Fitness Business University Podcast

SPEAKER_00: What's up, guys?

Welcome to another episode.

I am just dropped my man Joey
off at judo, and I'm in the

parking lot recording a podcast
for you.

So I'm gonna make this one quick
so I can go in and watch him.

But uh the release of the new
book is around the corner, and

I've been working really hard to
put this together as fast as I

possibly can.

I pretty much finished the final
edits this morning for myself,

but one of the things I wanted
to share with you as an

additional part of the book that
I'm putting in there that I

think will be very helpful for
you is I really wanted so the

book is about getting gyms from
zero to twenty-five K to 25 to

50K.

That's what the purpose of the
book.

I remember I in the last podcast
I talked about the four stages,

and this book is pr pretty much
the manuscript on helping gyms

go from in between that number,
the numbers of zero and

twenty-five to twenty five to
fifty.

That's the purpose of the entire
thing.

So it really has nothing to do
with scaling to multiple

locations or anything like that.

It has everything to do with
just making more money at your

gym, so you can get past that
first stage of you doing

everything, right?

I'm not gonna get into it too
much today, but it's like you're

in that stage one, and you're
maybe you have a part-time

trainer that works for you, but
pretty much the business lives

and dies with you.

And the book is about I get into
in the beginning of the book, I

get into the tough part about
it, right?

The tough part about being in
that spot where it's totally

dependent on you, and it comes
with a lot of pressure and

stress, and people are there's
like an expectation of you for a

skill set that you don't have,
and things like finance and

things like marketing and things
like all this stuff, and like

you just were a trainer that
opened up a gym, and now all of

a sudden you have to know these
things, and it gets challenging

and hard.

And then at the end of the day,
a lot of people have the

financial issues, right?

Some people take on debt to open
a gym, some people just don't

make money in the beginning.

So there's the financial stress
on top of things, right?

And so there it's a lot, right?

To go from stage one to stage
two is not the easiest thing in

the world, and hence that's the
premise of the book.

And and the that's what the
eight profit levers are for that

I talked about in the last
podcast.

If you missed the eight levers,
I think I go over them in the

last podcast.

So what I wanted to do though in
the book, in the back of the

book, I really had this project,
and it's funny, like this is the

part of the book that I got most
excited about.

It's weird.

Like writing the book for me was
easy, right?

It's just like what I do, what I
teach and what I help guys do.

But this part of the book I got
like really excited about.

And what I wanted to do is I
started thinking about all the

people that started with me
between the those numbers,

between zero and 25k.

And because not everyone came to
me between zeros, there's some

guys that were doing more.

I had varsity house, Joe and Dan
from Varsity House, they were

like doing like just under a
million when they started with

me.

So they weren't, they were a big
business already.

But a lot of the guys started
with me at 5K, 7K, 9K, and some

of these guys are doing big
numbers now.

So I don't look at them as gems
that were so small.

I look at them, these big guys,
like Devin Gage started with me

not doing much money.

Giancarlo, John Darty, like none
of these guys when they started

were doing big numbers, and
they're doing massive numbers

now.

And the thing I wanted to start
to do was start to think about

who in my wheelhouse started at
zero, between zero and

twenty-five K, and who has now
gotten beyond that.

And so that's that those are the
so I only reached out to those

people and I basically asked
them to tell their story.

So I asked them to send me a
screenshot of their story.

Now, some of these people I
already had testimonials before,

but some of the testimonials
were from like a long time ago,

and I thought it'd be cool to
get some of their stories of

okay, where am I three, four,
five, some of them six years

later that they've been working
with me.

And it's been such a cool
project to see these

testimonials coming through.

And man, I'll tell you what,
yes, I get paid to do this,

right?

This is how I feed my kids,
right?

But at the end of the day, the
amount of joy that I got from

reading these testimonials was
really amazing, right?

I was wow, this is we're making
a difference not only in

people's businesses, but in
people's lives.

And I say we, it's just not me,
it's the team that I've put

together.

So when you get the book, you'll
be able to read the testimonials

and see some of the things that
people are saying.

Some people were in huge debt,
some people were broke, some

people were burnt out.

So a lot of people, it's funny,
a lot of people said ready to

quit, which I wasn't like very
sure that I was going to read

that from some of my top guys.

But yes, a lot were ready to
quit and throw in the towel.

And so, in the last like couple
weeks, since I've been getting

these testimonials, these have
been coming through, and uh it's

been just it's been absolutely
amazing to read these stories.

But my idea so that my idea for
you is one, it's hard to fake a

screenshot.

I can write a testimonial, and
there's all kinds of fake crap

out there that people make up
and with AI and everything like

that.

And I guess you could make up a
screenshot too.

Hopefully, people aren't doing
that, right?

But I like when I screenshot
this for people, it it's real,

right?

Some of these guys are going
long and deep.

Like some of the text messages
are like I have to take five

screenshots that the text
messages are so long.

But it just is going to show
people that one, everyone kind

of starts out in the crapper,
right?

Everyone starts out like with
not doing well, and that these

testimonials I think are going
to be a creative big inspiration

for people.

But my idea for you is that I
know that you have members of

your gym that probably love you,
and maybe they've even given you

a testimonial before or
something like that.

But there's something about
these text messages that have

been coming through that I think
people are like, they're I don't

know what it is, but they've
really been pouring their hearts

out.

I told them, and I did tell
them.

I specifically told them, I was
like, hey, I'm doing this book,

I'm writing this book, it's for
gyms that are doing zero to 25k.

That's where you were when you
started.

I'd love for you to share your
story for that.

So I think one of the reasons
why is people want to share the

story to help be inspired by the
people.

But you can take the same
concept at your gym, right?

Not just be like, hey, can you
give me a testimonial?

and they write some kind of
crappy thing, but to give them

the opportunity to send you
either a text message via via

your phone number or through
Facebook Messenger, as many of

the ones that I've gotten have
been through Facebook Messenger,

and to be able to just reply to
your email, reply to your

message with a screenshot, and
then you can basically take a

picture of it, and then you can
put this on Instagram, and you

can put these in your emails,
and you can put these pasted in

a book, and these never go away.

And what I've been seeing from
these stories has just been like

man, like crying type stuff.

So that's the first thing.

So try that exercise where you
just hey, just ask them to

respond to a test message and
then say have them say something

great and then screenshot it,
and then you can use it all

throughout your marketing
because it's really real.

Like when you screenshot
something, it's real.

The second thing is, and I did
this, and this is really

powerful.

The second thing I did is I
picked three of the top people,

and actually, some of them
you've heard because they've

because I put them out on this
podcast as well.

But let me give you the kind of
the thought process and the

strategy behind it.

So, what I did is I picked three
of the top people that I helped

go from zero to twenty-five K to
twenty-five to fifty K.

And I was like, all right, I
want to do long, drawn-out Zoom

interviews.

So I invited them on Zoom, and I
basically had about six

questions that I asked, and we
they led me through the story.

They led me through the pain
that they were in, they laid me

through the problems that they
had, they led me to where they

were, and then they painted a
picture of where they are now,

and then they painted a picture
of also what they did to get

there, which was of value to you
guys when you heard those

podcasts to be able to say, all
right, how did they do it?

What did they do?

Which might be useful for some
of your clients and in prospects

at your gym.

They might be useful to say,
hey, how did they actually do

it?

So I did these three Zoom
interviews and I just did them

on Zoom and we I just
transcribed the interviews, the

thing on Zoom where you can just
push a button and the

transcription comes up and you
might need to clean it up and

use chat to clean it up a little
bit.

But I literally just took those
transcripts and put them in the

back of the book.

And so now I think most people
are gonna read the screenshots

and stuff like that, but now if
someone wants to go deeper, I

they they can go deeper and read
these.

I call them case studies too,
right?

And so you can do these case
studies where there are

basically testimonials on
performance-enhancing drugs,

right?

That's what they are.

And the cool part about these
case studies is you can use them

in entirety, meaning like you
could put the whole thing in an

email, you could put a whole
thing in a book, you put the

whole thing wherever on your
website.

But you also can take little
chunks and little pieces of it

and pull a piece here and move a
piece there.

I've started to do that with my
emails, is taking little chunks

of some of the things that they
said and not being able to use

the whole entire transcript many
times over.

It's a concept called unused
capacity.

And so this is all this stuff I
know that if you're listening to

this day and you have customers,
you probably have customers that

really love you, and you
probably have customers that

would sit down with you and do a
deep dive interview.

The one thing I'll share that
you want to capture is this.

This is really important.

You do not want them to say how
great you are, you do not want

to say how awesome the trainers
are, the equipment, and all that

stuff, and it's a family here,
and all thing garbage like that,

right?

You don't want that.

And if you ask the wrong
questions, that's what you'll

get.

And if you ask them to do it,
that's probably what you'll get

too.

So there is gonna be some
guidance that you're going to

need to give them.

And here's the best thing that I
can share with you is that what

you want to tell them is you're
looking for a transformation.

That your story of losing 50
pounds or going from being an

alcoholic to not whatever their
story is, right?

Your story is to provide a
source of inspiration to the

person reading it.

They want I want the people to
read your story and be inspired

to work start working out, to
start coming out to my gym,

whatever you know you want to
tell them, right?

And that's really what you got
to explain to them is what

you're after.

You're not after I'm so great.

You're after the story, the
testimonial, the you almost

think like a movie, it started
out terrible, and then all of a

sudden this happened, and then
all of a sudden it's gone, it's

gone great.

Every movie kind of follows that
script.

This is what you want for your
testimonials.

So when you do these interviews,
you gotta ask the right

questions, right?

You gotta do a really good job
when you sit down with them in

these interviews of pulling out
the pain of where they were.

Right?

One of the one of the one of the
testimonials that I had with the

gym Jim from Boston, right?

They had the pain of just being
burnt out and working so much

and making no money.

It's just like the pain just got
really pulled out from what from

the questions that I was asking.

And so we were able to paint
this picture of what life was

like before.

And then as we go, we start
talking about what they did, and

there started to be some light
at the end of the tunnel, and

like things start to happen, and
all of a sudden, then there's

this boom, this after, which is
all right, here's where we are

today, and that specific couple
in Boston they were talking

about going to Spain for West
Coast for 19 days and being able

to go to Spain and get remarried
and like all kinds of crazy

after transformational type
stuff.

That is what you're always
after.

So even if it's someone giving
you a Google review, it's really

important for you to explain to
your customers and clients what

you want.

You have to train them, you have
to train your customers how to

refer you new clients, which I
actually talk about in the A

Profit Levers book.

But you also got to train them
how to give you a good

testimonial.

Do not leave it up to their own
devices.

Explain to them what a good
testimonial is.

And personally speaking, I'm
gonna give myself a little

credit for these testimonials
because I have trained my gym

gym owners, the guys that are
clients of mine.

I have trained them how to what
a good testimonial looks like,

to do that with their members.

And they know what it's like.

And so when I asked them for a
testimonial, what I was reading

is exactly what I've been
teaching them.

So it was really cool to see
them actually do it.

But I can't wait for you to read
some of these stories.

This is like legit, some of
these guys be in in the tank,

right?

Really, in the tank.

And some of those people
struggle for a long time.

Some people like we're just
starting out and we're at zero.

It's been really cool.

So I I the so two things, right?

One is ask some of your good
customers to respond, to text

them, and maybe it's a reason.

Maybe you're putting together a
like, and it doesn't have to be

a book.

You don't have to be writing a
book, but maybe it's just, hey,

we're trying to collect some
testimonials for our website.

Or we're and you and what you
can do is you like when I told

everyone I'm collecting specific
testimonials of people that went

from zero to past 25k.

You could say to your clients,
hey, I know that you lost like

over 20 pounds.

That's because I'm collecting
some I want some specific

testimonials of people that have
lost that amount of weight or

something like that, right?

So you can start to give them a
little bit of context and tell

them why you selected them and
ask them to do it, and then ask

them literally just to reply to
the message and then send it to

you, and then you screenshot it,
and then you can put it in all

these different places.

It will be helpful.

I did this, and this was another
really helpful thing.

One guy gave me a really good
one, and it was what I did was I

used his example, and when I
talked to the people, I

basically asked them, so hey,
here's like an example of one,

right?

So I'm giving you the
behind-the-scenes secrets from

that.

So I will say, I believe every
one of these testimonials are

100% real and from the heart,
and no one was bullshitting, and

these stories are true and real.

But I did ask them to do it.

They didn't the most of these
screenshots did not come

randomly out of the blue.

Some did, some did, and some of
those I included in there.

So I will say some did.

But a lot of the ones in the
book came from me asking them.

And there is nothing wrong with
that.

It's just like asking for
referrals.

Like you're going to get more
referrals if you ask for it.

You will get more testimonials
if you ask for it.

And I will say this if you
follow any Ciaudini's work, the

number one law of persuasion is
social proof.

So, guys, it's like this is big.

People are looking for this.

They want to see success
stories, they want to see people

like them having success.

Those are two ways to do it.

One is get those screenshots,
ask them to reply, screenshot

it, and then use them all
throughout your marketing.

That's why I like these
screenshots because you can use

them everywhere.

Your website, your social media,
their emails, your Facebook ads.

You can even use them in your
Facebook ads.

And you can even one of the ways
I'm going to use it is I'm going

to use in my video edits where
like I'll be talking, and all of

a sudden a screenshot will pop
up on the screen over that.

So you can use this in so once
you have them, you can use them

forever too.

And then the second one was the
interview format, right?

And doing a deep dive zoom
interview case study type thing

that I did and be able to make
sure that you're painting the

picture of where they were
before and where I'm not where

they are now.

So that is like a little deep
dive into what are you looking

for out of your customers with
in terms of social proof and

where to put it and how to use
it.

And hopefully that gives you a
couple different ideas to be

able to do it.

And then when the book comes
out, I yeah, 100% when the book

comes out, you should look at
this from an instructive point

of view, right?

Look at listen to this podcast
and look at what what I my

thought process behind it.

Listen to this podcast and then
go look at the testimonials.

Oh, and I'll be one last thing.

This is important.

And I'm actually teaching a
masterclass on this to my

clients uh in the mastermind on
in a couple days, and that is no

one's going to really read the
entire screenshot.

You gotta understand that.

I don't care if they read the
entire screenshot, but in every

screenshot and every testimonial
you get, there's usually one or

two things that stand out that
are like boom.

And you know, the big one for
me, the ones that I pulled out a

lot, is I went from X to X,
right?

And again, most of the people
that are gonna read this book

are gonna want to make more
money, right?

And so I want to paint the
picture of like where they were

from a revenue standpoint.

So it's like I was at 5k a month
and burnt out and stressed and

frustrated, so I added the
emotion to it.

Today I'm at 60K a month and
have more freedom and more cash

in my bank account than I never
ever had before, right?

And out of a big lump paragraph
of a testimonial, what you want

to do is what I call find the
gold.

What's the gold that somebody
can read?

It's like a headline in a
newspaper or a headline in a

subject line in an email.

It's like does it capture their
attention?

And does that line tell a story
right away?

Then they do they really not
even have to read the thing to

get it.

Right?

That's why before-after pictures
are so powerful, right?

Because you don't have to read
anything, you get it.

You see the picture before, you
see the picture after, and it's

like, yeah, I get it.

That person produced helped
produce a result for that

person, and it was a
transformation.

Right.

And so that's kind of what you
want to think about.

So that's the last thing is
understanding and how to pull

the most powerful thing said.

That comes with a little bit of
a marketing eye, right?

You want to think about the
problems that people have and

things like that.

So there's a little bit of skill
to that one.

But just think about the most
game-changing thing they say.

You're not gonna pull out the
trainers are really nice and put

that as a headline at the top.

You're not gonna do that.

You're gonna find the thing
that's gonna be like, oh yeah, I

want that.

So that is the last piece of it,
little bonus piece of advice for

you.

But every big lump paragraph
that you get as a testimonial,

there should be one line that
you pull out that you bold it

and make it in big letters, and
you quote it, and you put it at

the top of that thing, and
you're like, BAM, it stands out,

and that's like exactly what you
want someone to read.

And the goal is that they read
that headline, and it's that

enticing to them that they read
the rest of the story.

So that's it.

So those are my little mini
testimonial, social proof, case

study, deep dive masterclass.

I didn't think I was gonna go
this long today, but I gotta go

and see my man Joey throws some
people around and do ju judo,

not jujitsu.

He's doing judo on Mondays.

But this book has been an
unbelievable project.

As I said, the coolest part of
the project has been reading

these testimonials and doing
these things.

It's just an absolute, oh man.

I it's really it's very humbling
to see the lives of people that

have changed, and it's not just
like more money, right?

It's it is more money, but it's
like people telling me they've

become better fathers, people
telling me they've become better

husbands, it's like better
wives, like it people becoming

better human beings.

And you know, that that means
the most to me, right?

I want you guys to make money, I
want people to make money, but

if my myself and my team can
help people become better human

beings and they have a happier,
better life, shoot.

I'll go down easy knowing that
that we did a bunch of that in

our lifetime.

Thank you to all the people that
shared their stories.

Super grateful to you guys for
doing that.

It means the world to me to be
able to read that stuff, and it

is the ultimate currency that I
can get from the work that I do.

So super grateful, thank you.

And if you're listening to this
and you want to read the book,

it should be coming out soon.

I know it's a little teaser and
it's not out yet, but it will,

you'll know.

Trust me, you'll know when it's
out, and uh it's it's gonna be

out sooner than later.

Super excited for the release of
the eight profit levers.

Stay tuned for that, and I hope
you enjoyed and got some

insights on how you can get more
customers in your gym with

social proof.

Have an awesome day.

Appreciate you.

Hey guys, thanks for listening.

Don't worry, you don't have to
wait for the book to get help.

We just launched a new program
called Gym Business Accelerator.

And this is the program that
helps gyms go from zero to 25K

to 25 to 50K.

And if you are interested, if
you got inspired by some of the

stories you've heard, by the
some of the things I've been

saying lately on the podcast,
you're in that revenue range of

zero to 25k.

You want to take it to the next
level.

Just go ahead and click the link
in the show notes because

there's some info about our new
program, Gym Business

Accelerator.

We are currently working with
about 18 gyms in the program.

It is going swimmingly well, and
we are seeing some big moves and

big changes made.

So you don't need to wait for
the book to come out.

We can start helping you and
working with you right away.

The program goes for 60 days,
and I've really seen some great

results from people already.

Click that link in the show
notes, and we'll see you in

there.

Peace.