Sales Techniques to Get $1K Plus Training Clients (Interview with Eleazar Perez)

Highlights from the interview

[08:35] – You’ll get to listen on these 3 role playing sales scenarios:

[10:00] 1. Reactivating an old client,
[15:51] 2. Upgrading a membership client to a premium personal training package,
[40:01] 3. How to respond to “I’ll talk to my partner” objections

[29:40] – The one small change Eleazar implemented that sky rocketed his business to $20thousand/mo

[51:24] – The Hunt, Advance, Farm, Close method of always getting new clients

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About our Guest

From being homeless to making $20k/mo for his business in just a few years!

Today, I’m talking to Eleazar Perez. He has an inspirational success story and also an expert fitness sales coach.  

At the age of 19, he was homeless, with no money, skills, connections or a job. Although he had multiple setbacks, through grit & determination he found his footing in different sales jobs and then found himself as a top fitness sales person.

Although he could have settled there, he wanted more and ventured into his own business coaching. Currently, his business focuses on training agencies, sales people and personal trainers who want to grow their clients by selling high ticket packages.

When I go to his website I’m impressed! He has screenshots of client after client messaging him thank you for helping them land $1-3k in sales in just a few weeks.

Because I wanted to do an episode with sales scripts, I invited him to the show to give us tips on how to respond to challenging sales objections we often come across.

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Edited transcription of Fitness Business Secrets Podcast, Episode 2

Kristy: Hey everyone, thanks for joining us. Today I have a special guest with us — Eleazer Perez.

He has a really inspirational story starting from a difficult job and not even being trained in sales to having $10,000 in recurring revenue, training top agencies how to increase their client and revenue, and $1,000 ticket sales.

He’s worked a lot in helping trainers and gyms, and he’s worked at a gym before, so he actually knows sales a lot for fitness professionals. He’s going to help us a lot today. 

Eleazar, thanks for joining me. How are you doing today? 

Eleazar: Oh, of course. I’m doing good. Thank you for having me on. I’m super excited. 

Kristy: Okay, great. All right, so we’re going to teach the listeners your special techniques. But before we do that, I think we’re all curious about you.

Kristy: How did you get to where you are? And what do you do right now?

Eleazar: So in 2017, I graduated from high school and that’s when most of everything started. I was trying to do an online marketing business. I failed terribly.

I was trained to do marketing for other businesses and I couldn’t get any clients because I wasn’t confident with sales.

I wasn’t good at it. So, I left to Portland, which is like a five hour drive one day, and I just packed my bags. I left with no home. I had 200 bucks that my grandma gave me. And I just, I took the drive, I took the jump.

That same night that I got there, I actually got a job at a dealership, which was my first sales job because I just needed some money to come in.

And that night I didn’t know where I was going to shower, where I was going to sleep, what I was going to do. I didn’t know anyone in Portland. It was completely new to me.

That night I went in front of motel six by 82nd street. And I just parked, my car had tinted windows, so I just slept in my car for a few days.

And that’s how that part started. And then, a few days later, a lady let me stay at her house and my mom knew her and I was staying at her house and she helped me out tremendously. I’m grateful for her.

After that, just a few months went by of college, I dropped out because I wanted to just do sales and do something for myself.

So, I ended up working at Sprint, which was just selling phones, and I became one of the best sales rep within the first three months in the whole nation. That was my first real taste of sales and getting success with it.

However, after about 10 months, I just no longer was fulfilled with the money.

I didn’t like it. I wanted to do fitness-related stuff, and I left that job out of nowhere and I went to work at 24 Hour Fitness and as soon as I transitioned into that gym, I hated it. I hated working there.

The managers treated me like crap. I was already the highest sales rep within the first month that I was there, but I had to leave.

I just couldn’t do it. So I actually left and I had no money saved. So I was trying to start my marketing agency (helping others market and sell) and I couldn’t get clients.

Then I just couldn’t pay my rent and I had to move back home because I basically got like an eviction letter and I had to move back home and start over.

And this was at 19 years old, which is less than two years ago.

I just moved back home and started over. I hit depression. I was just going from there.

Within a few months I just started investing into coaches. I maxed out my credit cards, and as soon as I invested into coaches on sales and marketing, I was able to land a few clients online.

After six months of everything like that happening, I actually made my first $10,000 online by getting clients consistently, just using normal Facebook methods and using my own name to leverage my business.

And that changed my life. I took a trip to Bali. I was just trying to inspire more people and get them out of their head to understand that they are capable of much more.

Ever since then, I mean, right now my business last month profited $20,000. And then it’s been high ticket offers, so $1000 for one offer or $3000 as well. And, it’s been a crazy journey, but that’s how I started.

My curiosity was always in sales and I knew that it was gonna change my life.

And now I’m looking to, just in fact, help others with sales and the ability to communicate effectively with more people. 

Starting his fitness sales training & marketing agency

Kristy: Wow! That’s a great story. Props to you. So $20,000 a month. That’s really good. I’m sure a lot of people would be excited about that. Or even just $10,000. So what does your business do right now?

You mentioned, $1,000, $3,000 ticket products, what is that product?

Eleazar: So, there are two things — I have the marketing agency for gyms and personal trainers; and then the consulting, which is where I help people one-on-one with sales.

The consulting one is where basically the people that have been coming to me, especially after seeing some of my success, and they asked me to coach them and then have a program where I just helped them to structure their sales, how to start a sale sales call, how to close a client, how to follow up.

Basically, everything like that. But I do it very one-on-one so that I’m able to sell $1,000 to $3,000 packages.

And then for the agency which is marketing. I run Facebook ads. I set up funnels for clients that I’m able to sell maybe $3,000 per month.

Combining together different businesses, but it’s in the same realm too.

Kristy: Yeah, I see. For the one-on-one services, you mentioned you’re very hands on, so is it more like they’re coaching with you or do you have some type of info product that you pair with it. 

Eleazar: So basically, the first thing that you do, as soon as they enter with me is they go through my program, I lay out all the videos and I tell them to go through that first.

As soon as they do that, they schedule calls with me. And what I do is I send them a weekly email or sometimes two emails a week just to hold them accountable and let them know that I’m here for them at all times.

Because I think a lot of times when people are trying to coach others, they don’t make them feel like they’re welcomed or like they’re a client.

I think my number one most important thing is just make them understand that I’m here for them through thick and thin.

So that’s why I want to stay in their mind consistently just to make sure that the friendship stays like the same level. Their motivation and drive is the same.

Every time we have the weekly calls, that’s where we get to discuss any questions they have, some objections that they got from clients that they couldn’t overcome and just everything within sales that they might be struggling to get a client or how to respond to someone.

Kristy: Okay. All right. So it sounds like a big turning point for you was getting coaches that helped you transform your sales technique. Okay. So that’s how you got where you are.

Eleazar: Yeah. Cause the first time that I tried to in 2017, my marketing agency, I quit and I didn’t get any clients cause I didn’t know what I was doing.

So, the second and third time that I tried it, that’s what changed my life was just the coaching and getting just good people, around my environment. To push me to do, to do better and give me the right techniques that I needed. 

Kristy: Okay. Cool. All right. So I’m a believer, I’m interested in seeing like your take on certain common fitness objections, since it sounds like you actually train gym trainers often.

Common sales objections that fitness pros encounter

Kristy: So if it’s okay, I’m gonna give you some common questions. So when I ran Alana Life and Fitness, these are the questions I’d always get, and sometimes I’d get around them, sometimes I wouldn’t. And I think a lot of trainers could relate and would love to hear how to approach these objections.

Maybe we could start off with the sales calls, which I saw on your website. You talk a lot about techniques there. 

I’ll throw out a couple of scenarios and then maybe I could be the person that you’re calling on the other end and I’m going to give that common scenario that all the trainers have done. And that’s why they didn’t want to make the phone call.

How about the first one is, I love to know how you would approach reactivation of an old client. So let’s pretend my name is Susie and I used to be your client and then I just canceled my membership.

I just said I was busy, and didn’t have the money. And then four months went by and you thought, hey, let me give her a call. And see if she might want to restart her, her goals.

Does that sound like a something you tackle?

Eleazar: Yeah. Definitely.

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(The first step in reactivating an old client is getting them to come back in and do a comp class or comp training session with you.)

[09:03] Eleazar: Hey Rosie. This is Eleazar. How’s it going?

Eleazar: Hey Rosie. This is Eleazar. How’s it going? 

Kristy: Good. Oh, Hey, good. I’m kind of actually busy right now. I hope you’re doing well.

Eleazar: Hey, I totally get it. I just need 30 seconds. Is that fine?

Kristy: Okay, sure. 

Eleazar: Awesome. Awesome. Hey, well, I was just giving you a quick call. I know you’ve been super busy. But I just wanted to check in on you and see how you’ve been doing and also, I just wanted to see how if your fitness goals were going as well.

Kristy: Yeah. I’ve been actually really busy with work. I got this really big project and I wasn’t able to really get to the gym and you know, kids and everything. So yeah, I’m just really busy right now.

Eleazar: Mm. So you’ve just been, you know, just life hitting you in the face and you haven’t been able to kind of focus on the other things that are important to you. 

Kristy: Yeah, yeah. I’ve been pretty busy. And, you know, the job and then the baby’s five, so they have to start taking the kindergarten, you know. 

Eleazar: Yeah, I totally get it.

Well, Rosie, hey, I mean, I don’t want to push you to do anything you don’t want to do, but I do remember last time you and me spoke, you were very driven and very motivated to reach those fitness goals that you had. And I told you from the beginning, I’m there for you 100% of the way, and I want to help you get there as soon as possible.

So, is there anything that I can do for you right now to at least get you, you know, back in, at least come have a conversation with me and see about getting you on the right path. 

Kristy: Well, I mean, I would love to come back. I just, it was kind of expensive and I’m worried I would only come once a week if I’m lucky. So, I just don’t want to sign up and commit to something I can’t come to a lot.

Eleazar: Mm. Okay. So do you feel like the biggest barrier would be the finances or do you feel like it would be more of that time? 

Kristy: I think it’s both because I don’t want to commit to the $125 a month and only come three or four times a month.

So it’s hard to be okay with paying that if I don’t come because I’m so busy. 

Eleazar: Hmm. So how many, out of curiosity, just how many hours are you working a week right now? Like 40?

Kristy: Oh, well, yeah, I do 40 and then I do another 10 at home and then the kids, I have to help them with their homework. 

Eleazar: Okay. And then obviously you sleep probably like, what, seven, eight hours?a day? 

Kristy: Yeah. If I’m lucky. Seven. 

Eleazar: Yeah, so I mean, Rosie, here’s the thing, like you’re very busy and here’s the cool thing about fitness is that I’ve learned that when you enhance your performance and you are going to the gym every single day, it actually makes those things around your life a lot better.

So the quality of the relationship with your kids, your marriage, all of that stuff is going to be much better just because you’re taking care of yourself.

And I don’t want the money or the time to get in the way of that. So, what if I told you that if you just came in to train once a week with me and all it is just one hour of training, that’s it.

It would help you get a lot further in your business right now. Would that help you out? 

Kristy: Yeah, I could. I mean, that might be interesting but I can’t really commit to anything right now.

Eleazar: No worries. hey, and I’m not expecting you to give me your credit card information or anything.

But Rosie, all I wanted to see is if you could just set up a time next week to come in and meet with me, and I’d love to just go over some offers with you. If nothing fits your budget or your time. I totally understand, but at least we gave it a try. Is that something that we can do?

Kristy: Yeah, we could give that a try.

Eleazar: Awesome. Awesome. Well, I’m gonna book you in right now for X, Y, and Z. 

Kristy: Okay. All right. Thanks.

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[13:30] Kristy: Would you say, is there any specific tip for trainers that you want to emphasize?

Tip 1: Build a relationship with your client

Eleazar: So for me with sales, I’m never pushy unless I know enough about the client and their motives.

I hate when I call or when people would try to sell me stuff without building a relationship with me.

However, with Rosie, I was treating that as if I kind of already knew, and I didn’t know any anything about her, but I was treating her like I knew her so.

One of the things that I do is if you build a relationship from the beginning with prospects and you have to get them in once again to know that you are genuinely there for them, and being able to handle their objections and then pinpoint their problems that they had in the past.

So if you said you wanted to get to this goal and you’re still not doing that, it’s much easier to handle those objections.

But if you don’t have that friendship and that rapport, if you’re trying to tell them that they need to make time, it’s going to come off as very rude and disrespectful.

I think that’s very important to make the clients and the prospects feel important from the beginning that when that does happen, that they leave the gym for a reason, you can call them and still be pretty pushy in a good way.

Tip 2: Be politely persistent

Eleazar: In my coaching calls I’m being politely persistent. Politely persistent that they come back and see you or that they come back and work with you.

Kristy: I like how you kind of kept Rosie on the phone and then you were really polite and basically the next step is just getting them to come in.

So you can follow them from there. Read through all of them. This is going to be the interesting part.

So you do a lot of high ticket clients or that’s your focus, $1,000 plus. And, and a lot of trainers sell that, but they don’t always sell it.

I think a lot of them would be interested is how you do this. Let’s do another scenario, how do you upgrade a client who’s been your member client?

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[15:51] Kristy: Maybe they’re either paying $50 a month, $80 a month. Or maybe they’d bought a $200 package from you before for personal training, but you want to get them to $1,000.

Let’s say in this scenario, let’s pretend I’m going to be Lisa, and let’s say Lisa has a goal to lose 25 pounds. She has an upcoming wedding.

How do you upgrade them when she’s so comfortable right now? Paying pretty much, let’s say $80 a month to a thousand-dollar package, seems like a big jump. Do you think it can be done?

So let’s say, she’s paying, she’s just a gym member. You talked to her, you have maybe somewhat of a relationship with her. You’ve seen her in class, $80 a month, and she’s happy, but she wants to lose a little weight.

You think you can help her with a one-on-one training. How do we get her to say, Okay! to a $1,000 package?

Eleazar: Yeah, let’s do that. Okay.

Kristy: So I’ll be Lisa. So I just came in, that’s after class. And you know, I started talking to him like, yeah, I think I want to lose, maybe 25 pounds. I got engaged. I’m going to get married next year, but, you know, maybe I just need to come more often to the gym. 

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Eleazar: Well, Lisa, congratulations. That’s amazing that you’re getting married. I’m super excited for you. And, yeah, I mean, you want to lose a few more pounds and you know, your question is basically, do you have to just keep coming more often. How many days a week have you been coming to the gym? 

Kristy: Two, three times a week.

Eleazar: Okay. And then what kind of workouts do you usually do? 

Kristy: Well, I take class most of the time, and if I can’t make it to class, then I like to do some cardio. 

Eleazar: Mm. Okay. And would you say your diet is pretty good or how is that looking?

Kristy: That’s a good question. I mean, I think I kind of healthy, you know, sometimes here and there. I’m not on track, but I try to keep it healthy.

Eleazar: Okay, that’s good. And Lisa, I’ve been seeing you come to the gym for the last six months now, which is awesome. Do you feel like you’ve made any progress in those six months?

Kristy: Well, when I first got here, I lost like 10 pounds and so excited about that. But you know, after the first two months I think I’ve only lost three pounds. And so I’ve been really frustrated. I don’t know what to do.

 Eleazar: Well, yeah. So you sort of like plateaued. 

Kristy: Yeah. 

Eleazar: Gotcha, gotcha. So what’s kind of your goal right now then? How many pounds do you want to lose and what timeframe?

Kristy: Well, I would like to lose 25 pounds ideally. 20 would be also good. I have about eight months until my wedding, and six months to the dress fitting. 

Eleazar: Okay. Gotcha. So, yeah, quite a bit of time. And Lisa, do you feel like if you lost those 20 pound or 25 pounds in the next few months, let’s say you lost it even in three months, do you feel like it would be easy to maintain that for you?

Kristy: Mm, I hope so. I’ve kind of been off and on of 10 pounds for the last couple of years, so I don’t really know. I would hope so. 

Eleazar: And, out of curiosity, if you were looking for some help or guidance, what would be the main thing that you need help with? Is it the nutrition, the discipline, or the workouts?

Kristy: I think I need help with all of them. I’m not sure why the workouts aren’t working anymore and, you know, I could probably eat a little bit better and staying accountable. 

Okay. Kind of. Yeah. I mean, accountability is a huge one. I know I didn’t have the structure or discipline for a long time, and that’s what caused me to plateau.

Eleazar: So Lisa, I don’t want this to be kind of a worry or frustration for you. Obviously you’ve been coming here for the last six months, and I want to make sure that every time that you come into the gym, you feel accomplished.

And not only that, the way you eat though, the time you wake up, the way you feel when you wake up and you’re ready to start your day. So we do have a coaching program right now with me.

I have two options — one of them is a six week option, and then one of them has a 12 week option. Are you open to hearing about them? 

Kristy: Yeah. Would this help me lose weight? 

Eleazar: Yeah, of course. So, I mean, I’m very personal with my clients, so I like to make sure that my clients, as soon as they work with me, they get the results that they want. And everything is very one-on-one. It’s very done for.

You know, because the same thing that’s gonna work for you is not going to work for Kyle or Jenny. So everything is structured just for you. But basically with my six-week program, it’s a program where I take you through the diet and nutrition.

We work out about twice a week, and I make sure that you’re eating at the right times and you’re eating the right foods, and I’m going to do an assessment on you just to make sure that I get the right information that I need.

But that is a six-week program, we’re going to work for six weeks together. And the goal would be obviously for you to lose not all 25 pounds, but maybe, you know, just half of that.

And then if we do the 12-week program, obviously that gives us more time to work together. And the cool thing about working together for a longer time, let’s say 12 weeks, is that you’re going to gain a lot of knowledge and discipline and habits from that time that you might not even need me three months after that.

Does that sound good, which one do you feel like would be better for you? 

Kristy: Well, I guess how much does it cost? It sounds really expensive. 

Eleazar: No, of course. So the six-week one is a $1,500 package, and once again, super one-on-one, I can assure you that it’s just going to be you and me working together, throughout the time, just to make sure that you meet those goals.

And the 12-week one is going to be $3,000. 

Kristy: Hmm. Okay, so there’s no price discount if I do twice as long. No, $3,000, that’s a lot. You know, the wedding expenses are really adding off. Geez, I don’t know how if I can afford it. I just don’t even know if I can afford any of this. I mean, I could just come to classes, more classes and try to just hit the gym more and, and eat better.

Eleazar: So just to make sure, Lisa, besides the finances, is this something that you would like to do? 

Kristy: Yeah, I would like to do it. I would cause it sounds like it could be helpful to kind of get a little bit more direction. I’ve just never signed up, I mean, paid that much for a gym or services at all before.

Eleazar: Right, right. Definitely I understand that and that’s why like I want to be the first person that helps you with that on your journey. But let’s just put finances aside for a bit. Do you feel like the 12-week or the six-week one, which one do you feel like would benefit you a little bit more.

Kristy: Oh, well, I mean, I have 25 pounds to lose. And like you said, I mean, realistically, I don’t think I could do that in six weeks. So yeah, 12 weeks would be nice. I would give myself 12 weeks. I’m just, I couldn’t do $3,000.

Eleazar: No, no. I totally get it. So at least, I mean, let’s think about it this way. Okay. And this is the way I want you to actually picture it.

Just think about yourself on your wedding day, maybe down 25 to 30 pounds, looking great, feeling even better. You guys go out to the beach after, you know, after the wedding the next morning, you have a nice dinner on the beach with your family and your friends.

Don’t you feel like the investment would be worth it then? 

Kristy: Yeah, I guess so. I mean, yeah, for the pictures maybe, I mean, if I know I could get there, but, I’ve been trying to do this for years. I don’t know if it’s possible.

Eleazar: I mean, Lisa, I’ll be honest with you, just the way you come off and the way you communicate with me. It just tells me a lot about you and your drive. And I know that all you need is a cherry on top. You don’t need a bunch of different things. You just need that little cherry on top. And I’m 100% confident that I can help you reach those goals.

Kristy: Oh, wow. 

Eleazar: So do you feel like, just give me one chance, I guarantee you that if you just work with me, I can deliver the results that you want. That way when you’re on your wedding, you are happier than ever. Does that sound like something that we can do?

Kristy: Yeah. I mean, yeah. I would be interested if you really, you feel confident that I can do this.

Eleazar: A hundred percent I just need you to give this a chance and believe in you as much as I believe in you.

Kristy: Okay. Cool. All right. So, yeah, let me give this a shot.

Eleazar: Okay, cool. Thanks.

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Kristy: There are multiple things that you did throughout that conversation, that some people don’t really realize. How would you break that down a little bit?

Tip 1: Probing — ask questions to pinpoint what the client needs

Eleazar: The main thing was I was basing things off of her. So in the first role play that we did, I didn’t really ask questions, which is like, that’s probably what I should have done more. But, this one I asked questions at the beginning, so

• how much weight do you want to lose and
• what’s a time frame you want to lose it by.

Tip 2: Personalize — make her feel it’s customized for her

Eleazar: And then the other thing was everything that I was doing was customized for her. There was no one package for everyone else. It’s just like, this is just me and her, there’s no one else, just me and her.

Everything that I was talking about was just based on her needs and what she wanted and when she wanted to do it by.

Tip 3: Realization — make them realize their pain point

Eleazar: And I made her feel her pain. So I mean, I made her like basically tell me, like you shoot them with their own ammunition kind of. It’s where she was telling me, Oh, well, I kind of plateaued and I haven’t been making as much progress.

Tip 4: Accountability — make them feel accountable

Eleazar: And then I asked her like, well, do you need a little bit more discipline, accountability? She said, yeah. And then the main thing I was just making her feel was just that I cared for her and I was just trying to help her.

And then at the end, making her feel that, if she didn’t make the change now, she was probably gonna just keep doing the same thing until her day of the wedding.

It was just more one-on-one, you know? It was just like very personalized. And that’s the thing is when you get to people’s problems and you make them feel the pain, not just, you don’t say it, you make them feel it.

It’s easier to just hit those pain points and just be more salesy, but in a good way where you’re trying to sell them, but you’re not trying to sell them for your own benefit.

You’re trying to help them. 

Kristy: Yeah. And I noticed that one technique you use that you had mentioned on your Facebook profile was the term, when they say, Oh, it’s too expensive.

If money was not an issue..

If you know money was not an issue, what would you do?

Kristy: Then I (as Lisa) was like, well, based off of my goal, 12 weeks makes more sense.

And then, you also use the second one, which was imagine yourself. I’m in that honeymoon and 25 pounds lighter. So it felt more realistic.

And the value was in that case, it’s worth it.

Imagine yourself…

Imagine yourself down 20 lbs (goal amount), walking around the pool in your bathing suit (goal activity).

Kristy: So in a way, it’s like once someone says “I imagine” they start to uncover that it’s partially not just about money, it’s they don’t really believe it can happen.

Raise their confidence

Eleazar: Yeah. One thing I did is I kind of raised their self esteem at the end by saying like, Oh, I definitely believe in you and I know that if you apply it yourself.

Kristy: That’s true.

Eleazar: And it makes them feel more like it’s more of a realistic thing. It gets them excited. It makes them actually paint the picture in their head, and it’s much easier for you to just guide them off.

I said, just money aside, which one would work better for you. And then try to sell the higher package. 

Kristy: Yeah. Yeah. That was good. And I definitely felt like when you raised my self esteem, like the energy and the conversation kind of picked up and my energy picked up and was like, Oh wow, I can do this.

I can see myself on my honeymoon and this is exciting. And I think I went from thinking there’s no way I could lose 25 pounds to thinking this person believes in me. So yeah, that was helpful.

Recapping what we learned — the high ticket conversion sales process

Kristy: Okay. Cool. So to recap a few things in that one, cause I know it was longer and I think it was important the way you ask questions and in a way gained my trust.

Lisa kind of opened up because it’s such a vulnerable thing to talk about losing weight and then to bring up a $3,000 package, how do you get there?

1. So I think really building that foundation you did for the first probably 40% of the conversation where you ask questions, what do I want to lose? And when?
2. And then you made it custom you said and then personalized like this is about me and you talked about my pain points, plateaued and then that you cared for me.
3. And then, if money was not an option and got me to focus on the 12-week package
4. and imagine and increase my self esteem.

So, I like that.

All right. Awesome. Okay. So let’s try, let’s see a different one. I’ll go ahead real quick before we kind of jump it to the next one.

Due to limited time with the prospect, know how much time to spend focusing on the high priced personal training

Kristy: Can we talk about qualifying prospects and understanding how much time trying to sell the high ticket item without running out of time to sell easier low ticket items?

Eleazar: Absolutely. So what I found is, although I think it’s for when I was selling packages, I felt like people, there was a certain balance. And also to explain to my team the balance where I think it was important to sell personal training in the early registration.

The first one at the first sit down when they’re all excited, they came to the gym. There’s a reason that they finally made it after six months of thinking about it.

But then at the same time, there are certain people where you definitely want to point it out, but you just knew they were never going to sign up. I don’t know if that’s what you mean.

I think that at that point it’s okay to put the idea of personal training in their head, but don’t take more time, if you spend a half hour talking about personal training and they’re never going to buy it; then you’re going to lose the other 15 minutes that you could have at least sold a membership.

They’re like, I can’t afford anything. They don’t wanna make any more decisions cause they were never going to sign up for personal training on that first day. So sometimes, you just gotta let it go then and at least sign them for membership so we don’t lose them. And then get them back in a couple of weeks when they get that raised.

Big AHA that skyrocketed Eleazar’s sales

[29:40] Eleazar: Yeah, I hit 20K profit last month but a few months ago I wasn’t even getting close to that.

What I realized a few months ago is the methodology and the mindset to start high and work your way down.

Let’s say I had an $80 package and you’re trying to sell a $3,000 package. To go from $80 to $3000, people aren’t going to want to do that, but if you start high at $3000 and then they say, Oh my God, that’s way too much, worst case scenario you’d probably sell just a $1000 package.

I wasn’t even charging $3000 not too long ago, but as soon as I just made that little switch, it started working.

I do think that it’s important just from the beginning to try to sell high, but base it off their needs.

I know a lot of times we want to get sales and it’s easy to just try to get your quick buck.

But at the end of the day, you make it about the client. You dig in to the core of their problems and what they want to achieve. You build a relationship and you get to know them, such as they’re not losing weight, they’re not happy at home, they don’t have anyone to support them.

If you learn all those things about them, then I recommend selling the high package from the beginning.

Maybe they’re scared. You want to sell the higher one from the beginning, and then maybe worst case scenario, you pitch them again two weeks, four weeks from now, and maybe they’re a little bit more better financially, and then you sell them there.

But make sure to follow up, that’s why it’s important. But I always recommend just starting high from the beginning.

Kristy: Yeah, yeah, I hear you. So to recap, I hear what you’re saying is, start from high because then you can work your way down and then now from $3000, and then $80 is nothing if that’s the membership.

And yeah, I totally agree. And then the second thing is I hear you saying, which is sort of a balance, is making sure that you to listen to them because, we all know that sales clients gets taught, prospects get hired. So, especially when after they just took a class, and they’re considering it.

Understanding them in order to right-size the price and package for them

Kristy: They have half hour for their husband to picks them up, you’d have to understand their needs and their hot buttons and then bring it down to what they can do now because they’re in front of you now.

So at least sell them what at least fits. So yeah, I like that.

Eleazar: I’ll just kind of jump into just a little bit real quick, because qualifying prospects is one of the most important things. So, I’ll give you a little insight onto how my business is doing a little bit better now.

It’s not a lot compared to a lot of people, but I’ve been able to make my own growth. The way I position myself online is I don’t really go out to clients. They have come into me. And a lot of it is I’m just giving out value. I’m just trying to help.

At first, I’m just trying to make them relate to me on a personal level.

And they’ve been DM-ing me, they’ve been coming to me, they’ve been scheduling calls with me, and every time they scheduled calls with me, they fill out a form, so I can know how much they make, what their goals are, what their weaknesses are, what they need help with.

How do you right-size their package?

Eleazar: Before we even get on the call, they’re already pre-qualified.

It’s like this, if the doctor is trying to prescribe you something that you don’t need because he didn’t ask the right questions, you’re not gonna trust that doctor.

But if the doctor is asking you a bunch of questions, he’s digging into the thing that is hurting you the most. And then at the end he prescribed you something specifically for that pain point, then you’re going to trust them.

And it’s the same thing with sales, you want to just dig in and ask questions on top of questions on top of questions so that at the end, you can formulate this special just personalized package for that individual.

That’s the beautiful thing about qualifying. As if you qualify them before the meeting or during the meeting, and you are making everything structured for them and not just a one size fits all.

Kristy: I totally agree. And that was actually really helpful. When I first started the gym, like I had a questionnaire that we asked them, I didn’t even realized what I was doing.

So it sounds like ask them questions or qualify the clients by asking them a ton of questions so that you can become the doctor that prescribes them a package that fits for what their answers were, and then you can even use the answers to get over objections.

You’re saying that sales isn’t just selling, but it’s really asking questions through pre-qualification. 

Don’t settle for a price without qualifying your prospects

Eleazar: Exactly. If anything, like whenever I get on phone calls and if the person doesn’t tell me their problems are, or if I don’t find out what I need to know just because they’re being reserved or they’re not opening up, I don’t even drop the price.

I say, Hey, this is not going to be a good fit, or, I don’t think I can help you. It was nice talking to you. And, just positioning yourself with authority from the beginning and qualifying them. That’s really what makes the difference.

Because I think the last thing in my opinion, you’d want to do is drop the price on someone for $3000 for a fitness package without even knowing their goals or knowing where they want to be six months from now.

Kristy: Yeah, that’s a good point. Okay, great. Well, those were really helpful and I am glad you talked about pre-qualifying because I guess that’s so important. And the two scenarios we had, they weren’t necessarily new, but actually for Lisa you did prequalify her with some questions.

I’m wondering if we can do one last one, and this one would be something that we get a lot.

I’m maybe a new client, prospect. They just took a class, tested it out, and now you get to sit down with them. Or maybe they took a comp personal training session with you, either one, but they’re totally into it.

They’re like, Great. Let me check with my partner. And you’re like, Whoa!

And so I would love to see different ways to get around that. And the thing is tricky because I’ve been selling for five years at the gym, I swear there’s so much of that.

I tell my staff: they’re going to talk to their partner, they’re never coming back. I don’t care how you convince them, do not let them leave. You need to figure out how your strategy wasn’t working for them at that moment or find out what the real problem was.

And so I let them walk away and then I never really got to the bottom of it, so I would love to just hear your take on it. Yeah. We can make this one quick.

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[40:01] Kristy: We’re going to get right to it, we’re going to fast forward the conversation with them and let’s assume that they’re a comp personal training client that you just did a training with a free session.

They said they loved it. They’re excited. We’ll pretend now my name is Natalie.

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Kristy: Oh my God. That was really good. Yeah, that’s good information.

I think I definitely am thinking I want to do it. I’m just gonna just talk to my partner since it’s still a lot of money and, you know, just want to make sure to choose which one I want to do.  

Eleazar: Awesome, Natalie. Well, first off, I’m glad you loved it. I mean, that’s our goal here is just to help you guys, make sure that you like the equipment, the classes and everything.

And I also respect the fact that you’re going to go talk to your partner. I think that’s very important. And out of curiosity, what do you feel like you need to discuss the most with your partner? Is it the pricing, is it something that you want to do together, what do you feel like would be the main thing?

Kristy: Oh, well the price is, it’s still a lot of money and he’s going to have to help me with it a little bit. So just talking to him about that and, you know, it’s going to be a big commitment for me to make sure I make it to the gym and meeting with you every week. So just talking about the schedule.

Eleazar: Okay. Gotcha. And so, Natalie, is your partner someone that supports you in any decisions that you make that he knows what benefits are for both of you. 

Kristy: Yeah, I think he supports me.

Eleazar: Awesome. And then besides your partner, just kind of like signing off on this and saying, yes, this is something that you want to do, right?

Kristy: Yes. This is definitely something I want to do.  

Eleazar: Awesome, Natalie. Well, I’ll be very honest with you, okay. Most clients that tell me, Hey, I’m going to go think about, I’m going to go talk to my partner, I don’t even hear back from them. And I understand, you know, you’re a little bit excited right now.

You’d go and you talk to your partner and think about it for another six months. And the thing is, I just don’t want you to do that. I don’t want you to be that same client that maybe just doesn’t come back and talk to me because I want you to know that I’m here to actually help you reach those goals, like you mentioned at the beginning of the conversation.

So, I mean, what can we do right now besides, you having to speak to your partner later on to at least just get you started. 

Kristy: I mean, I want to get started. We can, you know, plan our training session. I just want to make sure before I choose the package. There’s a couple of packages and to look at my budget, it’s a lot of money.

Eleazar: So, it sounds like it’s mainly the finances then, right? 

Kristy: Yeah. And you know, when me and my partner want to make decisions together, I don’t want to go behind his back and make a decision. 

Eleazar: Yeah. Of course. Natalie, so here’s the thing. I mean, can I make a quick suggestion just before you go?

Kristy: Yeah.

Eleazar: So I mean, obviously I want to get you started and I don’t want you to, like I said, just go on and keep doing the same thing that you said you’ve been gaining weight. You said you’ve been eating bad. I don’t want you to go on and just keep doing that.

I want you to know that I’m here for you and I know that you have a lot of potential, and that’s why I’m willing to just go out of my way to get you started right now.

Here’s the suggestion that I can make is let’s just get you started right now. We’ll get you started just from a simple package, and we can set up our training sessions, we can do all of that, and I’ll actually give you two weeks. So if you go in, you go tonight and you talk to your partner, and he says, Oh, well, I’m not too sure, maybe try it out and you try out for these two weeks.

Or maybe he says, no. You have two weeks to come back and just get your money back. Is that something that could work?

Kristy: Okay. Yeah, that would help. So how does that work? I would pay, I would just do this for two weeks then. 

Eleazar: Yeah. So basically we can set up the package, it’ll be a 12 session training. And what we can do is, so what I want to do, I’m doing the two weeks just for you, just to make sure that, you know, you have some time.

And this is something that you actually want to go through with, but we’ll set you up with half down right now. So, half the down payment and if you decide to go through with us in the next two weeks, cause your partner’s probably going to say yes if he wants you to do better and feel better.

In between those two weeks, you can just put the rest of the down payment and we’ll just go through the 12 sessions like normal.

If you don’t feel like it’s a good fit or you don’t feel like it’s something that you’re going to benefit from, which I don’t think is going to be the case, then we’ll just give you your money back so you have everything gained, but nothing to lose.

Kristy: Oh okay. I may be interested, I mean, half is still a lot. Which package was I going to do?

Eleazar: So, it would be the 12 sessions, it’d be for a $1,500.

Kristy: Okay. So $750, that’s kind of lot, is there any way I can put a little bit less down and, just start with that?

Eleazar: Okay. And just to make sure, I mean, this is something that you want to do right now, right.

Kristy: It’s just the finances right now. Yeah. And just making sure it’s the right decision with my partner. 

Eleazar: Of course. So, what we could do is, let’s just get you in right now. Then I’ll just do a small deposit because I just want you to come in some way just to make sure that I can help you.

So, we’ll do maybe $250 right now, and then once your partner says yes, after he checks off, you make the other deposit. 

Kristy: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I could do that. 

Eleazar: Awesome. Awesome. 

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Kristy: Okay, great. That was good. At the end it felt like, Oh, $250. Okay. That’s something I can do. So sort of like the technique you talked about before starting high and then, and then kind of going down and then the two-week thing was helpful.

Cool. Thanks. For that specific role play, did you have any specific highlights that you want everyone to notice that you used.

Tip 1: Before you get pushy with sales, make sure they are qualified

Eleazar: It was the, once again, the person not personalizing and making them feel cared for because at the end I was pretty pushy, right? I was pretty pushy.

When you’re going to be that pushy, just make sure that they’re qualified and that you got to the core root of what they want to achieve.

And one of the things that I asked is, Natalie is your partner someone that supports you in any decision that you make that he knows might benefit the both of you? And most cases they are going to say yes. Then in their head, they’re thinking, Well, what do I need to talk to them about? It’s going to help me and to make me happier.

And then that’s when I pushed for a two week timeframe just to check off on the offer and asked if she can make a deposit. What I did is just I made it easier for her to decide on her own.

Tip 2: Offer a money-back guarantee

Eleazar: I said, Hey, you don’t have to pay it all up front. And I’m actually going to give you your money back if you don’t want to do it. But maybe could you do half of it right now? 

That way you at least get some commitment. Commitment happens when people pay some money. I did it with my coach too, I didn’t have money at the time and he made me put a deposit down and the next day I just made the full payment because it’s easier once you commit even a just little bit.

Kristy: Yeah. I like that a lot actually. I did that with one of the coaches myself. The first dollar is the hardest, and then after that you feel a little more committed.

Well, this specific one, we’ve done that at the gym and I like it a lot. It’s where you bring down the deposit and then you make the deposit around $300 plus or minus. And that seems to have worked well on like a $1,200 package. And then for membership, we’ve even done like $100 down and then you pay the other a hundred dollars initiation.

And then for a coaching program, I signed up for, I think I did $700 down and it was a $2,000 program and I ended up paying it off later.

So, thank you for that. I think those were really good role plays and it addressed a lot of different things to me. We addressed a lot of objections such as:

• it’s too much money
• let me talk to my partner
• I’m not sure if I have time
• I don’t know if I can actually do this no matter who helps me

Even the self doubt that I think people won’t even say, but it’ll be on the table, which you kind of raised their self confidence. So I thought that was cool.

To close out, I’d actually wanted to ask you, we know all the trainers are trying to do social media and we’re just spinning our wheels sometimes.

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Kristy: What is your favorite technique that you can advise any trainer to do with their social media to get more leads in?

Eleazar: There’s no secret technique, but I can give you three things.

Tip 1: Tell your story out loud over and over on social media

Eleazar: First, I’ve been leveraging each social media as much as possible, which is what I’ve been using, Facebook or YouTube. I just recently started using Facebook and that’s where a lot of my business has been coming from this last month.

And then, Instagram. And what I do is I just promote similar things on each platform. But in Facebook groups, I’m able to use those effectively. So I go into Facebook groups, I share my story, I engage with people. I do call to actions and it gets people to message me that way. I have the authority.

The way I do that is just by giving value and creating stories that are relatable. And a lot of times we’re just focused on the specific tips or do this if you want to lose weight, do that.

At the end of the day, there’s so many personal trainers out there. There’s so many businesses.

The only way a lot of people stand out from their competition is just by the story they tell and the way they resonate with someone else.

And that’s why I told my stories a lot because people can resonate with it, while he was $12,000 in debt and he had to move back home and start over and now he’s having a six figure business at a young age.

It’s more relatable. People buy the story.

Tip 2: Consistently posting client results

Eleazar: The second one is consistency in posting client results. Posting, giving them shout outs, putting the spiral of spotlight on them because that way you’re going to show them off.

It’s kind of like limiting beliefs. They don’t have the confidence. They don’t know if they can do it. But if you are constantly giving them shout outs, giving them compliments, making it great about themselves.

Not only is their self esteem raised, but they’re going to want other people to feel the same way, which is going to lead them to give you referrals.

That’s why in sales, like I’ve learned just to compliment as much and just make them feel good about themselves because we all have so much potential.

And if you just get the right person that fits with you and just gives you a little cherry on top, it’s gonna make you reach your full potential.

That’s why my coach changed my life because he vibed with me so well, and he let me know like, Hey, you have so much potential, but you’re not doing much with it. I know that if you let me help you, I’m going to change your life. And he made me actually believe it and see it.

So, I think that’s the main thing is just consistency and going out in Facebook groups, giving value, telling your story and why people might resonate with you.

Reminder: Fill up your pipeline & get those prospect calls

Eleazar: And working hard. The main thing is trying to fill up your pipeline, as personal trainers, you don’t want to rely on one person or two people.

Sift your calendar. Last month, I had 50 calls just like sales calls and you want to get your calendar booked the whole time.

You want to make sure that you’re getting calls every day and that you position yourself as an authority from the beginning, that way when you’re trying to drop those $3,000 packages or $1,000 packages, it’s much easier to even get a down payment and then do the rest later.

Putting it all together — Hunt, Advance, Farm, Close

[51:24] Eleazar: There’s four things that I do. It’s called hunt, advance, farm, and then close.

• Hunting: go out and you get prospects. So you send messages, or whatever marketing strategy that you have.

• Advance: is when you push them for a call, you push them for a 15 minute strategy session or when you already have those people in your arsenal, they know who you are and they know what you do, but maybe they don’t buy from you yet.

• Farming: would be posting our content, posting out things that are moving the needle in your business and getting people to engage with you.

• Closing: And then closing the sale once you do those three things. 

Kristy: Mmm. Yeah, I like that. I really love using all social medias. And storytelling, storytelling, storytelling.

I love it because most people think what we have to deliver is just hard facts. It’s just that storytelling really resonates with people.

I think for us as entrepreneurs working day in and day out by ourselves, it kind of feels like there’s not a lot of structure. So, kind of bringing something like that and knowing that you put in, let’s say every few hours you’re there hunting, advancing, farming, or closing.

I think that it kind of gives a sense of, Okay, I covered everything. I didn’t forget my keys today.

So, I like that. Awesome. Okay. You’ve given so much great information. I appreciate it. I did have one question.

What tool are you using for your Facebook posts?

Kristy: Because I thought that it was brilliant. I don’t know if you just do a bunch of steps, but I love how you have a video. They’re short. You have a problem that someone can tell you’re solving from the post, and then it’s transcribed. And there’s even like a progress bar at the bottom.

I was thinking, that’s brilliant. How do you do that?

Eleazar: I have an editor and then I have someone that posts, automates the post on later.com. But the editing, you can actually look up on YouTube.

I mean this is going to help you a lot, if you look up “Gary Vynercheck tutorial“, there’s like a four minute video that shows you exactly how to do that same thing on the videos.

If anything, I’m glad you pointed that out. I think that’s one thing that people should start like personal trainers and people just trying to get clients. You should start posting those videos and make them about one to two minutes long, and then the captions just sort of a recap of what the video is.

That way it’s in written and video form. Those videos are good because they’re not long. It catches the attention. People follow along with the subtitles and it gets your point across pretty quick as well.

Kristy: Yeah, absolutely. I thought they were awesome. And I listened to a bunch of them and because I knew exactly what I was getting into and how long it was.

So absolutely. I really liked that. Thanks for that tip. 

Is there one last thing that you can say for all the personal trainers? Tell us your secret. 

Eleazar: The main thing would be is obviously the consistency. Putting out a proof of concept showing that your clients are getting success.

But the main thing I would say is from my point of view from my story and being able to succeed.

I hit depression. I went through anxiety. I wasn’t getting clients, I wasn’t making money. I felt like that moment that I hit rock bottom, I was never going to get out of it.

That was the toughest moment of my life, it wasn’t even too long ago.

But regardless of where you’re at in your business, if you’re struggling to get your first client, if you’re struggling to close high ticket clients, just reach out to people.

Drop your ego and don’t be afraid to reach out to people for help because someone else knows something that you don’t.

And learn to use that to your advantage. And we all have so much potential that we don’t know of. But it’s so crazy how people’s self esteem can either be brought up or brought down because of the results that they’re getting.

I want it to be known that even if I was the struggling 19 year old, that has thousands and debts, I didn’t have a place to stay, nothing. And now I’m running a six figure agency at a young age, and not because I’m special or anything.

It’s just that I associated myself with the right people. I listened to them, I applied it, and I just had the belief in myself from the beginning.

I know that if I was able to do that, there’s so many more people out there that are willing to do that and able to do that.

That’s why I just want to point out, it doesn’t matter where you are right now at what stage you are capable of. Just put yourself in the right position and apply everything that you learned.

Kristy: All right. So really inspirational.

Eleazar: So just really give it a try and then ask for help and you don’t have to feel embarrassed to ask for help.

Even a few weeks ago, I asked for help from a friend, I was doing better than him before. He’s doing better now. And I asked for help and he changed my life.

Kristy: Awesome. I like that. As coaches, we still need help and coaching and guidance and friendship.

Eleazar: So, yeah, absolutely. They have sometimes the ego of thinking like, Oh, I’m a coach. I can’t get help. If you had that mentality, it’s easy to lose. 

Kristy: Yeah, absolutely. It’s totally fine to not be perfect guys, gals.

I get anxiety and depression too all the time. I still do, but you know, it’s life. You just get through it and you just stay positive and you connect with people.

How can people reach you if they want to know more about these special sales techniques?

Kristy: All right. Thanks for making my day. Have a good day!

Eleazar: Thank you. You too.