S1 Ep 23: How To Find Your Position of Power
In this 20‑minute live coaching session, Richard Toutounji addresses studio and gym owners who are stuck competing on price, freebies, or low‑margin offers. He argues that the root problem is a lack of a clear “position of power” – a unique market super‑power that differentiates a business beyond price. Toutounji walks the audience through a four‑step process: (1) Define what you are in the market using the “only/first/biggest/smallest/fastest” framework; (2) Discover why clients choose you by asking them directly, uncovering the hidden “secret sauce”; (3) Write a concise, precise signature positioning statement that combines the what and why; and (4) Broadcast that statement loudly across every marketing touchpoint (social media, website, videos, taglines). Throughout, he shares personal anecdotes (e.g., becoming Australia’s youngest personal trainer and owning the first private fitness studio) to illustrate how to own a seemingly modest advantage. He stresses that without a clear position, owners are forced into the congested “freebie” space, leading to endless hard‑selling and low‑quality leads. The session ends with a call to action for his Com Ninjas program, which offers an 8‑step framework for branding, optimization, and lead generation. The overall message is that once a business identifies and loudly proclaims its unique power, it can attract high‑quality, referral‑driven clients without competing on price.
Chapters
Welcome to the position of power. I'm Richard Turtungi, and today I'm talking all about how to find your unique position of power. Now, this is perfect for you if you are struggling. to compete in the marketplace and you're constantly running offers. I mean, talking about you're running a 7-day, you're running a free event. So you've been like in the space for 10 years and you're still doing free stuff. If this is you, listen in very carefully because I'm going to show you, I'm going to tell you right now in the next 20 minutes of how to find your position of power so you don't have to compete in the freebie section. That's— if that's you, comment below if you've been competing in the free world for too long. If If you're a person that is running a gym or running a successful studio and you're constantly battling for the competitors and people are coming in and saying, well, this is what the next door is offering. If you've ever lost your clients to someone up the road because they were cheaper, this is for you. Listen in very carefully. It's how to find your position of power. And you know what I'm talking about? You're a leader in the marketplace and you know you're a leader. You know you have an amazing product. And you know, when people are there, they have an amazing time. But quite frankly, you're still competing on price. Guys, if you're still competing on price and you've been in the industry for a little bit of time, that's you. It means then you're doing something wrong, being you don't understand where your position of power is. It's like, you know, the battery where it's low on battery, we're going to charge you up so you feel charged every day. You never have to compete on price. And you can always go into the marketplace with confidence, with domination, knowing that you're the only person that can get amazing results for your clients. Guys, if you're just tuning in now, I'm Richard Toutounji and we are doing this live. If you're watching this live or on replay, all you have to do is comment to say hello, where you're tuning in from, so I know that you're there. And once I know you're there, I'll say hello. Always good to actually include your business name in the comments, live or on replay, because again, when you do that, we can understand where you're calling from, where you're tuning in, and most importantly, to grow this community. Guys, this is a big issue, a big issue. If you've ever given free stuff away, right, free, I know I have, I know our clients have, but when you understand that you shouldn't be going direct sales, you shouldn't have to be doing the hard pushy sales, This is when your life will change. I mean that in that way. Your life will change. You won't have to push and push and push on sales all the time. You won't have to be that sleazy salesperson we all hate. You're going to have clients that are flowing in freely because they've already seen what you do and you come high recommended. Guys, that's what we're talking about today. So that's what we're going to talk about today. So this is you, right? You, if you've given away things too many things for free, right? You, we want to bring your superpower into your marketing moving forward. Guys, this is a group here, Studio Success Secrets, for any studio owners or budding studio owners that are wanting to really take this space up and be that leader in the space. Right now, we have an amazing opportunity in the space of the world. I believe the next 6 months will be the defiant mode where You either take the lead or you get out of the way for somebody else to take the lead. So are you going to take the lead or are you just going to get out of the way? Right? Take the lead if you're ready to take the lead right now, because you want to take the lead. You've got to stand up tall, you're going to stand out bright, and you're going to make sure that people know who you are in your local area. And let's talk about how to do that. I've got a 4-step process I'm going to run through right now of how to do that. And if this has ever been your your situation. Remember guys, you know, think about what you're doing and how you can adjust it. Welcome Jackson, Joey, Sharon. Good to have you here. I know you guys are leaders in your space and you've been doing it for a while. So this is definitely something that you can take away. So number one, point one guys is what are you? Who are you? How can you define yourself? So my good friend and partner Steve Jensen, he runs Impact Training. He does some training with us and been doing so at Ninjas for a long time now. And there was one thing that I mean, there's lots of things with Steve. There's one thing that he really highlighted on is that the question is the only, the first, the biggest, the smallest, the fastest. The first time I've heard about this from Steve and we use it in a lot of our trainings on how do we kind of find our messaging. Because when you're doing the sales process in sales, you need to make sure that you can say, You can say that, but when we're doing the marketing, we want to make sure that we can actually bring that on the front end as well. So the question to you, what are you? Are you the only, the first, the biggest, the smallest, the fastest? True story. I had a, you know, I got into the fitness industry at a relatively young age. I left school in year 10 and I decided that I didn't like school. Who does like school, by the way? I didn't anyway. I left school in year 10 and I decided that I wanted to be a personal trainer. Back then, there wasn't that many courses to figure out if you could be a trainer or not. I went to TAFE, did my certificate there for 2 years, and then I decided to become a personal trainer. In fact, at the age of 17, I had my certificate of personal training, and at 18, I purchased a fitness studio. And so what I did in the early days to find my position of power— because when you're young, little, that lap, and you're trying to charge someone some big dollars for personal training, it's quite tough in the marketplace, you could imagine. But so for a long time there, I lied about my age. Shh, don't tell anybody. I lied about my age saying I was a little bit older than I was, like 10 years plus, because I wanted to make sure that people took me seriously. Then after I reflect and I go, wow, that actually was a milestone in my life. And so, you know, a couple years, about a year lying about my age, I decided, okay, let me embrace this and let me just go full throttle on it. And so my tagline for many years was Australia's youngest personal trainer, Australia's youngest personal trainer. And before, I was against it. But then a year into it, wow, this is actually a position of power that I have because I couldn't, you know, have the experience everybody had. But what I had, I had the willingness. I had the willingness to get you results. And so my position of power is like, yeah, I'm one of the youngest personal trainers in Australia. How good is that? And at the same time too, I purchased a studio and the studio, their position of power was, Australia's first private fitness studio. Yes, showing my age. Australia's first private fitness studio was a guy called Matt Church. Some of you may know him. Matt Church created it. I purchased it off another owner, but the tagline was Australia's first private fitness studio, meaning that you could train in groups of 2 or 3 or 4. And I know that it's common now, but it was the first. So I was Australia's first youngest personal trainer training in Australia's first private fitness studio. So that were USPs. They were what I was. I wasn't the most experienced by far. I wasn't, I didn't have all the qualifications by far, but what I did have was my position of power. So what I want you to do right now is number one, what is your position of power? Are you the only women's only fitness studio, the first fitness studio, the largest, the smallest? The most unique, the oldest. What are you? I want you to do that now in the comments. What are you? I'm talking about in your local town, or it could be Australia, it could be New Zealand, it could be wherever, it could be in your suburb. Are you the first, only, biggest, smallest, fastest? What are you? Write that in the comments now if you're watching that live or on replay. That's number one, point number one. So when you have that, you want to make sure that that's your armor you're putting on. And this is, This is what you're going to be standing for. And this is really important to be clear and precise and own that space. For the first year when I was a personal trainer, I certainly didn't own that I was the youngest. I certainly didn't own it. I literally lied about my age. I put 10 years on top of it and I didn't feel right. But then as soon as I realized that, hey, I've got eagerness, I've got youngness on my side, and I can get people into shape, I own that space. So guys, own what you have. It's really important. Okay, number 2, let's talk about that, guys. Comment below if you're watching this live and replay, what are you? The only, first, biggest, fastest, you know, whatever you are. There's 1,000 different words there, use those. Number 2, number 2, guys, is why you? Why you? So you want to ask your clients this, why do they train with you? What do they train with you for? They don't train with you just to continue losing weight because they've lost the weight. They're sticking with you for reasons. So I'm specifically asking you, why do people train with you first and then why do they continue training with you? So why do they come to you first? They might say, oh, you were the cheapest. But why do they continue training with you? If they've got their results, why do they continue training with you for? So you can ask your clients these 2 questions. They're so simple to ask. Put a message in your group, ask them one-on-one, just ask them a simple question, why they train with you for. Now what you're looking for is a common thread, a common thread, something that's similar, repeating pattern, because that's your little secret sauce. I call it position of power secret sauce. You know, your secret sauce, the, the Herb's recipe, you know, the Colonel Sanders secret sauce in his chicken. What is yours? It could be that you're the most, the kindest trainer. It could be that you care. It could be that you push your clients. It could be that you turn up on time. It could just be that you care for them. You have a great community, any of those kinds of things. Guys, what do you think yours is number 2? Why you? Because there's a lot of people they can choose from. They're coming to you because something that you said, you did, you promoted, you do, that's why they're sticking with you for. It's very important you know that. If you don't know that, then you've got to start competing on price. Are you getting the theme, guys? Number 1, are you the only, first, biggest, smallest, fastest? My friend Steve Jensen taught me that first piece. Shout out to him. Number 2, ask your clients why they train with you, and you'll start to see a common thread. That's what we're looking for here. These are the 2 most important things before we can move on. Otherwise, we're just talking like everybody else. It's unnecessary to talk like everybody else. Again, I did that when I was young, when I was a personal trainer at 17. I lied about my age. I said I was 27. But I realized that was wrong. It was wrong because that wasn't my position of power. My position of power that I was the youngest personal trainer in Australia, youngest. Now some people won't like it, some people will. I can tell you right now, I was very successful at an early age getting into the studio. Why? Because people like the eagerness. People want to make sure they get the results. They want to feel young. I make them feel young. How good is that? Guys, if you want to feel young, write young. I'm going to make sure you're still here. Only personalized group training facility? Yes. Amazing. You might think to yourself, well, but everybody else is doing personalized, or I'm not experienced personal trainer like everybody else. It doesn't matter because unless you're competing with worldwide enterprises, you only have to be the best in your local suburb. That's all you have to do. Once you master that, guess what? You win the game. Nobody's going to travel. If you're in Sydney, they're not going to travel to Perth At the moment, we can't even travel anywhere. So you only have to be the best in your localized area and you have to own that space as the biggest, the only, the smallest, the fast, the most prestige, whatever it is. Okay. Number 3, guys, if you're just tuning in, number 3. Young. Yes. Number 3 is write your signature statement. What does this mean? You want to take your, your what and your why and you put it in a statement. How good is that? You put in a statement. So I'll give you an example here I prepared earlier. We're the only female fitness studio in Alexandria, and your clients vote us as the best for caring for each and every person. We're the only female fitness— it talks about your avatar— in Alexandria, in Sydney, in Brisbane, in Perth, in whatever suburb you're in, in Rouse Hill, and our clients vote us the best for caring for each and every person. Our clients voted us the best. Have you ever been traveling in the country and you're driving and then guess what happens? Australia's best pies. That gets me every single time. Every time we've been voted the best pies in this area, we've been voted the best pies in Australia. Oh my gosh. Every time I must test it out because that's a big statement. And I'm thinking, well, hang on, they must be the best here. Now, a lot of the time they're very good. How can I compare different pies all around Australia when you're driving in regional areas? You've got to test it out. So that's what it's about. Now, if the pie backs up and they do taste good, I'll go for number 2. And that's what it's about, guys. It's about keeping them coming back. You need to be a good product. Okay? We're not here to teach you how to actually train. It's not my conversation today. I assume that you're already amazing. What we're doing here is to put you on the front end. So take your what and why and put into a statement. We're the only female fitness studio in Alexandria that care for the clients at a 10 out of 10 every time. We're the only female fitness studio in Alexandria that gets the kind of results that gets people back into shape. It doesn't matter what it is for you. You need to make that statement and you need to make it proud with precision, with clarity, and you start now to tell people on the outside, that you are the best that you do. People want the best. They want the only one, the fastest. They want the most prestige. They want the most luxury. They're looking for what they want. If you don't tell them, guess what you have to do? You have to compete in the free space, the free space. Somebody once told me, there's always room at the top. The bottom is congested. There's always room at the top. The bottom is congested. We don't want to be living in the bottom of the sea. We want the top of the sea. The bottom of the sea is congested. You want to be at the top, the top of your game. There's always room at the top. All right. Who agrees with that? Just write top if you're tuning in right now. So good to have you guys watching this live or on replay. You know, we are doing these series. If you're watching the Studio Success, if this is, if you're loving this, there's a whole bunch of different videos you can watch. And this is the way that you can get involved, guys. If you want more help on this, let me know. Just write help. We'll get in contact with you. Now, number four is the important thing. Number four is the super important thing. Number four is what I call: Are you the world's best kept secret? Are you the world's best kept secret? For a long time, you know, we're the world's best kept secret. You're probably the world's best kept secret right now that you're good at what you do. Your clients love you. You get great referrals. Oh my gosh, they'll rave about you in the session. But outside the session, when people are coming in, they have no idea that you're the only, the first, the best. They have no idea that you're the only training facility. They have no idea the kind of results you get in your signature statement. Why? Because you don't tell anybody. The one that screams the loudest gets heard. The one that screams the loudest gets heard. I know what you're thinking. I'm not like that. I don't want to advertise myself to be that person. You know that person I'm talking about? The one that you see the ads in there, the super successful trainer with the ripped abs and they're walking around the beach saying, we're the best, and they're driving their Lamborghini or their Ferrari. I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about being real. and being strong in your marketing messaging. That means you want to use your statement, the only, the first, the best, in everything you do. When I was a trainer at 17, I always used Australia's youngest personal trainer because that's all I had going for me. I had no idea of experience. So you got to go with your position of power. So use it in your social media posts, number 1, on your website, number 2, in your videos and your tagline. Social media, website, videos, tagline—you must put your position of power, your signature statement, what you are in these positioning pieces because then people know what you do. Guys, at Com, one of our positioning statements is we're the only, the only digital marketing education company that is partnered. with Fitness Australia, Exercise New Zealand, MindBodyOnline, some of the largest players in this space. We're the only— you can go choose any marketing company, in any marketing company, there's probably 15,000 out there, but we're the only one that, that is positioned with these guys. Why? Because we get results and we understand the industry. Why would you take your chances anywhere else? I have no idea. So that's one of our positioning statements at Combi here. We work exclusively with the health and fitness industry, and and we focus heavily on studio owners. So we become masters in this area. We can say that with pride because it's fact and it's truth. Guys, you're just watching this now. I would love to know: Have you included your signature statement in your social media, your website, your videos, your tagline? Write one, two, three, or four if. You write 4 if you've done them all, or 1 if you've done 1, or 2, or 3, or 4. Guys, this is what it's about now. This is the key missing ingredient on generating consistent leads. Not even just consistent leads, leads that know what you do. So if you don't want to be a salesman, like a door-knocking salesman, you know what I'm talking about? They're knocking on your door. Who does that now? And they're trying to sell you something. I mean, nobody even answers now, right? That's the half the problem. Or you get the phone calls. Hey, this is not a sales call, but I want to talk to you. You know those ones? If you don't want to be that, well, you need to do this. You need to find your position of power. Once you find your position of power, then guess what happens? Your Facebook ads generate better quality leads. When someone asks you, can you give me a deal? You say no. Did you know that we're the only studio in this area that guarantees you the results? Why would you want to take your chances elsewhere? Definitely not. They see your case studies, they see your success stories, and they buy into— guys, if you don't tell people how amazing you actually are, I don't know who's going to do it. Do you think, do you think a news station will come out and just say, hey, You're amazing, let's run a report on you. No. Do you think your clients will kind of like, yeah, some of them naturally will tell people. Do you think they're going to go around after their session and say, hey, I just had the best session at the best personal training studio in this area, you should go join? They're not going to do that for you. Now, if you don't do it and if you don't tell people what you're doing, who's going to do it? There's no point writing on a piece of paper and then just putting it down because nobody sees your desk. So if you don't put the last part in the marketing, then everything that you're doing and all your experience, your expertise, the course of the CEC programs you do, everything that you do to make your amazing studio amazing, all the late nights you spend, all the programming you do, you can wave goodbye because it doesn't mean anything. There's an old saying that says, if it's not on, if it's not on the Instagram, it's not live. It's not— if you're not gramming, if you're not taking pictures, it's not true. If it's not online, it doesn't exist. I'll say that again. If it's not online, it doesn't exist. If it's not online, it doesn't exist. I'm talking about existing to the people that you want to get into your clients, your amazing potential clients that you're getting in. Guys, I hope that's helped. I want you to recap. What was the number one piece that you prefer better? Was it? What are you the only? the first, biggest, fastest, smallest, whatever. Write 1 if that's you. Write 2, why you. Ask your clients why they train with you. Have you done that? Number 3, your signature statement. Make sure your statement's really clear and precise where you want to get to. Number 4, the most important, scream from the rooftop. Include it into your organic social media posts, your website, your videos, and a tagline. Guys, I hope that's helped. If you're watching this on replay, remember to write watch replay and tag in your studio, your location. That'd be amazing. I'm really excited because when we work with studio owners, they start to understand this position of power and they no longer have to keep running these free ads, these stock images. When you do that, you do that well. So it's been a pleasure, guys. If you want more help on this and you're a studio owner, that is kind of struggling with it all, to do it all, because there's a lot to do. There's the marketing, the sales, there's the operation, there's the training, list goes on. If you want a bit of help and clarity and precision and just don't want to stay up at light night trying to figure it out yourself, or don't want to compare 5 different coaches online and watch from the sidelines, come into the field of play. We have a program called Com Ninjas. And if you want some help with that, just reach out, say hello, say help. And we'll send you through a video we've done. I prepared earlier, it's about a 15-minute video and it kind of takes you through our 8-step framework. We start with brand, we finish optimization, and there's a whole bunch of things in between that. So it's a 15-minute video and I think it will help you out quite a lot. If you want that, I'll drop the link in the comments. Other than that, I hope that's helped. Think about what's your position of power. It doesn't matter what age you are, what experience you have. Take it from me, 17 as a trainer, I had no experience at all. But I used that in my position of power to build up one of Australia's most successful private fitness studios in Neutral Bay. And then I was able to on-sell that. And I did that again with another company I had called Corporate Wellness, Australia's largest corporate wellness company. I was able to build it up and sell that. I'm saying this to you because I did all this through ensuring that people knew my position of power with each business I had. And at ComGuys, we're the same. We're the only digital marketing education company that exclusively is partnered with Fitness Australia, Exercise New Zealand, MindBodyOnline. These are massive brands. MindBodyOnline is the largest CRM platform in this space. Fitness Australia is the largest CEC provider and education certification company in this space. Exercise New Zealand, the only, the largest So guys, if you want to stop selling free stuff, now's your time. Find your position of power. It's been amazing. I'll catch you next time on, on the Studio Success Secrets live Facebook. Remember too, if you love this and you've got a colleague, simply just invite them into the group and tag them in and say, hey, I want to join, let me in. We'll let you in. Hope to— hope that's helped, guys. Catch you later. Bye for now.
