In this interview, host Richard Mark Toutounji talks with Ken Baldwin, founder of QPEC, about the evolution of his fitness business over the past decade. Baldwin explains how QPEC began with a few resistance‑band products and quickly added trainer education courses to ensure those products were used effectively. He emphasizes the importance of systems, trainer versatility, and long‑term client relationships for retention. The conversation covers QPEC’s product development approach, market trend monitoring, and the role of trade shows in spotting successful items. Marketing tactics discussed include a purpose‑driven website with dedicated landing pages, newsletters, free "product of the month" content, seminars, video content, and targeted outreach to key trainers. Baldwin shares lessons learned from past missteps such as over‑expansion, unfocused advertising, and over‑capitalising on a single market, and outlines a current strategic focus on educating school PE teachers to combat childhood obesity. The interview concludes with practical contact information (qpec.com.au) and a reminder that QPEC maintains a hands‑on, personal service model.
Chapters
Welcome to Getting Raw. It's Richard Mark Toutounji, and my voice sounds very raw, so it's very, very matching what we're doing. Today I'm with Ken. Welcome. Now, if you've been to any fitness expos, you may have seen Ken with these little products like this and these big bags and things. And you have all these different equipment and different things and all new stuff that I haven't seen on the market. And I want to talk today about— and I sort of want to base our conversation around retention today, retaining staff, you know, with these new products, new courses that you do, how to stay interested in the industry. in a business sense as well. And how do I guess, you know, have a client all the time, or same client for over years, but like how often do you have to bring new stuff into them? And what you do at QPEC, you know, you bring the new stuff in, you put a course to it, and you teach the education to trainers. So I'm really interested in that. And then I want to know more about your business as well. So tell me about, I guess, your history and why you're so passionate.
Yeah, thanks for that, Richard. I've been in the industry for about 25 years now. Ex-military background, training people, and always had a passion for health and fitness and sport and transitioned that across into group fitness. So I've been involved in all areas and aspects of the fitness industry and still personal training and stuff like that. Yeah. So I saw weaknesses and gaps in the market from a training and longevity perspective where We weren't able to get what we needed from a resource perspective. And I was traveling quite a bit overseas doing conferences over there to further my career in education and seeing all these great things, but they weren't available here. And that made it really, really frustrating.
So you got the good information, but you just couldn't connect the dots?
Exactly right. And doing the workshops and doing stuff, people would say, you know, where do you get it? implementing it ourselves and, you know, how do I learn more about this information and where do we go from here? And I think the connection has been because we're part of it and we know the trainers as well, that connection has been we understand where they're coming from and that is the biggest reason why QPAC came about.
Right. So how long has QPAC been up for now?
We've been around probably for about 10 years now.
And did you always do courses, or was it just products first and then courses, or courses and products?
We initially started with 1 or 2 products, with the resistance training and bands, and utilizing the bands in our circuit classes and our remedial rehabilitation side of things. And we just felt that it was a resource that was underdeveloped, and any product is great, but It can be the best product in the world, but if it doesn't have something to back it up, it'll sit away in the corner somewhere and that's it.
So it's your job to make sure these things are used, which is very smart business sense, putting a course to it, and then actually people understand how to use it, you get the best results out of it, and everybody's happy.
Pretty much so. It's all about systems. As a trainer, it's important for you to stand out and not just be doing what the other person is, whether that's from an educational standpoint, whether it's from a variety standpoint, or a product standpoint, or all of the above. It's really, really important that you do that for your versatility because our industry is changing every day in some way. And if we want to keep up, we have to work with the trends and develop the trends to suit our client base.
Very good. Now, with those trends that come about, obviously for you having QPAC, it's about staying up with the latest information. It's like trainers, you've got to stay up with the latest information. You've got to stay up with the latest products. How do you know what product's gonna just hit it and what product's gonna fail miserably?
That's a good question. When we travel and we go to URSA, the trade shows where the new products and new education is released, we also look at the way the industry's going. So there's a great steering wheel towards sports conditioning and functionality. And the way of the trainer is the way of Gone are the days that just make me get stronger and look better and feel bigger. Sure,
yeah.
That's still a part of the market and the gyms do that very, very well. And we should as well. But our clientele base is getting older. They have more conditions and it's more about quality of life rather than just doing specifics. And if we stay along those lines and allow our clients to move better and feel better, They're going to keep coming back retention-wise for long-term relationships as well.
Okay. Let's talk more about QPAC itself and the business because, you know, this is getting more— we always talk about business and I'm always interested to know how you make your sales, how you do your marketing. So, you know, obviously doing seminars is, I'm sure, a big thing because I see your seminar and then I see you have a stand there. Do you find that is a big thing? Is it online? I know you're getting more videos done now with Steve. Getting into that, what are other strategies you use to actually get these products to the marketplace?
The website is of key importance, but a website standalone is no good. You have to stand out. You have to want people to look at it and create their interest. So separate landing pages for separate products are very, very important now. We've learned from that and built our site around making it more interactive so that I can say, Come and have a look at this. This is what you need. And look at the reason behind it. From a PT's perspective, money is tight, cash flow is tight. There has to be a reason to make your business better and to invest in that.
Right.
So long-term relationships are the keys with that. And things that are versatile, low maintenance, not high cost or high end. Things that can be used in different places, indoors, outdoors, and with different clientele bases— kids, seniors, rehabilitation. So we really focus on portability and versatility.
And I guess all the outdoor stuff, I mean, I really like that actually. It's like, you know, you have to get a whole dumbbell set, 5 kilograms, 6 kilograms. You get one ball and you can do so much with it. So I think it's very smart as a business to even get them sold Get them out there, which is very important. So online is a big way that you're doing at the moment.
Very much so. Establishing long-term relationships is the big thing in any business. Don't go after chasing sales, and it's the same from a PT client's perspective. We don't want you to go out and, you know, where am I going to get my next session from this 10-pack? You have to look beyond that and set your goals and your guidelines along those lines where we can say, right, This is where I'm at now, this is where I should be, and this is where I'm going. And it's the same along the lines of that.
Don't panic. Don't panic.
Exactly right. Just
keep the focus, eh?
Plan it and continue to revisit it. You can't just leave that stagnated. You have to continue to look at things on an ongoing presence to say, well, if I'm here now, I'm there, or I'm almost there, how do I get over to the next level and how do I look beyond that? And that's a key factor in everything. Long-term relationships and word-of-mouth referrals are the big things.
So when you say long-term relationships, you're talking about personal relationships in the industry, building them up? And it's like, I guess, their clients, same thing, long-term?
Absolutely. Key trainers in key areas to let them know when new products are coming out. So we have a newsletter, we have a subscription for articles, a product of the month, which is free. free as well. And we also get top education articles from the top presenters. So it's everything. So it may not just be about the product, it may be about further knowledge that they don't have to pay for and it just stimulates them to look at something else.
That's very interesting. It may not have to pay for, it's just information you're providing. And I think that's where we had a lot of topics today. What I much believe in is providing information like community and eventually they'll buy once they're ready.
The saying is build it and they will come and that is correct. To get something you have to give something first. Our business and personal training is all about establishing trust and creating rapport. And if we don't do that by saying, let me assist you to help you with your goals in some way to establish that first relationship, there's no way you're going to trust me to do business with me because you don't know what I can provide. And you're saying, well, it didn't cost me anything, so it must be good. And it starts that connection.
Yeah. All right. Well, this is getting raw and I love to ask business owners what they don't generally get asked is, you know, you've got a very successful business, but what are your biggest failures that you've had along the time? Like what's What has made you pull all your hair out, Ken? And then you said, geez, I've lost all my money on that. That was such a bad advertising investment. What are the one or two things that you wish you could just turn the clock back? Or was a big challenge that you've learned a lot from?
Selective marketing is the key thing and also you've heard it many, many times in business, the gunshot approach where we try and do everything at once. We have to establish key markets and look at our strengths and weaknesses and analyse them all the time. There are only certain markets that we can cover and there are only certain things. So again, you have to look at the long-term goals.
Have you tried that, have you, just splashing out and machine gunning?
We have. So at the moment, our focus, and it's a long-term plan, is through education of the schools. And we're lecturing to PE teachers and teaching them about balance and portability. And identified that childhood obesity is one of our biggest problems. But the problem is the teachers don't know how to teach the children. They don't have the education or the facilities or resources.
So that's your next focus, is just getting into the schools and not focusing on 5,000 different things?
Pretty much so, because our industry is pretty much centered with functional— people know functional movement and they know where to go for that and how to do it to a degree. They'll look for their further resources, but it's already there. It doesn't need to be developed to the next level apart from a higher education side of things and continuing education.
So keeping things just simplified. Any other big mistakes that you've had throughout your career that you can really—
Yes, have I got a deal for you. We're forever asking to— we're being asked to Advertise here and advertise there. So again, selective marketing is very, very important. Who's your target market? Is it just the ladies? Is it the kids? Is it the teachers? And don't try and do too much too early.
Okay, same sort of thing. Don't try and do too much early. Keep your pennies, save your pennies, focus on what you need to do in that sort of strategy and do make sure that, I guess, the advertising matches up to that.
The other biggest thing is don't overcapitalize. So don't invest too much in one area. Make sure that you— go for a specific market, but don't overpopulate that market from a capitalization point of view. So don't overadvertise in it. Don't overcommit yourself because if something goes wrong, you've only got yourself to blame.
So keep a lot of legs on the table.
Exactly right.
Excellent. Very much. Where can people find out? What's the website again? Is it qpec.com.au or is it?
That's it, yes.
Qpec.com.au. Easy. Qpec. So Q-P-E-C. Thank you. Qpec.com.au. And they can sort of, you're pretty contactable, I'm pretty sure you are, yeah?
Very much so. All the, we have our various departments, but all of the emails come through and are referred to me, whether it's products or training or consulting.
And that's what I love about this industry is everybody's very hands-on involved. And I think it's good. It's like, you know, you contact Qpec and you can go speak to the man himself. Thank you very much for your time.
Pleasure, Richard. And thanks for listening to my story, and we hope to hear from you soon.
