Learn a New Language

Learning a new language seems like misplaced business-building advice in the fitness industry, but hear me out. No, I’m not suggesting you become bi- or tri-lingual to branch out to an untapped market. My advice for adding to your native tongue is easier – and harder – than that. I’m proposing you learn the internal language preferred by your ideal client and use that to sell your services instead of what we usually do as fitness professionals, which is talk from our professional vantage point and vernacular.

To create relentless demand for your products and services, it’s essential to fully understand what your target market is after. And, how they articulate what they’re after is often beyond the positive physiological adaptations that occur from engaging in an exercise and nutrition program. The program may lead to what they’re after, but they might not have connected those dots yet, which means if you lead with the fitness piece and bury the headline, you might miss an opportunity to be of service.

You need to learn about their urgent needs and compelling desires in life, not just fitness. Looking at the positive outcomes from engaging with your products and services from THEIR perspective will provide a better opportunity to talk about what you do in a way that resonates deeply, thus leading to increased sales.

Interested in making this a reality? Let’s look at the three steps necessary:

First, make sure you have identified a target market. As a refresher, a target market is a group of people you’d like to serve that share characteristics (e.g., age, stage of life, gender, work status). Although not everyone in your chosen target market will need what you’re selling, you start here as it helps you know where to show up to find potential clients.

Once you identify your target market, get curious about how they describe what they are searching for.

  • What are the things they must have right now?
  • What are their pressing problems?
  • What solutions do they need?
  • What are they moving away from or towards?
  • What would they like in the future?
  • What do they wish they had?

Developing an understanding of the things that are plaguing them, keeping them up at night, and the answers they seek in their lives generally is where you must begin. It would be best if you sought insight from current and former clients, as well as others you know in your desired target market that have no interest in your products and services. But be sure to lead the discussion from an agnostic place. In other words, remind those you survey you are not looking for what fitness or physiological needs they have (e.g., run faster, lose weight, build strength, etc.).

From there, determine the number one result you can provide through your health and wellness products and services. Choose from the list you generated from surveying your target market.

For example, if your intended target market is new moms cleared for exercise, she might describe the desire to feel like herself again, find time for self-care, or feel more energetic, all of which can be an outcome of your fitness services. Choose the one you feel passionate about to lead the way in your marketing and conversations.

Approaching sales and marketing with your ideal client’s needs at the center of all activity is a simple yet necessary shift. All purchases are made based on trust in you and the products and services you deliver, and when you speak someone else’s language, rapport is more immediate. When you can explain your work using your target market’s language, you will shorten the distance between someone becoming aware of you and them choosing you, which is what we’re all after.