Justin is a Winner!   Business Success According to . . .   Tips to Improve Selling!   Training Your Sales Team   Guerrilla Marketing Tip #23   On-line Job Ads = Marketing   Rewards for taking Your Business Green   Emails with Punch	Playing Music Will Cost You More   Oz & NZ Employee Survey   FitnessBiz is On!   Firms of Endearment II   Win Your Inside-Out Guide to Personal Branding!   Between Now & Then for Justin

Justin is a Winner!

Last month at Australia's Filex convention, Justin was awarded the Australian Fitness Network Presenter of the Year. Humbled by the award, Justin was very excited to receive it. He never thought that going to University to be a PE Teacher would lead to an amazing career, wonderful opportunities and meeting incredible people!

This award now goes with the Fitness Australia's Presidents Award that he received in 2005.

Business Success According to . . .

Heather Rose, the Executive Chairman of Green Team Australia - an company who helps clients market to clients who choose which product to purchase based on environmental concerns. Heather suggests:

• Whatever we do in business that undermines the health & well-being of people ultimately undermines the long term health of our economy
• Being open to new ideas, new solutions and being willing to simplify & adapt is essential to maintaining a healthy business
• Sometimes talking to customers, rather than emailing, goes a long way
• Find good mentors, seek good advice and always be willing to learn
• Develop a brand with integrity. If you brand is respected, staff will seek you out & people will want to be your clients!

Tips to Improve Selling!

• Be unique - from your Front Desk to any messages you are leaving.
• Never make a call without a purpose.
• Ask twice as many questions as statements you make.
• Selling is the transfer of trust, so work on trust first and the sale second! Strong trust will trump the price every day!
• Never quote price until you establish value.
• Things that get measured get done. Have a strong sales tracking systems both of statics and also leads.
• Have a sales mentor within the organisation and learn from them
• People are different. Sell accordingly.
• Role play & practice. A canned presentation will never go over well, so make sure you are confident in what you say and tailor the presentation to the individual - they are all different!

Helping Create Change

Many years ago I met an awesome sales trainer. Her name Casey Conrad and as promised last month Casey is going to provide us some tips on having a quality and strong sales team.

Casey Conrad has been in the health and fitness industry for 25 years. She is the author of over 20 different books, audios and videos/dvd's on sales, marketing and management. You can receive free audio training and e-tips from Casey by registering for her Club Sales Secrets newsletter at www.HealthClubSalesTraining.com

This month click here for Casey tips

If you want more I highly recommend checking out Casey's exciting E-Marketing Course! It is great value with enormous take home value. To see what it involves click here for a sample.

I hope you enjoy the next few months of Casey's articles.

Guerrilla Marketing Tip #23

This month's tip from the father of Jay Conrad Levinson relates to the timing of our marketing. To make sure we get it right keep to these suggestions:

• You've created the perfect mailing package, but it arrives too early in the week, when your prospect is thinking of the week ahead -- or too late, when your prospect is thinking of the upcoming weekend. Moral: See to it that your mailing arrives on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
• You've got a fine product but a limited budget and a lot of competition. What to do? Do your marketing when your competitors have eased up and you can gain the largest share of mind with the smallest marketing investment. Maybe that will be during what are deemed the slow months. But it's when you can attract the most attention the fastest.
• Be careful not to launch your marketing too soon. One of the most common errors in marketing is to promote before all the bugs have been worked out, before the salespeople know all the facts, and before you are ready to fill the flood of orders and engage in guerrilla follow-up. Remember that patience is a guerrilla virtue.
• Telemarketing calls that don't get through or that reach answering devices are wastes of time and money. Find out when your prospects are most likely to be at the phone, and then do your telemarketing. It may be at 11:00 a.m. to businesses and 6:30 p.m. to homeowners. The first goal of a phone call is to reach the prospect.
• Never be in a rush to create your marketing materials. Keep in mind that to develop them, you are faced with three variables -- speed, quality and economy. You may select any two, but not all three. Guerrillas opt for quality and economy every time. Timing also refers to tying in with the news of the moment, with what's on your prospect's minds, and with what your competitors are doing. Guerrilla timing can make the difference between a campaign fizzling or flourishing.

On-line Job Ads = Marketing

Internet Job Boards let businesses place their own job advertisements on-line using self-service. Job-seekers visit and find vacancies by searching (e.g. "show me all the ads for receptionists in Sydney metro") or they set automatic email alerts for jobs that meet their pre-set criteria.

Job-seekers search and look for a job 'abstracts' that matched their needs. It's your 'hook' to grab their attention. Remember, unlike print media, you're not restricted. So you have plenty of room to detail the vacancy, address key criteria and benefits plus promote your organisation as a great place to work.

10% click-through is average - less than this is a sign that you need to reconsider your 'abstract'. Is it compelling enough? Does it speak to applicants' interests?

Of the 10% or so who actually read your ad, only about 10% will make an application� that's 1 in 100 of those who 'eyeballed' your abstract. But the sheer numbers of 'eyeballs' is what makes this the most effective way of finding applicants. Again, if applications are less than 1% of 'eyeballs', you're doing something wrong.

Your Job could be viewable for about 30 days but it will slip down the search results page as it ages and the newer ads will be shown at the top. So place it on a Monday or Wednesday On-line job-seekers use their employer's time, not their weekends!

Brand, position and promote your job vacancies in the same way you do your product or service and you will see massive increase in applicants

Rewards for taking Your Business Green

Companies that adopt a pro-environment policy will see numerous positive results, both tangible and intangible. For example:

• Earn publicity with the local, regional or even national media
• Uniquely differentiate themselves from competitors
• Attract the interest of top job candidates
• Attract consumers in the rapidly-growing green marketplace
• Transform their companies into industry leaders
• Reduce operating costs
• Create brand distinction and recognition
• Create significant competitive advantage
• Attract top job candidates & enhance employee satisfaction
• Become preferred vendors in green supply chains
• Build credibility with stakeholders
• Attract investors

Emails with Punch

If you avoid these fatal errors when emailing you will get a greater response rate:

• Forget the generic subject lines - be as specific as possible.
• Too chatty - forget the 'Hi how are you?' and tell them in the first line why you are emailing them
• Vagueness - Make it easy for the reader to work out not only why you are emailing them but also what they need to do in response to reading your email.
• Informality - always use proper grammar and spelling

Playing Music Will Cost You More

There is trend that could sweep the world in creating an ambience in a health club . . . silence!

Fitness Australia is currently fighting PPCA on what the changes to the license fee to play music will be. But the scary thing is that once this has been achieved in Australia, it will have serious repercussions around the world. If the Australia Fitness Industry looses this battle, look at what could happen to your club

Current Licence Scheme - Tariff per group exercise class

Proposed Licence Scheme - Tariff per Member

This is a huge challenge the industry faces that will affect EVERY fitness business in the world. To find out more go to www.operationmusic.org.au

Oz & NZ Employee Survey

This month I was chatting to the guys at Sportspeople who are conducting a survey on mapping employment and salary trends in Australia & New Zealand.

"In many ways the data collected from the 2003 Sportspeople Workplace Survey was designed to set the foundation for comparison in future years. This year we have added a number of new survey questions as well as broadened the survey to include sport, fitness and aquatics across both Australia and New Zealand. We plan to conduct the Sportspeople Workplace Survey annually as the benchmark measure of employment and salary trends in the sector," Mr McMurtie said.

The 2008 Sportspeople Workplace Survey results will be published later this year. Click here to complete the survey now!

FitnessBiz is On!

After the huge success of FitnessBiz in 2007, we are back in August this year with 2 new speakers to our faculty. It will be an awesome half day event and perfect for club owners and managers and staff so that can take ownership of the club and allow owners to empower. It is also ideal for personal trainers as we explain marketing your business and goal setting!

It is a great half day. To find out more click here

To make sure you don't miss the Early Bird offer and save 10%, click here

Firms of Endearment II

Last month I shared the secrets of Patagonia and why they are an employer of choice. This month, let's check out what The Container Store in the US does:

• All new Team members start with a weeklong orientation: Foundation Week, where the store manager will spend one full day with them.
• Financial statements are available for all employees to look at, even though it is privately owned
• Tagline: 'Contain yourself'
• Staff encouraged to "Think outside the box'
• They have a 'Fun Committee'
• 241 hours of training in year one compared with 7 as the industry standard and then 160 hours each year thereafter.

Fortune ranked The Container Store number 1 in 2000 & 01, number 2 in 2002 & 03 and three in 2004, company to work for

Win Your Inside-Out Guide to Personal Branding!

			WIN... Apprentice to Business ACE - your inside-out guide to personal branding This month you can win this awesome book from Sue Currie. It is ideal for personal trainers, club managers and Club owners. Everyone can benefit from this book! And here is why . . . Most people want to succeed in business but don't realise that the ACE up their sleeve is often themselves. Never underestimate the immense power of communication, attitude, image, self-branding and personal marketing. In Apprentice to Business Ace, learn about your personal brand and how to leverage it for prolonged success. Looking good is important for you and your business and this stand-out communication and presentation guide by experts and leaders in their fields, will help you to present a confident, trustworthy, consistent and professional personal brand. To order your copy delivered to your door download order by clicking here To win your copy forward this e-news! The more you forward it the more chance you have of winning! The winner will be announced in the June E-news.

Between Now & Then for Justin

And just to show Justin really was in Argentina. What an awesome experience and thanks to everyone who made my stay so wonderful! Buenos Aires is a great city with some awesome shopping - I think I added too much to the Argentinean economy! And what great steaks . . . yum!

Over the next 4 weeks I will be conducting 4 Round Table meetings in the Gold Coast, Sydney, Perth & Canberra. These 2 days meetings are the most powerful 2 days club owners spend every 4 months. The information and decisions made shape the future of their businesses.

If you are interested in finding out how you can join a Round Table in your State or Country, drop me an email now

Don't forget . . . between now and then book for FitnessBiz 08, so you get the Early Bird 10% saving!