What if Your Coaching Isn’t Selling?

You're listening to the PT Profit podcast, episode number 47. Today I'm talking to you all about what to do if your coaching isn't selling. Are you ready? Stay tuned.

Hi, I'm Beverly Simpson, former fitness manager turned online personal training business owner. And this podcast is where smart fitness professionals, including trainers and clinicians, discover how to increase client performance in movement, package and position their product, products and services and get out of their own way so that they can increase their revenue to live a life that they love without sleazy sales. Welcome to the PT Profit Podcast.

What's up coach? And welcome back to another episode of the PT Profit Podcast. I recognize that it has been a hot New York minute since I have come in and hung out with y'. All. I know that first of all, you know I'll speak, spare you the chitter chatter of all the good things that have been happening. But what has been happening right now is that we just had some serious changes inside of business fitness. And then also my daughter, she's fine, but we had to cor. We're quarantining with her for two weeks. And so it is making our podcast recording time just a little bit challenging. So I'm here with you on Saturday night, 8:00pm, recording this. And those of you who follow me on Instagram know that I'm sacrificing a Hallmark premiere Christmas Hallmark premiere to hang out with you. But no, that's. I don't say that to make you feel bad or guilty or any of that. I just say that because my brain does feel a little bit crispy. But mostly I feel super inspired to come in here and talk to you about the lessons learned from my last launch. So that's also part of the reason why I've been quiet is because I was in the middle of doing a three part training, simple selling and then opening up the doors for the last time in 2020 for PT Profit Plus. And I love when I get to spend time with you and I love getting to teach and share what I love because I get to hear and see lessons during those times so that I can bring them to you. So because you're ever going to get from me someone who is going to ask you to do things that I haven't done myself or B, I'm not doing or trying myself. And see, I'm never going to teach you from something that I don't know. I'm down in the trenches. I'm always staying in the cutting edges of my field. And so you're always going to get the very best from me. And I know that that's going to take consistent, messy action. So I say on these podcasts, these things over and over, not because, not just because I know that they work, but also because that's what I do in my own business. Now that's not to say that, hey, my way is the only way. That is not what I'm saying at all. I we talk and teach all different types of offers inside of the PC profit formula, all different types of ways to sell and get our products and services out in front of people. But ultimately the principles of marketing, they transcend and it doesn't matter whether you have a brick and mortar, whether you are selling newspapers or a product or service. I don't know what made me think of that. I honestly just looked at the Christmas tree and thought of newspapers for some reason. But it really doesn't matter. Ultimately, at the end of the day, all businesses and need the three Ps people, prospects and purchases at the end of the day and I would probably add another fourth P in there which is problems, people, problems, prospect, purchase. That's really ultimately what every single business needs. They need somebody that has a problem and you're going to sell them the solution. Okay, so this is a perfect segue as we get into one of the biggest questions that often gets asked to me from my one on one clients from and from the people that were participating in simple selling and a lot of my DMs, people were asking me and saying to me but Beverly, it's just not working. I'm putting up my content and it's not selling. Okay, so there's two things. Now I posted about this on my Instagram, but anytime I post a caption and Instagram says too long then I know it's actually a podcast recording. So I'm going to break this up into two episodes for you and given that my kid is quarantine is quarantining right now, it's probably going to be for the best because that way I can give you these short quick episodes as we go through till the end of the year and then get you those awesome guests after I schedule the people who said yes to themselves inside PT Profit formula. I want to make sure that they get their calls in and then we will start bringing awesome guests. So until then we're going to make sure that you're going to get some short, quick digestible things in these upcoming episodes until we get to the new year. So sorry, slight segue but wanted to make sure I got that in. So one of the biggest questions I was getting asked was, what if it's not working and my stuff isn't selling and if it's and and I'm not growing. Okay, there's two things at play here, and I'm just going to break down one today and we'll break down the next one next week, which is content, resonating content. They're related, but also the offer. And now I did an entire podcast on breaking down the offer, and I'll link that podcast episode around this audio. So in the show notes, I'll put it in there for you so that you can re listen to it. But it's very important to remember that your coaching is not the offer. It's part of the offer. It's part of the process. But what is most important is the transformation of your offer. And the process to get to the transformation is secondary. It's like the cardio to strength training. And so it's really important that your customer goes through that 3P journey. People with a problem, they become a prospect and then they become a purchaser. And in order to purchase, they have to be presented with an offer at the right time and your offer presentation. So the way that you make a case for your offer, the way that you communicate your offer has to do the 3Ds, which is dismantle objections and discredit other options demand for your solution. You have to do those three Ds in order for your people to move from being a prospect to purchasing. And so there's two main phases that are happening in order for your business to grow or in order to measure whether or not something is working. First, you've got that content in the upfront that's attracting people, exposing the problems, and then moving them down through a content experience to becoming a prospect where they raise their hand and say, oh, I'm interested in your solution. So we're going to talk about that part next week. But for right now, it's very important that when we are presenting this offer that we do those three Ds. Now, I did talk a little bit of some marketing jargon which might seem like, wait, what do you mean? What is dismantling objections actually mean? Okay, so anytime someone tells you that sounds awesome, but this is the yeah buts, or anytime someone has a question before they say yes, that is resistance to saying yes. And don't forget that it's natural and normal. Your brain is going to send you fear signals always 100% of those time and that that fear signal is going to show up as resistance. So it's not a matter of whether or not you did a bad job making a case. If you've got people that have objections, I think objections are a good thing. It's going to give you ideas for your content. A B, you're going to hear the language, your people are describing their pain, which is very important in your content and overcoming the objections. And we need to know what they are. Objections can show up for things like yeah, but it's not easy for me to lose weight or it's not in my genes to lose weight. Or an objection is oh, I don't need to work on my habits, I just need to go on another diet. Or my objection is I'm too scared to go into the gym because I'm the only everyone looks at me, I don't want anyone looking at me or I, I'm scared to go into the gym because I can't work out with a mask on or I'm not going to get any, any benefits if I don't go into the gym. It doesn't make sense to work out at home. All those things are objections. I'm not motivated, I don't have the time, it's the holidays. All of those objections and then discrediting the other options is very important. And I recognize that this is a nuanced conversation because I'm not these other options wrong or bad because then we're dealing with, with ego and it's not a matter of being right. We're just making a case for our solution. And so that is going to require that we show in our messaging, in our content, in the way that we teach and present that the other options may not be the most feasible right now. And so I'll give you an example of that. In my launch right now I made a case for semi customized group training where I said you were going to get the feeling of having a one on one coach and it was going to be like you had a coach in your corner. But that does not mean that I'm going to say that one on one training or one on one coaching is wrong or bad because I have one on one clients. I love my one on one clients. I, I'm proud of them and I will be there for them in the same way that I'm going to be there for my group people. But it's two different offers. And so for my group people I'm making a case for the network, I'm making A case for the community and I'm also sharing that they're going to get insights from each other. And I'm also making a case by saying it is not as much of a an investment as the one on one both in time and in revenue. Both offers are good, but for our case that is what I was working on. That's what I'm trying to build. So I'm going to discredit and show that one on one might not be the best, most viable solution. I did an interview for having for a one on one coach with someone and him and I talked for like a good 30 minutes and he's recommended that I don't join his one on one coaching. He said I would do better in a mastermind in a small group and he's not wrong about that. So it's not about one or the other being wrong or bad. It's just what works best for you in this moment. And you better believe when I have one on one spots available, I'm going to make a case for why one on one is the best. And it is the best because for the right person at the right time, same is true for whatever offer I make. I could, I could create an offer for, you know, an at home workout membership. I, that's what I did for my mom's and then I could make a case for having like a DIY template strength program that you do at the gym. It's not a matter about making one or the other wrong but you have to dismantle or discredit the other options so that people know that your offer is the best one that is going to start doing that third day is the create the demand and now listen, trainers have the hard and I shouldn't, I should qualify that. It's not just trainers. So many people have problems with this, myself included because sometimes it can feel uncomfortable. Sometimes it feels like you're not giving enough. Sometimes it feels like you're almost robbing people of their time and robbing people of their, their experience. But that's a good thing. And it's a good thing because I want you to think about being a parent for a second. Even if you're not a parent, if you always do everything for your kids, you're not going to teach them resilience and how to show up. We all want our clients to do the best that they possibly can. But ultimately we can't do their push ups them or their squats for them or their cardio for them. We can't eat for Them, we could even prepare the food for them if we wanted to, but we cannot eat for them. That's a good thing because those are very valuable and important lessons that your clients, that your kids need to know. And so the same is true for your potential clients, because we want to go in there and teach and show how smart we are. Me too. It is my mission in life to serve. It is my greatest mission gift. It's one of my love language is acts of service. And so when I can provide a service to my community and my clients and my people, it is such a fulfilling experience for me. But ultimately, I will rob my clients. And I have in my, in the past, I mean, even recently, I have robbed my clients of very important lessons that they needed to learn. In coming from a place of love, wanting to, you know, help, wanting to control, wanting to do, wanted to take things off the plate. But I can recognize when that is actually hurting and not helping, you know, that's my work. And so that's all to say that that comes in too. When we're, when we are doing an experience or a free experience, when we're getting on a call or we're doing a kickoff or we're doing a fitness assessment or we're teaching a training, we want to show and teach and we want to give, give, give, give, give. But then 2/3 or 3 things might happen is that your client might either get so overwhelmed and feel like, I can't do it. And your person is not going to become a purchaser until they know that they believe in you. They believe that your offer is going to solve their problem and that they believe in themselves that they can do it and that they can do it. Now, that is ultimately what it's going to take. So if you overwhelm them, they will feel like, I can't do it. So oftentimes, less is more. And we underestimate the power of creating clarity for our clients and just highlighting and showing and exposing the problems, the pitfalls. We also sometimes, especially as coaches, trainers, teachers, we undervalue active listening. And sometimes the best gift we can give to our clients, to our people, is to just pull back, listen, let them process on the outside. Especially if they're like me and an extrovert, they need to process and brainstorm on the outside. You can be that sounding board and ask very powerful questions. And so that'll be one objection if you hear that, oh, I just don't think I'll use it. Or you hear, you know what? I can't do it. I'm overwhelmed. I then chances are we didn't make it simple enough for them. Or if you hear this has been so great, thank you so much. I'm just gonna go try all this on and I'm gonna come back. I'll get back to you then. We did not move them to feeling and we did not show them that they need it and that they need it now. So those are two key indicators that will show that we did not create enough demand. The third is that we don't have any conversions. Now. If we don't have any conversions, and what I mean by that is we don't have anybody that moves from prospect to purchase. It doesn't mean that you're bad. First of all, it doesn't mean anything if it does convert, doesn't mean that you're good either. It means nothing. All it means is that you presented the right offer to the right person at the right time. That's all it means. Sometimes it literally can be a matter of timing. Maybe you're trying to fill your one on one spots and then opening up your one on one calendar on the first week of January or the first week of December is going to have a very different experience than opening up your calendar, say the last week of December in between Christmas and New Year. The data is always going to tell you that. And the data, I'm talking about open rates, I'm talking about surveys that you collect about why people decided not to come. And it's very important to look at this data whether or not you have 10 followers, 100 followers, or a hundred thousand followers, because you can still generate revenue. You can generate five figures, six figures, with 3,000 followers. It's possible. I've seen it. And also part of creating that demand, in addition to believing that they need it and that they need it now, they need to believe that the value is 10 times worth the asking investment. That's what makes the price a no brainer. When you solve a $10,000 problem and you charge 1,000, that makes that 1,000 a drop in the bucket. But so many people get caught in the trap of trying to sell and make a case for $10 for a $10 service, for $10. That doesn't mean use language like I'm gonna give you a discount or a sale. But often when I'm thinking to myself, I know that I'm going to ask for 5k, this is going to be a 5k revenue. What can I put in here that's going to make it worth 30k. I want that ROI to be so high that it's going to be worth it. And then people will inevitably come back and tell me, oh, and I felt like this too. So you are not alone. Fitness is not, is not worth it. There's too many low balls. There's too many, you know, there's too many cheap options out there. Here's the deal. Take it. Low cost does not mean low value. No, but it does mean high volume. If you want to make $1 million in a calendar year, you have to take $84,000 a month. Divide that by 27. That's how many people you need in your membership a month. So you will need the volume. It's possible. And people will invest in their health. People care about health more. More now than ever. And so ultimately it comes down to things like, I mean, think about it like this. You can buy a T shirt at Neiman Marcus or you could buy a T what T shirt at Target. Both are awesome. Both are high value quality, but their investment is different and the quality caliber is going to be different. Although I'm not going to lie to you, I don't know the difference between a Neiman Marcus T shirt and a Target T shirt. I'm very happy with my Target T shirt. So I can't really discuss the nuances on the quality differences of Neiman Marcus. But they don't charge target prices, I'll tell you that. And people still buy them. Doesn't mean that either or are bad or good, by the way. But just in case you're saying to yourself, hey, I can't charge premium prices, that's not true. That's a different conversation and that's a conversation with yourself that we need to overcome and talk about a little bit more. You won't be able to charge a premium price if you subconsciously and deeply believe that you can't provide a service or follow through on your service, follow through on your promise. But when you're convicted and competent and know and come from a place of knowing, you don't need the sale. You can charge premium prices if you want to. Some people don't. Some people have are very happy with their one on one schedule or they don't want one on one. It's not about that. We can have that conversation a different day, but you can still charge premium prices. It's really a matter of what you want and comes down being able to communicate the value of the asking investment and the data will tell you where it is. Whether you survey your people look at your open rates, listen to the questions and objections and things that they tell you. And the final note that I want to say, because I think I opened this loop, but I didn't close it, so I want to make sure I close it on this, is that when you're in that experience and it feels like you're robbing them and you're not teaching them enough, but you're giving them clarity. So in simple selling, for example, I exposed lots of problems. People don't understand their niche or don't or can't find their niche or think, or even think that a niche is a must that they can't see serve multiple different types of people and. And they can. But I taught, I exposed why and how you get to do that. And it actually comes from niching first. I also gave very powerful ways that you can think about niching in a different way that's not often talked about. And so people walked away from the training saying, oh, I hadn't thought of it that way. I realized I don't have a niche. I realize I've been too general and not specific enough. Those are big ahas and breakthroughs. Even though in my heart I want to say, okay, and then this is what we're going to do. We're going to do this. Go ask yourself this, who do you want to serve? Go, blah, blah, blah. And then I want to teach them how to do it, and I will. To the people that said yes to themselves, I will. I'm going to go in there. You're going to know exactly what to do inside your sales system. So if you're here and listening and getting excited, I hope you are, because this is going to be the jam. Sometimes it's hard to have to be there and facilitate that type of breakthrough and not want to solve the problem right there. You're going to get the chance to solve the problem and then it will ultimately lead to, yeah, but I'm scared to ask for money. I don't want to ask for the money. The transformation is in the transaction, friends. I want you to just think about that for a second. Think about your own schedule. How many times do people value your time, your service? They show up for themselves when there is a higher commitment on the table. How many times do people no show you when it's free? Or how many PDF downloads have you downloaded and they are just in the PDF graveyard, You haven't even opened them yet. Or maybe even courses that were not a huge investment. And you're like, I'm going to get to it. I'm going to get to it. Or somebody gave you a course for free or gave you a book for free. I'm not saying that's always because that's not always the case, but more often than not people are going, people are going to go to college. I'm laughing because my husband's probably going to roll his eyes and be like, well not me, but listen, I'm a master marketer. I'm always looking for that other direction. I'm always looking for that other, the other side or the counter example if you will. But people tend to show up when their skin in the game. So selling is a service. And then last but not least, this is something that has recently been coming up and it's really important to take a look at it and really think about it. Ask yourself, are you taking radical responsibility when things are breaking down? What are you asking yourself? Are you pointing the finger and forgetting about the three fingers pointing back at you? Now I'm not talking about blame or shame and not even yourself. Whether you blame somebody else or whether you, you blame yourself or, or the shame cycle. That's not what I'm talking about. This is not about making yourself feel bad, but this is about asking your hard hitting questions. And next week when we start talking about the content, we're going to be looking at that again and I'm going to ask you and encourage you to really ask yourself, are you showing up as someone that believes that life is happening to them or for them? Are you asking yourself what role you are playing inside of your business? As the CEO, you are a primary decision maker. Nobody else is going to be able to make the decisions for you. No coach, no employee. Ultimately if the responsibility falls on you. And so for me, when things are going sideways, I'm always asking myself, how am I showing up, how am I co creating this as a servant leader, what can I do to improve the performance? And it's taken me a long time to get here, I'm not going to lie to you. But I also celebrate the successes. That doesn't mean I'm always looking at the areas of opportunity, but I'm looking at the ways I showed up well and I'm looking at the areas of opportunity to grow. And more than that, I'm asking myself how am I responsible? Because ultimately it's your business. No coach is going to be able to do or tell you when to sell, what to sell, how to do it, what feels in alignment, what's the best offer that's going to come down to you. And, and that is also going to take connecting with your audience and having a connection with your audience now. So that is going to bleed into next week's discussion when we talk about the content. Like, what if the content's not working? So we're going to talk about that next week. So thanks so much for joining me here on another episode of the PT Profit Formula. I'm really excited for Thursday. I'm bringing on the co founder of CFSC Certified Functional Strength Coach, Kevin Carr. I'm really excited to have him. I recorded that episode weeks ago. He's probably like, hello, Beverly, are you putting that out there? Yes, of course I am. It's coming Thursday and then next Tuesday we're going to be chatting all about what if the content's not working. So thanks for hanging out and pushing play on this episode and I will catch you on the next one. Thank you for listening to the PT Profit Podcast.

If you like this episode, chances are.

Your friends will too. So it would be a huge service.

To us if you would please leave us a review and share with your friends on your social media channels. When you leave us a review, be.

Sure to take a screenshot of it.

And email that screenshot to my team@info simpsonfitness.com and we'll send you a very.

Special Instagram podcast that will show you.

How to how to create compelling content.

So that your ideal clients come to.

You and you go from wanting clients.

To a waitlist of clients ready for your services.

Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you on the next episode.