[00:00:00] James Breese: Strength Matters Media. Video. Print. Podcasts.
[00:00:05] Josh Kennedy: Today's topic is referral strategies for fit pros. And Andrew, this is very, very much your wheelhouse, isn't it? It certainly is. So let's just jump straight in. Why are referrals so crucial? for crucial. There we go. There's the word for fitness professionals.
[00:00:25] Andrew Wallis: Well, first of all, the primary source of leads. You know, we get our clients through, uh, through referrals. Maybe not initially when we're first starting out. Obviously, we've got to go out there and do some hunting to get folks. But once we've got clients and we do a good job, of course, you know, that's key.
[00:00:44] And then just through osmosis, almost we should. Uh, we should expect and we should receive referrals from our existing client base. But the key on that then is making sure that we are getting them on a [00:01:00] consistent basis. And as I said, that comes from, you know, giving a great service.
[00:01:06] Josh Kennedy: How can you go about earning referrals then?
[00:01:09] Because I think it's something that people are Fit Pros are probably a little nervous to ask for if they haven't had them before.
[00:01:17] Andrew Wallis: That's a good point and we've got to get over that. Um, I was the same. You know, I wondered was I giving or do I give a good service? Certainly from the outset. But then as you grow in confidence and you just take that initial step you You step forward from that place of fear and you ask, then you'll find that providing you're giving a good service, then By, by, um, account, you will get those, those referrals coming in.
[00:01:51] But it comes with the, the acronym I use is, is e earn ask and then Reward. You know, so we've gotta earn it through the, through [00:02:00] great delivery, a great client experience. But then if, if we have, uh, a system in place that we know at a given. Time in the client journey that we ask for that. And then when they get asked, they almost feel obliged that they want to be able to help you because if they're enjoying the experience they have, then Birds of a feather flock together.
[00:02:26] There's going to be other folks that, um, you know, friends, work, colleagues, family members who would, who would and could benefit from your services. Then as well, the R as a sage rewards, because we want to then. reward those clients for, for making those referrals. And when I say reward, I don't mean going out and buy them some, um, um, uh, gold plated watch or something along those lines.
[00:02:51] It could be something as, as a thank you. Uh, I used to give greeting cards to, to my clients when they made referrals. It could be [00:03:00] an Amazon gift card. It could be a gift card for the local coffee shop. Uh, whatever you feel most relevant. But, um, uh, earn, ask, reward, I say, is the, is the process I like to follow.
[00:03:14] James Breese: I love that. The, the reward side of things. Sorry, go on, go on, James, go. I'd say just on the reward side of things. I've, there's some, so many great examples of this. I think my favorite is Steve Keely's for Australia's. I think it was him that did this. He had a local burger place. They had the Steve Keely burger at, and then they used to, he used to do when people referred people to his business, he used to give people.
[00:03:34] A, uh, car to go for burgers and fries at that burger place. It's like, that's, that's one of the things you should do is like, Hey, thanks for referring me. Here's a free gift card to go and have a, have a, have a Keeley burger on me. Have a Keeley burger on me at his local burger place. It was, it was a great thing, uh, going on there.
[00:03:52] But like, it's, it's little gift cards that's personalized to them. That's the most important thing, I think. If they like coffee Great. And they, and they love Starbucks. Get 'em, get 'em [00:04:00] a get 'em a gift card for Starbucks. However, if they don't like coffee or they like coffee but hate Starbucks, don't get 'em my gift card because it's gonna have the a detrimental effect.
[00:04:08] So, but don't just incentivize with cash as a reward. I think that's really important. It's gotta be personalized to them in the sense of what it is. What do they like, get to know them, what do they like doing? Do they like going to the cinema, like going to certain things, but something that's nice for them that is beyond just a cash benefit.
[00:04:26] Josh Kennedy: Andrew, I'm sure you've got a couple of really good examples. Was it, um, Maxine, Maxine Hayes, who had a great example of referrals?
[00:04:33] Andrew Wallis: Yeah, I always remember. I always remember Maxine as the standout for me, um, uh, potential PT, uh, down in Linfield in Sussex, where she had a card and she, um, she understood business and she did, she had a great business head.
[00:04:49] I say great hat. I'm sure she still has a great business head. But, um, what really stood out for me was that she had this. She understood her client journey [00:05:00] shadow. It started with a welcome pack. She wowed them when they came into the business, but she equally had partnered up with all the local businesses as well.
[00:05:08] So that When clients were making referrals, they were given this referral card, similar size to a coffee, um, card, the cards that you get for your free coffees from any, uh, independent coffee shop. And each time, um, a referral was made, they would, they would be given a different gift, 10 levels on this card.
[00:05:32] And that gamification Uh, approach. You always wanted to get to that next level and they got up to, you know, there was weekends away. There was, um, um, fitness training apparel from, uh, from apparel from, um, sweaty Betty's. I think it was for the for the female clients and that. So there was, it grew to some substantial gifts, but she was able to do [00:06:00] that because of the number of referrals, and she knew her numbers, and she knew how much money she could reinvest into her business and into her clients as a, as a thank you.
[00:06:10] Uh, so that was, I would say, still to this day, the best referral reward scheme I've seen from, from her fitness
[00:06:18] James Breese: business owner. I love it as well, and it's just, just based on referrals. Don't just see referrals as something that you give to clients that come back to you. What I love to do is like welcome packs for people who come into, into the, into the world.
[00:06:29] So we're still developing ours because we're still developing the business model at the moment for the current one. But you almost want to do for your first month of training, the money they pay you, you want to invest back into them. So if they pay you, say a hundred pounds a month for gym membership, just as 90 or a hundred dollars, whatever it is, we want to give them something back to the value of 90 or so dollars.
[00:06:48] Not more so because we're investing in them for the long haul. So essentially, what, what welcome pack can you give them? Is it a t shirt? Is it a water bottle? Is it a hoodie? Is it something along, a mug? We give a Strength Matters mug [00:07:00] away to everybody who get them for the first time. Like, give them something of value and invest back into them to help start the referral process going.
[00:07:09] So they're feeling like this, this wow, oh my god, this is amazing. But we're referring, getting people to refer for us later online because we're wowing them at the start as well. Does that make sense? I'm trying, I hope I've just come in at the right time with this.
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[00:07:58] Andrew Wallis: today. Absolutely. And it's [00:08:00] something that I used to follow as well. The, um, going back way back to 2005, uh, when I'd started putting together my welcome packs, they were all printed individually from my home printer, uh, stapled, and then handed to the book because it was that physical element and it was different to perceived competition that right out the gate.
[00:08:21] I was wowing them with this. You know, this point of difference. Then over the course of the initial few weeks, they were getting a hand in educational handouts, how much importance of drinking water and things like that meal plans and all of that bundled together over and drip fed to them just And again, wowed them, um, and set me apart from the competition.
[00:08:48] They've got a water bottle and that all then leads into them, you know, wanting to refer, uh, when, when the time's right to, to ask for that makes people feel special. Right. [00:09:00] Absolutely. And it's personal training at the end of the day, isn't it? It's exactly, exactly
[00:09:06] Josh Kennedy: right. I mean, uh, yeah. I love a good t-shirt or mug.
[00:09:09] Indeed. Yeah. Should, should, in an ideal world, should referrals be the number one way you get clients rather than having to go out and attempt to find clients constantly? Ideal
[00:09:23] James Breese: world. One of the top three, I
[00:09:26] Andrew Wallis: think. Yeah, I agree with James. It should be one of our, but we should have more. We should have a number of, we shouldn't just depend on it.
[00:09:36] Uh, because that's when we could potentially struggle. Uh, we, we need to have additional marketing, um, tactics and strategies in place so that, um, we're consistently getting good quality leads from a number of different sources.
[00:09:50] Josh Kennedy: Yeah, cool. Could you, before we wrap up, uh, and you, could you just summarize key points from, uh, from today's podcast?
[00:09:59] Andrew Wallis: Yeah, key [00:10:00] points. Obviously, as I say, uh, referrals are extremely important as fitness professionals. Uh, but in, in generating them, we want to follow the, uh, uh, principle, uh, so in those referrals, look then to ask, uh, for the referrals once you've, um, You've earned the right to ask. Make sure you do a gentle ask as well, you know, and do it in a non intrusive way.
[00:10:26] Um, making it a natural part of the conversation is key. But then, once you get a referral given to you, make sure you recognize and reward a client for that, um, in doing so, and do it in a sincere way.
[00:10:43] Josh Kennedy: Fantastic. Thank you so much. Uh, hope this was useful for you all listening out there. That is it for today.
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