I had an interesting conversation with a woman, a regular reader of these emails, the other day.
I asked her for suggestions for future content and she offered a couple of ideas. On a side note, if you have suggestions, please let me know. I love feedback!
Her suggestion was along the lines of staying ahead of the competition. Sound familiar? Does this hit close to home? It does for most fitness business owners.
Staying ahead of the competition starts with a simple question, what do you do?
Really, what do you do?
How do you answer that question when a complete stranger asks?
It’s the foundation of your business. It is, or should be, the foundation of all your marketing efforts.
If you have crafted your answer carefully, your competition has no chance.
Let’s put a label on it and call it your value proposition or unique value proposition. In short how do you create value for your customers, clients and members.
The fitness business has a very difficult time with this and most value propositions look exactly like the competition down the road.
Fitness businesses usually tout their machines, programs, square footage and a bunch of other things that really mean NOTHING to most of their customers. Some even brag about how long they have been in business.
News flash: these are of little interest to 99% of your paying customers.
They care about themselves, not your features and benefits.
They care about the outcomes and transformations your programs have created in their lives.
Step #1 in figuring this out is to ask your customers what they get out of your programs. But you must listen to what they are really, really saying.
A word of caution. This is not easy to do, and I have had clients with years of experience, and declining market share, experience tremendous anxiety and frustration with this exercise.
Step #2 is to take this information and craft your message in a way that resonates with potential new clients, members and customers.
Then you are prepared to answer the question, what do you do. Then you are have started to separate yourself from the competition.
