14 Surefire Ways to Grow Your Fitness Business

By Pat Rigsby

1. Be Great At What You Do

If you’re a terrible trainer or coach, all the marketing advice in the world won’t make up for it. Think about seeing a great ad for a restaurant. It might get you in the door for one meal, but if your meal was bad, would any amount of advertising ever get you back?

2. Joint Ventures

Have you ever taken the time to find out how many businesses are there in your area who serve your potential clientele? You should. Build a relationship with them so you can eventually have them as a referral source. Start by being nice, offering free training to the owners and at least steep discounts to the staff. Send them some referrals. Eventually you will be able to get referrals and even more structured lead generation activities in return like endorsed mailings or emails.

3. Public Speaking

Incredible business builder. Why sell to one person when you can sell to 20, 30, 50, 100, or more at one time while also being positioned as an expert. There is no shortage of groups, clubs, and organizations looking for speakers, so don’t ignore what is probably the best lead generation opportunity available to you.

4. Reactivating Old Clients and Old Prospects

These people already know you and have shown an interest in what you offer. Some of them have even worked with you. Go back to them with a special offer, and grow your business.

5. Networking

There is nothing better than face to face marketing. There is no postcard, e-mail, or newspaper ad that can compare to talking to someone in person. Make a point of meeting several new people each day and adding them to your personal network. Get out from behind the computer, attend networking events, and put yourself in more settings with people outside of your inner circle.

6. Up Sells and Backend Sales

There is NO ONE better to sell to than your current clients. If someone is purchasing a training program from you, make them an offer at the point of sale and upgrade them to a nutritional coaching program, a supplement package, or an accelerated training program that will compliment what they’ve already purchased. Don’t hesitate to create new stuff to sell to the same people that have been buying from you for a while. You’d be amazed at some clients appetites for new offers.

7. Hustle

Nothing gets done without hustle. We regularly host live business coaching events and many of our star students regularly attend. They come from different parts of the country (even other parts of the world), and some have facilities while others don’t. Each of them have honed in on 2-3 core strategies that have built their businesses – and it’s a different 2-3 for many of them.

But the one thing that is the same for all of them is that they hustle!

8. Social Proof

You can never have too many testimonials. It is a great way to recognize clients’ successes, and you never know which one will resonate with the prospect you’re talking to, so have a lot.

9. Referrals

You should make referral generation your key marketing strategy. It only takes 4 things to make this happen. 1) A great service that people want to share. 2) You asking for referrals from EVERYONE– no exceptions. 3) You making it super-easy to refer prospects to you. 4) You rewarding people for directing prospects to you.

That’s it, and as you noticed, the burden falls squarely on you, not your clients.

10. Risk Reversal

There should be zero risk for someone to do business with you. Free trials, 100% or more money back guarantees, short term entryway programs like a 21 Day Drop a Dress Size programs – they’re all great ways to eliminate the risk for the prospect.

11. Invest In Yourself

Go to events like Perform Better Summits. Invest in educational products and programs, and get a business coach or mentor.

In fact, I don’t know any successful fitness pros who haven’t gotten some form of coaching or who haven’t belonged to a mastermind group. That’s not an accident.

12. EFT Billing

You didn’t get into this business to be a bill collector, did you?

13. Sell Memberships, Not Sessions

Too many trainers sell a series, blocks, or packages– all a bunch of short term offerings that make it tougher to have a sustainable business with steady cash flow. Don’t be one of them.

Sell your programs as monthly memberships where clients invest a set amount each month for a defined amount of service. Ideally this membership will be for a commitment of several (or more) months or will at least auto-renew every month.

14. Care About Your People

Your clients. Your network. Your staff. Make it readily apparent that you care about them and their success every chance you get.