PT Lead Generation & Fear of Rejection

Let me guess... you absolutely hate lead gen in the gym?

I get it.

I’ve been there too.

There are so many different marketing techniques out there.

Social media is the big one.

Literally, take your pick.

There’s websites, emails, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat.

Not to mention the old school methods of cold calling, flyering, holding seminars, referral lists, eBooks and business cards.

But what have all of these got in common?

None of them involve actually being PERSONAL.

You know, walking up to people and talking to them face to face.

There’s a HUGE difference between doing that and any other method. It gives the person you’re talking to the first hand opportunity to find out exactly what you’re like

(rather than your over-filtered over-highlighted version on Instagram).

The reason most personal trainers tend to avoid this (it’s called walking the floor) is because it really takes you out of your comfort zone.

^^^ that’s funny though because I swear that’s what all personal trainers say to their clients… to get out of their comfort zones?

Walking up to strangers who probably don’t want to talk to you, and striking up a conversation is difficult, you’d rather be finding clients via your iPhone screen - right?

But this is a mistake, because while all of the marketing methods above will work eventually, you won’t have much luck to begin with.

You actually need a client base first and foremost.

So get onto that gym floor, talk to everyone, build relationships, offer immense value.

The best bit? All the people you talk to in your gym are already in your world. You know, they’re already in the gym working hard towards their goals.

Give them a helping hand along the way.

I want you to go out of your way the next time you’re in the gym and offer immense value to 10 new people.

When I say ‘immense value’ it means coming from a position of caring more about them than your own business interests.

Take a genuine interest in who people are, the challenges and obstacles they face.

Forget about your goals, products, and services; and just invest in listening.

If you ask great questions and listen, you’ll be amazed. People will tell you exactly what they want and what they need.

Adjust your attitude to understand you’re helping people. Your goal is not to push your service but to give members ideas for and solutions to the challenges they’re facing.

After you ask great questions and members tell you what they need, your head will be going crazy with ways your services can help them achieve their goals.

(Notice I said HELP them achieve, not ‘push’ them to achieve.)

Ultimately, stop thinking about the close or hitting your own goals.

Let go of the end game and expecting anything in return.

You need to come from a place of power rather than a place of need - meaning you cannot be more invested in closing the sale than you are in helping the member.

The more people you focus on helping, the more people will want to buy from you. The more you focus on selling, the less people you’ll help.

Whilst it may sound easy for me to say all this, let me reassure you… I know exactly how difficult it can feel to approach people.

I get it, I’ve been there.

You hate walking up to members and starting a conversation out of absolutely nowhere.

You nervously walk up to them, not sure if you should say something or just walk straight by...

...but you know you have to talk to them as you don’t get paid to clean treadmills and put other people’s weights away.

You only get paid to train clients.

However, there’s something holding you back. So you avoid doing it and ultimately struggle to get any new leads into your business.

Unless you’re so lucky that they just come out of thin air. (Unlikely!)

99% of personal trainers all tell me it’s because they have the fear of rejection.

And do you know why they have the fear of rejection?

Because all they’re doing is thinking about the sale.

Which in other words is caring about yourself and your needs more than the needs of the person you’re actually trying to help.

When you shift your mindset from selling to ultimately helping, there can’t be anything holding you back.

Surely?

Let me use a real world example to demonstrate…

Imagine you’re walking down the street and there’s nobody else in sight.

You spot an old lady walking ahead of you and she suddenly trips over and falls to the floor.

She hits her elbow on the ground and her bags go everywhere.

What do you do?

…… …. … .. .

I can only imagine the first thought in your head is that you go out of your way to help that old lady in whatever way you can until she is ok and ready to carry on with her journey. ( < value)

Am I right? for a more indepth version of this example, watch this video: https://www.instagram.com/p/B7ovWDvD9gN/

So, let me ask you…

How is that any different to helping a member in your gym?

The short answer; it’s not.

The only thing that has changed is your mindset to the situation.

When you’re in the gym, the first thing that may come to your mind is selling because that’s what you need to do in order to keep your business alive.

And I totally get that.

However, until you change your mindset from selling to helping, you’ll always be in the same situation.

Scared of the rejection that may come if you do go over or refusing to go over at all.

Leaving your business in the same situation, if not worse.

When I gave you the old lady scenario, at any moment, did you picture yourself stopping and thinking “what if the old woman rejects my help?”.

I can bet my life you didn’t think in that way.

Because you were coming from a position of caring about that old lady so you provided her with value and you didn’t have the expectation of anything in return.

Instead a lot of PTs come from the position of selling and come across as an awkward salesman/woman as a result.

This mindset shift is huge for all people in life - not just personal trainers.

If you apply it with your business and all you truly need to think about is CARING about the person and providing VALUE to that person, watch just how much difference it makes.

Once you can demonstrate that you care and once you provide enough value, the member will have no reason not to go further with you as a client.

Remember that people don’t buy products, people buy people.

So when you care less about the sale and more about the person the rest of it will come easy.

So, let go of the end game, change your mindset to help rather than to sell, stay present and focus your entire energy on helping clients before you help yourself.

Fear of rejection? Never heard of her.

Oliver. PS - if you want my free report that will guarantee you sign up 10 clients by this time next week, click here: https://www.oliver-tennant.com or just click on the home page on my website and scroll down.