HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND SELLING FITNESS
Have you ever struggled telling your clients your prices or selling your services? I want to take a look at this piece through the lens of understanding behavior.
Value is defined as: “the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something”, and in this context you can catch a glimpse of this principle, money is simply a means to exchange values. You have something that I value, I give you money for it. You take that money and use it towards something you value.
As a coach it’s important to understand your own value so that you know exactly what it is that you are offering the people you work with. What exactly do you bring to the table? This is absolutely critical in how your own behavior affects your ability to sell fitness, because here’s the thing, if you don’t value what you do, don’t expect anyone else to.
So how do you know your value as a coach?
If you were my client who was struggling with this, I’d have you identify all the ways you are capable of helping people. Then we’d take it a step further and identify all the ways you’ve already helped people and what value that brought to their lives.
As coaches we often take what we do for granted. It’s automatic for us as we already walk the talk of the fitness lifestyle. But stop for a moment and recognize that you are shifting lives, physically empowering people and inspiring them through fitness. When you reflect upon the skill set you have as a coach and how that can transform someone, you can begin to really own the value you can offer someone. When you look at your past performance as a coach and see how you’ve already provided value, you start to embody that value.
So what value can you provide? Create the list.
That’s step one.
Step two is understanding and getting clear on where you don’t provide value. Let’s say you are an excellent coach who thrives at program design, but you have a client who is injured or needs some structural work. If you can’t offer that value to that client it is wise to be able to recognize it and refer out. Some coaches don’t enjoy admitting the boundaries, but more on this in a second.
The key point is here. When you know the boundaries of the value you can offer it gets you grounded in authenticity.
When you are not grounded in authenticity and attempt to work outside of your boundaries, YOU don’t even buy into it because you have to put on a persona (or mask) in order to sell it. The joke is that you actually have to sell it to yourself first and then your clients. You are pretending to be something that you are not, often times for fear of losing a client if you don’t have all the answers. But think about this, your clients will sense this anyways. Think of the times when you’ve felt someone was handing you a line of BS. They end up overselling you on a product; you feel their in-authenticity and trust is completely eroded.
So go back now to knowing your boundaries. When you refer out you end up building trust with your clients because they know they can trust you to stay in your lane and provide the value that you are adept at providing. You also don’t have to sell it to yourself. When you stay in your lane, you are providing value that you KNOW you can provide and that you EMBODY. This is evident when you are sharing information with your clients because it flows from you effortlessly, they feel the authenticity, you feel congruent and the trust grows.
This all equates to confidence. You have confidence in your results because you know like you know like you know that what you have to offer is VALUABLE. You know your lane and you are an expert within it. Outside of it, you know how and who to refer out to. No personas are necessary. You are just being you.
And true value lies here. Someone always wants what you have to offer. You then won’t have any trouble telling people what your prices are or selling them your services because you deeply believe in the value you can offer them and you speak with integrity.
Sharon Prete
CCP Life Coaching Co-Conductor
