playbook

Transcription

playbook

dotFIT™ Success System
PLAYBOOK
Table of Contents
A Letter from the Founder
3
Section 1: How to use this playbook
5
Section 2: Establish your vision of success
6
Section 3: Program positioning strategies
10
Section 4: Establish your goals
25
Section 5: Leading the team to success – The 5 C’s
37
Section 6: Team players and roles
45
Section 7: Getting ready for kickoff – Installation Guide
59
Section 8: dotFIT Arsenal
70
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Product Merchandising and Sampling
•
Effectively Positioning the Product Home Delivery Service
•
How to set up a dotFIT Kiosk in your club
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Testimonials
•
Transformation Contests
•
Effective Staff Training Strategies
•
Online marketing and other resources
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Suggested Reading
•
5 Steps to Better Selling
•
Fitness Orientations
•
Program Enrollment Scripts
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Basic Coaching Skills
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Me Program 4 session coaching outline
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Me Program and 90 day Weight Loss 12 session coaching outline
•
Trial Me Program Enrollment Steps
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How to create a new Me Program
•
How to log food in your Me Program
•
How to create a Home Delivery Order
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How to create a new Staff or Trainer Account
dotFIT™ Success System PLAYBOOK
Page 2 A Letter from the Founder: dotFIT helps you connect the dots.
Whatever your goal, fitness level, or age, your solution is here. My name is Neal Spruce and I am here to welcome you to the future of fitness, which for you is
here and now. You have just arrived at your organization’s final destination for sports and
fitness.
Whether you’re working with a parent whose eight year-old baseball or basketball (or any other
sport) player wants to be faster, maximize growth potential, and know how and what to eat on
game day and all others; a non-exerciser trying to drop a few pounds (or a lot of pounds); a
senior citizen desiring to live a longer more productive life; or a professional athlete trying to
maximize size and performance – and everyone in between – we’ve got you covered.
Our team –which is really your team—is a coalition of sports and fitness experts who, like many
of you, have “been there, done that” and are now driven to share what works with the masses.
With these leaders at your side we are dedicated to helping you achieve a single outcome:
provide proven DO-ABLE methods of achieving performance and fitness goals for anyone no
matter the obstacles. In other words, we are the behind-the-scenes resource here to help you
help your customers connect the dots, allowing you to effectively deliver fitness on their terms
with your brand.
With this web-platform and partnership, you can confidently assert that their goal is within
reach, and you can help them do it THEIR WAY. The guarantee you can offer: They will reach
their goal or understand why they did not.
A 21st century fitness/weight control paradigm
Because of our country’s current overweight crisis, we formed a “Fitness Think Tank” to study
all the current diet and fitness propaganda or what we like to call “noise” or “clutter”. This
includes programs both good and bad, magazines, books, professional advice, and more. We
looked at why people are unable to follow today’s diet and exercise recommendations, and
suddenly it became very clear to us why it’s so hard or impossible to achieve or maintain fitness.
Who do you listen to? And if you don’t know who to listen do, how do you start?
Current recommendations are so intimidating you would have to be a professional athlete to be
motivated enough to even come close to adhering to them. Extra time is impossible to find,
exercise isn’t fun, and “dieting” ends up being painful and eventually fruitless. The “noise” was
so LOUD, even we were momentarily paralyzed before we realized the answer has always been
right in front of us. We had to stop listening so we could FINALLY ask the right question: what
can our members and clients do that doesn’t require constant motivation or a lifestyle change?
It became clear that if we want to reverse our society’s current overweight trend, we must “fit the
solution to a person’s lifestyle” rather than fitting the person to a solution. There’s no magic to
fitness – in fact the simplicity of fitness almost explains why it has been so elusive for most
Page 3 adults once they become unfit. Every person was a fit at one time, and no one told them how to
do it – it just happened. Much the same way fitness undid itself in adulthood.
So let’s start there. No matter what, everyone has to move and eat. All you need to do is teach
your members and clients how to balance the two so they can get and/or remain fit. Starting
from that point, the rest just falls into place. After all, fitness does not have be a lifestyle change,
just a minor adjustment. It can be as simple as moving anyway you can in your current, normal
day, and eating whatever you eat now in the right amounts. Or it can be as complicated or
structured as you want it to be, or anything in between.
For anyone who struggles with weight control, today is a new day. With your help, whether they
want to lose that last bit of troublesome fat, a whole lot of fat, or want to keep from becoming
the average overweight adult, it’s a new game – their game. The mantra we must empower them
with: Your food is your diet and your life is exercise. And remember that by faithfully using the
tools, resources and support we are committing to you, you will always be able to guarantee this
to anyone who seeks your help: You will reach your performance or fitness goals or know
exactly why you didn’t.
Finally, from the staff of dotFIT World Wide, including the National Academy of Sports
Medicine (NASM), welcome to the dotFIT family. You are now empowered to help anyone
anywhere reach their personal goals, stay fit and perform better. We appreciate your role in
helping make the world a healthier place. You are the key – you are the messenger and
protector of our most precious asset: health and fitness – and you have made it affordable and
unintimidating for everyone. Together we will help all of our communities connect the dots.
Our family is your family. And dotFIT is Your Fitness. Connected.
Yours in health,
Neal Spruce
Founder & CEO
dotFIT Worldwide
Page 4 Section 1: How to use this playbook
Welcome to the dotFIT Success System Playbook. This is your guide to everything dotFIT –
from defining your vision, to developing and leading your team, to marketing and promotions
and a step-by-step process from installation to administration.
Dive into it, make notes, highlight, brainstorm, and push the envelope of what’s possible.
Combine these proven strategies with the passion, heart and resolve to be successful.
The Importance of Using a Proven System
As the saying goes, Confidence and courage come through preparation and practice. Whether
you are new to the industry or an experienced veteran, this playbook will not only guide you
along the path to success, it will also steer you away from the pitfalls and mistakes that others
who have taken this path before you have made.
That’s what a SYSTEM is all about: Saving Your Self Time, Energy and Money.
dotFIT not only provides the system for success in your business, it also provides the proven,
evidence-based system for your clients and will help them achieve lasting results.
Take Ownership
While it is our goal to provide for you the ultimate fitness vehicle, we are simply the behind-thescenes engine. It’s up to you to put it into your vehicle, get behind the wheel and drive it. Use
this playbook as your map and inspiration to achieve great things in your community.
Explore. Learn. And most importantly, have fun. Don’t worry about making mistakes. As
Samuel Smiles once said, “He who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” We look
forward to helping you in any way we can, and we want to hear about your discoveries and
successes with dotFIT.
Page 5 Section 2: Establish your vision of success
What, exactly, do you want to achieve? Is it measureable? How will you know when you get
there?
Conceptually, growing any business is very simple. You can:
1. Increase the number of customers or clients
2. Increase the average purchase amount per customer or client
3. Increase the frequency at which they return and buy again
Increase one of the above, and you’ll increase revenues incrementally. Increase two or even all
three at once, and you’ll see exponential growth because they start to compound on one
another.
The exciting part is that by properly incorporating the dotFIT offerings into your business, you
can benefit from all three and experience exponential growth!
Your dotFIT Vision: Results or Revenue?
The dotFIT platform is typically utilized by individuals and organizations that either want to
improve the results their clients are achieving, increase revenues and profitability, or both.
Clarifying your “dotFIT Vision” is important because it will ensure that your program and
product offerings are structured and presented in a way that makes that vision a reality.
No matter what your “dotFIT Vision” is, the dotFIT platform provides all of the various
components needed for success. The Me Program, the dietary supplements, the fitness
accessories, the online community, education, and the in-club or virtual coaching and support
services are all designed to support each other and your business.
dotFIT is the holistic solution.
Page 6 What follows is an overview of how you can use dotFIT to improve client results, generate more
revenue from new profit centers, and generate more revenue from existing profit centers. After
you establish your primary vision for dotFIT within your business, the Playbook will then
outline proven program positioning strategies to help you achieve that vision, and finally, a goal
setting process for your business and your trainers/fit pros.
As you read through this, be sure to take a moment and write down your vision and how you
would like to accomplish it. It will serve you well during the goal setting process.
•
Improved client results
Unfortunately, buying a gym membership does not guarantee that success or even progress
will follow.
Why? Because what’s missing from most fitness-related purchases is a specific plan based
on the person’s needs and goals. What’s more, measuring progress, making appropriate
adjustments and utilizing systems for accountability are rarely incorporated effectively, if at
all.
If your organization’s goal is to maximize your service and improve the results of your
members, incorporating four to twelve week dotFIT Me Programs into your offerings is the
way to go. We’ll share some recommended program structures later, but for now, answer
these questions:
1. How many people would you like to see participate in the Program?
- This could be determined as a percentage of new customers, or as a percentage of
your current customer base
2. How many of those that participate would you like to see successfully attain their
goal?
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Increased revenues from new or existing offerings
A healthy business, by definition, must be profitable. If extra revenue is part of your goal,
where do you want to see these revenues coming from?
You can either add new profit centers, or leverage your existing ones.
New Profit Center Revenue. A profit center is a distinct department or unit that
generates profit for the organization. If you are a health club, there usually comes a point
one to three years into your club’s lifespan where it seems as though the number of new
members you add each month is only replacing the members you lost last month.
Developing a profitable health club solely based on membership dues alone is a tough thing
Page 7 to do. In fact, a popular health club consultant states that membership dues/EFT should
cover your base operating expenses, and the profit centers (such as dotFIT Me Program
coaching, personal training, dotFIT dietary supplement sales, and juice bar sales) are what
will make you profitable.
If you are a trainer, you know that there are only so many hours a day and clients per hour
that you can physically service before you either burn out or burn up. The ability to connect
dozens, and even hundreds, of clients to the virtual extension of your services through your
online dotFIT platform adds a powerful tool to your toolbox. Imagine having 20 to 50
clients you personally train in the club, but hundreds who you stay in connection with
through your own online dotFIT virtual gym and coaching platform. The subscriptions they
purchase and the dotFIT products they order via home delivery are great ways to
incrementally grow your business, your commissions and your impact. This represents a
huge win for the club as well.
You can use one or all of the profit centers dotFIT offers, depending on how much you want
to leverage.
•
There are 5 potential profit centers that you have access to through dotFIT:
1. Online Me Program subscriptions
2. Products sold in your club or facility
3. Products sold via home delivery
4. In-club nutrition coaching and/or training (by a dotFIT Certified Trainer)
5. Online/virtual dotFIT Coaching (by a virtual dotFIT Coach)
Questions:
1. How much monthly revenue would you like to consistently generate?
- The average dotFIT facility generates $2,500 - $5,000 per month in both
program and product revenue within their first 12-18 months after integrating
the systems. The blended margin range is between 20%-40% after commissions
- It is not uncommon to see well-run organizations generate in excess of $15,000 $20,000 in dotFIT revenue per month! (What separates the average clubs from
the top-performers? Check out Section 5: Leading your team to success - The 5
C’s)
2. Where would you like to see that revenue come from?
- What would be ideal for you? Programs? Products? Subscriptions?
- Keep in mind that program participation also drives product purchases, because
each program participant is provided customized product recommendations
based on their needs, health history and goals. So even if your goal is to sell more
products, you can increase your product revenue potential by getting more people
involved in programs.
Page 8 Existing Profit Center or Membership Dues Revenue. What if you have a profit
center such as personal training that is already doing well, but you’d love to see if you can
drive more people to purchase that service without discounting it?
That’s where you can use dotFIT as a driver of other profit centers.
Similar to a loss-leader approach, you can use select dotFIT offerings such as the Me
Program, online nutrition coaching or the 90 Day Weight Loss Solution as a valuable addon, which in turn will increase the price point and number of people participating in your
personal training services.
This strategy can also increase the number of memberships you sell each month. If people
come to see you for nutrition guidance and assistance for the purpose of losing weight, but
your business model was not built to administer the nutrition coaching in-house, include a
90 Day Weight Loss Solution kit and/or a dotFIT Me Program subscription that includes
online support from a dotFIT Virtual Coach with the purchase of a membership or personal
training package. It’s a win-win because they get the nutritional, supplementation and
accountability support they need, while you can focus on what you are the best at and profit
nicely.
•
Existing profit centers or membership dues that dotFIT can positively impact:
o Increased personal training participation and revenue by adding nutrition and
supplementation services
o Increased group exercise participation and revenue by adding nutrition,
supplementation and complimentary exercise programming services
o Increased membership dues revenue by selling results, not just memberships
o Increased dietary supplement and fitness accessories revenue by selling products in
the club and via online home delivery
Questions:
1. How much monthly revenue would you like to consistently generate?
- The average dotFIT facility generates $2,500 - $5,000 per month in both
program and product revenue within their first 12-18 months after integrating
the systems. The blended margin range is between 20%-40% after commissions
- It is not uncommon to see well-run organizations generate in excess of $15,000 $20,000 in dotFIT revenue per month! (What separates the average clubs from
the top-performers? Check out Section 5: Leading your team to success - The 5
C’s)
2. Where would you like to see that revenue come from?
- What would be ideal based on your goals? Programs? Products? Subscriptions?
- Program participation also drives product purchases, so even if your goal is to sell
more products, you can increase your product revenue potential by getting more
people involved in programs
Page 9 Section 3: Program Positioning Strategies
Now that you have your vision, it’s time to begin formulating your specific goals and plan for
achieving them.
There are countless ways that you can leverage the various dotFIT platform offerings that will
either directly or indirectly drive your service offerings, participation, customer results,
retention, referrals and profitability. The dotFIT platform is your virtual gym that never closes,
has no geographical or staffing limitations and supports your brand.
You have a choice between two primary approaches:
1. In-house service model
2. Outsourced (or client self-service) model
The in-house service model is built for businesses that want to provide onsite, in-club service
from their own dotFIT Certified Trainers/Fit Pros. The benefits of this approach include full
control of the customer experience, the ability to seamlessly integrate dotFIT programming into
current services such as personal training, a greater potential for creating the all-important
Page 10 “culture” within your organization, and full control of the price points for rendered services
performed in-house. This model does require that your trainers/fit pros become dotFIT
Certified and maintain their mastery of program administration by utilizing all available
educational materials provided by dotFIT.
The outsourcing model, on the other hand, is built for businesses that don’t want to provide the
hands-on, in-club service from their own trainers. If you don’t want your trainers to deliver
nutrition coaching, or if you don’t have any trainers at all, this approach may be best suited for
you. There is no Certification requirement for your staff because in this model, you outsource
the service of all online nutrition coaching to the dotFIT Virtual Coaches, who are dotFIT
Certified.
Can you do both? Absolutely. In fact, if your primary model is built around the in-house service
approach, but you find yourself temporarily short on Certified trainers/fit pros needed to
perform the coaching your customers are purchasing, you can funnel all “overflow” coaching to
the dotFIT Virtual Coaches, and you maintain your full revenue share. This means you are
completely scalable!
Program Positioning
Here are the three most popular and proven ways you can position your dotFIT platform
offerings, and how to integrate both in-house and outsourced services.
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At the Point-of-Sale
At the Fitness Orientations
At the retail stand
Let’s take a closer look at each.
At the Point-of-Sale (POS):
Position your dotFIT solutions to all new members and all prospects
This strategy has the biggest upside revenue and service potential due to the volume of
prospective customers, but it does require small adjustments to your current POS offerings
in order to make it effective.
Here’s the idea: Rather than simply offering membership options at the POS, and then
trying to up sell them on services that could ensure their success later, your team now
presents solutions that may include memberships up front, while they are the most
motivated to take action and achieve their goals.
Page 11 This focus on providing solutions that include a membership, rather than memberships
without solutions, will drive new membership sales while giving you the option of also
increasing Personal Training participation. It also positions you as your community’s fitness
resource.
Here’s how to position both in-house and outsourced solutions to new members and even
prospects that haven’t joined the club yet:
For all new club members:
The club representative presents the following in-house or outsourced dotFIT solution
options as part of the results membership package. This “virtual gym membership” is as
important as the traditional gym membership because it gives the member an exact plan for
when they are at the club, at home, on vacation and anywhere they go.
In-house Options:
•
Nutrition Coaching
• 4 weekly Nutrition Coaching sessions with a dotFIT Certified Fit Pro
• One 45 min, plus three 15-min follow up sessions
• Trainer will provide customized program printout
• Upgrade option: Member has the option of becoming a subscriber
and take advantage of the first 30-days for free
• SRP: $89
• Pricing bundled in to membership enrollment fee
• Sales person commission: 10%
• Trainer compensation: $45, plus product commissions and an
opportunity to up sell additional sessions or personal training
•
Nutrition Coaching with personal training
• Same format and upgrade option as above, but session time is
“baked” in to the club’s current personal training package offerings
• SRP: $89
• Pricing bundled in to personal training package purchase and/or
membership enrollment fee
opportunity to up sell additional sessions
Page 12 Outsourced (or client self-service) Options:
•
Online dotFIT Plan Subscriptions
• Monthly, quarterly or yearly options
o SRP: $9.95/mo, or $99.95/year
o Member pays for subscription via website, club receives revenue share
• 30-day free trial on each of the above, can cancel at anytime
• Family subscriptions will be available soon
*14-day trials are also available as a last resort for members who do not
have credit card information readily available. Unlike the 30-day trial, this
14-day “mini trial” does not require entry of the members’ payment
information, nor does it give the member a 20% discount on all of their online
product purchases
•
dotFIT Virtual Coach options
• FIT Plus Plan (4 phone coaching sessions with a dotFIT virtual Coach and 12
wk subscription)
o SRP: $99.85 (installment plans available online)
• Weigh the Weight Away (daily email coaching with a dotFIT virtual Coach
and 12 wk subscription)
o SRP: $47.90
•
90 Day Weight Loss Solution Kit
• 12 week “weight loss in a box” solution
• SRP: $99 (or can be bundled with membership enrollment fees)
Other considerations:
When the new member joins and subscribes to the online dotFIT Me Program, the club
can offer an incentive, such as a rebate on the enrollment fee, $5 off the club’s monthly
membership rates or even a complimentary personal training session as a way of
rewarding the new member for taking their results seriously and making it a priority
right from the start.
Page 13 What does an online subscriber get?
• 20% off dotFIT product orders (you must complete your
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subscription purchase before you'll see the discount applied - be sure to save your payment information as a Billing
Profile during check-out)
Daily targets for how many calories you should burn and eat to
get to your goal
Daily calories burned – with or without a body monitoring
device
Food logging and breakdown (you don’t have to log food)
Multiple lifestyle menus designed by registered dietitians
(optional)
CalorieKing™ food database of over 50,000 foods and easy-touse search tool
Unlimited cardio and weight training plans
Customized dietary supplement recommendations
Continuous feedback to stay on goal
Option to add a body monitoring device to track calories
burned, steps and activity (coming soon)
Extensive community platform – message boards, videos,
webchats (coming soon)
Reports and daily journaling
Access to extensive library of weight loss, fitness, nutrition,
performance, senior, youth and women’s health topics
Various personal coaching options - email, phone or a live
Certified Fitness Professional
First 30 days are free. No commitment. Can cancel anytime
Page 14 For all club prospects who haven’t joined the club yet:
All prospects that haven’t yet joined the club should be presented various solutions the club
offers before they leave. These options include both in-house and client self-service
programs that they can “take with them” and use anywhere, even if they never join the club.
In-house Options:
•
Nutrition Coaching
• SRP: $89
• No membership required
opportunity to up sell additional sessions or personal training and even a
membership down the road
•
• Same format and upgrade option as above, but session time is
“baked” in to the club’s current personal training package offerings
• SRP: $89
• Pricing bundled in to personal training package purchase; no membership
required
opportunity to up sell additional sessions and even a membership down
the road
Outsourced (or client self-service) Options:
•
o SRP: $9.95/mo, or $99.95/year
• No club membership required
Page 15 *14-day trials are also available as a last resort for members who do not
product purchases
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wk subscription)
o SRP: $47.90
•
• SRP: $99
This is presented as a “thank you” for visiting and as a reflection of the club’s efforts to be
the community’s trusted fitness resource. The prospect simply chooses which solution
best fits their unique needs and goals, and the club representative can help them get
started.
If the prospect decides to enroll in a subscription (even the 30-day trial), it’s a good idea
for a club representative (Trainer or Sales Counselor) to check in on the trial member
before their trial period is up to ensure they are getting results, and if appropriate, invite
the prospect back to the club for additional support.
The club can also offer a free session with a dotFIT Certified Fit Pro even if they never
join the club, so that the Fit Pro can show them how to use their dotFIT Me Program,
customize menus, perform the exercises at home, while building a relationship with the
prospect, which may lead to selling personal training and supplements as needed.
Page 16 At the Fitness Orientation (FO):
Position your dotFIT solutions for prospective and current personal
training clients
A personal trainer’s primary goal is to help guide members to achieve the results they came
to the gym for. Typically, the biggest missing link in a member’s program is lack of a sound
and practical nutrition plan. The dotFIT Me Program makes program creation and servicing
much easier for the trainer because they can service a greater number of clients more
quickly, effectively and profitably. It also makes client accountability and follow up much
easier as the trainer can stay in contact with their clients and subscribers - whether they go
to the club or not - through one simple online tool.
This approach will drive new personal training sales while increasing client results and
renewals. It is also easier to integrate into the facility’s systems because it is limited to
primarily the fitness department and will not directly affect POS.
Here’s how to position both in-house and outsourced solutions to new, current and even
prospective clients who haven’t purchased sessions yet:
For all new personal training clients:
The trainer/dotFIT Certified Fit Pro presents the dotFIT online subscription as part of the
personal training package. The online program is a vital compliment to in-club personal
training sessions because it allows the trainer to provide an exact plan for the client’s biggest
missing piece (nutrition), each PT session, each “solo” workout when the client is on their
own, at home, on vacation and anywhere they go.
In-house Options:
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• These sessions are “baked” in to the current personal training
package offerings
• Trainer will also update the client’s measurements in their
program as appropriate
• SRP: $0 - $49
Page 17 •
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Since there is negligible additional cost to the club or fit pro to create the
customized program, you are strongly encouraged to include the nutrition
and supplementation recommendations as part of the personal training
services, with no additional fee to the client
This approach will increase the value of the PT package, improve results
and increase the potential for product and subscription purchases, as well
as client re-signs with the trainer
The club could also choose to charge up to a small $49 “nutrition
upgrade” fee, but this is not encouraged
Trainer compensation: Normal personal training session wage, but with
increased opportunity for commissions from product sales, online
subscription sales and an improved opportunity for re-signs and referrals
due to enhanced results
•
o SRP: $9.95/mo, or $99.95/year
• 30-day free trial on each of the above. Member can cancel at anytime
product purchases
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wk subscription)
o SRP: $47.90
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• SRP: $99 (or can be bundled with personal training session fees)
Page 18 Other considerations:
All outsourced, or client self-service options presented to personal training clients are
best suited for those instances where a trainer or a club does not want to, or simply
cannot, spend the time or energy on nutrition and supplementation guidance during the
personal training sessions.
From dotFIT’s perspective, these scenarios should be the exception, rather than the rule
in the fitness industry, because the majority of clients who purchase personal training
require nutrition and supplementation coaching in order to maximize the time they
spend exercising and thus achieve the result they are looking for. There are too many
trainers who fail to provide their clients with a plan for the “other 23 hours a day” when
the client is at home, at work and living their life. Adding these client self-service
options as a last resort will give everyone the best chance at long term success.
For all current personal training clients:
The trainer/dotFIT Certified Fit Pro presents the dotFIT online subscription to all current
personal training clients as a way of saying “thank you” for being their client, and to
demonstrate their commitment to constantly improving the services that lead to their
client’s results. The dotFIT Me Program will provide a vital compliment to the in-club
personal training sessions because it allows the trainer to provide an exact plan for the
client’s biggest missing pieces: nutrition, supplementation, and the plan for any time when
the client is not with their trainer (at home, on vacation and anywhere they go).
In-house Options:
•
• These sessions are “baked” in to the current personal training
package offerings. Session One occurs during the client’s next
training session
• Trainer will also update the client’s measurements in their
program as appropriate
• SRP: $0 - $49
• Since there is negligible additional cost to the club or fit pro to create the
customized program, you are strongly encouraged to include the nutrition
Page 19 •
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and supplementation recommendations as part of the personal training
services, with no additional fee to the client
This approach will increase the value of the PT package, improve results
and increase the potential for product and subscription purchases, as well
as client re-signs with the trainer
The club could also choose to charge up to a small $49 “nutrition
upgrade” fee, but this is not encouraged
Trainer compensation: Normal personal training session wage, but with
increased opportunity for commissions from product sales, online
subscription sales and an improved opportunity for re-signs and referrals
due to enhanced results
•
o SRP: $9.95/mo, or $99.95/year
product purchases
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wk subscription)
o SRP: $47.90
•
• SRP: $99 (or can be bundled with the purchase of additional sessions)
Page 20 Other considerations:
All outsourced, or client self-service options presented to personal training clients are
best suited for those instances where a trainer or a club does not want to, or simply
cannot, spend the time or energy on nutrition and supplementation guidance during the
personal training sessions.
From dotFIT’s perspective, these scenarios should be the exception, rather than the rule
in the fitness industry, because the majority of clients who purchase personal training
require nutrition and supplementation coaching in order to maximize the time they
spend exercising and thus achieve the result they are looking for. There are too many
trainers who fail to provide their clients with a plan for the “other 23 hours a day” when
the client is at home, at work and living their life. Adding these client self-service
options as a last resort will give everyone the best chance at long term success.
For all prospective personal training clients who didn’t purchase sessions:
There is a tremendous opportunity to capture more of the prospective clients that completed
a Fitness Orientation with a trainer/fit pro, but decided not to purchase training or nutrition
services afterwards.
The dotFIT Certified Fit Pro creates a dotFIT Me Program for all PT prospects during their
Fitness Orientation sessions and member results follow-up appointments. The
complimentary program printout is reviewed with the prospect during the session and can
be taken home with them so the prospect can begin making progress right away.
The Fit Pro also explains the opportunity to get involved in the free 30-day free trial (client
self-service option) subscription. This is a great way for the trainer/fit pro to thank the
prospect for meeting with them, without pressuring them into a large up front purchase,
while capturing that prospect’s needs, goals and information in their database for regular
follow up at appropriate times.
In-house Options:
•
Complimentary program printout provided by Fit Pro during FO session
• Trainer will provide customized program printout, and can present
product recommendations if appropriate
• Trainer will also encourage the prospect to “come back or check-in with
them in two weeks so the trainer can update their measurements and
provide some coaching feedback, based on their progress”
• Upgrade option: Member has the option of becoming a subscriber and
take advantage of the first 30-days for free
Page 21 •
Trainer compensation: Normal FO session wage, but with increased
opportunity for commissions from product sales, online subscription sales
and an improved opportunity for referrals and future purchases from this
prospect
•
o SRP: $9.95/mo, or $99.95/year
• The emphasis made by the trainer should be on the 30-day free trial on each
of the above, can cancel at anytime
product purchases
•
wk subscription)
o SRP: $47.90
•
• SRP: $99
While this may seem counterintuitive to trainers who feel they are “giving too much” to
the prospect, the opposite has been proven to be true. By providing extraordinary
guidance and support up-front at no charge, and then enrolling the prospect in the free
trial, the trainer is building trust and rapport while soft-selling their services and
extending a “fitness lifeline” to this prospective client that they can use to follow up with
that prospect for months to come. It is only a matter of time before that prospect will
Page 22 realize they need professional guidance and accountability. The trainer should check in
on the trial member before their trial period is up to ensure they are getting results and,
if appropriate, invite the prospect back to the club for additional support or to strongly
encourage the purchase of personal training sessions and supplements as needed to
ensure the achievement of their goals.
The key to all of this is the consistent follow up with the prospect at appropriate intervals
to check in on their progress.
At the Retail Stand:
Position the 90 Day Weight Loss Solution and Supplement Coach
If weight loss is the primary goal of your prospect, new member or client, and this person is
looking for a simple, evidence-based weight loss solution “in a box” that they can start using
today, the 90 Day Weight Loss Solution is the answer.
The “90 days for $99” program combines practical nutrition and activity guidance with a
complete 90-day supplementation plan that will maximize their results. This versatile 90day program can easily be presented at POS to both prospective and new members alike, or
it can be incorporated into any club member’s or personal training client’s program.
In addition, the opportunity to create a complimentary Supplement Coach recommendation
by any staff member (no Certification required), arms your front desk, sales staff, and even
management team with the ability to quickly and effectively make supplement
recommendations.
Here are a few ways to position these simple solutions:
•
As a “last resort” solution to a prospective member or client who wants to “think
about it” before joining the club or purchasing PT. The 90 Day Kit or Supplement
Coach can get them started today and they can begin making progress while they
“think about it”.
•
Presented and even price-bundled into each new membership enrollment fee for
members whose primary goal is weight loss. Simply add either the entire $99, or
slightly discounted retail price, to the enrollment fee for the kit. You can also use the
kit as a “loss leader” by incorporating the kit’s wholesale cost into the enrollment fee,
thus giving your sales team the ability to say “we are including our 90 Day Weight
Loss Solution with all memberships this month”.
Page 23 •
Bundled in to all long-term personal training session package purchases. For
example, include the 90 Day Weight Loss Solution with all PT package purchases of
20 sessions or more.
•
Enhance your service offerings without having to do more work yourself. If people
come to see you for nutrition guidance and help losing weight, but you specialize in
physical training, include a 90 Day Weight Loss Solution with the purchase of their
training package. It’s a win-win because they get what they need and you can focus
on what you are the best at, while profiting nicely.
•
The 90 Day Weight Loss Solution at point of sale is an option that will get people
involved right at the start and can lead them into the club’s dotFIT Me Program. If a
prospective member comes in with a main goal of weight loss, this is an easy and
powerful program to offer at POS, and the “less than $100 price-point” means easyentry for many who typically spend hundreds on weight loss programs.
•
Bundled into your club’s weight loss contests. Build the wholesale cost of the kit into
the Entry Fee for your 12-week weight loss contest. All contestants receive this kit as
a way to “jump start” their progress.
•
Offered as a “thank you” gift option for those members who refer their friends to your
club.
•
As long as it’s a win-win for all involved, the possibilities are endless – use your
imagination!
Page 24 Section 4: Establish your goals
Setting realistic, yet challenging goals is vitally important for your success.
In the same way that your clients and members would have a difficult time seeing their progress
if it weren’t for measurable markers such as body weight, circumference measurements and how
their clothes fit, your team and your organization will feel lost without the direction and
guidance of some key numbers.
As long as you and your team can get over the fear of potentially setting a goal and falling short
of it by remembering that these shortcomings are often filled with opportunities to learn how to
do something better the next time around, you’ll be well on your way towards long term success.
Progress is the goal, not perfection.
Here are 4 Simple Steps to Effective Goal Setting
1. Define what the Organization or Department needs to achieve.
•
Be as specific as possible. Here are some examples:
o $7,200 in monthly product sales by month 12; $3,600 in-club, and $3,600
through home delivery
- Grow both in-club and home delivery by $300 each per month for first 12
months
- 80% of all active clients using the dotFIT Multivitamin and one Meal
Replacement)
o 80% of all personal training clients with a dotFIT Me Program by month 6; 50%
subscribing; 30% with a recurring home delivery order
o 35% of entire membership base with a dotFIT Me Program by month 6, etc.
2. Why is this important? What purpose does this serve to the Organization,
the employee and the customer?
•
Be as specific as possible – this “purpose statement” provides the reasons for
achieving your goals. Here are some examples:
o This contributes to 35% of the organization’s monthly revenue goals
o This ensures that the employee meets or exceeds their individual production
goals and get paid what they deserve
o This gives the customer the best shot at achieving their long-term fitness goals
o This solidifies our organization as the community’s fitness resource, etc.
Page 25 3. What needs to occur in order to make this happen? Prioritize the actions,
set deadlines and leverage your current resources.
•
Be as specific as possible. Here are some examples:
o All staff must demonstrate their ability to effectively educate and sell these
products by (date)
o The management team must commit to empowering the staff with the resources
they need to learn, practice and master the necessary skills
o The management team must also commit to removing unnecessary obstacles that
get in the way of their team member’s pursuit of achieving their goals
o Everyone must hold each other accountable to these goals by committing to
Step#4 below
4. Measure it regularly, and proactively make any needed adjustments along
the way.
•
•
•
You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
The management team’s job is to hold the team accountable to realistic goals, and
provide any coaching and mentoring for under-performing staff as needed, etc.
We’ve provided some sample monthly business plan templates following the
Benchmarks data below
Post It!
Once you have established your specific, objective goals, and the reason(s) why you want to
achieve them, post them where you and everyone responsible for the accomplishment of them
can see it daily.
This will help keep everyone focused and excited about what they are working towards each
day.
Useful Benchmarks and other statistics (based on historical data)
Need help coming up with some objective goals? Here are some current statistics to help get
your wheels turning. Whether you accept these statistics as realistic goals or as inspiration for
improvement within your own organization is all up to you.
Typical Club and Member
•
•
•
•
Percentage of adults who are overweight: 66%
Percentage of adults who will officially go on a diet or weight loss program this year:
27%
Percentage of those who lose weight on a typical diet that will keep it off for a year: 20%
Percentage of those who lose weight on a typical diet that will keep it off for more than
five years: 5%
Page 26 •
•
•
•
•
•
Percentage of adults who belong to a health club: 16%
Percentage of prospective members who, after visiting a club or studio, actually join:
60%
Percentage of new members in a typical health club who sign up for Personal Training,
Nutrition Coaching, or other services: 3-5%
Percentage of club members that participate in group fitness classes: 6-10%
Percentage of new members who make it past the first 2-3 visits of their membership:
79%
Percentage of new members who make it past the first 4-6 weeks of their membership:
39%
dotFIT Club Statistics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The average facility typically generates $2,500 - $10,000 per month in both program
and product revenue within their first 12-18 months after integrating the dotFIT systems
The blended margin range is between 20%-40% after commissions
It is not uncommon to see well-run organizations generate in excess of $15,000 $20,000 in dotFIT revenue per month!
Percentage of online nutrition program free trial (without entering credit card details)
users who become subscribers: 20%
Percentage of online nutrition program free trial (with entering credit card details) users
who become subscribers: 60%
Percentage of online nutrition program users who sign up for product Home Delivery:
15%
Percentage of adults who use dietary supplements regularly: 70%
Average monthly dietary supplement purchase: $55.00
Percentage of Home Delivery product purchases that are retained and repeated the
following month: 85%
Percentage of in-club product purchases that are retained and repeated the following
month: 60%
Percentage of Home Delivery Orders that are Instant Orders: 22%
Percentage of Home Delivery Orders that are Recurring Orders: 78%
Percentage of online nutrition program users who purchase a calorie tracking device
online: 5%
Page 27 Creating a Monthly Business Plan
Monthly Business Plans are crucial because they are a proactive tool designed to help each
individual trainer/fit pro maintain focus throughout each day of the month, rather than waiting
until “close out” and thus feeling the stress and pressure that can come from being behind on
their goals.
When creating a Monthly Business Plan for a trainer/fit pro there are a number of things you
have to consider:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
How much revenue does the trainer/fit pro need to make? (This can also be viewed in
terms of the number of people you need to help by dividing the total revenue $ by the
average revenue per program or product sold)
How much revenue would the trainer/fit pro like to make?
Does the trainer/fit pro fully understand their compensation plan and how to maximize
their time?
How many clients is the trainer/fit pro currently working with and how many times a
week are they working with them?
How many clients are going to continue working with the trainer/fit pro once they
complete their current agreement?
How many new clients will the trainer/fit pro need to grow your income to a level that
meets their desired goal?
How many new clients will they need to replace some of the existing clients they might
lose because those clients have reached their goal or they have decided to go on their
own?
How much time does the trainer/fit pro have open in their current work schedule?
How much time can the trainer/fit pro invest in prospecting?
How many appointments does the trainer/fit pro need to set in order to generate their
new business target?
How many hours will the organization give the trainer/fit pro to prospect and take
fitness orientations?
Has the trainer/fit pro asked any of their clients for referrals recently?
Answering these questions every month will help determine a course of action that is necessary
in order to accomplish your goals.
Next, let’s create a sample Monthly Business Plan and show you how to set realistic goals and
track your results.
Completing the Monthly Business Plan
During the last 5 business days of each month, the Fitness Professional should review their
current month’s plan to create a new monthly business plan and to evaluate their current
performance.
To complete this activity the Fitness Professional will need:
Page 28 •
•
•
•
A blank Trainer Monthly Business Plan
Active client list displaying all agreements with 14 or fewer sessions remaining
The updated business plan for the current month
Schedule for the next month (Including existing clients and available hours)
Review the current month’s business plan.
Finalize any sales that are expected/pending before the end of the month and evaluate
how well you performed to plan.
Start by asking yourself some important questions:
•
Did you meet your monthly revenue objectives?
•
Did all of your expected re-signs come in?
•
Did you meet your new business targets?
•
How many sessions did you service?
•
Where are the opportunities to improve next month’s performance?
Creating a new business plan:
Step 1: Completing the “Re-sign Section” of your plan.
• Start by ensuring that EVERY client you have with 14 sessions or less remaining on any
current agreement is listed in this section.
• Establish an “Expected Date” for your re-signs by subtracting the number of days they
train each week by the number of sessions they have remaining on their agreement. Once
you determine the number of weeks they have left to train before their agreement ends use
a calendar to select a specific day of that week when you believe they will re-sign.
• During the month, you might have to establish a new date because of scheduling challenges
or cancellations. In that case use the “Revised Date” box if the original “Expected Date”
has changed.
• Ensure the “9” box or “?” box is checked based on how likely you feel the re-sign will
occur. “9” = Very Likely and “?” = Questionable
• If a client is a questionable re-sign, note why you feel that is the case in the “Comments”
section.
• Ensure the “$ Expected” boxes are filled in with the expected re-sign amount.
• For the “Very Likely” re-signs choose a $ amount you believe the client will generate. If you
are not sure of the $ Expected amount to use, use the $ amount of their last agreement.
• For the “Questionable” re-signs, place a value of $0 in the “$ Expected” column.
Page 29 o
Consider “Questionable” clients as a possible opportunity, but do not add them to
your re-sign target.
• Establish a realistic target for re-signs based on the total of your “Very Likely” re-signs.
• Enter the re-sign goal in the “Target (A)” box.
Step 2: Complete “New Business” section:
• The “New Business” section combines both “Referrals” and “Fitness
Orientations”.
o
For Referrals:

Determine any referrals that you have already set up for the month.

Determine a strategy you will use for the current month to generate referrals.
•
o
Example…Give 10 business cards to each one of your existing clients
and ask them to pass one out to everyone who gives them a
complement on how they look this month.
For Fitness Orientations (FO) Program:

Review your historic performance for enrolling Fitness Orientations.

Determine how many hours you will be working FO appointments and how
many appointments you will likely see.

Use last month’s performance to determine your current closing % and your
average $ per new sale.

Determine a realistic new business target that is based on the expected
number of appointments you will generate, the number of new business units
you can expect from those appointments and $ amount you anticipate from
each new unit.
• Circle a number under the “Circle Target” column representing the number of New
Business enrollments (Referral & FO) that you expect to generate.
• Establish an appropriate target by multiplying the unit target by the club’s average $ per
unit.
• Enter the new business goal in the “Target (B)” box.
Step 3: Complete Overall Targets at top of page:
•
“Sessions Serviced”:
o
•
“PT”:
o
•
Set a realistic target based on past performance, number of current clients and
how many times a month those clients train.
Add all Personal Training revenue targets (A) + (B). Enter total in the “PT
Target” box.
“Supplements”:
Page 30 •
o
List all of your existing clients on the “Supplements Planning Page”.
o
List expected purchases from each client and add the $ expected.
Establish an appropriate target for supplement sales and enter in the “Supplements
Target” box on the first page of your Business Plan.
Monthly Business Plan: Case Study
Creating a business plan is an important activity that will allow you to determine a desired
monthly income. It will also offer an opportunity to evaluate your performance though out the
month and help you identify areas of your business in which you can improve.
During this activity you are going practice setting up of a business and determining the
appropriate amount of revenue that should be generated by this plan.
Richard has been a trainer for about 2 years. He has established a consistent income and he has
a large number of clients that have been training with him for an extended period of time.
Richard has had a number of conversations with a few of his clients that do not plan to continue
working with him after their current agreement is completed. He recognizes that he is going to
have to replace a number of these clients with new clients if he wants to maintain his current
income.
Richard has 12 clients that are coming up for a re-sign this month. In a normal month he
generally loses about 1 or 2 of his potential re-signs, but this month he knows he could lose as
many as 5 for various reasons. He usually has to generate at least 1 new client a month to close
the gap on the clients he normally loses, but this month he will have to increase his focus on new
business to maintain his monthly income.
By evaluating his past performance Richard knows that he would normally have to set 4
appointments with potential new clients to generate 1 new client. He knows this because he has
determined his average closing % on appointments is 25%.
•
How many appointments will Richard have to generate this month to meet his goal of 3?
___ Appointments
Next Richard will need to establish a realistic New Business Target. He has determined by
reviewing his past performance that the average $ amount generated from a new sale is $500.
•
What should Richard set as his New Business Revenue Target this month to reach his
goal?
$________
Page 31 Next, review Richards Business Plan to determine the Total Revenue he can expect to generate
form the opportunities he has from his Re-sign Business, New Business and Supplement Sales.
Start by adding up all of Richard’s “Likely Resigns” and place the total in the appropriate target
box
Next, take the New Business Target you just calculated and add it to the appropriate target box.
Now add up both targets to get his total “PT Goal” and place it in the appropriate target box.
Finally add up all of Richards expected Supplement Purchases and add them to the appropriate
box.
Answers:
Appointments - 12
New Business - $1,500
Likely Re-signs - $5000
Total PT Goal - $6,500
Total Supplement Purchases - $1,100
Page 32 Sample: Monthly Business Plan
Page 33 dotFIT™ Success System PLAYBOOK
Page 34 Blank Versions:
Page 35 dotFIT™ Success System PLAYBOOK
Page 36 Section 5: Leading the Team to Success – The 5 Key Cs
What does it take to achieve success? The good news is that success leaves clues. Think about it
this way: If you want to open a lock, you need to have the keys that fit that lock. When you do,
the lock opens every time – no matter who used the key.
There are 5 keys that are required to unlock the potential of your dotFIT platform. These will be
easy to remember, because they all start with the letter C:
9
9
9
9
9
Culture
Captain
Compensation and Cash Flow
Communication
Creativity
Culture
Have you ever walked into a gym, doctor’s office or coffee shop where you felt a palpable
“vibe”? Sometimes that vibe made you feel very comfortable and welcomed, while other
times you felt awkward and uneasy. Either way, that vibe you feel is coming from the
culture within that organization.
Every organization has a culture. Some cultures are created accidentally (usually
developed by the most controlling or outgoing personalities in the group), while others
are developed purposefully.
In the fitness industry, first-time health club members make up over 40% of new
customers. Even though they need our help, they already feel a bit nervous,
uncomfortable and maybe even intimidated because our environment is a new
experience to them. This makes the culture that you and your team create vitally
important. By creating a warm, welcoming, and empowering environment, you can
move beyond their fears and worries and help them focus on what it takes to achieve
their fitness goals.
“Attitude reflects leadership, Captain.”
This quote, from the movie Remember the Titans, captures the essence of how cultures
are created. Your culture is created by your team. It starts at the top and trickles down
through the ranks of your organization. It is reflected in the individual and collective
attitude towards everything that you do. With the right culture, the team works together
by supporting, leading and challenging each other. True leadership is about empowering
the people in the organization to get the job done, while managing the critical numbers
that drive the business.
Page 37 Here are some questions you can ask yourself about your club’s culture:
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Do people on your team see servicing your customers as something they have to
do, or something they get to do?
How aligned are the values and beliefs of those on your team with the values and
beliefs of your organization?
Does your team use the dotFIT Me Program and products themselves?
Would they promote them to their family, friends and loved ones even if they
didn’t work for you?
Note: Be cautious of individual tastes negatively “flavoring” other
people’s experiences. For example, if a staff member doesn’t like a
particular bar flavor or consistency, rather than taint other’s first
experiences by speaking negatively about it, follow the advice of
Thumper, the bunny – if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say
anything at all. When it comes to taste buds, tell others what you like,
and let others decide which flavors they do or don’t like (what tastes
strange to you may be flavor nirvana to another)
How congruent is the Voice of the team? If a customer asked each of your team
members a specific question about nutrition, supplementation or exercise, would
there be a consistent tone, perspective and direction given?
Does the team hold each other accountable? Are they supportive?
Do they challenge each other?
Does each team member know precisely what important role they play in the
achievement of the organization’s goals, purpose and ultimate mission?
Are other club/facility initiatives supporting or competing with your dotFITrelated initiatives?
Culture-creation ideas:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Team “Think Tank” or mastermind sessions. Discuss openly the organization’s
goals, resources available, and get them involved with coming up with ideas and
creating solutions. As long as the leaders in the organization communicate the
rules of the dialogue (be respectful, be open-minded, be supportive, etc.),
encourage them to participate in the growth of the business.
Transformation Contests (for staff and members)
Celebrate the victories. Make it mandatory that all trainers get testimonials from
their clients. Display them with pride.
When mistakes occur, use them as opportunities to coach and support the team’s
development. When you fall short of established goals, work together to learn
from it, get better, and crush the next set of goals.
Hire team members based on values, people skills, work ethic and personality.
Program and product-specific knowledge and skill sets can be acquired.
Programming and results-focused contests for the members and community.
Guarantee results with your programs. For example, “We Guarantee we will
empower you with the exact plan you need in order to achieve your fitness goals.
What you do with it is your choice.”
Page 38 Captain
Every team needs a qualified, dedicated leader. The Captain is someone who has the
drive, work ethic, charisma and the leadership skills to inspire and empower a team of
people to achieve extraordinary things. This is your dotFIT “go-to” person.
Here are some questions you should ask when appointing your dotFIT Captain:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Who is the primary driving force in charge of constantly growing the dotFITrelated business within your organization?
Are their personal values and beliefs aligned with the organization’s goals?
Do they have the ability to make key decisions?
If this person is not the owner, does this person have the support of the owner
and/or ultimate decision maker within the organization?
Is this person provided the appropriate resources (time, energy, staff, etc.) to get
the job done, or are they being spread too thin because the owner is making them
wear too many hats?
Do they maximize the power of their team by effectively leveraging their
strengths, delegating as appropriate and empowering them through their
leadership? Or do they believe that in order to get something done right, they
must do it themselves?
Do they hold their team accountable?
• Remember: If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.
Do you have a backup, or co-captain in training in case this person leaves?
Compensation and Cash Flow
Working in the fitness industry can be very rewarding. Watching seemingly ordinary
people achieve extraordinary physical transformation, and apply what they learned to
improving their career, relationships, finances and emotions will give anyone a sense of
unparalleled satisfaction.
In order for your organization to achieve sustainable success, compensation plans should
be structured so that both the team member who facilitates extraordinary client results
and the organization who made it all possible can be rewarded financially.
First, you must ensure that your program and product pricing is appropriate.
•
Program Pricing
• For stand-alone program offerings
• For maximum value and simplicity, any stand-alone nutrition
coaching programs should match similar personal training
package prices
Page 39 •
•
In the example we provided in Section 3, a 4-session Nutrition
Coaching program costs $89. This represents 90 mins of time
with a Certified Fit Pro
• The club’s personal training packages should be priced
comparably. In this example, three 30-min PT sessions would cost
$89 as well
For integrated program offerings
• Since there is negligible incremental cost to the club or trainer to
create a dotFIT nutrition program printout, we encourage you to
consider including it with club services the client is already paying
for
• This will increase the potential for the client to become a paying
subscriber, purchase supplements and refer others to you
•
Product Pricing
We’ve made this easy for you. Simply price all dotFIT Products to match
the online Suggested Retail Price. This will accomplish three important
goals
• Your online SRP and in-club SRP will be consistent, and since
dotFIT sets the online prices for all licensees, you will not have to
deal with “online price wars”
• Your products will be priced in such a way that you are
maximizing your profit margins (typically 30-40% after
commissions) while staying competitive with other product lines
• Subscribers to your online dotFIT program will receive a true 20%
discount for online product purchases, maximizing the value of
everything you offer
See the Merchandising Section for more product information
•
Staff Compensation
Trainer and Staff Product Commission
• 10-20% commission on net revenue from program and product
sales. We suggest one of two approaches:
o A flat percentage
10% commission for in-club sales
15% commission for online sales
o A tiered percentage based on monthly net revenue
generated:
$0 - $999: 10% commission
$1,000 - $1,999: 12.5% commission
$2,000 - $2,999: 15% commission
$3,000+: 17.5% - 20% commission (optional)
Page 40 Tiered incentives are great for inspiring continual growth. If you only offer one
straight commission percentage, what is the incentive to meet the next “tier” of
production? By increasing the percentage, you encourage the higher-performing
players to really go after it. These tiers can be adjusted up or down based on your
organization’s goals.
What about program and Web subscription revenue? The same tiered approach
will work. Alternatively, you could offer reward levels based on performance,
such as their choice of $20 gift cards when they sign up their first 30 trials. Be
creative and make sure that the prizes are things that really excite your team.
Make a big deal out of it when handing out the rewards – remember to always
“praise in public”.
•
Trainer and Staff Program Session Wages
• Hourly or per-session wages must match or slightly exceed your
current personal training session compensation rates
o Note: If you want the team to drive the dotFIT Program,
it is important that the compensation structure does not
allow the trainers to be able to make more money training
clients without incorporating dotFIT
•
Organization Compensation
• Direct profit center revenue
o The organization should net at least 20% on all direct
dotFIT profit center revenue, after commissions
• Indirect profit center revenue (i.e., Drive other profit centers)
o The organization can choose not to focus on directly
profiting from a dotFIT-related purchase, but rather on
positioning these services in order to drive other key,
highly-profitable profit centers that maximize an
organization’s strengths, niche and demographics
o Examples:
The 90 Day Weight Loss Solution can be used as a
loss-leader to drive personal training
“Complimentary” meal replacement bars or
multivitamins can be given with membership
enrollment fees or personal training packages in
order to simultaneously increase the value of the
purchase while introducing the new member to the
dietary supplements available
Page 41 Communication
Communication is the life-blood of your organization. The level of effective
communication will ultimately determine how quickly your organization rises or falls.
As George Bernard Shaw said, “The problem with communication… is the illusion that it
has been accomplished.”
There are two types of communication: Internal (within your team) and external
(typically seen as sales and marketing).
Communication within your team
•
•
•
•
•
Realistic team and individual goals set and communicated
During times of significant stress or change, error slightly on the side of too
much as opposed to too little communication. This will help prevent false
assumptions from being created in the minds of team members
Before communicating, remember your audience. Effective communication
requires that the person communicating deliver their message in a way that
considers the listener’s perspective, values, beliefs and understood roles
within the organization.
Questions leaders must ask themselves when communicating to their team:
• Are my requests for completion of certain outcomes or tasks clear,
specific and realistic?
• Did I clearly communicate what the successful
completion/accomplishment looks like?
• Did I empower my team with an exact plan and the resources
needed that gives them the best shot at achieving the outcome I
am asking of them?
• Did I clearly explain why this request is important to everyone
involved and the organization as a whole?
• Did I clearly establish priorities that will help guide them (if they
only had time to do one task, which one is most important)?
• Are the potential consequences of falling short clear and
understood by all involved?
• Did the person and/or people involved clearly commit to
accomplishing the outcome or task?
• Am I fully committed to overseeing, supporting and holding
accountable the person and/or people involved all the way through
until completion?
Take advantage of “professional development opportunities”. Screw-ups and
victories are both great opportunities for you and your team to learn and grow
Page 42 •
Effective Meetings
• There are two primary strategies you can adopt: Frequent but
short meetings or occasional but long meetings. Each have their
advantages and disadvantages:
a. Faster-moving organizations typically benefit more from
frequent (even daily), but shorter meetings
b. The more amount of time between each meeting, the more
information you’ll have to cover, which reduces retention
and effectiveness (see Section 7 for Meeting Ideas)
Communication with your customers and community (i.e. marketing
and sales)
•
•
•
What would I have to do so prospects and customers would say to themselves,
“I’d have to be crazy to do business with anyone else”?
Are your dotFIT solutions integrated into the overall brand and service
messages you communicate to your members, prospects and community? Or
are your dotFIT products and services seen as a separate solution only for
certain people?
Consider the messages communicated on all of the following:
• In your marketing collateral (flyers, brochures, billboards, etc.)
• On your website
• Verbally by your staff in their sales presentations
• Non-verbal communication from your staff
- How are they dressed?
- Are they sincere in their communication?
- If a member was watching them interact with a client, what
would they think?
- Remember, “What you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear
what you say” – i.e. the best signage or poster in the world
will never overpower whatever message your staff walks
and talks each day
Creativity
While we strongly encourage you to use the dotFIT Success System as a guide to putting
energy towards what works, remember that this is your program and your brand. Thus
we also encourage you to be creative and flexible.
Experiment, test, and see what works and what doesn’t. If something stopped working,
explore the reason(s) for it. If conditions or opportunities changed, and you see a better
Page 43 opportunity with something else, go for it. Push the envelope of what’s possible, while
keeping an eye on these 5 key ingredients, which will help keep you on course.
Create a “Counsel” where you can challenge each other and get your organization on a
continual growth cycle. See Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great (pgs 114-116) for more
information.
Page 44 Section 6: Team Players and Roles
There are Four Key Players who all contribute to your team’s success:
9
9
9
9
Trainers
Group Exercise Instructors
Sales Staff
Front Desk
In this section, you’ll find valuable information pertaining to each Player, the impact they can
make, and the tools available to them through dotFIT.
How do you use the following sections? Our suggestion is to use these Cliff Notes-type resources
as a guide to educating and empowering your team members and Key Players in exciting ways.
As an example, in your team meetings, print and distribute a copy of the following sections for
the appropriate Players. During this time, review the “Why?”, “Who?”, “How?” and “What?”
together to define specifically how each Player can make a significant difference with the people
they service and how they contribute to the team’s overall results and financial success.
Trainers
Why me? What’s the impact I can make?
•
Results. You are the resident expert in your club. In order to be successful in today’s
environment, you must be a three-dimensional trainer: An expert in training, nutrition
and education. Your clients and gym members alike are bombarded by too much
misinformation and inappropriate advice by unqualified people, which leads them to
make the wrong choice or do nothing at all. Forty percent of all new club members are
brand new to this environment. Over 75% of them want to lose weight, and over 60%
quit in the first 4-6 weeks because they were too confused, overwhelmed or simply
frustrated by lack of results. Clients, members and people in your community expect you
to have the evidence-based solutions that actually fit with their needs, preferences and
lifestyle.
What does dotFIT provide for you?
•
A platform with unlimited resources that you can utilize to significantly grow your client
base, reduce programming time, and get results. Here are a few examples:
•
Realistic, easy-to-use nutrition planning resources that will maximize your
client’s progress both in the club and during the other 23 hours a day.
- Pre- and post-workout meal planning and timing
Page 45 - On-the-go menus for clients with hectic lifestyles
- Heart healthy menus
- All recommendations come from industry experts and meet the ADA’s
requirements for a general weight control program
- Food database powered by CalorieKing™
•
Dietary supplement resources and recommendations
- Safe and effective. Evidence-based formulas that are manufactured in an
FDA-registered pharmaceutical company, in compliance with current
Good Manufacturing Practices
- Health history screening process ensures that the right products are
recommended to the right clients
- All products work synergistically together, ensuring that your client never
takes too much, or doesn’t get enough
- Home delivery with discounts
- How powerful is the combination of Home Delivery with in-club
product sales?
- Here’s an example of a club that offers 10% commission on in-club
sales and the effect of adding 7 new customers each month, with
85% retention of Home Delivery sales and 60% in-club product
sales. Notice the compounding effect on monthly commissions at
the end of month 12:
Online
Sales
(85%
retention)
10%
Commission
55.00
10%
Commission
Net
Commission
Avg Sale
New
Mbrs/month
$
$ 55.00
Month 1
$ 385.00
$
38.50
$ 385.00
$
38.50
$
77.00
Month 2
$ 712.25
$
71.23
$ 616.00
$
61.60
$
132.83
Month 3
$ 990.41
$
99.04
$ 754.60
$
75.46
$
174.50
Month 4
$ 1,226.85
$
122.69
$ 837.76
$
83.78
$
206.46
Month 5
$ 1,427.82
$
142.78
$ 887.66
$
88.77
$
231.55
Month 6
$ 1,598.65
$
159.86
$ 917.59
$
91.76
$
251.62
Month 7
$ 1,743.85
$
174.39
$ 935.56
$
93.56
$
267.94
Month 8
$ 1,867.27
$
186.73
$ 946.33
$
94.63
$
281.36
Month 9
$ 1,972.18
$
197.22
$ 952.80
$
95.28
$
292.50
Month 10
$ 2,061.36
$
206.14
$ 956.68
$
95.67
$
301.80
Month 11
$ 2,137.15
$
213.72
$ 959.01
$
95.90
$
309.62
Month 12
$ 2,201.58
$
220.16
$ 960.40
$
96.04
$
316.20
7
7
In-club
Sales
(60%
retention)
Page 46 •
Exercise programming logic
- Completely scalable – from quick and easy when you’re in a hurry, to
comprehensive and aggressive when you want to create the ideal
customized exercise program
- Assessment-based workouts, time-bound workouts, periodization models,
and even special populations. Unlimited workout variations
- Create a full year’s worth of programming on your client’s exercise
calendar to keep them focused on their future fitness goals, and how you
can help
- Video exercise descriptions for the days that your client works out on their
own, or needs a refresher on the form you taught them
- Sports programming for all ages (8+) and activities
•
Connection to your client
- Create your own online fitness community (coming soon)
- Accountability and support. For any subscribing client, you can view their
logged food and get an update on their progress anytime, from anywhere
- Email, text messaging and even video messaging will help keep your client
on track
- Stay in touch with your clients even if they move and are no longer a
member of your club
- Create a complete database of potential clients so that if a spot opens up
in your schedule, you can fill that opening quickly by drawing from your
pool of clients
- Family subscriptions for your client are also a fantastic way to get the
entire family involved (coming soon)
•
Resources for you
- Free CECs and education from the experts at dotFIT
- Discounts on dotFIT products, NASM Certifications and more
- Network with other trainers and fitness professionals
- Have a question? We’re only a phone call or email away
- 1-877-4-dotFIT (1-877-436-8348)
- Support@dotfit.com
Who can I get involved? Who can I help?
•
Training Clients
• All current clients should either be enrolled in a dotFIT program, which you can
create and customize for them. This is their plan for the “other 23 hours a day”.
• As a paid subscriber, they will receive access to the programs you create, the
community and online support you offer, as well as the special discounts and
offers on products that will help them achieve their goals. Their first 30 days are
Page 47 •
completely free, and they can cancel at any time, or continue with their monthly,
quarterly or yearly subscription access
• You can also enroll them in a 14-day trial period, which has many of the same
benefits, but no access to the special discounts on online product purchases
Past Clients
• Reach out to past clients – no matter where they live now – and give them the
same opportunity. You never know when someone is getting ready to “get back in
shape” after an extended layoff
•
Referrals
• Let each of your clients know that their friends, family and coworkers can also
take advantage of the 14-day trial, or first 30 days for free – no matter where they
live or what club they currently workout at. If these people select your name
when enrolling from your club’s site, they will be linked to you and added to your
community
• Alternatively, you can create the account for them through your Trainer Console
area and ensure that they are linked to you
•
Prospective Clients (Fitness Orientations)
• Regardless of whether a prospective client decides to purchase training, each
should be enrolled into either the 14-day or 30-day trial under your account
• The dotFIT program can be created in approximately 7 minutes, and serves as a
great education-base d sales tool during a Fitness Orientation
•
Current Members (walking the floor)
• Since over 80% of all “regulars” at the gym have been at a plateau for 6 months or
more, they represent a tremendous opportunity to build your client base
• “Did you receive your free trial to your customized dotFIT program?”
• You can also “work the floor” by offering complimentary or semi-private paid
sessions that provide exercise performance coaching based on their dotFIT
program recommendations
•
Out in the community
• Think far beyond the walls of your club. Presentations to local small businesses,
Youth Sports Programs (ages 8 and up), recreational sports leagues, wedding
planners, churches, chamber of commerce, networking groups, boot camps,
writers and reporter for your local media… the list is endless
How do I get started? How do I accomplish this?
•
What’s the process?
• Your Fitness Manager or Club Owner will create a unique Trainer Login just for
you. This will give you access to the following:
- Your own dotFIT program
Page 48 - The online dotFIT Certification Course (if applicable)
- Your own dotFIT Home Delivery account with huge discounts on dotFIT
products
- The online fitness community and educational resources
•
Once you have your login information, if you are going be dotFIT Certified, you’ll
need to enroll in the online course. After you complete and pass the online
course, you’ll have access to the additional resources below:
- Free CECs from dotFIT and the National Academy of Sports Medicine to
further your knowledge base and skill sets
- Ability to create unlimited programs for your clients, and full access to
your entire client database
- Even bigger discounts on your own dotFIT product orders (up to 50% off
with both a dotFIT and NASM Certification!)
•
Who’s in charge of what?
• The good news is that as a trainer with the dotFIT resources on your side, you are
in complete control of your own level of success
• Take advantage of the tremendous professional development and networking
resources found in your Trainer Console online (Coming soon)
- Educational tools
- Marketing resources
- Strategies that work
•
What are my goals?
• Your Fitness Manager will help you create your own goals and monthly business
plan
•
Who’s accountable?
• Of course, no one can hold you to a higher standard than you hold yourself to.
With that said, your Fitness Manager and Club Owner both have access to see
how you’re doing from their Console logins, and can help provide the guidance
and support that will ensure your success
•
What resources are available?
• Online resources
- Product information (click on “shop” and then explore each product,
supporting research, articles and even videos on how the products work)
- Program Administration (Your online Certification Course materials and
tools found at www.dotfit.com/clubtools)
•
Contact us
- 1-877-4-dotFIT (1-877-436-8348)
Page 49 Group Exercise Instructors
•
You are the resident expert in your class. Your participants and gym members alike are
bombarded by too much misinformation and inappropriate advice by unqualified people,
which leads them to make the wrong choice or do nothing at all. Forty percent of all new
club members are brand new to this environment. Over 75% of them want to lose
weight, and over 60% quit in the first 4-6 weeks because they were too confused,
overwhelmed or frustrated by lack of results.
What does dotFIT provide for you?
•
A platform with unlimited resources that you can utilize to significantly grow your class
participation numbers and help them get even better results. Here are a few examples:
-
Realistic, easy-to-use nutrition planning resources that will maximize your
participant’s progress both in the club and during the other 23 hours a day.
- Pre- and post-workout meal planning and timing
- On-the-go menus for clients with hectic lifestyles
- Heart healthy menus
- All recommendations come from industry experts and meet the ADA’s
requirements for a general weight control program
- Food database powered by CalorieKing™
-
Dietary supplement resources and recommendations
- Safe and effective. Evidence-based formulas that are manufactured in an
FDA-registered pharmaceutical company, in compliance with current
Good Manufacturing Practices
- Health history screening process ensures that the right products are
recommended to the right clients
- All products work synergistically together, ensuring that your client never
takes too much, or doesn’t get enough
- Home delivery with discounts
- How powerful is the combination of Home Delivery with in-club
product sales?
- Here’s an example of a club that offers 10% commission on in-club
sales and the effect of adding 7 new customers each month, with
85% retention of Home Delivery sales and 60% in-club product
sales. Notice the compounding effect on monthly commissions at
the end of month 12:
Page 50 Online
Sales
(85%
retention)
10%
Commission
55.00
10%
Commission
Net
Commission
Avg Sale
New
Mbrs/month
$
$ 55.00
Month 1
$ 385.00
$
38.50
$ 385.00
$
38.50
$
77.00
Month 2
$ 712.25
$
71.23
$ 616.00
$
61.60
$
132.83
Month 3
$ 990.41
$
99.04
$ 754.60
$
75.46
$
174.50
Month 4
$ 1,226.85
$
122.69
$ 837.76
$
83.78
$
206.46
Month 5
$ 1,427.82
$
142.78
$ 887.66
$
88.77
$
231.55
Month 6
$ 1,598.65
$
159.86
$ 917.59
$
91.76
$
251.62
Month 7
$ 1,743.85
$
174.39
$ 935.56
$
93.56
$
267.94
Month 8
$ 1,867.27
$
186.73
$ 946.33
$
94.63
$
281.36
Month 9
$ 1,972.18
$
197.22
$ 952.80
$
95.28
$
292.50
Month 10
$ 2,061.36
$
206.14
$ 956.68
$
95.67
$
301.80
Month 11
$ 2,137.15
$
213.72
$ 959.01
$
95.90
$
309.62
Month 12
$ 2,201.58
$
220.16
$ 960.40
$
96.04
$
316.20
7
7
•
Exercise programming logic
- Completely scalable – your participants can create their own programs
(it’s easy to do), or they can enlist help from you or another dotFIT
Certified Fit Pro in the club
- Assessment-based workouts, time-bound workouts, periodization models,
and even special populations. Unlimited workout variations.
- Create a full year’s worth of programming on your participant’s exercise
calendar to keep them focused on their future fitness goals, and how you
can help. You can even show them how your new class releases can fit
into their calendars
- Video exercise descriptions for the days that your client works out on their
own, or needs a refresher on the form you taught them
- Sports programming for all ages (8+) and activities. Blend it in to your
current or future group class offerings for kids!
•
Connection to your participants
- Create your own online fitness community (coming soon)
- Accountability and support. For any subscribing class participant, you
can stay in touch with them through the online community. If you are
dotFIT Certified, you can even view their logged food and get an update
on their progress anytime, from anywhere
- Email, text messaging and even video messaging will help keep your
participants on track and remind them of upcoming new class releases
In-club
Sales
(60%
retention)
Page 51 - Stay in touch with your participants even if they move and are no longer a
member of your club
- Encourage all subscribing participants to bring their families and friends
via the online community you’ve created
- Family subscriptions for your participants are also a fantastic way to get
the entire family involved (coming soon)
•
Resources for you
- Free CECs and education from the experts at dotFIT
- Discounts on dotFIT products, NASM Certifications and more
- Network with other trainers and fitness professionals
- 1-877-4-dotFIT (1-877-436-8348)
Who can I get involved? Who can I help?
•
Class Participants
• Be sure to speak about the importance of their plan for the “other 23 hours a day”
during your classes. You have a captive audience, and they rely on you to give
them the guidance and support they need to achieve their goals, and continue to
participate in your classes
• Your dotFIT Me Program will show them exactly how many calories they need to
eat each day in order to achieve their goals, and have a ton of energy for your next
class
• The Me Program will also give supplement recommendations based on their age,
gender, goals, health history and food preferences, to make sure that they are
“feeding the muscle, while starving the fat”. This will help them recover more
quickly and see better results
• For those that love to take a lot of classes, there are even supplements that will
provide nutrients for joints that take a lot of pounding
• Balancing out their class exercise routines with a solid resistance training and
stretching program will make sure they don’t develop any muscle imbalances
• Encourage all current class participants to either be enrolled in the 14-day trial,
or as a paid subscriber, either option will give them access to the programs you
create, the community and online support you offer and the special discounts and
offers on products that will help them achieve their goals
• As a paid subscriber, they will receive access to the programs you create, the
community and online support you offer, as well as the special discounts and
offers on products that will help them achieve their goals. Their first 30 days are
completely free, and they can cancel at any time, or continue with their monthly,
quarterly or yearly subscription access
• You can also enroll them in a 14-day trial period, which has many of the same
benefits, but no access to the special discounts on online product purchases
Page 52 •
Past Class Participants
• Reach out to past class participants – no matter where they live now – and give
them the same opportunity. You never know when someone is getting ready to
“get back in shape” after an extended layoff (and who they know that still lives
close enough to your club to attend your class)
•
Referrals
• Let each of your class members know that their friends, family and coworkers can
also take advantage of the 14 day trial, or first 30 days for free – no matter where
they live or what club they currently workout at. If these people select your name
when enrolling from your club’s site, they will be linked to you and added to your
community
•
Current Members (walking the floor)
more, they represent a tremendous opportunity to build your class base
• “Have you tried my class? If you do, I promise you’ll not only have a great time,
I’ll also show you how you can receive your free trial to your customized dotFIT
program!”
•
writers and reporters for your local media… the list is endless.
•
• Your Group Fitness Manager, Fitness Manager or Club Owner will create a
unique Trainer or Staff Login just for you. This will give you access to the
following:
- The online dotFIT Certification Course (if applicable)
- Your own dotFIT Home Delivery account with huge discounts on dotFIT
products
•
If applicable: Once you have your login information, if you are going be dotFIT
Certified, you’ll need to enroll in the online course. After you complete and pass
the online course, you’ll have access to the additional resources below:
- Free CECs from dotFIT and the National Academy of Sports Medicine to
further your knowledge base and skill sets
Page 53 - Even bigger discounts on your own dotFIT product orders (up to 50% off
with both a dotFIT and NASM Certification!)
•
• The good news is that with the dotFIT resources on your side, you are in complete
control of your own level of success
resources found in your Console online (Coming soon)
- Educational tools
•
What are my goals?
• Your Group Fitness Manager or Fitness Manager will help you create your own
goals and monthly business plan, if applicable
•
With that said, your club’s management team have access to see how you’re doing
from their Console logins, and can help provide the guidance and support that
will ensure your success
•
•
Contact us
- 1-877-4-dotFIT (1-877-436-8348)
Page 54 Sales Staff
•
By adding the dotFIT solutions to your membership presentations, you are presenting
true solutions, rather than just memberships. By doing so, you will gain the trust of your
prospects and community, separate yourself from the competition, and sell more
memberships – with solutions. Most people don’t buy “access to a facility” (aka the
typical gym membership), they buy a result. You are now providing that.
Who can I get involved?
•
Prospective and New Members
• Now you have a full solution to offer all prospective members who come to see
you. This gives you the opportunity to be a problem solver/solution-based
consultant as opposed to a “sales” person
• Sell a program that delivers a result, and package that program with the
membership
• For those prospects that “want to think about it”, or who “want to lose some
weight first”, simply encourage them to participate in the online dotFIT Me
Program or 90 Day Weight Loss Kit to jump start their progress (and ensure they
stay connected to you and your club)
• If your club has decided not to offer the full program at POS, simply ensure that
you speak to the fact that your club is a “one stop shop” and that by meeting with
a Certified Fit Pro at the Fitness Orientation, the new member will be given an
exact plan to achieve their goals at the club
•
Current Members
more, they represent a tremendous opportunity to build your subscription base
• “Did you receive your free trial to your customized dotFIT program?”
•
Referrals
• Let each of your members and prospects know that their friends, family and
coworkers can also take advantage of the 14 day trial, or first 30 days for free – no
matter where they live or what club they currently workout at. If these people
select your name when enrolling from your club’s site, they will be linked to you
and added to your community
•
writers and reporters for your local media… the list is endless
Page 55 How do I get started? How do I accomplish this?
•
• Your Fitness Manager or Club Owner will create a unique Login just for you. This
will give you access to the following:
- Your own dotFIT Home Delivery account with huge discounts
• If applicable: If your club has decided that sales staff members should become
dotFIT Certified, once you have your login information, you’ll need to enroll in
the online course. Once you complete and pass the online course, you will have
access to the additional resources below:
- Free CECs from dotFIT and the National Academy of Sports Medicine
- Even bigger discounts on your own dotFIT product orders
•
- Educational tools
•
What are my goals?
plan
•
•
•
Contact us
Page 56 - Have a question? We’re only a phone call or email away
- 1-877-4-dotFIT (1-877-436-8348)
Front Desk
•
As a front desk or customer service representative, your main job is to ensure your
members have a positive experience at the club, and help guide them towards services
the club offers that can help them achieve their goals. The dotFIT platform can help you
to achieve this
Who can I get involved?
•
Existing Members
• The club’s the front desk staff has the most interaction and oftentimes the best
relationships with existing members. This creates a huge opportunity to make
sure those members are getting the results they came for
• “How is your program going?” “Are you seeing the results you would like?” “Have
you tried our dotFIT resource?” “Have you met with one of our Certified Fit
Pros?”
•
• Your Fitness Manager or Club Owner will create a unique Login just for you. This
will give you access to the following:
- Your own dotFIT Home Delivery account with huge discounts
• If applicable: If your club has decided that sales staff members should become
dotFIT Certified, once you have your login information, you’ll need to enroll in
the online course. Once you complete and pass the online course, you will have
access to the additional resources below:
- Free CECs from dotFIT and the National Academy of Sports Medicine
- Even bigger discounts on your own dotFIT product orders
Page 57 •
- Educational tools
•
What are my goals?
plan, if applicable
•
•
•
Contact us
- 1-877-4-dotFIT (1-877-436-8348)
Page 58 Section 7: Getting ready for kickoff – Installation Guide
Installing dotFIT
The dotFIT Success System Installation Guide is designed to help you avoid reinventing the
program kick-off wheel (unless of course you like reinventing wheels, then don’t read anything
that follows).
There are essentially three sections that follow here:
1. Living your brand
2. Soft launching your program and products
3. Hard launching your program and products
Read through each section below, get a feel for the timelines, the necessary resources, and who
will be in charge of each. Inject some excitement into the mix, and you’ll have the perfect recipe
for a great launch and years of success.
Living your brand
What is branding? Your brand is the image that you and your organization project to your
customers and prospects with your products and services. When used properly, it sets you apart
from your competition. It should make a bold statement about who you are and what unique
benefits you offer. This statement – communicated verbally and nonverbally – should be
relevant to and resonate with your target customer.
As a dotFIT-licensed facility, you now offer the industry’s best nutrition and exercise
programming, along with the highest-quality evidence-based dietary supplements and an online
fitness community that will extend your influence beyond the physical walls of your
establishment. The dotFIT brand can and should be incorporated into your own internal and
external marketing efforts to ensure that you maximize the impact it can have.
In order to do this effectively, while protecting the integrity of the brand, you should follow the
guidelines set forth in our dotFIT Marketing Guidelines document, which is available online
(www.dotfit.com/marketingtools) and is updated periodically.
We’ve included some basic “do’s and don’ts” below.
Page 59 DOs and DON’Ts
These will help you develop and use your own marketing materials.
DOs
•
•
•
•
•
DO use the “powered by dotFIT” logo on your co-branding marketing materials. This ensures
that your members recognize your brand and your relationship with dotFIT
DO promote the program as an effective way to alter body composition
DO call yourself a dotFIT Certified Fitness Professional
DO use before and after pictures, assessments and/or testimonials to keep track of member
results. As permitted make these success stories visible to other members.
DO ask your dotFIT Account Specialist for help if you have questions
DON’Ts
• DON’T market the program to treat any health or medical problem, including eating disorders
• DON’T market the program to promote or promise permanent weight loss
• DON’T market the program as nutrition counseling, providing nutrition care, or a Medical
Nutrition Therapy offering (MNT)
• DON’T make unrealistic claims concerning the rate of weight loss (one to two pounds a week
is considered normal) or promise unrealistic results
• DON’T call your staff nutritionists, dietitians, certified nutritionists, certified dietitians,
licensed dietitians, nutrition counselors, nutrition experts, nutrition educators, or a
nutritionalists (there is no such thing) in your marketing pieces unless they really are
REGISTERED DIETITIANS
• DON’T make guarantees that the client will achieve unrealistic results (e.g. weight loss in
excess of 2 pounds/week)
The dotFIT brand is designed to be combined with your organization’s brand and name into a
cohesive “Your Brand powered by dotFIT”. It is also important to remember that your brand is
more than just a logo; it’s an image, an experience and an association that a customer or
prospect has when they think of you.
Some examples of branding ideas and opportunities:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Internal and external publicity campaigns (Local TV and radio, newspapers, your
facility’s newsletter, email)
Posters, guest passes, banners, and flyers
Staff uniforms, name tags and lanyards
Brand your facility with testimonials and success stories
Community education collateral and resources
Your Website
The experience your team creates when interacting with prospects, members and clients
The way your team presents themselves both visually and verbally
Page 60 In short, how do you accomplish all of this? Simple: Live the brand – and do so consistently.
When deciding on an action to take or not to take, ask yourself, “Will this add to or take away
from the experience of our customer?” This creates your brand. Everything that you do, and
decide not to do, communicates something to your customer. What qualities do you want your
customers to associate to your company?
What is the dotFIT Mission? The dotFIT mission is to provide the evidence-based tools and
support needed in a seamless easy to use format that guides people towards eating,
supplementing and moving smarter on their terms so that we can all live a longer, more
productive life in a way that’s affordable to all. Summed up, the dotFIT tagline says it all: Your
Fitness. Connected.
Your brand is your “voice”. Be true to it by being consistent and delivering on your promise to
your customer. By doing so, your brand’s equity will grow to unprecedented levels.
Page 61 Launching the dotFIT Platform
You only get one chance to make a first impression. For this reason, good planning is critical as
you work towards launching your dotFIT program, products and services. This guide will walk
you through the suggested launch process; a model proven successful by countless clubs just like
yours.
Countdown to Launch: 4-6 weeks
Goal: Establish your target launch types and dates
Ideally, it’s best to establish both a “soft” and a “hard” launch date over a four to six week period
of time. This approach has proven to be very effective because it is progressive, but not overly
aggressive. It also gives your most valuable asset – your team members and trainers – the
opportunity to become very comfortable with the program and products before the big launch,
yet the club will begin to generate revenue almost immediately.
What’s the difference between a soft launch and a hard launch?
The “soft” launch:
•
•
•
•
•
Typically occurs within the first couple of weeks after you purchase your license
All trainers and staff should take this time to learn about the program and products
through their own personal experiences, as well as through the education and
training support that dotFIT offers
If your club’s trainers are going to administer the dotFIT program, they will complete
the online Certification Course during this time and become dotFIT Certified Fit Pros
Once certified, they will focus on enrolling and servicing select individuals to gain
experience administering the program without too much “pressure” to be perfect
right away:
Existing clients they have great relationships with
Other team members (front desk, sales staff, etc.)
Minimal marketing resources and support are needed for this launch specifically, as
the promotion occurs primarily via word-of-mouth from your staff
The “hard” launch:
•
•
•
Typically occurs toward the end of the four- to six-week target launch timeline, and
follows the completion of the soft launch by just a couple of weeks
This is the big launch. Your goal is to get as many of your members, clients and
surrounding community exposed to and involved with your dotFIT program and
product offerings
Considerable internal and external marketing resources and support can be used to
capitalize on the opportunity
Page 62 Other variables for consideration
We’ll explore the specific goals and timelines of each, but first, let’s look at a few other
variables to consider when scheduling your target launch dates:
-
Size of your facility. Larger facilities with more team members usually require
more time to prepare
Other initiatives? Are there other events or activities that you could leverage?
On the other hand, are there other projects that may tax resources?
Is there a specific calendar date that you want to leverage such as the beginning
of a certain season (New Year’s, spring break, kids back to school, etc.)?
Remember one last thing: It is best not to rush things just because you are excited. If
you are under a tight timeline, just remember to move quickly, but never rush.
Soft Launch and Hard Launch: Step-by-Step
You’ll find a step-by-step checklist for each of the 4-6 weeks leading up through your soft launch
to your hard launch. The target timeframe, desired outcome, purpose behind the outcome and
the recommended actions to take are all listed below. Remember that if you delegate any of
these actions, your follow up and support of those team members will ensure all goes smoothly.
Soft Launch Checklist. Timeframe: 2-3 weeks
Week
1
Outcome
Leadership:
Assign dotFIT
Captain
Purpose
Establish the go-to dotFIT
person responsible for
driving your dotFIT profit
centers
Plan
1. Assign key person who has
the ability, passion and
availability to drive your
brand
1
Goals: Set
Targets with
dotFIT Captain
Set realistic yet
challenging goals that will
inspire great experiences,
results and increased
profitability
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Completed?
Set soft and hard launch
dates
Set 30-, 60- and 90-day
program sales goals
Set 30-, 60-, and 90-day
product sales goals
Set program prices
Establish how the
programs will be
structured and offered
Establish employee
product discounts in-club
Establish employee
product and program
commissions and
compensation
Page 63 1
Staff Training:
Trainer
Certifications
If you are running the
dotFIT program in-house,
ensure your Trainers have
the knowledge and skill
set needed to exceed your
customer’s expectations
1.
1
Product: Order
Product
Ensure products are
available and ready for
purchase
1. Order Product
2. Add products to inventory
management software
3. Match retail prices to SRP
listed online
1
Marketing:
Marketing and
Branding Game
Plan
Create excitement and
anticipation for the hard
launch of your programs
and products
1.
2
Staff Training:
Staff Meeting
Part 1
Create “one voice” with
your team. Get them
excited, educated and
ready for a big launch and
long term success
1.
Staff buy-in is crucial to
the long term success of
your platform
3.
Establish the size and
scope of your hard launch
marketing campaign
2. Order/make plans for inclub dotFIT Kiosk stations
where staff and members
can access their programs
and community. Needed:
High-speed internet
computer and printer
3. Order posters, banners,
brochures and other
collateral
4. Create Program Sales
Presentation sheets
5. Club Newsletter
announcements
6. Press Releases
7. Check online marketing
resources for other ideas
and tools
8. Create and begin posting
“Coming Soon” and other
teaser collateral
Note: all hard launch
marketing collateral should be
ready at least one week prior to
hard launch date
2.
4.
5.
Order appropriate number
of Trainer Certifications
Present game plan to the 4
Players (Trainers, Group
X, Sales and Front Desk)
Hand out and review
together Team Players and
Roles materials
Communicate goals,
prices, commissions and
discounts
Communicate soft and
hard launch dates
Show team how to access
online training materials
Page 64 and give educational
homework assignments
with completion dates
6. Schedule Staff Training
Part 2 approximately one
week prior (see hard
launch checklist week 3 for
meeting details)
2
Staff Training:
Create their
own experience
The best way to learn is
through experience;
charge your team to lead
by example through the
successful participation of
their own personal
programs and product
usage
All staff should use the
subscription for at least
30 days
3
Product: Soft
launch
products
Build excitement and
create “buzz” around your
new product and program
offerings. Begin
generating revenue from
in-club product sales
1.
Trainers enrolled in online
Certification Course; Give
completion deadline
2. 80% of all non-certifying
staff enrolled in their own
program (once Trainers
are certified, they can run
these programs and use as
practice to hone their
presentations)
3. 80% of all staff order
products via Home
Delivery (Another great
opportunity for Trainers to
set up other staff once they
have placed their own
orders)
4. All staff should try the
dotFIT products –
especially the bars and
powders. Encourage all to
use whichever products are
recommended for them
personally so they can
experience the dotFIT
difference
1.
When products arrive,
create your product display
by following the
merchandising guide
2. Only display products that
your staff feels 100%
comfortable talking about
3. Small-scale sampling
events with meal
replacement bars and
powders are a great way to
introduce the products to
your staff and members.
Just make sure your staff is
ready to answer questions
about the products if you
sample them to members
Page 65 3
Staff Training:
Select Clients
for Soft Launch
Once Trainers have
experienced their own
personal program and
have tried the products
themselves, it’s time to
give them real-world
experience in a safe,
comfortable environment.
This way they can hone
their craft prior to
launching the program on
a huge scale
1.
3
Soft Launch
Enroll selected soft
launch clients
1.
Determine which key
clients would be ideal
candidates for
participation in the soft
launch of the program.
These are typically the
clients Trainers feel the
most comfortable working
with, who will use the
program and products
effectively, who are
understanding if things
don’t go perfectly, and who
will provide honest,
valuable feedback on their
experience. Work with
your Training Team on
selecting at least one to
two clients per Trainer
initially – ideally with
different goals
4. Establish the charter client
offering. In other words,
what’s the incentive for
these initial clients?
Discounted prices?
Complementary?
5. Establish the duration
(usually 1-3 weeks) and
what each Trainer wants to
achieve with their clients
during this phase
Note: As an alternative, key
staff members can also be
enrolled by a Trainer, giving
the Trainer an opportunity to
work with a real person, and
the Staff Member an
opportunity to experience the
program
Offer opportunity to and
enroll selected soft launch
clients and/or staff
members
2. Trainers must meet and
communicate frequently to
share experiences and
what they learned in
preparation for hard
launch. This is the best
time to “work out any
bugs” in your game plan
Page 66 Hard Launch Checklist. Timeframe: 3-4 weeks
Week
2-3
Outcome
Marketing:
Hard launch
teaser
campaign
Purpose
Build interest and
excitement around the
hard launch of the
program and products
Actions
1. Create and place “Coming
Soon” teaser flyers and
posters with hard launch
date throughout your
facility
3
Staff Training:
Staff Meeting
Part 2
Arm all Team Player with
the program and product
knowledge they need to
confidently answer any
and all questions they
may receive
1.
Keep in mind all answers
to any questions are
available on line,
therefore your staff will
always be armed with
what they need to be the
fitness resource
3
Staff Training:
Check in with
Soft Launch
Clients and
Trainers
Assess the results and
experiences thus far of
the select clients, staff
and Trainers who
participated in the soft
launch
Completed?
Hold staff meetings –
individually for each
department or for the entire
team – where each person
and/or group comes
prepared to present and
role play the critical skills
they will need to master for
the hard launch
• Program benefits (What
makes it unique? Why
should someone get
involved?)
• Program subscription
options and prices
• How to enroll a
customer in online
program
• How to enroll a
customer in Home
Delivery
• Product benefits and
usage based on specific
goals (such as weight
loss, health and
performance) or
specific age ranges and
life stages (youth,
pregnancy, over 50,
etc.)
• Answering common
questions
2. Additional role playing with
key individuals as needed
3. Review their goals and roles
as the hard launch date
approaches
1.
Meet with staff and
Trainers to learn about
their experiences
2. Meet with selected clients if
possible
3. Note what is working and
what adjustments may need
to be made (i.e. more staff
training, program structure
Page 67 adjustments, etc.)
4
Marketing:
Final
Preparations
Ensure all marketing
materials and strategies
are ready for your hard
launch
1.
Make it loud! Get people
curious and excited about
what’s coming
2.
3.
4.
5.
Make sure posters, banners,
flyers, newsletters, press
releases and any other
marketing collateral is
ready to go
Make plans to announce
launch of program and
products at key “contact
points” within and outside
of your facility, such as:
• Point of Sale
• Training Sessions
• Group Exercise
Classes
• Cardio TVs
• Club P.A. Systems
• Local affiliate
businesses
• Community
newspaper, radio
and TV
Make sure your team is
ready to bring their “A”
game
If you are holding a product
sampling event, ensure
ample product and staff for
sampling and selling
Set up in-club Kiosk and
ensure the staff is ready to
assist in setting up
customers with
subscriptions and Home
Delivery product orders
5
Staff Training:
Final Team
Meeting
Assure readiness for hard
launch
All team members and
players should feel
comfortable with their roles
and have the resources they
need to be effective and
have fun
2. Address any final questions,
concerns or opportunities
5-6
Hard Launch
Make a tremendous
impact, get as many
people involved as
possible, and have fun!
1.
7
Post-Launch
Learn from your launch
and plan for long term
success
1.
1.
Work as a team: Run your
game plan, but be flexible if
need-be
Meet with your team;
Celebrate the successes,
explore any shortfalls and
learn from all of it
2. Make adjustments and
Page 68 address any issues that may
have come up with
members during launch
3. Establish and/or adjust
your 60- and 90-day goals
as necessary
4. Incorporate your key
learnings into your ongoing
systems
Page 69 Section 8: The dotFIT Arsenal
Outcomes from this section:
Helpful tools and resources that include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Product Merchandising and Sampling
Effectively Positioning the Product Home Delivery Service
How to set up a dotFIT Kiosk in your Club
Testimonials
Transformation Contests
Effective Staff Training Strategies
Online marketing and other resources
Suggested Reading
5 Steps to Better Selling
Fitness Orientations
Me Program 4 session coaching outline
Me Program and 90 Day Weight Loss 12 session coaching outline
Trial Me Program Enrollment Steps
How to create a new Me Program
How to log food in your Me Program
How to create a Home Delivery Order
How to set up a new Staff or Trainer Account
Product Merchandising
Product Pricing and Discounts
•
Pricing: How should you price your dotFIT Products? We’ve made it simple for you:
Because you’ll never have to price-compete with any online product discounters, you can
simply match the Suggested Retail Prices of the products, as found on the website and/or
order form
•
Discounts: All dotFIT subscribers will receive 20% off of their Home Delivery orders. This
is an ongoing discount that subscribers “earn” with their subscription. Any in-club
discounting is up to you, but avoid the temptation to overuse discounts that aren’t “earned”.
Discounting more than one product a month, and offering 10-20% discounts on the entire
product line more than once a quarter will devalue the product line, hurt your margins, and
will ultimately train the member to wait wait for your next sale – even if they are out of
product.
Page 70 o
Reward volume purchases. “10% discount for buying by the box” posted by the
display case and staff required to ask any member who purchases a single bar or
protein stick. “Would you like to save 10% on your purchase today?” and explain to
the customer the benefit of buying by the box (they have “emergency portion
controlled food” on-hand, they won’t run out as quickly, they will save money on
eating out, etc.)
o
Run specials monthly and during the final week of the month to “close out” the
special. DO NOT run the same special every month… be creative and have fun
o
Create specials that leverage the customer to spend more to benefit (rather than
simply lose 10% profit on normally occurring purchases)
- Example:10% off $50 or more purchase
•
All staff members and trainers will receive special discounts on their online product orders.
Those with Staff and .FITproTrainer accounts receive an automatic 30% off.
.FITproTrainers will receive an additional 10% off with a dotFIT Certification, and another
10% off with a current NASM Certification.
Product Displays and marketing materials
•
•
Location. Walk through your facility as if you were a typical customer and notice where you
look while you walk along the typical member traffic patterns.
o
Marketing pieces and product displays should reside in areas that match the line of
sight of your customers.
o
Product Displays should be within 3-6 feet of typical traffic patterns.
o
Allow a few feet of clearance around the product so people aren’t standing in the
main traffic line while they investigate your products. Nobody likes their personal
bubble invaded while they check out a new supplement.
Product Fixtures. The ideal buying height is from an average sized person’s knees up to eye
level. Therefore, make sure your product shelves can maximize this.
o
Position any countertop displays within the typical “impulse buying zones” to
maximize revenue from impulse purchases (think of how your local convenience or
grocery store does this – while you wait in line, they have conveniently placed easy to
buy products at a small price point within your arm’s reach)
o
Example: Within arm’s reach of your club check-in area, at the front desk and the
cash register at the juice bar
•
Just like your local grocery store, make sure your products are “faced”, clean, and well
maintained. Keep the shelves looking full. Create a positive shopping experience for your
customers and they’ll thank you with increased purchases.
•
Lighting. Ensure that the products and other posted marketing materials benefit from
enough lighting.
Page 71 •
To lock or not to lock? In order to maximize product sales, do not lock up your products
during club hours. Imagine if you had to ask your local grocer to unlock a box of cereal you
were interested in. This creates unnecessary buying obstacles, which is fine if you don’t
actually want them to buy from you.
o
If you do decide to lock up your products, be sure that a staff member can access
these products within 10 seconds upon member interest or request, or you will risk
losing the sale. It is also good to understand that most theft comes from employees,
who have the keys.
o
Tip: Cameras or daily inventory assessments can quickly and easily prevent
shrinkage while maximizing sales. Instead of locking up the products, consider
rewarding the Front Desk Supervisor and/or Fitness Manager with a $50 bonus
anytime product sales are over $1,000 and shrinkage is under $50.
•
Strongly consider removing competitive products that may potentially confuse your
customers. If you offer both products, which one is best? Mixed messages confuse buyers.
•
Place price labels on the products where it will not detract from the visual appeal. The best
place is on the bottom of the bottle, as it will not prevent the customer from reading the
about the product’s unique benefits found directly on the label.
•
Ensure that product sales, goals, quotas, and commissions for staff are established and
communicated. Hold them accountable to the goals, but make sure you provide the tools to
accomplish them
•
Create a dotFIT presence by “branding” an area with products, product and program
information. A dotFIT Kiosk (a computer with internet access and printer) is a great way for
your members and customers to research your offerings, sign up for subscriptions and set up
Home Delivery orders comfortably at the club.
•
Use dotFIT drink mix in shakes in your juice bar, and advertise that fact, which will drive
shake mix sales
•
Keep your staff well-educated by using the dotFIT educational and staff training resources
•
Someone must be in charge, it must be a priority, and they should be held accountable for
success
Page 72 Sampling
Try before you buy – there’s no easier and better way to introduce meal replacement bars and
even powders to your customers. Here’s how to make it work for you.
Executive Summary:
1
Create your own sampling kit. We recommend the following items to make your
sampling event a success:
•
•
•
•
•
•
2
Prepare the sampling area.
•
3
A total of 70 bars, more than enough for a two-hour sampling event
12 plates
Product information signs for the nutrition dotFIT product line
50 dotFIT product guides
Rubber gloves for safe, sanitary preparation
One (1) cutting mat and cutter
Set up the plates and product information signs so that they will be visible and
accessible.
Prepare the bars.
•
•
•
Be sure to wear rubber gloves at all times when handling the bars. This avoids
violating health regulations and gives your members peace of mind.
Using your cutting mat and cutter, cut the bars into bite-sized pieces as the diagrams
below indicate—five pieces for dotSTICKs and dotBARs; four pieces for dotTREATs.
It is not necessary to chop or slice the bars. Simply apply firm pressure using the
cutter.
dotSTICKs & dotBARs (5 samples)
dotTREATs (4 samples)
Page 73 4
Look and act the part.
•
•
5
Be proactive.
•
•
6
Be in uniform.
Smile. Be active, friendly, and involved. This is your chance to engage your members,
to educate and inform them, as well as a chance to learn about them.
Ask members to sample the bars. Don’t wait for them to approach you.
If another person is available to staff the sampling area, walk around the club and
offer samples to exercising members who may be “between sets.” You’ll have their
undivided attention.
Maintain the sampling and merchandising areas.
•
•
•
Keep the sampling plates full. People don’t want to take “the last one.” Remember to
use gloves at all times when cutting and placing the bars and treats.
Be sure the dotFIT product available for purchase is well stocked and organized.
Direct people to your dotFIT fixture or product area to purchase. This is the perfect
opportunity to turn a trial into a single or box purchase.
Page 74 Detailed Version:
dotFIT Sampling Promotions Checklist
Pick a 2-3 hour timeframe during a high traffic, high energy time in the club for
your first Sampling Promotion
Set an initial supplement sales goal for that time period.
•
For example, if 100 members check in during a 3 hour period, set a goal of 30% will
buy at least one full box. Without projecting for individual bar sales, that 30% will
generate over $800-$900.
Inform each staff member as to what his or her specific role(s) are during the
promotion
•
Every staff member must be well-informed, enthusiastic, and proactively
communicating and interacting with members. Signs by themselves never sell
anything. Your staff will drive this better than any sign ever could.
Submit a product order to increase back stock and capture increased sales
volume
•
Consider ordering more than you think you’ll need to avoid missed sales
•
Remember two things:
•
If you don’t have it in stock, you can’t sell it
•
You will have residual purchases for several days after the event (from wordof-mouth and from people who didn’t bring money with them at the time of
the event)
Give out “coupons” for 10-15% off boxes of their favorite meal replacement bars
(mix ‘n match should be encouraged)
•
Ensure that the staff members who love the products are working the floor and front
desk that night.
•
Enthusiasm is key! If a staff member likes a particular flavor, like the Iced Lemon
Vanilla Protein Stick, for example, let them distribute samples of that flavor – they’ll
sell it based on their enthusiasm.
Place your in-club signage and posters hyping up the event
•
Place the signs at eye level and in the visual path of major traffic areas
•
Another option is putting posters (foam-core mounted) on easels right in the middle
of major traffic areas (as long as they aren’t hazardous). Make sure you move these
Page 75 easels every week (objects that never move become part of the visual landscape, and
are easily ignored)
•
Create and hand out coupons for 10 or 15% off boxes of bars
•
Let your members know that if they like what they try, they can save money by
purchasing boxes of bars. Also let them know that they are encouraged to “Mix ‘n
Match” flavors of equally priced bars to make a box. This will increase your volume
of sales
You must get your members and customers actively involved in the promotion.
Here are some tactics that work well:
•
Get the most enthusiastic, energetic and well-liked staff member(s) in your club to
walk up to members who are out on the gym floor to ask, “Would you like to try a
sample of our new Protein Sticks? They are REALLY good!” These staff members
must truly believe in the products themselves.
•
While members are just sitting on a bench in between sets, you have their full
attention. It is a perfect time to offer them an energizing, yummy sample!
•
People on bikes and other cardio equipment can also be offered a bite-sized sample.
•
Hit up the members leaving a group exercise class for their post-workout treat – they
earned it! Have the Instructor give a 10 second commercial about the importance of
feeding their body the right nutrients within the first 30 mins after a class, and how
the samples available meet that criteria and taste great.
•
Make sure the staff has full trays of samples to bring with them. No one likes to take
the last one and offering a variety of flavors is a must.
•
Setting unattended plates of samples on counter tops or tables in the front area will
not give you the result you are looking for. Sure, you may go through all of your
samples, but you won’t have any sales to show for it.
•
Be creative with how you get members involved. Make it fun, exciting, interesting.
Make a “spectacle” out of yourself (in a good way of course)
Stock your front desk and juice bar areas with stacks of the products you are
promoting. Make it easy to buy.
•
Customers like to see that you went out of your way to promote something you really
believe in. Not many people enjoy getting involved in what looks like a last-minute
promotion because it’s close-out for the club
•
The more products you have stacked up, the easier it will be for your members to
grab what they need and they will never feel like they are being rude by “taking the
last one.” Make it easy for them to purchase it
Page 76 •
If your products look like “slim pickings”, they’ll think that you didn’t expect many
people to buy it, and that you don’t really believe in them. Your inventory makes a
statement – what statement is it making today?
•
If your club offers “On Account” or “Prepaid Credit Card” payment options, this is the
perfect time to utilize this service. Remember – make it as easy as possible for them
to buy what they liked
•
Have enough staff members and cash registers available to ring up sales. If your
customers have to wait for more than a couple minutes, they’ll justify “coming back
later when they aren’t so busy”. They rarely actually come back to purchase later
•
Setting up a raffle bin, where for every $10 you spend, you receive a raffle ticket to
win a cool prize. Raffling off bartered prizes like DVD players, Festival Tickets, and
other things adds extra value. Allow members to play the game with a chance to win
something
•
The more people, members, staff members, etc. you can have congregating around
the register, juice bar, or an area out on your workout floor who are talking about and
eating the samples the better. People always want to “feel like part of the group” and
they will wander over, even if they resisted a sample offering earlier. (Wear them
down with your enthusiasm.)
•
Proactive communication. Your staff can never do enough verbal promotion on the
day of the sampling session. Active promotion is the key to your success!
**Remember to have sampling sessions once a week, at different times, over the course of the
first 60 - 90 days (am, pm, weekend… to get all your members involved) and then reduce to 1-2
times a month.
•
The upside to starting out this way is a ton of exposure to the products but the
downside can be too much exposure that may turn people off, so pay close attention
to the vibe of your members.
Evaluate the success of the sampling session:
• What could have gone better?
• How can we avoid challenges in the future?
• What did we learn? How can we make this more successful next time?
Page 77 Effectively Positioning the Product Home Delivery Service
Home delivery: is best for those people that can’t or won’t buy at the gym. The Recurring
Auto Ship order concept is ideally positioned for products such as the dotFIT multivitamins or
any other dotFIT Health product, because these can and should be used continuously in order
to receive maximum benefit.
Home delivery is not meant to replace or redirect in-club product sales to online orders.
Instead, this service was built to solve for the following six challenges:
1. Attrition – member or staff that leave the gym
2. Vehicle for non-members to experience/purchase dotFIT products. This can include
capturing opportunities with corporate relationships, non-local friends and family, etc.
3. Clients no longer working with a club Fit Pro
4. Convenience – many members choose not to bring their wallets/purse to club
5. Tracking and maintaining the Fit Pro commissions for as long as anyone they sign-up
purchases products
6. Reminder for a client to take their daily dotFIT multivitamin & mineral (MVM)
In order to accomplish this, it is imperative that all of your customer contacts are informed of
the availability of this service, and how to participate if and when they are ready.
Balancing in-club and online Product Production
•
In-club purchases will drive the majority of your Product revenue production. It is
human nature to want to “touch and feel” the products you about to purchase. Your
Trainers and staff can also actively promote in-club product sales much more so than
online product sales.
•
Out of sight, out of mind. In-club product offerings are a constant reminder to your
active members about their supplement needs, and to your Trainers about their
supplement production goals.
•
Although the home delivery has a great return on investment (because you don’t have
to purchase the inventory first), your in-club product presence and purchases drive
the home delivery program.
Page 78 How to set up a dotFIT Kiosk in your Club
“A picture is worth a thousand words.”
If that is true, how much is an interactive, web-based solution that’s completely customizable
based on your members’ goals and lifestyle? A million words?
The value of your new dotFIT Me Program and online community resources are infinitely easier
to communicate through show ‘n tell, than just “tell”. This is why we strongly recommend that
you set up at least one to two dotFIT Kiosks in your facility. The larger your facility, the more
Kiosks you should have.
The dotFIT Kiosk is the place where your members can:
•
•
•
•
•
See a “demo” of your staff’s program
Sign up for a subscription or trial subscription
Get dotFIT supplement recommendations
Order dotFIT supplements through your home delivery service
Check out the online fitness community features (coming soon)
Here are some helpful tips for selecting effective dotFIT Kiosk locations in your club:
9 Set one up near your Front Desk or waiting area for prospects, new members and
even people in your community
9 Set one up on the workout floor. This will offer easy access for members and trainers
during workouts, while drawing attention to your dotFIT programming as other
members observe and get curious
9 Set one up near the juice bar or nutrition center
9 If you have a large Group Exercise culture, set one up outside of the Group Exercise
studios
Other considerations for your dotFIT Kiosk:
o
o
o
o
o
Place dotFIT-related marketing materials and program information around the Kiosk
Testimonials from dotFIT users should also be within eyesight
Since some members will use the Kiosk to make adjustments to their meal plans, or
even create supplement recommendations, make sure a small printer is connected to
your Kiosk
While encouraging use of the Kiosk for dotFIT-related use is warranted, you may
want to consider limiting the web-access to “unapproved” websites that are not
fitness related
If you want to go all-out, free-standing professional Kiosk systems are available.
Here’s a company we found that does custom Kiosks: www.kis-kiosk.com
Page 79 Testimonials
Why a testimonial? As Psychologist and author Robert Cialdini points out in his book,
Influence; Science and Practice, when people aren’t sure what path to take, or decision to make,
they look around for examples of what other people who appear most similar to themselves have
done to get the results they are searching for.
This is a powerful influencer of human behavior. In order to maximize the positive impact that
your programs, products and services can have on your members and surrounding community,
you must utilize all proven and ethical means of influencing people in a positive way. This will
not only help them get out of any “ruts” they may be stuck in, it can also effectively combat the
tremendous clutter your members are exposed to by other advertisers in this industry.
Testimonials can come in the following forms:
•
•
•
A written account of the experiences and results achieved by your members and
clients. These can also be accompanied by photos; both before and after, or just after
photos
A video testimonial
A live testimonial (these are the most powerful and should be incorporated whenever
possible during conversations with prospects, seminar presentations and other
applicable opportunities)
When should you ask for a testimonial?
The best time to ask for a testimonial is after the client experiences something that is
positive and significant for them. This could include:
•
•
•
•
•
A weight loss or performance improvement breakthrough. A long-standing plateau
mark has been surpassed
Fitting in a certain pair of pants
Making the team
Getting off the medication
Anything that is of significant value to your client and the quality of their life. This
means that you don’t have to wait until their program is over to ask
What should the testimonial include? How should it be written?
The best testimonials come from the heart. As long as your client is honest and they
know that their words are going to impact the people reading them, you do not have to
influence the content of their testimonial. The best lengths range from 3-4 sentences to
over a full 1-2 pages, depending on how much they want to share about the impact your
program has had on them.
Here’s a sample script you can use when requesting a testimonial:
Page 80 “Congratulations on achieving this tremendous milestone! We are so proud of you and
your accomplishment. You are an inspiration to all of us here and we would be
honored if you were willing to share your story with others – especially those that are
just getting started on their fitness journey and as a result, maybe don’t know which
direction to go, or who to trust. Would you be willing to share some of your
experiences, advice and results you achieved through a heart-felt testimonial? If you
are willing to provide some inspiration to others, all we ask is that you take a few
moments and write down in your own words what you learned, how you benefitted
and what advice you would give someone that may be contemplating about starting
one of our dotFIT Me Programs. So many people out there just need some
encouragement – your words could really help them take an important step.”
Photos
Each of your clients should have a “before” picture taken at the beginning of their
journey with you. Make it clear that these photos are for the client’s use only, and that
they may choose to one day share that photo with others who may not believe that is
where they started. Our experience has shown that 100% of the clients who chose not to
take a before picture were disappointed that they didn’t have that to compare to when
they achieved their goal. Don’t let that happen to them. Take the photo in good light,
wearing whatever level of clothing the client feels comfortable in, and make sure it is a
high quality photo. Digital is best.
After photos are usually something the client is excited about. Same photo quality
guidelines apply here, although you can get a little more creative with the after photos.
Have the client “make a muscle”, or get in a celebratory pose of some sort. Make it fun.
For your testimonial, if you only have an after photo, you can still use that as a standalone. The goal, however, is to have a side by side comparison of before and after photos.
Other considerations
Every trainer should have a requirement for testimonials. If a trainer successfully helps
3-6 clients achieve their goals each month, they should be able to turn in testimonials
from at least half of those clients. Set a monthly requirement for each trainer (it could be
as few as just 1 new testimonial each month) and link the accomplishment of that
requirement to their compensation to help gather momentum. As a trainer begins to use
these testimonials as further proof that the program works, they will quickly learn the
power of a collection of successful client stories
Here are some suggestions for marketing with testimonials:
•
•
•
•
Wall of Success, or “Me. Better.” board (leverage the Me program name if you so
desire). Posted throughout the club, in trainer’s offices, near the dotFIT Kiosk.
Book of Success (three-ring binder with testimonials)
The club’s website
A digital photo frame with automatically scrolling before and after photos
Page 81 Model Release
Be sure to obtain a signed Model Release form from all clients. Here is a sample you can
build on:
I will allow <Your Club Name> to use my name and/or publish photographs of me for
advertising, website, and promotion. This includes pictures, testimonials or any information
provided by me.
I will only provide pictures or copy to <Your Club Name> that is privately owned by me and is
not copyrighted or owned by any outside party.
I waive any right to inspect or approve the photographs, promotional copy or printed matter
that may be used in conjunction with, or as part of, any advertising or promotion.
I understand that this does not guarantee a sponsorship agreement with <Your Club Name> and
I do not expect any compensation.
Furthermore, I will not present myself as an employee, agent or representative of the company.
__________________________________________________________________
Date
Signature
(______)__________________________________________________________
Phone number
Printed name
__________________________________________________________________
Address
__________________________________________________________________
City
State
Zip
Note: Share your client’s success stories on the dotFIT website for everyone to see!
Simply email us at marketing@dotfit.com and request a dotFIT Model Release Form.
Return the form with clear, high-quality photos and a testimonial, and we’ll post it at
www.dotfit.com/testimonials.
Page 82 Transformation Contests
Transformation contests, when used effectively, can drive more results and more business than
any other single programming approach. Contests leverage powerful influencers of human
behavior (such as social proof, deadlines and competition), marketing resources are maximized
with a singular focus, and a Contest can become a fitness organization’s “weapon of choice” for
creating that all-important culture of results in the community it serves.
Contests are not just limited to members or clients. In fact, every organization new to the
Contest approach is strongly encouraged to consider launching their first Contest for staff
members only. Staff challenges can effectively train your team through their own experiences
on the dotFIT Me Program, while simultaneously create a buzz that gets your members’
attention as they await their own opportunity to participate in upcoming member challenges.
Here then, are the keys to running wildly successful staff and member Transformation Contests
with your dotFIT Me Program.
The Transformation Contest
What can you expect to accomplish?
•
•
Staff Contest:
o
Staff training: By experiencing the dotFIT Me Program and products first-hand,
they will be better equipped to promote, educate and sell these offerings to your
members
o
Culture creation: Most fitness staff are competitive by nature. Holding a staff
challenge will appeal to them greatly and help create a buzz
o
Promotion: Members will be watching to see how successful your staff are with
their own programs. Leverage this through contest updates, leader boards and
staff testimonials
o
Fit Pro Training: Since your Fit Pros will be administering these programs, this
provides a great opportunity to refine their skills
Member/Community Contest:
o
Excitement and a reason: Every member at your club has a goal they want to
achieve, they just need a compelling reason and a solid plan
o
Competition and deadlines: Contests like these provide unique opportunities to
compete with other people like themselves in a fun, supportive atmosphere. The
deadlines help prevent procrastination
o
Prizes: Create tremendous incentives and a buzz in your club
o
Promotion: The results from the Contests and the Contests themselves should be
leveraged in all of your internal and external marketing efforts. Some clubs have
even leveraged community media coverage
Page 83 Who should get involved?
Staff Contest:
o
To put it simply; as many as possible who will actually complete the challenge.
Your target should be 50% - 100% of your current staff in order to have an impact
o
All key staff should be involved: Fit Pros, Personal Trainers, Sales Counselors,
Front Desk Staff, Group Exercise Instructors and even Management and Owners.
Total buy-in is crucial
Member/Community Contest:
o
Members, prospects and people in your community who have a fitness-related
goal and are looking for some motivation and a plan to achieve it
o
Depending on the number of participants interested, you can also choose to
create teams of 3-8 people each. Each trainer will be assigned a team to work
with for the duration of the Contest and teams will compete against each other.
Teams work well because most people will work extra hard not to let their team
down, while the club can leverage the time of their Fit Pros by including 2-3
weekly “team training sessions” for each group with the cost of the Entry Fees.
This also keeps the cost to enroll down for participants
o
If you have enough participants, you could also break them out into categories
based on their goals (fat loss, muscle gain, etc.), gender, age, couples, etc.
What are the details?
•
All Contests should be 8-12 weeks in duration, which is enough time to show significant
noticeable results, while still being manageable
•
“Pre-enrollment” opportunities can also be offered. Total durations of 10 – 16 weeks can
also work, if the first 2-4 weeks are used to give “early adopters” a chance to get started
early and enhance their results. This will also prevent people from waiting until the
official start date
•
There should be a deadline for all entries within 4 weeks of starting the contest
•
No more than two to three Contests per year to remain effective
•
The dotFIT Me Program should be used for all participants to ensure best results (and to
be an effective marketing strategy for your programs). Certified dotFIT Fit Pros should
administer the programs for the entire duration by following the suggested coaching
outlines
o
Outsourcing model alternative: Your facility can also outsource all coaching to
dotFIT Virtual Coaches who will administer the sessions via phone. Participants
will purchase their sessions directly from their accounts
Page 84 •
Personal training assistance can be added to the programs as appropriate. This will
enhance results, revenue, and for the Staff Contests, this will provide hands-on
experience for your staff – showing them first-hand the value of training with your Fit
Pros
•
Before and after pictures, as well as overall progress stats will be recorded for each
participant
•
Weekly Challenges
•
o
Individuals or teams compete for points that can’t otherwise be earned simply
from physical progress. These challenges will encourage those who may be
behind on “physical changes” points to continue competing, rather than getting
discouraged and quit before the Contest has completed
o
Obstacle courses, “guess the calories” challenges, and any physical or mental
challenges related to healthy lifestyle changes are fair game
Create for each participant a “Participant Book” that outlines the conditions of the
Contest
o
Start and End dates
o
Contest Rules and prizes
o
Requirements (pictures, testimonials, Model Release, etc)
o
Entry Fees

o
Weekly weigh-in information

o
Entry Fees for a 12-week challenge typically range from $150 - $299,
depending on whether fitness equipment and training sessions are
included. A small portion of the entry fees may also go towards the prizes
It is a good idea to discourage scale weight-manipulating behavior that
could lead to unhealthy consequences such as low fluid intake,
manipulating electrolyte balance and diuretic use
Inspiration and support materials from your staff, or from your dotFIT website
Staff Contests:
o
For Staff Contests, each staff member must commit to complying to their
programs 100%, and will only use dotFIT programs and products during this
time
What are the incentives and prizes?
Incentives and Prizes: Staff Contests:
o
Special staff discounts on programs and products can apply. Here are some
examples:
Page 85 o
The club should create Staff Accounts in the dotFIT platform for each staff
member. This will give them a free subscription to the Me Program and 30%
discount to online product purchases
o
The club can choose to provide free coaching sessions with the Fit Pros for the
duration of the 8-12 week Contest. These costs can be minimized through
administering each session in a group format if you have a large number of
participants (2-3 staff members with one Fit Pro at a time)
o
The club could also decide to absorb the cost of the program, writing it off as staff
training time, provided the programs are completed successfully

Any staff member that does not complete the program may be forced to
pay the member’s rate for all sessions serviced. This will help show them
the value of these sessions and not take them for granted
o
Individual Prizes for individual efforts and results, or you could form teams who
can compete against each other within the club
o
Set a team goal. If you have ten team members participating, the team goal could
be to lose 100 lbs by week 12 (10 lbs each). For each 25 lbs increment they hit,
they win a more valuable prize
o
Work with the team to determine prizes, but have suggestions on the table for
them to choose from. Dinner cards, movie passes, vacation time, cash, or other
prizes are all fair game. Be creative – the more difficult the prizes are to obtain
through normal means, the more valuable they are
o
Need to up the value? Have each team member contribute $10 - $25 to
participate
o
Get the members involved. Have them help vote on who should win
Incentives and Prizes: Member/Community Contests:
•
Special pricing on personal training and in-club product sales (10-20% off, or limited
time only packaged pricing) to Contest Participants only
•
Special opportunities to earn “points” for all participants during the duration of the
Contest. Each dollar spent gives them 2-5 points
•
Participants can also purchase special programs and products for friends at discounted
or special rates
•
T-shirts, hats, and bags for Participants only. “Brand” them!
•
Examples of prizes:
o
Individual or Team Prizes for results (most fat lost, most muscle gained, most
inspirational, etc.)
o
Individual or Team Prizes for total points earned during the Contest. For each
team workout completed, each team challenge won, each new member or client
they refer, and each educational seminar attended earns individuals and teams
points which they can use to contribute to their team totals
Page 86 •
o
Prizes of some value should be awarded for everyone who finishes. The goal is
not to simply reward the top participants, but to make sure all participants finish
the challenge, learn new lifestyle habits and have fun!
o
Prizes typically range from vacation packages, home electronics, club
memberships, entertainment packages, sports equipment, massages, and cash.
What would get your members excited? Are you in an area that values outdoor
activities? Give away an adventure trip. One club even gave away a 2 year lease
on a new car!
Winners are determined by total points, staff or member judges
How do we market it?
•
•
Give yourself at least 4-6 weeks to prepare and properly market your Contests
o
Proactive promotion begins and ends with your staff. Make sure they are well
equipped, informed and prepared to create the buzz and get people signed up
o
Assign roles and set deadlines for each. Have someone oversee the entire project
o
Outfit your staff with Contest-specific clothing – hats, shirts, buttons, etc.
o
Leverage the hype through your prizes, press releases and your local media (TV,
newspaper, billboards, direct mail, email, etc.)
Run the Contest around major events in the club
o
New Year’s (“A New Year – A New You”)
o
Seasons (Summer Shape Up, Fall, Spring, etc)
o
Club Events (Grand Openings, renovations, Member Appreciation, etc)
o
Sporting Events (Super Bowl, World Series, etc)
•
Community Seminars are great ways to promote both your contest and your club
•
Leverage your current members – encourage them to spread the word and bring a friend
to participate. You don’t have to be a member of the club to participate
•
Place a countdown timer next to your Contest Grand Prize to reveal the number of days
remaining to enter the Contest
•
Get creative – people like to be part of something new and fun. “Do you mean to tell me
that you haven’t signed up for our Contest yet? What are you waiting for? Let’s get you
signed up right away!”
How to leverage the results
•
Make sure you use the results – show how your staff and your members can walk the
talk. “If they can do it, so can you!”
•
Results, before and after pictures, group pictures, testimonials… All of these should be
used in the marketing of your dotFIT Me Program. Even if they are from your staff
Page 87 members, they are “real people” who have to deal with this whole “calories in – calories
out” thing too! Leverage this
•
Create a dotFIT “Me. Better.” board with all of your results and testimonials. See the
Testimonials section of the Playbook for more ideas on Testimonials
o
How many people competed?
o
How many total pounds were lost?
o
How many total calories were burned?
o
How many friendships were created?
o
How much fun did people have?
•
Have a Ceremony to announce the individual results, the participants and the winners.
Make a big deal of it. Get local media coverage
•
Each participant who completes the Contest should receive a Certificate of Completion,
t-shirt, and a picture with their trainer and team to signify his or her accomplishments.
Anyone who successfully completes the Contest is a winner
•
Develop success stories for PR with your local TV or newspaper
•
Post the Contest updates and final results on your club’s website
Page 88 Effective Staff Training Strategies
Every staff meeting provides an opportunity to build teamwork, your club’s culture and your
team’s skill sets and confidence. Here are three proven strategies for maximizing those
opportunities.
Staff Presentation assignments
The Fitness Manager assigns pertinent topics to be presented to the rest of the team at
the next staff meeting
The assignments could be to individuals, or to “teams” of no more than 2 people. Here’s
an example:
•
For a team of less than 10 trainers, the FM would charge each Trainer with learning
about and mastering the information on 1-2 dotFIT products each, and would be
responsible for presenting this information to their team
•
The presentation must include: What does the product do? Who is it for? How do
you use it? What makes it unique? And overcoming potential objections
•
The FM would point the Trainers towards resources such as: The Supplement
Reference Guide, the online educational content from dotFIT (videos, studies, uses,
etc.), asking fellow teammates or the FM for help in preparing, or even contacting
dotFIT for assistance when needed
•
These strategies can also be applied towards program administration, sales training,
and any other skill-based topics
•
After presenting the information to their peers, the FM would open the floor for
feedback, additional questions, and anything else from their peers that they believe
would be helpful for the growth and development of the group
•
This process encourages accountability, proactive behavior and creates a great team
culture
Team challenge
The FM assigns the entire team with learning a certain topic (or topics) prior to an
upcoming team meeting. The FM tells the team that they will be broken up into 2 groups
and will “compete” against each other based on knowledge base and skills application for
a valuable prize (which will be announced at the beginning of the meeting).
This has shown to work for as little as 4 Trainers (2 teams of 2 trainers), and up to as
many as 20 (2 teams of 10 trainers). Here’s an example:
•
The FM creates a “Jeopardy board” with 2-4 categories, and 3-5 questions of various
difficulty worth anywhere from 100-500 points each. The questions should not only
include knowledge-based answers, but application-based as well. (For example,
Page 89 “Explain what the FatReleaser does, who it is for, and what makes it unique”, or
“Present the FatReleaser product to the following case study client…”)
•
Note: The FM should make sure that the questions challenge the Trainers enough,
but shouldn’t be too hard too soon. Each subsequent challenge should increase in
difficulty level as their skills and confidence improves
•
Topics could include:
o
dotFIT Supplements or specific categories of supplements (health, weight
loss, performance and nutrition)
o
dotFIT Program sales skills
o
dotFIT Program administration
o
OPT-Model questions and application
o
Club-specific operational policies and procedures
“What I learned” assignments
The FM requires that all Trainers write a “5 Things that I learned about the dotFIT programs
and products and how I plan on using it with my clients” essay after a recent staff training or
completion of the online Certification Course.
The FM gives a deadline for completion, and then reads some hand-picked essays during
subsequent team meetings. This assignment has yielded the following results:
•
It encourages the Trainers to actively get engaged and think critically about the most
important, application-based information
•
The FM now has written statements that he/she can use to refer back to in the future,
should he/she need to hold specific trainers accountable to what they wrote
•
The FM also learns very quickly which trainers may need to be let go (the percentage
never completed the assignment)
•
It also helps build the type of culture they need to be successful. Even many of the
Trainers who have completed this type of assignment at other clubs have stated that
they personally benefitted significantly from the assignment
Page 90 Online Marketing and other resources
•
Go to www.dotFIT.com/clubtools to see what’s available online
• Sample Consumer Awareness Guide
• Marketing Guidelines including Do’s and Don’ts
• Posters
• Product guides
• Shelf talkers
Other Online Resources
• Thomas Plummer’s profit center, usage rates, and other useful calculators (coming soon)
• Educational Tools
o Videos
o Scripts
o Articles
o Certifications
• Online in-club Training Quizzes (coming soon)
Suggested Reading and Resources
•
•
•
•
•
•
Business Development and Leadership
o Good to Great, by Jim Collins
o Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, by Verne Harnish
Sales
o You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar, by David H. Sandler
Merchandising
o Why We Buy, by Paco Underhill
Mindset
o Awaken the Giant Within, by Anthony Robbins
o Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill
Marketing
o Getting Everything You Can from All You’ve Got, by Jay Abraham
Hiring
o Who, by Geoff Smart and Randy Street
Note: Statistics used in this Playbook come from industry-experts such as Thomas Plummer
and IHRSA.
Page 91 dotFIT Certification Course
5 Steps To Better Selling The goal of this section is to provide fitness professionals with the insight and tools that
will help get people involved with the products and services conducive to obtaining their
goal(s). Yes, we’re speaking about sales, but not in the high-pressure, “Slick Willie”
sense that may come to mind. Like most of us, you are in this industry to help people
gain knowledge and utilize tools and strategies to enhance their lives and community.
Will that happen if they don’t get involved with the products and services you know they
need? No! They will continue “shooting in the dark” or get taken advantage of by
marketing ploys that distort the truth.
This section is about solution-based selling - determining what someone wants or needs,
assessing if they have the knowledge and resources to get there on their own, and
providing solutions that best fit their needs. This is a win-win scenario that requires
passion and integrity. It is not about selling something people don’t need or want - it’s
about showing people the value of what you have to offer and helping them get what
they want.
Overview
People make decisions intellectually, but they buy emotionally. Helping them discover
those key emotions that drive them to take action is a critical component of any
successful selling strategy. The good news is that if the right approach is used, this
process is relatively easy and quite fulfilling. The tools found here in this simple fourstep process are designed to empower you with an approach that will help you increase
your sales skills and expand your level of influence. These four steps are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Become the trusted advisor
Uncover their reasons
Establish a commitment
Present their solution
Overcoming objections
Step One – Become the Trusted Advisor
If you were struggling with a problem that was causing you a lot of pain and upset,
would you be more apt to trust advice from a close friend or a complete stranger?
Assuming that you were confident that your close friend had your best interest in mind,
you would probably trust the close friend. Since most of the prospects you will
encounter are people who have never met you before, we need to establish trust and
rapport.
Rapport is sharing a common view with someone else. It creates a significant bond
between people. In fact, because of the power of the bond that rapport creates, the
person with the greatest amount of certainty invariably ends up influencing the other.
This is especially important in our environment where emotionally charged topics such
as body image, food habits, and lifestyle choices are discussed.
Page 1 of 6
dotFIT Certification Course
5 Steps To Better Selling Here are some proven ways to develop rapport quickly.
1. Mirroring. People feel comfortable with others who are most like themselves. You can
increase their level of comfort with you by simply mirroring their body language,
tonality, rate of speech and even some of the key words and phrases they use. In fact,
55% of rapport is developed through non-verbal communication.
2. Questions. People feel most comfortable talking about themselves and what’s most
important to them. By genuinely asking them questions about their needs, desires and
goals, they will begin to trust that you have their best interests in mind.
3. Active Listening. Whatever they say, make sure you listen intently – even take notes if
you have to – it will confirm that you truly do care. Tell them you understand when you
do, and seek clarification when you need it. Additionally, pay attention to your own gut
instincts. If you get the sense that they are feeling uncomfortable with something, get it
out in the open, solve for it, and continue to move forward with the bond you’ve created.
Step Two – Uncover Their Reasons
People buy for their reasons, not yours. Even if you have the best programs and
products in the galaxy, no one will buy into them if the reasons for doing so don’t
resonate and relate to them on a personal and emotional level.
Now that you are a trusted advisor, you will have permission to ask the questions
necessary to determine what it is they really want and why it is important to them. Pay
special attention to the “why it is important to them” piece as this will reveal their true
reasons for wanting to achieve the goals they have set. Getting in better shape is
typically not the true goal – the goal is how a person will feel (i.e. what it will mean to
them) when they achieve it that inspires them to take action and motivates them to
accomplish it.
In addition, asking the right questions up front will also eliminate many future
objections down the road.
Here are some valuable sample questions you can use to uncover their goals and
reasons. Be a sympathetic investigator who is here to solve for one of their greatest
challenges. Get all the facts before offering solutions.
•
•
Get clear about what they want
o In order to best help you, we need to discuss all aspects of your goal and why you
are here. Is that a fair statement? Great. You start.
o What would you like to change or improve, if anything?
o What were you hoping we could do for you?
o What brings you in here today?
Make sure their “what” is clear and specific. Never stop after a generic unspecific goal
statement such as, “I want to lose weight”
o Help me with this. How much weight would you like to lose?
o I’m not quite clear on “x” (insert anything you need clarification on), can you tell
me more about that?
Page 2 of 6
5 Steps To Better Selling Can you do me a favor? Paint me an exact picture – even down to the details – of
what you would like to achieve.
Reveal the emotional importance
o How will your life be different when you achieve this goal? How will you feel once
you’ve (restate their goal).
o How long have you had this problem? How long have you been thinking about
this?
o How serious would you say the problem is today? Why is this so important to
you?
o What have you tried to turn things around? What did you like and what didn’t
you like about that approach? (Take special note on the responses here so that
when you present the solution later, you can reference their likes and how your
solution solves for things they didn’t like previously)
o How much is this problem costing you? (Physically, emotionally and financially.)
What are some of the worst things that you are missing out on – or will miss out
on – if a solution isn’t found?
o
•
Step Three – Establish a Commitment
At this point we should have a solid understanding of what pains they are trying to solve
for, and why it is so important to them. In order to give them the best shot at achieving
their goals, it is important to establish the level of commitment they will need to be
successful while continuing to maintain the rapport we’ve built.
•
•
•
•
So let me get this straight, you came here because you want to achieve “x, y and z” (insert
their goals in their own words), is that a fair statement? If they don’t say yes, ask, “What
is an accurate statement?”
What is your timeline for accomplishing this? Why did you pick that timeframe?
What would it mean to you to accomplish these goals? How would it make you feel?
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being reflective of an absolute commitment, where would you
rate your personal commitment level right now as it relates to the accomplishment of the
goals you just described? (Note: If they respond with less than an 8 say, “I appreciate
your honesty. May I offer some insights? What we’ve found here in working with people
over the years is that those who are successful find a way to get themselves to at least an
8 on the commitment scale. So that you have the best chance of achieving your
important goals, what do you think it would take to get your commitment level to an 8, 9
or even 10?”)
Page 3 of 6
5 Steps To Better Selling Here are some other questions you can ask during the commitment phase to tease out
any possible money concerns or decision-making ability issues:
•
•
•
•
I believe we have a clear understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish, Mary, but
just so that there’s no misunderstanding at a later date, let me know if I have this
straight. You talked about the trouble you’re having with (problem #1), (problem #2)
and (problem #3), and it sounded like what you’re hoping we can do is (solution #1),
(solution #2) and (solution #3). Is that a fair statement?
Do you have a budget set aside for this goal? Would you mind sharing it with me in
round numbers?
Assuming that we can do this for you, and that it fits into your budget and timeline, when
do you see yourself moving forward with this, Mary?
What is your typical decision-making process that you go through when deciding on a
purchase like this?
Step Four – Present Their Solution
Assuming there are no other major concerns on the part of the prospect, as their
trusted advisor you should now know very clearly whether or not your facility can
solve their problems. In your presentation of the solutions you provide (nutrition
guidance, personal training, memberships, group exercise classes, etc.), only focus on
those that have a specific application to the problems they communicated to you. In
other words, if their primary goal is to lose weight, and they don’t have much time to
exercise, telling them about the 67 group exercise classes you offer each week will only
overwhelm them. Find the 2-3 classes that fit with their schedule and ensure they have
a plan for the other 165 hours a week when they’re not at the gym. Focus on what solves
their problems specifically, and always start with the best solution to their biggest and
most important pain.
Anything you choose to show them must relate specifically to what they shared with you
earlier. Let them see it, touch it, ask questions about it, and even give them sample
experiences of it. Make the solutions real for them. Let them know what the costs are
during the presentation of the solutions.
Once you are finished, if you have done your up-front rapport building and questionasking homework right, your prospect should be ready to make a buying decision.
•
Get a pulse during your solution presentation: Mary, since we’ve gone through quite a
bit together so far, and since there’s still more that we can show you, I’d like to ask you:
On a 0-10 scale, zero meaning you have no interest in our service, and ten meaning that
you’ve already decided to get started with our service, where are you?
o If they are less than a 10, ask: Mary, what do you need to see in order to get to a
10? Remember some people want to analyze the information before making a
decision. If this is the case, be sure to follow up with them within 24 to 48 hours.
Page 4 of 6
5 Steps To Better Selling •
At the end of your presentation: Mary, are you 100% comfortable that our service will
solve the problem(s) you shared with me today?
Once you have the yes, share with them the next steps to get them started, and thank
them for their business.
Step Five – Overcoming Objections
Regardless of how smoothly the sales process flows, objections are inevitable. Don’t
view an objection as a “no”, but as, “I’m not comfortable yet” or, “I need more
information”. The client is there for a need or desire that they have already thought
through and settled on. The primary way to overcome objections is to make sure you
have asked all the right questions. For example, if you ask an individual how much time
is realistic for them to dedicate to their exercise program, a “not sure I have enough
time” objection will not occur. Let’s take a moment to look at the most common
objections: time, spouse/significant other, I want to think about it, and money.
Time - This really should not be an objection if you asked the “time” question identified
previously. Remember, obtaining health and fitness goals is not just about the “one
hour” spent in the gym or exercising, it is about the other 23 hours as well. Everyone has
the time; the question becomes, is the goal really important enough?
Spouse/significant other - Now, this could be a legitimate reason for not buying
today; however, it could also be used to delay the sales process. Your task is to find out if
the spouse objection is legitimate, but to do so in a tactful way. Asking a question like,
“Mrs. Jones, I can see you are extremely motivated to get started toward realizing your
goals. You are without a doubt ready to change. Let me ask you a question, “Is your
spouse as motivated as you are in this quest to reach your fitness goals? This journey
you will embark on today will require support from the people closest to you, which in
most cases are typically your friends, family and especially your spouse. Do you need to
talk this over with your husband before you make a decision?” Mrs. Jones may say
something like, “Are you kidding me? He spends way more money than this on golf!”
Game over, that objection is no longer viable. If Mrs. Jones does need to consult with
her spouse, wonderful, insert yourself in the process via telephone or set an
appointment for the spouse to come in so you can properly represent your offering. You
now have an additional prospect.
I want to think about it - This objection, like the “time” objection, can be easily
overcome by asking the right questions early in the process. For example, “Mrs. Jones
how long have you been thinking about losing the 40 pounds you spoke of?” Follow that
with, “On a scale of 1 to 10 how important is this to you? The answers to these simple
questions will overcome such an objection and bring clarity long before the close of the
sale.
Page 5 of 6
5 Steps To Better Selling Money - This objection is usually the easiest to avoid if you, once again, ask the right
questions but is the most difficult to overcome if you have not. You need to determine
where your prospect is currently spending money that could be allocated toward their
health and fitness goals. Some of the most common areas for disposable income are
hobbies (golf, water sports, tennis, quilting), social activities (night clubs, movies,
concerts, eating out), coffee drinks, etc… Asking Mrs. Jones what hobbies she is
involved with is part of building rapport as you become a trusted advisor and important
in overcoming objections. People commonly spend $10 a day and often can’t remember
where. If Mrs. Jones shares that she has a café latte three to four times per week, that
represents approximately $60 per month. Mr. Jones could be spending much more than
that on golf. So if, after representing the training package or membership that is in
question, Mr. Jones comments about the cost, you could reply, “One less round of golf
each week could fully fund your 40-pound weight loss. Do you feel that would be worth
it?” It is much easier to show people where money already exists in their budget vs.
feeling as though it needs to be found in addition.
In conclusion, remember you are the expert in the mind of your prospects. A physician
writes a prescription assuming it will get filled and it does. You need to function with the
same mindset because, like the physician, you are not representing anything that won’t
benefit your prospect. If you continue to receive these common objections, revisit your
presentation and the questions you probably are NOT asking. Role-play with co-workers
who are successful at getting people involved, and you will learn a great deal, but make
the presentation your own. Your prospects need your help, the level of overweight and
obesity in the U.S. attests to that. As a fitness professional you should understand that
you have the tools that could literally mean the difference between life and death for
your prospects. Practicing and refining your skills in sales isn’t only about money, it’s
about helping people.
Page 6 of 6
Member Fitness Orientation
Today’s Date____/_____/__________ Fitness Professional________________________________________
I.
Basic Member Data
Last Name_________________________ First Name_____________________ DOB____/____/_________
Address_______________________________ City____________________ State_______ Zip__________
Home Phone_______________________ Day Phone___________________ Email____________________
Occupation__________________________________ Duration_____________
Prolonged sitting or driving
Wear shoes with a heel
Moderate movement
High Stress
Heavy lifting
Repetitious bending lifting, or twisting
Interests/hobbies_______________________________________________________________________
II. Pre-Exercise Questionnaire
1.
What is your primary goal? Weight loss Muscle Gain Sport Performance Improve health/daily activity
2. Specific desires (lbs. weight loss/gain, sport dynamic, aspect of health, etc…)____________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. Specific reasons (why?, why now?, time frame?)________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
4. Past attempts in obtaining goal (formal/informal programs, successes, challenges, money spent)_______________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
5. Goal outcomes (how will you feel when goal is obtained?, emotional/physical benefits?)_____________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
6. Level of commitment in accomplishing the goal? (circle) Low 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 High
7.
Support/accountability? (Spouse/significant other)______________________________________________
8. How much time do you have budgeted? _____________days/week; _____________hours/day
9. What is your monetary budget? $___________per week /month (circle)
III. Exercise/movement Questionnaire
1.
Are you currently involved in an exercise program?
Yes No
2. Are you currently involved in a structured resistance training program?
• If yes, how long (consistently)?
< 6 months
Yes No
6 mo. to 1 yr.
3. Are you currently participating in a structured cardiorespiratory program?
> 1 year
Yes No
• If yes, ________days/week, ________minutes per day, using (mode)______________________________
4. Other physical activities/interests (including frequency)__________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
IV. Food/nutrition Questionnaire
1.
Typically, how many meals do eat per day? (circle one)
1
2
3
4
5
6
2. Typically, what time are these meals?_______________________________________________________
3. Typically, how many calories do you consume per day?___________________________________________
4. Do you know how many calories you should be eating to reach/support your goal?
Yes No
• If yes, how many and how was this determined?_______________________________________________
5. Are you currently taking a multivitamin or any other dietary supplements?
Yes No
• If yes, what are you taking?_____________________________________________________________
• If no, why not?_____________________________________________________________________
6. How would you describe your diet?
7.
Regular
Lacto-Ov0 vegetarian
Vegan
Typically, how many meals do you eat outside the home per week?___________________________________
• Would the majority of these meals be described as:
8. What is your favorite cuisine?
American
Fast Food (take-away)
Mexican
Chinese
Seated Restaurants
Japanese
Indian
Italian Other____________________________________________________________________
Additional Comments:
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
V. Beginning Statistics
VI. Integrated Fitness Profile
Warm-up
The 4 Pillars of Fitness
The 4 Pillars of Fitness are based on human physiology; the way the body works. The integration of all 4 pillars will allow
you to achieve your goal while consuming the most food possible while performing the least amount of exercise. How
these pillars are addressed are determined by fitness goal but will largely depend on your lifestyle. Your lifestyle must be
able to support the necessary changes comfortably. The desired outcome is not just to arrive at your goal, but to be able to
live there!
The 1st Pillar: Food/diet
Diet is the amount and type of food an individual consumes. It provides energy (calories) as well as nutrients (vitamins
and minerals). The amount and type of food in one’s diet will affect how satisfies someone feels (satiety) and performance.
For a weight loss goal, calories must be below maintenance to create a need to use stored energy (body fat). It has been
repeatedly demonstrated that successful weight loss (long term) is accomplish with a balanced diet and without being too
restrictive (food amount and foods that are palatable/desired).
Calories __________ Protein % ________ Carbohydrate % ________ Fat % ________
The 2nd Pillar: Exercise/movement
Exercise burns calories and provides a myriad of health benefits, but exercise is not just about resistance and
cardiorespiratory training. Depending on the goal, these traditional elements are certainly required to perform well
(athletics) or to enhance goal attainment. But, just as with the 1st pillar, the amount and type of exercise/movement
utilized to obtain the goal must be conducive to the lifestyle; it has to fit…long term.
The more exercise/movement incorporated, the higher the nutrient needs; the solution is to provide the body with caloriefree nutrients.
Exercise Frequency ___________ Intensity ___________ Time ___________ Type ___________
The 3rd Pillar: Supplementation
Vitamin and mineral supplementation can satisfy the above-maintenance level of nutrients needed by the body from the
addition of exercise/movement without adding calories. Dietary supplementation can create the “ideal environment” to
realize optimal health and to hasten results. Supplementation can accomplish these goals if you are taking products that
you can depend on, that consider your medical history, that match how you eat, your age, gender, activity level, fitness
level, etc…
Vitamin & Mineral Profile _____________________________________ Amount ______________
Exercise/Goal Supplementation _________________________________ Amount ______________
The 4th Pillar: Coaching/accountability
Individualizing the above three pillars and making the necessary adjustments can allow anyone to reach their fitness
goal(s) in a manner that is most realistic as long as the commitment is true. As a complete system, a Fitness Professional
can deliver all of the tools, education, and accountability required for an individual to, in time, not just reach their goal but
live there…never to look back.
Suggest__________ sessions/week for__________ weeks to begin.
Trainer Resource ~ Enrolling a New Personal Training Client
Enrolling a new Personal Training Client into dotFIT Me
Program
Note: All necessary qualifying, rapport-building, pain-solving and commitment steps have
already taken place. Mary has committed to investing in a personal trainer.
Assume the commitment based on their needs:
Mary, now that I fully understand what you came here to achieve, our next step is to get you
started on your program. Since we both agreed that neither exercise alone nor diet alone will
ultimately help you attain and maintain your goal, it is important that we now create your plan
for when you’re at the gym (the exercise part), and for when you’re not at the gym (the nutrition
and coaching part). In fact, since you were honest enough to tell me that you really only have
about 2-3 hours a week to workout consistently, it will be even more important for you and me
to maximize every minute of your workouts, as well as the other 165 hours a week when you’re
away from here living your life.
Are you comfortable with that, Mary?
Here are our next steps: After we complete the necessary paperwork and payment, we will
create your dotFIT account and schedule your very first session. If time allows today, we can
begin creating your entire program before you leave, or we can dive into it during our first
session together. And, if you just can’t wait to start (losing weight, getting in shape, getting
healthier, etc.), you can log in to your program when you get home and our dotFIT wizard will
guide you through the process. Either way, we will definitely spend some time during each of
our sessions here at the club to ensure that you make the most amount of progress each and
every day.
The only remaining decision you need to make is whether you want your dotFIT program to be
monthly, quarterly, or annually (give prices of each), and whether you want your family to also
have access to create their own individualized programs as well (give prices). Whichever you
choose, we are going to give you your first 30 days for free. In addition, you will also receive a
VIP 20% discount on products, free shipping options, and full access to your complete exercise
and nutrition plan. It’s our gift to you to help you build momentum. And of course, you can
cancel your program at any time. Although once you start seeing the progress that results from
your dotFIT program recommendations, you may find, as most people do, that it becomes easy
to get addicted to living a lifestyle that allows you to look and feel the way you’ve always wanted
to. Plus, the VIP discounts and resources make it well worth it. So let’s get started.
•
Alternate closing strategy if Mary does not have a credit card with her: That’s quite
alright, Mary. That happens on occasion. We have two options at this point, so let me
know which one you prefer. Option A is to create an interim account here today and
then when you go home, simply complete the credit card information section and choose
your program length (monthly, quarterly, annually) and type (single or family). Just
make sure you complete it within the next 14 days or you will lose access to your
program, which will make it difficult to maximize your progress and you’ll lose your
discounts. Option B is to wait until your first session. Simply bring your credit card
information to that session and we’ll create your dotFIT program right then. We’ll try
schedule it as soon as possible so that you don’t miss out on too many days where you
could be progressing. Which do you prefer?
Trainer Resource - Enrolling a New Personal Training Client
1
Need help? Email support@dotFIT.com or call 877.4.dotFIT.
Trainer Resource ~ Enrolling a New Personal Training Client
•
Alternate closing strategy if Mary prefers not to enter her credit card information:
That’s quite alright, Mary. Out of curiosity, may I ask why? (Oftentimes, their concerns
will be tied to the security of their credit card information, inability to cancel their
program easily, or they just don’t see themselves using it. Validate their desire to avoid
making a bad decision, and then present two options.) That’s not an uncommon
concern. While I can tell you that we use the highest level of internet security available,
that our cancellation procedure is very user-friendly, and that the results you’ll see from
the program will keep you coming back for more, it is always best if you experience it for
yourself. With that said, may I offer two different options to you, and then you can let
me know which one you prefer? Option A is a mini test drive. By taking the mini test
drive, we’ll give you complete access to your program for fourteen days. At any time
before the fourteenth day, you can enter in your payment information and select a
program length and type to continue. I must tell you that this time goes by very quickly,
so it will be important that you start working your plan immediately in order to get the
full benefit. Option B is a full test drive. You’ll get complete access to your program for a
full month on the house. It does require that you enter in your payment information and
choose a program length (monthly, quarterly, or annually) and type (single or family) up
front, but if there’s anything about your dotFIT program that fails to meet your
standards, you can cancel it before the first payment in 30 days. Or you can cancel it
anytime thereafter as well. Which option do you prefer?
Trainer Resource - Enrolling a New Personal Training Client
2
Club Resource ~ Enrolling a New Member
Enrolling a New Member into dotFIT Me Program at POS
Note: All necessary qualifying, rapport-building, pain-solving and commitment steps have
already taken place. Mary has committed to investing in a membership at the club.
Assume the commitment based on their needs:
Mary, now that I fully understand what you came here to achieve, our next step is to get you
started on your program. Since we both agreed that neither exercise nor diet alone will
ultimately help you achieve and maintain your goal, it is important that we give you access to
your plan for when you’re at the gym (the exercise part), and for when you’re not at the gym (the
nutrition and coaching part). In fact, since you were honest enough to tell me that you really
only have about 2-3 hours a week to workout consistently, it will be even more important for us
to maximize every minute of your workouts, along with the other 165 hours a week when you’re
away from here living your life.
You’ve already done the hardest part, Mary – you took the first step and decided to improve
these areas of your life. Congratulations! Now it’s time to ensure that you have all of the tools
you need to be successful. In fact, 61% of all new health club members nationwide who failed to
have an exact plan like the one we’re about to create for you quit going to the club because they
didn’t see any results. By the time you leave here today, you will have an exact plan for success
that fits perfectly into your unique lifestyle.
Are you comfortable with that, Mary?
Here are our next steps: After we complete the necessary paperwork and payment, we will
create your dotFIT account and schedule your session with one of our Fitness Professionals. If
time allows today, we can begin creating your entire program before you leave, or you can dive
into it during your session. And, if you just can’t wait to start (losing weight, getting in shape,
getting healthier, etc.), you can log in to your program when you get home and our dotFIT
wizard will guide you through the process. Whichever way you choose, our Fitness Professional
will definitely spend some time during your session (which is included with your membership)
here at the club to ensure that you make the most amount of progress each and every day.
The only remaining decision you need to make is whether you want your dotFIT program to be
monthly, quarterly, or annually (give prices of each), and whether you want your family to also
have access to create their own individualized programs as well (give prices). Whichever you
choose, we are going to give you your first 30 days for free. In addition, you will also receive a
VIP 20% discount on products, free shipping options, and full access to your complete exercise
and nutrition plan. It’s our gift to you to help you build that all-important momentum. And of
course, you can cancel your program at any time. Although once you start seeing the progress
that results from your dotFIT program recommendations, you may find, as most people do, that
it becomes easy to get addicted to living a lifestyle that allows you to look and feel the way you’ve
always wanted to. Plus, the VIP discounts and resources make it well worth it. So let’s get
started.
•
Alternate closing strategy if Mary does not have a credit card with her: That’s quite
alright, Mary. That happens on occasion. We have two options at this point, so let me
know which one you prefer. Option A is to create an interim account here today and
then when you go home, simply complete the credit card information section and choose
your program length (monthly, quarterly, annually) and type (single or family). Just
Club Resource - Enrolling a New Member
1
Club Resource ~ Enrolling a New Member
make sure you complete it within the next 14 days or you will lose access to your
program, which will make it difficult to maximize your progress and you’ll lose your
discounts. Option B is to wait until your session with the Fitness Professional. Simply
bring your credit card information to that session and we’ll create your dotFIT program
right then. We’ll try schedule it as soon as possible so that you don’t miss out on too
many days where you could be progressing. Which do you prefer?
•
Alternate closing strategy if Mary prefers not to enter her credit card information:
That’s quite alright, Mary. Out of curiosity, may I ask why? (Oftentimes, their concerns
will be tied to the security of their credit card information, inability to cancel their
program easily, or they just don’t see themselves using it. Validate their desire to avoid
making a bad decision, and then present two options.) That’s not an uncommon
concern. While I can tell you that we use the highest level of internet security available,
that our cancellation procedure is very user-friendly, and that the results you’ll see from
the program will keep you coming back for more, it is always best if you experience it for
yourself. With that said, may I offer two different options to you, and then you can let
me know which one you prefer? Option A is a mini test drive. By taking the mini test
drive, we’ll give you complete access to your program for fourteen days. At any time
before the fourteenth day, you can enter in your payment information and select a
program length and type to continue. I must tell you that this time goes by very quickly,
so it will be important that you start working your plan immediately in order to get the
full benefit. Option B is a full test drive. You’ll get complete access to your program for a
full month on the house. It does require that you enter your payment information and
choose a program length (monthly, quarterly, or annually) and type (single or family) up
front, but if there’s anything about your dotFIT program that fails to meet your
standards, you can cancel it before the first payment in 30 days. Or you can cancel it
anytime thereafter as well. Which option do you prefer?
Club Resource - Enrolling a New Member
2
dotFIT Certification
Helping your clients achieve their goals requires effective communication and active
participation. Your role as the Fitness Professional is to guide your clients’ decisions
because they will ultimately have to make changes in certain behaviors to reach and
maintain their goals. Effective change and problem solving happens through active
listening, communication, and education. It is a learning experience for each person and
as they gain new knowledge, skills and insights, they will begin changing behaviors.
Listen Actively
One of the most important coaching skills is active listening, which helps develop
rapport and trust between you and the client. Active listening is more than just hearing
words. Pay attention to the person speaking, to their facial expression, voice tone and
body language to gain insight to how they’re feeling. Use eye contact to let your clients
know you are listening to them and avoid the temptation to interrupt while they’re
speaking. When finished, ask questions if you do not understand or want to clarify what
is being said. You can also help your client feel more comfortable by not folding your
arms over your chest or multitasking– both can be interpreted negatively. Try to make
your client feel like they have your full attention.
Communicate Effectively
Effective communication can be the key to your clients’ success. Communication skills
are essential for strengthening relationships and motivating the individual to
successfully complete the program.
Communication is defined in many ways, but in a broad sense communication includes
all methods that can convey thought or feeling between persons. First, communication is
the process of sending and receiving messages. Second, for the transmission of ideas to
be successful, a mutual understanding between the involved parties must occur.
When you’re speaking to clients, it’s important to be aware of both your verbal and
nonverbal communication. Verbal communication would be the actual words you speak.
Some positive, supportive verbal communication skills include
1
•
Stating the facts in a descriptive rather than judgmental manner
•
Focusing on what the client has accomplished
•
Offering solutions to challenges rather than criticizing or giving orders
•
Being respectful and treating the receiver as an equal, AND
•
Being empathetic rather than neutral toward the receiver
Nonverbal expression refers to the manner and style in which you deliver the message.
The most important nonverbal cues are facial expression, tone of voice, eye contact,
gesture and touch. Social scientists believe that the image a person projects accounts for
over half of the total message conveyed at the first meeting. You’ve heard the saying –
you only have one chance to make a first impression, and often your body language
speaks louder than your words. Try to have a relaxed facial expression, make frequent
eye contact and avoid appearing closed off by crossing your arms across your chest.
Clients will often mirror your energy – so make it a priority to be positive and upbeat.
Keep in mind that as you speak clients often listen to what is being said and also think
about how they are going to respond. They could also be reacting physiologically to the
message. As you coach your client, be aware of their appearance and demeanor and
adjust your communication accordingly. For example, if your client makes a negative
facial expression - that would be a cue for you to adjust your tone, make eye contact or
use simpler language or rephrase what you said. Engaging your client in the discussion
by asking them questions often creates a more positive response.
Question Productively
Productive questioning is one of the tools that can help you become aware of your clients’
behaviors and challenges and to help solve problems. The way questions are stated can
either successfully or unsuccessfully illicit a beneficial response towards constructive
change.
Why
Using the word “why” implies judgment or a negative connotation.
2
Here are some examples: Why aren’t you exercising? Why did you eat the whole bag of
chips? Why don’t you weigh yourself? As you can probably sense, stating why can make
a person feel defensive and rarely leads to behavior change.
What or How
“What” and “how” are less judgmental, more probing, less intimidating, and more
thought provoking. Knowing what has happened and how it happened is much more
conducive to the process of change than why it happened.
For example, you could ask
•
What are some of the obstacles that are preventing you from exercising?
•
What happened that caused you to eat the bag of chips?
•
What is keeping you from weighing yourself?
Wording your questions in a telling way can help you and your client explore the reasons
that destructive or unconstructive behaviors occur. By identifying the cause of behaviors
“what” and “how” they happen, the process of problem solving can take place and lead to
productive change.
Goal Setting
Setting proper long term objectives and short term goals are necessary skills for your
client’s success. It is important to distinguish the difference between objectives and
goals. Objectives are the end result, like a target weight or finishing a marathon, while
the goal is the process or how the objectives will be accomplished.
Several key characteristics make up effective goals. Short term goals should be
•
Realistic
•
Specific
•
Flexible and forgiving
3
Realistic means within reach or attainable. For example if a person is sedentary, maybe a
realistic goal would be to walk 10 minutes a day. Many times when clients are trying to
lose weight they set goals that are too strict or difficult to comply with.
Specific would be a clearly defined, measurable goal such as a time. Walking everyday at
lunch for 10 minutes would be a specific, measureable goal. Often areas of improvement
are identified as goals but they are vague and nonspecific. An example of a nonspecific
goal would be, “I need to exercise more”.
Flexible and forgiving allows for re-evaluation of established goals. Despite the best
intentions, circumstances sometimes prevent successful execution of the goal. This
characteristic enables the client to realize that no one is perfect and to set the goal that is
more reasonable.
Summary
Your most important job as a Fitness Professional is to communicate effectively with
your client to help them achieve their goals through their active participation. Let them
know that you understand how difficult and challenging changing lifetime habits can be.
Exercise and changing eating habits requires constant attention and self regulation of
behaviors. Be understanding and explain that you do not expect them to be perfect nor
do you expect them to change everything overnight. Instead you expect them to take an
active role in their personal weight control program. Being active means they will
decide, with your help, what goals to set, what behaviors to target, and what plan of
action to take. They should be confident that you will not judge, ridicule, belittle, or
insult them in their journey.
4
References
Communication and Education Skills: The Dietitian’s Guide, Betsy B. Holli, Ed.D, RD.;
Richard K Calabrese, Ph.D.; Lea & Febeiger 1991
The Lifestyle Counselor’s Guide for Weight Control, Steven N. Blair P.E.D., Kelly D.
Brownell Ph.D, David L. Hager, C.P. A. , MBS, G. Alan Marlatt, Ph.D, Patrick Mahlen
O’Neil, Ph.Dl; Susan K. Rhodes, Ph.D; Sachiko St. Jeor, Ph.D, R.D., Brenda L. Wolfe,
Ph.D.; American Health Publishing Company, 1996
Counseling Tips for Nutrition Therapists, Practice Workbook Volume 1, Molly Kellogg,
RD, LCSW KG Press 2006
5
dotFIT™ Me program - Four Session Outline
Pre-Session 1 Notes
We recommend that you contact the client within 24-48 hours prior to their first session if
possible. The first session can range from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how “deep” you
decide to dive into the program with them initially. Our recommendation is that you keep the
first session limited to program creation (7 mins), showing the client how to log food (5 mins),
and initial supplement recommendations (5 mins). During the follow-up sessions, you will have
time to customize meal plans, exercise plans and build on the foundations established during
the first sessions. Each follow-up session will last approximately 15 minutes each.
Keep in mind that each Me Program coaching session can either be “baked” into the first portion
of a client’s personal training session, or as a standalone appointment. It is also important to
remember that while you should stick as close to the outline as possible, some client’s needs will
require that you focus on certain aspects of their program more than others. For example, you
may focus on an athlete’s pre- and post-workout nutrition and supplementation more than an
overweight novice client. So use the outline, but be flexible where it is needful.
Confirm the appointment 24 hours prior to the session.
Check the day before the session to make sure the client’s program has been completed and
the client has logged food. Note: If the client has not been using their program, you may
reschedule the session or offer the session as a set-up session only.
Session 1: Introduction to the dotFIT Me Program (15-30 minutes)
Ask client about his/her specific goal (you can also reference the dotFIT Fitness Orientation
form and 5 Steps to Better Selling for additional questions and strategies to use with your
client).
If you haven’t done so already, log into your Trainer Console and add the client as a Member.
After creating the account, have the client log in to their Member account and click on “Orders
and Subscriptions” from their My Account page to purchase a monthly subscription.
Click on the program button from the Member’s My Account page.
Create their Program (7
mins), giving brief explanations about why each bit of information about the member is
important in customizing their Program. Begin teaching your client the basic math of weight
loss. 1 pound of fat=3500 calories and approximately 2200 steps=1 mile. Address muscle gain if
needed. Males can set a maximum weight/muscle gain goal of .5 lbs/wk and females .25 lbs/wk.
This requires a daily calorie surplus.
1 dotFIT™ Me program - Four Session Outline
Click on the Summary Tab and discuss daily goal numbers, expected calories burned,
consumed, deficit numbers and expected daily weight loss. Discuss overview and current
program tab and daily current progress numbers and remind the client that they will always
receive daily feedback from today's goal numbers and current daily progress numbers. Inform
the client that they will be prompted to enter their weight every 7 days or body fat every 14 days
and they will get feedback to stay on track. Also show the client by clicking on the Periodic Body
Measurement tab can enter their weight daily. Also show them the New Program, Program
Printout and Calendar functionality.
Click on the Nutrition Tab and discuss Food Logging. Note: for some clients you may need
to show them how to use the food log (Favorite Foods, My Meals and My Food). Discuss the
Menu and Preference tabs (on the preference tab make sure you show the client how to set up
the detailed view and create new foods) Also highlight dotFIT's eight menu choices and how to
use nutrition dotFIT meal replacement bars and drinks daily.
Click on the Supplement Tab and review client’s history of supplement use and discuss
recommendations. It is imperative that you discuss the recommendations in detail and get the
client "excited" about using dotFIT products. For instance, if the client is on a weight loss
program you would want to direct them to our weight loss dotFIT tab. You will also want to set
up a recurring order for your client and point out the discount that they would receive. Also
mention that dotFIT offers an in depth video on each supplement and that our supplements are
manufactured in a FDA-registered facility Note: highlight what sets dotFIT apart from the rest.
Click on the Exercise Tab and review the Exercise Calendar and the New Exercise Program
tabs.
Click on the Learn Tab which will take you to our Fitness Vault. Inform the client that new
material is added daily.
Click on the My Info Tab and review the personal stats tab showing the client how to add
periodic and advanced body measurements. Briefly discuss the Par-Q, Medical Questionnaire
and Program Summary tabs.
Encourage your client to utilize the dotFIT home page which includes: Ask the Expert,
OnDemand Exercise and our Fitness Vault (which can also be accessed from the Learn tab).
Schedule Session 2 during their second week and after one progress check. Their
homework between now and then is to log their food every day to gain awareness of how their
food choices impact their rate of progress. You will review their progress and answer any
questions that they may have. Note: Send Session 2 confirmation email.
Session 2: Progress and General Q & A (15 minutes)
Review the following tabs: Summary, Nutrition, Supplements, Exercise, Learn and Vital Stats.
Summary tab: Review daily goal numbers, expected calories burned, consumed, deficit
numbers and expected daily weight loss. Discuss overview and current program
tab and daily current progress numbers and remind the client that they will always receive daily
coaching feedback from today's goal numbers and current daily progress numbers. Review
weight/body fat numbers and remind client of weekly or bi-weekly progress checks.
Nutrition tab: Review food logging and breakdown (remember – they should have been
logging food since Session 1). Review menu choices.
Supplement tab: Q & A and recommendations.
Exercise tab: Q & A and review.
If not already done, create appropriate weekly exercise
programs using the Resistance, Cardio and Walking programs. Let them know that as part of
the personal training services you provide, you will customize the workouts based on their
unique needs, ensure proper weight selection and exercise technique and make appropriate
adjustments along the way. Their homework assignment is to review their next Resistance
Training workout, watch each video, and come prepared with any questions they have prior to
the training session with you. The Exercise Calendar you will customize for them will let them
know what they should do during any weekly workouts they train on their own.
Learn Tab: Q & A and review.
Vital Stats: Review graphs and Q & A.
Schedule Session 3, this session should be scheduled during week three of their program. This
session will cover our Fitness Vault, Supplements, Meal Replacement, Recipes and Dining out.
Note: Send Session 3 confirmation email
Session 3: Q & A, Resources, Supplements and Meal Replacements (15 minutes)
Quickly Review the following tabs: Summary, Nutrition.
Remind client of weekly progress checks if they’re tracking their weight only and bi-weekly
progress checks if they’re tracking weight and body fat.
Review all supplement use including Meal Replacements on the Shop tab. Verify that your
client has a recurring order set-up and if not offer to set one up for him/her.
Review Learn tab and highlight the following: Resources, Ask the Expert, On Demand
Exercise (Video fit) and our Fitness Vault. Review the recipes section and keep the focus limited
to topics they are currently interested in. If your client has a specific topic that they cannot find
they may email questions to experts@dotfit.com.
Schedule Session 4: this session should be scheduled during week four or at the client’s
discretion. If this is your last paid session with the client, you will discuss how to maintain
weight loss/gain and encourage future coaching sessions. Otherwise, simply repeat the Session
3 format for as many remaining weekly sessions you have with the client. Note: Send Session 4
confirmation email.
Session 4: Q & A , Maintenance, Supplements, Future Coaching options (15
minutes)
General Q & A .
Review of progress.
Direct client to the Fitness Vault for maintenance articles.
Reevaluate supplement use (advise of 12 week cycles).
Remind client that they will receive a follow up call/email to check progress and answer
questions.
Discuss future coaching options – personalized coaching helps people succeed. Present any
coaching and training packages.
4 90 Day Weight Loss Solution Outline
Week 1
•
-
•
•
•
•
Discuss basic weight loss rules
- Energy in vs. energy out
- 3500 calories in 1 lb. of fat
- Set a goal and write it down (pg. 2)
Discuss ways to eat less and have client choose a strategy (pg. 3)
- Food logging (pg. 42) – reiterate this is the number one weight loss tool aside from meal
replacements; they can choose to write it down in the weight loss planner or subscribe to
dotFIT’s NFP to log online.
- Menus (pg. 5-14)
- CalorieKing™ book to learn calorie content and make better choices
- Reduce portion sizes
Take beginning stats
Product information on FatReleaser™/multivitamin/meal replacements
dotFIT online resources in the Fitness Vault; discuss available product discounts
Menu options
Week 2
•
•
•
•
•
•
Affirm any positive action the client is taking – food log, activity, steps, etc.
o Review food log/step log if client is tracking
Weekly weigh-in
Discuss results. Discuss weight loss trends if needed. (True results appear over 2-3 weeks; not
week to week because of fluid fluctuations.)
o Suggest “Weigh the Weight Away” email coaching program to stay on track to goal. This
is another tool fit pros can leverage to help their clients get results.
Select movement or eating strategy to stay on goal
o Have client pick an adjustment s/he will make
Moving more in and out of the gym
- interval training (gym)
- active rest periods (gym)
- increase intensity of workout (gym)
- add time or days to your workout (gym)
- purchase a pedometer, track steps (gym/home)
- household chores during commercials (home)
- cook at home vs. going out (home)
- create weekly/monthly projects (home)
Menus
1
Week 3
•
•
•
•
•
•
Weekly weigh-in
Making adjustments to avoid plateaus
- Adding steps
- Increase activity in gym
- Subtracting (calories)
Utilizing the CalorieKing™ book
Review the dotFIT multi and meal replacements (almost time for more!)
Menus
Week 4
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Weekly weigh-in
Goal review (where is the client?)
Building your own menus/address Eating-on-the-Go if client has a busy lifestyle
- Timing
- Balancing
- Healthy choices/healthier choices
Utilizing the dotFIT platform to assist with food
Tracking food intake
CarbKiller™ discussion (how and why)
Menus
Week 5
•
•
•
•
Weekly weigh-in
Grocery shopping (great time to meet a group of clients at the grocery store!)
- Label reading
- Calorie guessing game
- Portion/calorie control through volume
Menus
2
Week 6
•
•
•
•
•
•
Weekly weigh-in
Why supplement
What to look for when purchasing supplements
Supplement buying made easy! (home delivery)
Menus
Week 7
•
•
•
•
•
Weekly weigh-in
Eating out
- Better bad food choices
- Review example of “Healthy Fast Food” menus
- Estimating calories at a restaurant
- Review CalorieKing™ book
Building a “going out” game plan (movement and food strategies)
Help your client build another “eating out” menu
Week 8
•
•
•
•
•
•
Weekly weigh-in
Goal review (Where is your client?)
ThermoShock™ introduction
Manipulation of exercise (utilizing the dotFIT platform if applicable)
Menus
Week 9
•
•
•
Weekly weigh-in
Vacations and weight-management
- To lose or not to lose
3
•
- Walking 2 hours = 1 hour of moderate weight training & cardio
- Pedometer
- Pack healthy dotFIT snacks
- Schedule meals every 3-4 hours, DON’T GET HUNGRY!
- Car travel tips
- Plane travel tips
- Eating out (chose one meal to “cheat”)
Menus
Week 10
•
•
•
•
Weekly weigh-in
Weight gain and satiety (control that MONSTER… your appetite!)
- Chose foods less dense in calories and have more volume (BIG salad w/chicken vs.
pepperoni pizza)
- Never watch T.V. or any other entertainment while eating
- Eat & drink from small plates and cups. (Play tricks on your appetite!)
- Wait 30 – 40 minutes after your meals to have dessert. (Give your brain time to catch up
to what’s in your stomach)
- Brush your teeth immediately following meals (This sends a subliminal message that
“meal time is over”.)
- Don’t forget the basics… Eat small meals every 3-4 hours to assist in avoiding hunger
Menus
Week 11
•
•
•
Weekly weigh-in
How to cheat without weight gain!
- Review energy in vs. energy out
- Plan the cheat… adjust movement/food the day before and after to offset the calories
- Increase movement an hour per day during “likely cheat times” (holidays)
- Remove calories earlier in the day on your cheat day to “save up” (increase protein)
- Avoid going on your cheat date hungry
- Client gains 2 lbs. (true weight vs. water), break down the math…
1 pound = 3500 calories x 2 lbs =7,000
7 days… must average 1000 deficit per day. 500 calories from movement/500 from food
14 days… must average 500 deficit per day. 250 movement/250 food
21 days…
30 days…
4
•
•
Review dotFIT online (examples of sample menus); www.dotFIT.com/90dayweightloss
Menus
Week 12
•
•
•
•
•
- Review food log/step log if client is tracking
Final weigh-in! (weight, circumference measurements, body fat, pant/dress size)
Developing a support system –
- Who should you spend more time with (who will support you?)
- Who can you ask to give you a “gentle nudge” when they see you falling off-track a bit?
- Who should you be cautious of when you spend time with them (who can “infect” you
with their bad habits?)
- Using the dotFIT Fitness Community for support
- Get a trainer
Which dotFIT product recommendations would be appropriate to continue during their pursuit
to their ultimate destination?
Final evaluation… Has the client reached their goal? Can they reach this goal without your
weekly support?
5
Trainer Resource ~ 14-Day Program Trial Enrollment
Use these step-by-step instructions to enroll a new member in to a 14-day dotFIT Me
Program trial.
Go to
www.dotFIT.com
and click LOGIN
in the upper right
corner.
Enter your dotFIT
username and
password.
Trainer Resource – 14-Day Program Trial Enrollment
1
Click on Consoles
to access the
console options. You’re now in your
Trainer Administration
Console. To add a
member or view your
current client list, click
Members.
2
To add a new client,
click “Add New
Member” and a new
window will appear. Complete the fields in this
pop-up window to add a
new member. The CLUB
and TRAINER fields will
be completed for you. Not
all fields are required, but
you need to include an
email address for your
client.
When finished, click Save.
Then click Close and your
new client will appear in
your member list. You may
need to refresh your page.
Once your client has been
added, dotFIT will send
them an email with their
username and password. Trainer Resource – 14-Day Program Trial Enrollment
3
To enroll the client in to
the trial, click “Give 14
Days dotFITme Trial”. This
will activate the trial and
the access will appear in
the Manage dotFITme
Program column.
Click “Manage
dotFITme Program”
and a new window will
open to create the
program. This is the
same way to access a
member’s program at
any point from your
console. Trainer Resource – 14-Day Program Trial Enrollment
4
To create the
program, start by
clicking on the
client’s goal.
To reference how to
create a program and
the functionality, see
“Using dotFIT Me
Creating a New
Program”.
5
Trainer Resource ~ Creating a New Program
Use these step-by-step instructions to help you create new programs and explain how the
dotFIT Me Program works. To create a program, clients must have purchased a
subscription or be enrolled in a trial subscription.
Go to
www.dotFIT.com
and click LOGIN
in the upper right
corner.
Enter your dotFIT
username and
password.
Trainer Resource - Creating a New Program
1
Click on Consoles
to access the
Console. To add a
member or view your
current client list, click
Members.
2
For the client you need to
create a program for, click
“Manage dotFITme
Program” and a new
window will appear. To create the
program, start by
clicking on the
client’s goal. Note
that all goals will
likely lead to positive
health changes, but
the “Improve Health”
goal is for those who
do not want to
change their weight
or body composition.
3
Once you select a
goal, the New
Program wizard
will walk you
through the set up
process. Click Begin
Now to get started.
The Personal Stats page
requires the client’s basic
information. All of the
fields marked with an
asterisk (*) are required.
If you or another fitness
professional will be
coaching this client or
providing sessions on this
program, be sure to select
“Yes.”
If clients will be using this
program on their own,
select “No.”
4
If you’ll be tracking your
client’s weight only, select
Weight Only. Progress
checks will occur every 7
days and you will be
prompted to enter the
client’s scale weight. This is
followed by feedback on how
to stay on track. The
feedback is based on
changes in total body weight
only.
If you’ll be tracking your
client’s progress by using
body fat percentage, select
Weight and Body fat.
You’ll be prompted to enter
the client’s weight and body
fat percentage every 14 days.
The feedback is based on
changes in pounds of fat if
the goal is weight loss, or
changes in pounds of lean
body mass/muscle if the
goal includes gaining weight
or building muscle. The medical history
questionnaire helps
1) determine the
health status of the
client – low,
moderate or high risk
and 2) establish
proper use of dietary
supplements.
Clients should fill
this out on their own
or be present while
you’re creating their
program. Only
conditions that
currently apply to the
client should be
selected.
5
The physical activity readiness
questionnaire is designed to assess
whether exercise is appropriate
for your
client at this time. Clients
should read
and answer each question themselves.
The next set of
questions relates to
exercise
experience,
physical activity
level and diet type.
These questions
also help
determine dietary
supplement
recommendations.
When selecting the activity
level of the client, please
note that most people who
have a sedentary occupation
the first or second
fall into
level.
6
Choose the type of diet the client follows. A lactoovo vegetarian consumes eggs, cheese and other
dairy products while a vegan does not consume any
animal products. The appropriate multi-vitamin will
be recommended according to the diet type, activity
level, gender, age and other factors.
If you chose to track
“Weight only” and the
goal is weight loss,
enter a goal weight
and the number of
weeks to achieve the
goal. The
recommended weight
loss rate is one to two
pounds per week, but
a faster rate may be
set based on the
client’s starting
weight.
NOTE: The minimum
calorie intake target
allowed is 1000-1500
calories per day
depending on starting
weight.
7
If you chose to track weight and body fat to measure
progress and the goal is weight loss, enter the goal body
fat percentage and the timeframe.
For weight or muscle gain goals, simply enter the amount of muscle the client wants to gain and the timeframe. Keep in mind, feedback will be given only on changes in lean body mass, which are calculated from the client’s weight and body fat percentage. Clients who have moderate or high health risk will not be able to
proceed with the program until they complete the following steps:
• they print and
sign one of two forms
• they give the form to you to keep in your official club records
• you or a designated
personnel gives them access to the program
8
There are two different forms the client can chose from - they can
to their doctor to be
print and take a Physician’s Release Form
completed and signed or they can choose
not to see their physician
and sign a Waiver of Physician Permission.
Clients with moderate
or high health risk should be encouraged
to see their physician.
Either form must be kept on file in your
club records to be in
compliance with safe weight control guidelines.
The Informed
Consent is the
final step. Each
client should
read this form in
its entirety. To
proceed, the
client needs to
check the box at
the bottom,
indicating he or
she agrees with
the terms of the
program.
9
Once the program is created, you can view
the program
Summary Page, create an
program or view their printout.
exercise
Be sure
to explain how the program works
using the Summary page (below).
10
The Summary page
contains the critical
information your
clients need to
reach their goals.
The bar graph is a visual
representation of
your calorie burn at any time of day, your
daily targets and whether you’re on track
to meet your goal that day as long as
consumed.
you’re logging what you
The Expected Burn is the
average number of calories
you burn each day.
The Overview
tab displays
your daily
Calorie Deficit
or Surplus
goal and your
expected
weight loss or
gain if you hit
your calorie
intake target.
The red line is your
average calorie intake
target, or the average
number of calories you
should consume each
day to reach your goal.
The calories you’ve logged
are displayed next to the
Log Food button.
The flame represents the
number of calories you’ve
burned up to this time of day.
Your Current
Daily
Progress
displays your
calorie
balance based
on the food
you logged.
The dotFIT Me program displays the calories you’ve burned at any time of day - and as long as you log
food, you’ll see the calories you’ve consumed compared to your burn. To lose weight, keep your calorie
intake below your burn. To gain weight, do the opposite and to maintain your weight, eat the same
number of calories as you burn. By using the dotFIT Me program, you have the information you need
to adjust your food choices and activity so you achieve - and more importantly, maintain your goal.
11
The Current Program tab on the
Summary page displays your results,
goals and a summary of the current
program.
Here’s where
you are
displays your
results since the
start of this
program until
your last
progress check
indicated by the
date range.
You’ll also see
your predicted
results since
your last
progress check
up until this
point in time.
These results
are based on
your food log,
so be sure to
encourage
clients to log
regularly.
Here are your goals displays your expected results based on the
goal date you set. The first date range reflects the start of your
current program until the last progress check. The second date
range includes your expected results since your last progress check
until this point in time and your daily calorie intake target (the
same dates as above). This makes it easy to compare where you are
to where you should be.
12
Improve Your Success with Food Logging
Managing your weight ultimately comes down to managing calories. Once you’ve set up
your dotFIT Me program, you’ll be able to see the information you need to know to achieve
your fitness and weight control goals. Use these step-by-step instructions to become familiar
with food logging and eliminate all the guesswork.
On the Summary
page, click the
Log Food button.
Type in the item
you’re looking for
and click the
Search button. All
items will appear
below.
1
Drag and drop the item
you consumed into the
appropriate meal. In
this example, “Oats” was
placed in Early Morning
Snack.
Click on the item to
change the time you ate
the meal, the amount
or serving unit. Click
the Update button
when finished.
2
If you consume an item
frequently, click on the
grey star and it will
turn purple, indicating
it’s marked as one of
your favorites.
To view your favorites, click
Favorites under the search
box and all of your marked
items will appear below. Now
you can quickly find your
favorites without having to
search for each one every
time.
3
To save a meal you eat
frequently, click the plate and
utensils next to the meal
name. A new window will
appear.
Type in a name for
the meal, select the
items you want to
include and click
the OK button.
To view your Saved Meals,
click My Meals below the
search box and your items
will appear below. Now you
can quickly log your
commonly consumed meals.
4
To add an item not
contained in the food
database, click the
Nutrition button at the top,
then Preferences on the left
and then My Food.
Click Create
New Food
Enter a name for
the item and fill
in the fields
found on a food
label. Click Save
when finished.
5
To view your custom
foods, click My Food
under the search box and
they will appear below.
Now you can easily log
your custom foods.
The calories you logged are
now updated and you see
how much you’ve consumed
in relation to the calories
you’ve burned so far.
In this example, 454 calories
were consumed and 1323
calories were burned.
When you’re
finished logging,
click the Summary
button.
Under Current Daily Progress you’ll find
• your current calorie deficit or surplus.
• your expected weight loss if this is your last
meal of the day.
By using dotFIT Me to log your calories,
you’ll SEE your results any time of day.
Now you can make any needed adjustment
to stay on track toward your goal.
6
Trainer Resource ~ Product Home Delivery Enrollment
Use these step-by-step instructions to assist your client with creating a home delivery
order that meets their unique needs.
Go to
www.dotFIT.com
and click LOGIN
in the upper right
corner.
Enter your dotFIT
username and
password.
Trainer Resource – Product Home Delivery Enrollment
1
Click on Consoles
to access the
Console. To create or
access a member’s
shopping cart, view your
current client list by
clicking on Members. Trainer Resource – Product Home Delivery Enrollment
2
After the client is already
enrolled as a subscriber or
14 Day Trial member, your
Member List will show you
which members have
Recurring Product Orders.
You can also add products to your
client’s shopping cart by clicking on
“Recommend”. (Their dotFIT Me
Program will automatically
recommend products, but will not add
them to their shopping cart.)
After clicking “Recommend”, you
will be able to begin adding
appropriate products to your
client’s shopping cart. Along the
way, you and your client will also
be able to view related products and product videos.
3
After adding all appropriate products to your
client’s shopping cart, click “View Cart” at
the top of the page. While in the Cart, be
sure to adjust the needed quantities and
frequency of shipment.
Each product has the option of being added
to a recurring order with customizable order
frequency to match the client’s needs. All
recurring orders for a particular month will
be sent as one shipment and the client will receive free ground shipping. They can
cancel at any time (at least 24 hours prior to
the scheduled ship date).
If your client is not going
to complete their order
with you, you can save
your recommendations by
clicking on “Save to Cart”
and label it with an easy to
identify name (i.e., “John’s
Products”).
If your client is ready to
place their first online
order, they can do so here.
They will need to re-enter
their login information to
ensure their account
privacy and security.
They can access your
recommendations and
complete their order by
clicking on “My Account” >
“Saved Carts” from their
home page at any time.
4
From a Client’s Home Page:
Frequentlyasked
questions
about
product
orders
(shipping,
discounts,
etc.) can be
found here
under
“Help”
Their
dotFIT Me
Program is
also
accessible
from this
home page.
Your clients are
responsible for
managing their
recurring orders from
their “My Account”
home page. They can
also access
their “Saved
Carts” here.
Helpful Trainer Hint:
Never assume that your client is 100% comfortable with the order set up and management process
without having them demonstrate it to you.
While assisting them with their first and even second order, encourage your client to actively participate
in clicking on products, videos, and adding them to their Shopping Cart. Have them practice editing
and placing their order with you present whenever possible. This will build their confidence, minimize
or even eliminate future confusion and most importantly, it will show that you care enough to take extra
time with them to ensure their happiness and success with the home delivery service, as well as the Me
Program.
5
Club Administrator Resource ~ Establishing Trainer and Staff Accounts
Use these step-by-step instructions to create Staff and Trainer Accounts for your team.
Go to
www.dotFIT.com
and click LOGIN
in the upper right
corner.
Enter your dotFIT
username and
password.
Club Administrator Resource – Establishing Trainer and Staff Accounts
1
Select the “Club
Admin” for a
single club
location, or “Org
Admin” for
multiple club
locations Click on Consoles
to access the
console options. You are now in your
Club or Org Console.
Click on Trainers to
create Trainer
Accounts. Or click on Staff
to create Staff
Accounts. Club Administrator Resource – Establishing Trainer and Staff Accounts
2
To add a new Account, simply
click “Add New Trainer”.
The same process can be applied
to adding a Staff Account in the
Staff Account section on the
previous screen. Complete the fields in this pop-up
window to add a new account. The
CLUB field will be completed for
you (each Trainer and Staff
Account will be linked to your
“Default Trainer” for reporting
purposes). Not all fields are
required, but you need to include
an email address for your client.
When finished, click Save. Then
click Close and your new Trainer
Account will appear in your
member list. You may need to
refresh your page.
Once the account has been added,
dotFIT will send them an email
with their username and password. Club Administrator Resource – Establishing Trainer and Staff Accounts
3