All right, if you are reading this as a personal trainer, or as a studio owner, you may be able to empathize with the situation I'm about to tell you about. So one thing I've noticed is when I'm getting everything right online when I am putting out there, the exact marketing for my niche, (which we can talk about in another blog post), when I am really hitting home runs in terms of my online presence, and potentially even just getting clients on autopilot… And that is when I start getting a whole bunch of email messages and text messages and phone calls that go somewhere like the following.
Do you run the ”<insert name of your business>”?
You think yes, because you think, Oh, great, I've got a new customer. Instead this is a cold calling marketer. That wants to jump on the buzz and excitement of what you are doing to then furthermore, tell you that they are going to do your marketing for you to your Facebook ads for you and that sort of thing. And I guess because there's two main ways I think that you can handle it I just wanted to talk you through the two main reactions that you will get to this.
The first reaction that you may get is getting a little bit angry because oh my goodness, does it get overwhelming? First of all, you think that you're getting a new customer but you're actually getting someone trying to sell to you… when you just seem to be getting things underway. But on top of that, sometimes you might find it a bit rude for them to just end up in your inbox to just annoy you with this sort of thing. And that's not fair. So, one you can react with anger. Now, if you react with anger. Let's think of that a little bit more. First of all, that energy could be displaced and put into something a little bit more productive with anger, but also, that's suggesting to me high five, you actually don't need that kind of help. If you needed that kind of help. You'd be like, oh my goodness, help me now. Jump on this ship that is sinking because I would absolutely love your help.
So if someone is reaching out to you, and you're literally like, this is annoying me so much it is definitely telling me that you don't need those kinds of services. Right. So let's look at that one on the positive side. And also think, hey, if I actually needed it, first of all, I'd be looking for it. But also let's appreciate that. These people don't have enough leads themselves and they're really trying to drum up interest so they are going out of their way to get cold leads all the time. And maybe one in 100 says yes, because remember, again, they're just randomly adding people on Facebook and that sort of thing.
So if you don't need them, that is definitely a good sign for your business. Second of all, the other way you could react is to be like, Oh, well actually maybe I could do it with a little bit of help. And that's also a good thing because realizing that you need help is certainly a great attribute to have. But also being able to not just know you need help but know the type of help you need and what it is you need from that help and clearly define it. Because you might know you have a problem. But the next stage of the problem is identifying what the problem is and what you need to fix that problem inside your realm of expertise, of course. So having that can be such a good thing to tell you: “Hey, I actually do need this help”.
If you do need that sort of help and the person is reaching out to you. I would suggest that you do a bit of background research on the person and just make sure that they can actually do what they say they're offering to do, because if they are cold calling and they are trying to drum up interest for something you've never heard off before, you want to make sure that they can actually deliver on what they tell you that they can do because anybody can tell you what you want to hear but not everybody can deliver on that promise so look for evidence.
Think of the same way people are going to look for you when it comes to looking for a personal trainer or looking for a boutique studio. They're gonna look at your reviews, they're gonna look at your photos, they're gonna see what it's like to work with you, what the outcome might be to work with you and what you specialize in. So do the same thing when you're looking for help for someone and be quite discerning. Get on a phone call with them, make sure that they can answer your questions and especially if you can clearly define what it is you need help with make sure that they can answer that specific question and tell you exactly how they managed to help someone through that and how many people they've managed to help through that.
Now I'm not saying you're going to be able to distinguish between people who talk a big talk but do not walk the big walk. But I can assure you that you will get rid of about 70 to 75% of people who have no idea what they are talking about. So bear that in mind. It's always good to know ways that you can distinguish between someone who's really terrible and really good and that sort of thing. And these are just two of the main ways that you might react to some of the cold calling, and some of the dry messages that you get in your inbox. One further thing that you might want to take away from it is think about out of those two responses that we thought about before. Think about how that feels and what you would do better when it comes to contacting your potential leads.
For me when I've got somebody who is contacting me and telling me that they're going to teach me about sales training, I look at the way they're trying to sell to me and I think is this actually helpful? Is it useful? Is it actually appealing to me? Is it my style? Because quite often when somebody is cold messaging me it's a copied and pasted message as I am a cold lead when they are messaging me. There's a lot of generic things that they will be saying. But if that is the way they go about contacting someone who's potential income for them, think about how, when you give them your money, what way they're going to act with someone who is not potential money to them who's like maybe one of your clients or maybe is your teaching to do the things in the way of your business because the way they do the small things is the way they're going to do the big things.
And if unless you want somebody who is like an automatic robot, handling your clients or teaching you how to do sales etc, then honestly just run, absolutely just run! because you can actually get automation software for next to nothing that has less chance of human error occurring, you know, like copied and paste with it exactly the wrong name at the top of it, that sort of thing for a fraction of the price of getting a human to do it. (We can teach you how!) So, bear that in mind, have a look at what they're doing, assess what they're doing, and use it as a learning experience for yourself because the feelings that you're having right now are the same sort of feelings that your perspective probably has from advertising because that would be a more cold lead.
If they're a warmer lead (someone that's reached out to you) think about how you would better serve or be more successful in reaching someone like yourself, because a lot of the time, your niche, your avatar, and the people that will be drawn to you are very like yourself it may not be the same gender as yourself, but they will be drawn to someone that is like yourself, and the things that appeal to you in a conversation and a sales will probably appeal to your target market.
So use it as a learning experience so that you can draw the exact right clients into your business. If anything I've said today absolutely resonates with you. That is so cool. I want you to reach out. Let me know how you feel. Let me know any input you have for maybe people that have targeted you in the past. Was it good? Was it bad? Was it interesting? Did it get you thinking? Reach out, we love to talk and we love to help businesses strive.