them to their goals.

Use social proof if possible. If there are other successful clients in the facility, introduce them.
Show the prospective client your Wall of Fame or any success stories you can share to build their
confidence that this is the right solution for them.

Step #3 - Present Your Programs

Use the presentation scripts above (choose the one that fits your situation), and help the
prospective buyer find the right program for them. Consider using a lever to help incentivize
them to join today. A lever could be a discount off of their first month, an added bonus of a few
additional sessions, or a nutrition program, or it could simply be a waived enrollment fee if you
use one.

If you close on day one:

Ask for referrals. Every decent sales system incorporates a point-of-sale referral system. This
can generate an endless stream of leads from clients referring clients that refer even more clients.
If youre having trouble getting referrals, offer an incentive such as a discount off first months
membership dues, a t-shirt, or even a cash bonus. (See how important tracking is?)

Secondly, offer an upsell if its appropriate. It could be something as simple as some fish oil
capsules or something more involved like a Nutrition Coaching Program. Either way, you wont
sell it if you dont ask!

If you dont close on day one:

Step #4 Confirming the Second Session

This is critical if youre doing trials. Closing rates for trials double if they make it to the second
session so be sure to follow up with a personal call or text to tell them they did a great job on day
one and you look forward to seeing them at the next session.

Step #5 - Soft Follow Up

Your objective during the remainder of the trial is continued value building. Make sure that you
are giving them plenty of personal attention, talking to them face to face, calling, and sending
emails and texts. My goal is a personal contact every 3 days during the remainder of the trial.

Remember if theyre still around they like what you have to offer.

Step #6 2nd Offer

If someone didnt buy during your first offer, make a second offer 2-3 sessions prior to trial
ending. If you used an incentive or lever during the first offer, use one again just a lesser one.

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If theyre still around, they want to be part of your program, so be assumptive and just work to
find the right fit.

Step #7 Follow Up

If they dont buy during your 2nd offer, keep marketing to them. It might have just been the
wrong time. Send them future promos, special offers and your newsletter. You cant always
dictate when someone will buy but you can increase the likelihood that they do.

Now that youve read through the manual and have seen a sample sales system, put it to work in
your own business. Whether youre a personal trainer looking to improve for yourself or an
entrepreneur wondering how to grow your business, getting better at sales will go a long way to
making you happier in your craft.

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