 Hey coaches, welcome back to another episode of making money coaching sports. I'm coach Jim Swift I'm your success coach for sports formers training businesses If you ever need to reach me you can start off by texting me at 2104143077 Or email me at make money coaching athletes at gmail.com Today's topic we're going to talk about how I started getting committed clients or more committed clients rather. Okay, so picture this about Seven years ago gone on eight. I had handfuls of kids We were always at the football fields and I thought I'm gonna get clients no matter what because I am gonna run the best sports formants Science-based training program in the city. Okay, so I was on that role It was all about just delivering results and great quality service and you definitely want to do that Okay, by all means raise a high standard of how you Coach and train your athletes. Okay, be as ethical and science-based as you can and have fun But I still noticed that a lot of competitors whether they own a really big gym Or they were small and they were at another neighboring field 15 minutes away I started noticing that you know, how come they have more Commitment levels and overall more kids going than I do. What's the problem? And I realized it no matter how great I was training how many of my guys and girls were Constantly getting recognized for middle school high school varsity signing with colleges and playing. I Still had way too many kids that I was spending time on that were Not committed or at least they were committed to training, but maybe the parents weren't asked committed to Paying for training with me. Okay knows I'm gonna say with me. Can I guarantee they went somewhere else? The ones who did, you know, they stay committed And it lasted, you know, a lot of them train me for three to five years But there's way too many who only lasted one or two months. Okay? and you know as well as I do all you Science-based coaches that you don't get a lot of development in just one or two months of commitment. Okay? so how would I get more commitment without Spinning my wheels and trying to change everything about my training Without trying to entertain everybody be Instagram YouTube famous like we see all over the place. Okay? In a nutshell what I did was I Started putting systems in place. I started putting rules on how the business was ran so one for the people who already were paying there had to be a Serious understanding of who was in control and don't be wrong. I'm out of tyrant. I wasn't gonna say there is No voice from the parents and athletes there is You know without them the business wouldn't go anywhere and I do take their feedback to heart To see you know simply how I can make my business better. I'm sure a lot of you coaches out there do the same thing so in doing so I Stopped doing Pay as you go options. Okay, we're done with that I started doing at least a month up front and then eventually I started doing reoccurring monthly you know auto drafts of electronic and then Three months auto renew up front those kind of payments and I started setting rules on Here's the times and days and location of what I have available. Okay? I I stopped trying to spread myself thin to accommodate everybody I had to realize if they can't come during my time Then they can't come if there's demand for more times Other for more days times other locations Then we can talk about that because that's a big business move right there. Okay, there's demand. It's it's worth it But I'll speak too flexible on their schedule. It's one of those things where I was You know, I train at noon and okay, well these two kids they can't train till 5 p.m On a Sunday. Sure. Why not? It's money, right? Okay, but you could have done something more enjoyable productive not say the kids I trained that time wasn't enjoyable, but You could have had a light. Okay, and enter a Light that was balanced. Okay But I was foregoing all that just to get a couple bucks in my hand right here. Okay? By setting terms the agreement not only were my Current paying clients gonna stay committed longer. We're talking like now They're training six to twelve months out of the year with me for two to five six years straight Anybody I talked to after I once again got a better system to get them on a phone before sign up Was either gonna pass or they were gonna be 100% committed There's something you have to understand that It may feel like you're putting people in shackles if you're not good at selling. It's scary. You're you know getting turned down sucks I get that but Parents do recognize who is running a stronger business. Okay? You think about the operations these parents have jobs. What do they work for somebody else in a school district? They're an engineer. They run their own business. They work in the oil fields There's day-to-day structures and operations of the place They work at where they own it they co-own it or they're like just working there That they're gonna recognize when you bring into your training business And I think one of the biggest problems in our industry for fitness and sports training is We are not running as strong of a Of a business system as we could be we're kind of running cookie cutter Business operations and then you know a lot of y'all see we'll see cookie cutter training And people don't really take it seriously I mean you tell people that you're a trainer and they're like what like a PE coach or like okay You just do like drills like we have to use the business operation side and the training to make it more serious And I think we are doing a better job of that honestly My area is a little slow behind that So luckily I jumped ahead of the curve and there's people who are smarter and they're jumping ahead I'm I've given them some advice on small tips to my friends and it's made it better They could step it up a little bit, but it's not where it was five years ago at least okay So once again, I once you start putting systems in place on how you Tell parents about your training business how you tell them How much your training is okay? Are you doing in DM or are you saying we have to get on a phone call? Okay, we have to meet in person Then the line of questions that you have how you take payments You are gonna take pay as like we are gonna take payments every month month to month You want the three month to six month or the 12 month? Okay, well, I also offered an 18% discount for this many months up front and that can auto renew I don't care if I raise my prices in the year. You can be under this price. Okay How we carry ourselves as business professionals and the systems Will bring on a whole bunch more committed clients, okay? You will go into the summer like I do with 25 30 committed athletes already and You will say I only need 10 more Maybe I'll take on more if I feel like I had the time the energy in the room But I only need that much more going to summer twin all to where all you have to do when you're not worried about Always constantly getting more clients because you don't have any committed ongoing clients now You can worry about getting to know your athletes better You can get to know their nutrition better their strength and speed performs better at their summer camps their clubs With you you get to know them as the athlete you get to work How you want to work a lot better and deliver better results Because you have better commitment due to a better committed process You have to be committed to training You have to be committed to every principle of business if you want the committed clients to you Okay for years at a time not just months years Once again, this is my eighth year independent and I have clients for two to six years at a time Okay, two to six years. I don't have to worry about that training spot for six to twelve months out of the year Okay, so let's take that to heart be more committed on your business process How you structure everything and who's in command and you will get more committed clients Okay, I promise you this if you ever need to reach me and give me a text to one zero four one four three zero seven seven or Give me an email at make money coaching athletes at gmail.com. We'll see you on the next episode You