Starting Your Own Business Can Be One Of The Best Decisions You Make In Life. If you want to know how to grow your business, here are the 4 key questions I asked myself when I started my fitness business…
I remember it well. It was 2.47 pm on a gloomy Monday afternoon and I couldn’t gather the energy to get out of my chair. My muscles ached but not from exercise and I had a sick feeling in my stomach but knew I wasn’t ill.
So why was I feeling this way?
This feeling of dread was down to the fact that I knew I had a particular client who was due to come in and train with me at 4 pm. I’m sure a number of you can relate to this – having a particular client who is so negative and much like a vampire, sucks the life out of you.
I’d taken this particular client on at a time when I “needed” clients and with no clear vision on the clients I wished to attract, I was happy to take on anyone that showed interest.
Sound familiar?
My business was making money and it seemed to everyone that the business was successful, but I was miserable. I knew something was wrong and I need to figure out what it was.
My home life was being affected and no matter how much money I was making, I wasn’t happy.
Something had to change.
The process I went through is ultimately what I wish to reveal to you today so that you do not have to go through that same feeling of gloom.
This “secret formula” of how I managed to grow my business consists of four simple questions. In my role as a trusted business advisor, I ask those clients who hire me these very questions.
So let’s work through the process now so that you can grow your business successfully…
Question #1 – WHO is your ideal client?
This was the first question I asked myself –
“Who do I actually wish to work with?”
Most of us start our business by planning out the services we wish to offer but very few of us focus on exactly who we wish to have as clients.
The problem here is that these are the people you will ultimately be spending more time with than the time spent with your family, friends and significant other.
You generally spend a fair bit of timing choosing your partner, so why not spend a similar amount of time deciding who your ideal client(s) should be?
So block some time and think about the WHO (and no, I am not talking about the band 😉
- Who are your ideal clients?
- What do they look like?
- What are their hobbies and interests?
- What are their goals?
Going through this process I ended up with two client avatars – one for the women I wished to work with and one for the men.
The female’s name was Helen, who was a former athlete and was also a busy mother. The male was Alan who has a successful career who valued personal growth over money and earns six figures per year.
This may appear to some a strange exercise but I can’t stress the importance of going through this exercise.
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Question #2 – WHERE can you find your ideal client?
The next question is WHERE – Where do they live? Where do they spend time online? What newspapers or magazines do they read? What hobbies or interests do they spend time on? What type of holiday do they choose to go on?
If you don’t know the WHO, it will be almost impossible for you to know WHERE your ideal client can be found.
So make sure you know who that ideal client is and then jot down some notes on where to find them.
Once you know WHERE your ideal clients are, your next step is to select the right bait to attract them. Different bait will attract different clients.
Examples of good bait options might be…
- a free workout to download;
- a nutrition plan;
- a beginners KB workshop etc.
Once you understand what your ideal clients want, it becomes so much easier for you to attract their attention.
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Question #3 – What BAIT will you use to attract your ideal client?
Once you know WHERE your ideal clients are, your next step is to select the right bait to attract them. Different bait will attract different clients.
Examples of good bait options might be…
- a free workout to download;
- a nutrition plan;
- a beginner’s KB workshop etc.
Once you understand what your ideal clients want, it becomes so much easier for you to attract their attention which will then result in you being able to grow your business.
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Question #4 – What RESULTS and EXPERIENCE do you wish to give them?
Once you have landed your ideal client with the perfect bait, the last of the four questions to ask is…
“what RESULTS do you wish to give them?”
Please note that I am not asking you what service you wish to sell them.
Your business is NOT about the services you provide or the equipment you use.
It is about the RESULTS you can get for each and every one of your clients along with the EXPERIENCE you provide them with. Once you (and your clients) understand that concept, then the price is no longer relevant.
For me, I knew the best way I could serve my clients was to treat them as I would wish to be treated myself.
I made sure that I WOWED them right from the minute they signed up. I wanted to ensure that they walked away from the facility with something physical in their hands to justify the investment they had made.
So I would hand them a comprehensive welcome pack that included…
- a welcome letter;
- a couple of referral vouchers;
- and the welcome pack included details of what to expect in their first session, what to wear and copies of their agreement and contract.
This was followed by a “Welcome” card being sent to them in the mail.
Prior to their first session, they would receive a reminder email in which we shared that we were looking forward to them coming in.
Then the day after we called them to see how they were feeling and plugged them into our client on-boarding sequence which consisted of a series of educational emails and handouts.
I was also aware that many of my potential clients could not afford my premium services (i.e. 1 to 1 PT) which is why I looked to offer a series of services
Imagine that your clients can pay you anything to get their desired results. What, then would you do to guarantee that they achieve that result?
Outline the steps you would take to do this. And keep these steps close to hand – they are your route map and the key to your success.
So in summary, the “Secret Formula” you must follow to grow your business are…
- WHO are your ideal clients?
- WHERE can you find them?
- What BAIT will you use to attract them?
- What RESULTS and EXPERIENCE do you want to give them?
I know this exercise might sound simple but I truly believe that it is the foundation and ultimately the Secret Formula to your success.
So grab a cup of your favorite beverage, sit down with a pad and paper and start working through each of these four questions.
Key Takeaway:
If you are struggling to generate leads in your business, then I recommend you start with the Five Ws. The Five Ws are questions whose answers are considered basic in information gathering or problem-solving.
They are often mentioned in journalism, research and police investigations and are an excellent tool for determining who your ideal clients are.
They constitute a formula for getting the complete story of who that person is.
Whenever I start work with a new client, we always do a review of their business to see how strong a foundation they have and one part of that process is checking that they are clear on who their audience is.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you want to grow your business, you need to have the key fundamentals of business in place. Those fundamentals are People, Operations, Accounting, Strategy, Finance and Marketing.
Before you even start to market your services you need to be clear on WHO your target audience is. Most PT’s and Studio Owners try to market to everyone – aged 18-65.
Find your niche, the age range and types of clients you enjoy working with and then build your message around the issues they face and the particular goals they wish to achieve and you won’t go far wrong.
