The Optimal Aging Podcast
Millions of people over age 50 represent the biggest consumer market in history for fitness, nutrition, travel, recreation and more. But most businesses don't know how to market to them. We'll interview entrepreneurs, business leaders and innovators to discuss this exciting opportunity.
The Optimal Aging Podcast
What Gyms Get Wrong about Fitness over 50 | The Optimal Aging Podcast
How do you market your gym and services to a specific audience? How do you get prospects into the gym for a sales talks – and then how do you turn them into members?
Well, Sherman Merricks and I get into it on this episode – who do you want, how do you talk to them, and why you need to sometimes stop talking and get comfortable with pauses in a conversation!
Sherman’s the co-founder of Lasso Framework, a marketing and consulting firm for gyms that he started after running his own gym for 13 years in Florida. With the over-50 market in particular, longevity is a keyword, and the marketing copy and images need to reflect who you want.
Anticipate the questions that can derail a sale, and don’t be afraid to lead the prospect to where he or she needs to be.
I enjoyed this conversation with Sherman, and I know you will, too.
Topics Covered:
✅ Importance of Targeted Messaging and Imagery
✅ Sales Strategies for Gym Owners
✅ The Power of the Pause in Sales
✅ Retention vs. Acquisition in Gym Memberships
Connect with Sherman Merricks here:
• Website: https://www.lassoframework.com/
• Email: sherman@lassoframework.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sherman.merricks/photos
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shermanmerricks5/
Connect with Jay Croft here:
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primefitcontent
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/croftjay/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaycroft
For more tips reaching the over-50 fitness market, subscribe to The Optimal Aging Podcast or visit www.primefitcontent.com.
Email: jay@primefitcontent.com
Thanks for listening!
So we're going to talk about longevity and the stuff like that, like what they're looking for. Also, the images are important as well. Right, at times I'll see gyms, they'll be running their own ads and they'll have all again 22-year-old young men and women with their shirts off, but the copy will be talking to 65-year-old, 60-year-olds. That really doesn't speak to that population, right? They're going to scroll right past that image. So I think the images and the wording people really miss out on because they just assume that they could just say a canned response and the people that are quote unquote serious will respond to it.
Speaker 2:I don't agree with that at all, hi everybody, I'm Jay Croft, and welcome to the Optimal Aging Podcast, where we discuss the business of exercise, healthy living and well-being for people 50 and over. Each week, we explore what healthy living means for millions of people over age 50, and what's coming next, with a focus on communications, content and making powerful connections. Hey, you know I love talking about marketing your gym to people over 50. It's the purpose of this podcast not just gyms, but everybody in health and fitness and well-being. I want to help you grow your business by reaching more people over 50. They're underserved. They have time, they have money, they're great customers. I want you to learn how to relate to them and get them to come into your business and stay for a long time. Right, I love talking about it, and so that's why I'm so excited about today's episode of the podcast, because my guest today is an expert on all of this, as enthusiastic about it as I am, and can talk about it all day like I can. Plus, he's just great company. I really enjoyed talking to him.
Speaker 2:His name is Sherman Merricks, he's a former gym owner in Florida and he is a co-founder of a company called Lasso, which is a gym marketing and consulting firm that helps gyms all over the country and we really get into it. We lay down a lot of really good action items for you to take in shaping your communications and your content to be most effective with whoever it is you're trying to reach and your content to be most effective with whoever it is you're trying to reach. We're talking about people over 50, but a lot of these lessons apply to any avatar or niche or group that you're trying to reach. Things like make sure your copy and your images reflect who you're trying to gain as customers. And one of my favorites, the power of the pause.
Speaker 2:You know we all get so caught up in conversations, including sales conversations, that we often step on the other person when it might be to our benefit to rest. So we're going to get into all of that. I know you're going to enjoy the conversation I had with Sherman. I sure did Enjoy. Sherman, hi, nice to see you today. Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely I'm excited to be here and thanks for having me on the Hangout Zone. Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, I'm excited to be here and thanks for having me on the Hangout Zone. Ah, you bet it's good to meet you, another Floridian. I lived in Palm Beach County for a number of years before I moved here to Atlanta. You're in Gainesville, the land of the Gators.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, land of the Gators, you have to be a Gator to get out alive.
Speaker 2:so I know that's for real. Where I went to college, the football team was not a huge deal. And then I moved to Florida and now I live in Georgia where college football is blood, it's life, it's everything. And I get it now, but I didn't at first.
Speaker 1:Yeah, college football. You know, I was born and raised in Florida, so college football, sec football is a big, big thing, especially here in Gainesville, especially here in Gainesville.
Speaker 2:I know it. I went to Colorado State University and we had a football team and it wasn't, like you know, a main part of the culture in school. So, anyway, enough about all of that. We are going to talk about your lasso program to help fitness professionals. We're going to talk about fitness over 50 and how to market it to this lucrative and large and underserved population. But before we get up to all of that, tell us a little bit about how you got to be where you are. You've been in fitness for a while, you've had lasso for a while, so give us the sermon story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, like I said, I was born and raised in Florida. I was raised by a single mom, so coming up it was always sort of hey, I have to figure this thing out for me to you know, so I can ensure I can take care of myself and came up, went to college First one in my family to go to college. I played college basketball as well. Once I graduated college, you know, I was already into fitness. Obviously I had played basketball my entire life. So I was already into fitness. Obviously I had played basketball my entire life. So I was already into fitness. And in college I actually got into training a little bit. I trained a few people because they just assumed that I could help them because I was in shape, they were paying, so I was like, yeah, I'll help you. So didn't know much. Once I graduated from college, I basically got out and I got into the regular workforce, right, and I realized very quickly this isn't going to work for me long term. So one of my buddies happened to invite me over to his garage and he was doing this crazy workout. I'm just like what is this Little did. I know it was CrossFit, right, so I got involved in that and through. I would say probably a year and a half. Two years after I started working out with him, I opened up a gym. I opened up my first gym here in Gainesville, florida out of my garage. Opened up the gym out of my garage. We had some success. We got kicked out by the neighbors because I had too many people there. So we moved to our first little small location, about a thousand square feet. We were there for about another year and we grew a little too much again so we had to move to a larger space. And then we moved to our larger space and that's basically where we stayed for the remainder of my gym ownership career. So I had a gym here in Gainesville, florida for 13 years. I closed down my gym a couple of years ago Now. I'll have to dive into that in a bit. I could have sold it but I decided not to and I'll tell you why in a second. But yeah, I had the gym for 13 years. We changed hundreds of lives.
Speaker 1:I was always big into helping whoever right. Like, my gym wasn't known as a competitive gym. I was sort of known as hey, you can help anyone, right, I can help anyone. So we did that. We actually had a fairly large, what we call a master's program at my gym Just for people 50 and older, and it was funny because some people 50 and older, that's the only thing they wanted to do when they came to my gym. Some people 50 and older they didn't want to touch that class because they didn't want to be seen as the old folks, but nevertheless, we had a great program. And that's when my eyes first opened to hey, there's a population of folks that I could really help and they're not going to be. If I'm being honest, they're not going to be super needy, right? They're not going to want to be at the gym for eight hours a day because they have a life. They just want to lift weights, they want to get stronger, they're doing this for longevity. So we started this master's program. That was right around the time we started dealing with Facebook ads and Instagram ads, and I remember one of the first times I put an ad out there for our legends program. It had a huge response and I was like, oh, this is a thing.
Speaker 1:So throughout my 13 year career, I've had the honor of working with athletes as young as 10, but our oldest member. She's an old lady. I haven't seen her in years. At the time, back then, she was about 92. And listen to this she used to drive to the gym. The reason she stopped coming to the gym is because she had to stop driving and she was just like I don't feel safe because my legend class was at about 536. So that's right. When the sun was going down. So she was like I just don't feel safe. I was just like, hey, I get it right. Like you've been here for a few years, you've done great, I understand. Unfortunately, she lived probably 45 minutes from the gym so, like everything gave me wanted to say, hey, I'll come get you and drive you and drive you back, but I just couldn't. But yeah, so that's a little bit of the gym story. 13-year affiliate owner. Have tons of experience working with what I like to call legends.
Speaker 1:And that's a little bit about me, okay, and then how did that segue into Lasso and tell us what Lasso is? Yep, so now, throughout my gym career I would say probably, like I said, I owned it for 13 years. So at about the year five or six I got into mentoring, right. So I was mentoring for a bigger company and got into the mentoring and realized that I had a special skill set to help gym owners with their sales right, with their sales, with their injection handling, stuff like that. So a buddy and I we talked about hey, what if we help people with their sales and their marketing? So I had my buddy it was my partner, blake. He started running my paid marketing for me. So I was totally hands off. Right, I was totally hands off. Only thing I had to do was close people when they showed up. He ran the ads on Meta. It was a match made in heaven. One, he didn't charge me anything. Two, I didn't have to deal with the Facebook, the Meta. I just closed people when they showed up. I'm like this is the best thing since sliced bread. So fast forward a couple of years. I said, hey, man, how about we make this into a real business? And he was like, yeah, now here's the thing.
Speaker 1:Neither one of us thought that it would grow to what it is today. Right, it was sort of like let's do this on the side, we can help, you know, if we can help five to 10 gym owners it Today. Right now we're up with about 100 gyms or so. So it definitely grew to something that we didn't think would happen.
Speaker 1:But throughout that early process it just started trickling. Our clients would have success, so then they would tell someone else. Someone else would have success, they would tell someone else. So all of our growth in the first we're going into year six and we've just started. It's funny, we started joking about it We've just started doing paid marketing as a paid marketing company, like this. Last year, the first five years it was all organic, just because our clients would have success, so they would tell someone else, and that's the way that we grew this to what it is today. So, yeah, lasso started off just with me in my gym helping folks, and then my partner and I we said let's make this into a real thing. And that's what we did, and you're in a hundred gyms now.
Speaker 2:Yes, helping them grow Like. Specifically, how are we talking about how to set leads, how to close, how to do a sales file? What's the car?
Speaker 1:Correct. So now for us, I'm going to explain it. We are a what we like to say, a white glove service, right? So we don't teach you how to run ads. We do all of that stuff for you. We create the copy, we curate the photos. We have photos that we know work very well.
Speaker 1:You know, we always tell people one of the benefits of working with us is that we spend about 90 grand a month on Facebook ads, so we get to test on such a large scale that we know it works quickly. On the other hand, we know it doesn't work very quickly, so we don't have to waste time and resources on like, for instance, a lot of gyms are people when they're running Facebook ads, you know they come in, they test about $1,000 per month and that's sort of towards the high end for them. About a thousand dollars per month, and that's sort of towards the high end for them. So if they test a thousand dollars per month and we're spending $90,000 per month, well, we get results 90 times faster, right, like we know it even quicker. So when they work with us, we curate the photos, we create the copy, we help them with sales training as well, objection handling. We help them with the funnel.
Speaker 1:They have to have a CRM to work with us because to deal with the number of leads that you'll have, it's impossible to do it on a Google sheet, right Like it's just impossible. Because you work with us for six months and let's just say I'm just making numbers up we get you 50 leads per month. Well, that's 300 leads, but those leads need to be contacted at different points. They all need to be contacted at least 10 times over the first couple of weeks and that's just impossible to keep up with long-term. So that's the reason we require clients to have a CRM to work with us, because a lot of these leads when you're running paid marketing, it's totally different than organic Jay. With the organic thing it's like okay, someone came into my gym because one of my members told them they had to come into my gym to talk to Jay. So now they're sort of just following protocol.
Speaker 1:But when we're out running paid marketing, these people may be at work. They don't know, like or trust us necessarily. So now we have to be able to take them from seeing a Facebook ad to two days later they're sitting in front of us and now we're telling them hey, I know you just heard about my business two days ago. This is why you should pay me hundreds of dollars per month. Most people aren't prepared to do that when they first get into the paid marketing. So we help with the sales training as well. That's a big piece of what we do outside of the marketing, because we know that the marketing and the sales is what takes people to the next level.
Speaker 1:Jay, and for us, we're not the flash in the pan sort of marketing company where we don't say, hey, work with us and we're going to get you 28 clients in one month. That's not our thing, our thing is more. So hey, you work with us 18, 24 months. We're going to help you double your revenue and we've done that plenty of times. So we'll have Jim start with us. They're doing 18 grand. They worked with us for 18 months. Now they're doing 36, 40 grand, 18, 24 months later. So we're more of the consistent growth month over month. So it's not going to be a huge thing, but it's going to just continue to grow a little bit over time.
Speaker 2:We have some intersections here with what I do as well, and I want to. We'll talk about that. But what you just made me think of was so many gym owners I talk to are a lot like fitness customer prospects. They want a quick fix, they want a magic bullet. Give me one thing that will fix everything right now and give me a thousand leads, or give me a thousand new clients, or whatever it is they want. And you tell them well, it's really about being consistent in your messaging and your marketing and just doing the same thing over and over and over again. And they don't want to do it and they don't want to pay you to do it.
Speaker 2:I hear that a lot now. Of course many do, and that's why I guess you and I are in businesses, because enough of them do. But what do you say to that? I mean, I want to get to the customer's objections, because that's always fascinating to me is how a smart gym owner can close. But what do you say to the gym owners who just say, no, man, I can do it, I can handle it, or I don't need you, or it'll be fine, or I don't want to pay for it, or isn't there something faster?
Speaker 1:Right, what do you say to that? Yeah, so we like to say everything sort of comes with trade-off, right? So, for instance, I'll put it in terms like this Could I go out and probably build me a car? Probably right, like I probably could. But the time and resources I would waste on that when I could be running my company just doesn't make sense. That's the same thing we tell people when they sort of come in with these Facebook ads. We're like listen, you could definitely learn this Now it's going to take you years, like it's taken us. Then, even once you get it, you can't test on a large enough scale like us to really get the results we get. But yes, you can absolutely do it.
Speaker 1:One of the things that we don't do at Lasso is we're not the hard closers. So if someone comes to me very apprehensive, for whatever reasons, I'm going to talk about what we do, how we think we can help them, if we really think we can and we let them decide. It's not going to be like well, like, why do I need you? If you feel that way, you probably don't need me. We probably won't be a great fit, because you know as well as I know, if someone really is apprehensive, then I do the hard sell and I close them.
Speaker 1:The first sign of distress they're going to be upset at me. Well, you told me that it's just not a battle. We go down. So, yeah, like to the gym owner that just says, why do I need you? I'll say well, we've been doing this for much longer, but we test on a Florida scale. We have hundreds of testimonials that we can show you. So you don't necessarily need me. Your business isn't going to close down if you don't need me, if you don't use me. But we can help you get to where you want to get to faster. That's why you need us that's a lot.
Speaker 2:It's a lot of what I tell my prospects as well and I sell to gym owners who want to reach people over 50, and they all talk about how they want to get leads, get leads, get leads and the the gap that I try to help them with the most. It's a lot. It's more than this, but this is the main thing is, once you've got the lead, what are you doing to convert them? And then, once you've got the lead converted into a member or what are you doing to convert them? And then, once you've got the lead converted into a member or client, what are you doing to keep them? And I find that a lot of them are so focused on leads that they don't really have a process to let the leads get to know you, like you, and trust you, like you were just saying and that once they become a member, they stop talking to them, right.
Speaker 1:That's funny. You say that. I believe that's one of the things that we have to talk about more specifically when we talk to gym owners is there's nothing wrong with client acquisition? There's like that Sure, without client acquisition problems, I wouldn't have a business right now. I'm not saying that, but what I'm saying is you have to serve the people that you get, because it is easier to keep a member than it is to get a new one. So once you acquire this member, this client, now you need to really focus on making sure they stick around, not just, like you're saying, there are some people that are so just stuck in the client acquisition phase. We have some that work with us. They'll get 15 new clients per month, but they'll lose 16. And it's this hamster wheel that gets exhausting after a while.
Speaker 2:It really does. My main focus is on Facebook, not ads. I don't do ads for people. I do give them content to share in their organic Facebook and Instagram posts and on their blogs and in their email newsletters. So the idea is you get a lead. Your lead is now engaged with you on social media, has seen your website and is on your email newsletter list, and so if you give them enough compelling, premium content that's not salesy, but that is just about lifestyle benefits of being in better condition or what have you then that's a positive way to build that relationship right.
Speaker 1:Yes, I think that one of the largest things that we talk about is you have to give a lot of value and then you ask for a sale. Started from the old Gary G book, it's like jab, jab, hook, right. So you want to give value, give value, give value. And then you ask for a sale. Give value, give value, give value. So then you export a sale. Give value, give value, give value. So often I know gym owners are guilty of this. I used to be guilty of it early in my career. Every time they heard from me it was me begging for a sale, right Every single time. Join this program, come here, join my nutrition program, do this. What value are you giving folks outside of? Join your gym? Because everyone gets it right Like everyone gets it. You need people to join your gym. You know, I sort of equate it to if that's the only time that you talk to someone is when you want something from them, it's not going to be a very great relationship.
Speaker 2:No, it's not, and I think, especially with the over 50 market. At least, my research indicates this and also my interactions with a lot of people in the demographic and fitness professionals, working with them and, frankly, being one of them. I'm 61 years old, so this is my stage in life and people who are a little older, a little bit younger, right, and we don't want just a quick transaction. And working out at this stage in life for a lot of people is a very vulnerable proposition in a way that it's not when you're 25. You know, if you're older and deconditioned and you're retiring and you want to get in shape so you can enjoy the rest of your life, you might be intimidated, you might be uncomfortable, you might have a lot of insecurities about your body and going into a gym full of young people, right. So it's a different equation, I think.
Speaker 1:So one of the things that we noticed because I would say with a decent amount of our gyms if not I don't like to say all, but a lot of our gyms we run specifically as that are for the 40, 40 year old, 50 year old 60 year old population and one of the things that we figured out that we try to tell gyms 40 year olds like I'm 41. So like you can still get away with like texting, right, you can get away with texting, yeah, but 50 and 60 year olds, like you, you probably send them one text but you gotta have to pick up that phone and call them because they want to hear your voice, they want to know that you're a real person and they want to talk a little bit. From what we've seen, so many gym owners they're just like well, I don't you know, like they're uncomfortable on the phone. So they try to force this thing for these populations that I believe so many people are missing out on opportunity to have amazing 50, 60, 70 year olds in their gym that have so little income. That would be great members to the community. But they just deal with the whole phone call thing, like I've had like I remember it was funny with my gym, you know, like I had an intake form and I had their age on there.
Speaker 1:And once I had someone you know, sort of 55 plus. You know I'm just reaching out. My text was hey, do you have time for us to jump on a quick phone call? Eight times out of 10, they're like yes, I have tomorrow at 3 PM open. Perfect, I'm calling them tomorrow at 3 PM. It just can't be text text, text text. There's 55, you know, but think, oh, this is spam, this is some dude in India, get my credit. So I think knowing how to talk to your populations is very important, whatever your population is.
Speaker 2:Hey, are you a fitness professional trying to grow your business with people over 50? If you are, then you need to know how to communicate with them, how to market to them and how to get them to trust you with their fitness, well-being and money. We're talking about millions of people who are a little older than the typical market that the fitness industry usually pursues. They have more money, more time and better motivation to make the best long-term fitness consumers you'll find anywhere. If you're not focusing on them, you should be. Prime Fit Content is the only content marketing company designed specifically to help you engage people in this group and to help you distinguish yourself from competitors in your community. It's effective, affordable and super easy to use. Check it out at primefitcontentcom. That's prime like prime of your life. Fitcontentcom that's prime like prime of your life. Fitcontentcom. Back to the show. Yeah, absolutely, whatever the population is.
Speaker 2:The one I've chosen to focus on is people who are 50 and over, but it could be any, and I often tell my gym owners imagine if your focus was, let's say, really gifted teenage athletes who want to see if they can get college scholarships right. So focus on them. Focus on their parents right, because every parent thinks that their kid is going to grow up and be a major leaguer or in the NFL or what have you. But that's a legitimate concern. Is my kid good enough to get in a college scholarship? And if he is, can you help him?
Speaker 2:Or maybe your focus group is young mothers who want to, you know, who are having babies and want to stay fit, in good shape throughout all of those changes in their bodies. Doesn't really matter what it is, you just got to know how to talk to them. And you're right, people in this demographic don't want to text all the time. Call me on the phone, let's make it happen. Enough with all this texting. Man doesn't anybody call anymore. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that. Tell me what are some of these other challenges that you see that gyms are having in reaching the over 50 market and engaging them with the right messaging? What else do you see?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I believe one of the common ones is strictly by the copy that they're putting out, like we're StoryBrand certified guys at Lasso. So if you don't know StoryBrand certified guys, I was down on Miller. Basically. We spent a lot of money to become very good with words, very good with words.
Speaker 1:So if your copy doesn't speak to the population, you're going to miss out. Because here's the thing I'm only 41 and my goals at 25 are totally different than they are at 41, and I can only imagine my goals at 41 are going to be totally different when I'm 61. If you're not speaking the correct language to the various populations, it just doesn't make sense. Like, most 40 year olds are not willing to put in two or three hours per day to work out anymore. Those days are long gone, right? So we're going to talk about longevity and the stuff like that, like what they're looking for.
Speaker 1:Also, the images are important as well. Right, at times I'll see gyms, they'll be running their own ads and they'll have all again 22-year-old young men and women with their shirts off, but the copy will be talking to 65 year old, 60 year olds. I'm like that really doesn't speak to that population, right? They're going to scroll right past that image. So I think the images and the wording people really miss out on because they just assume that they could just say a canned response and the people that are quote unquote serious will respond to it. I don't agree with that at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't either. And you know, the thing is like I said, I'm 61 and I don't mind aging, and most of my peers, I think, don't. I mean you might joke about gray hairs or wrinkles or something, but really, you know, happy to be here, I'm in good health, I'm a good fitness consumer, I'm in good shape, all that stuff, right. And the thing about getting older is you don't? I see myself? I'm looking at myself on this Zoom call right now and I see a 61-year-old man, but in my head I'm like 45. Nobody thinks that they're the age that they are, and it's not because they don't want to get old, it's just because I think it's a natural thing. We all think we're a little bit younger than we actually are, but you got to speak to people where they are and what's important to them.
Speaker 2:When I was young, I wanted to look hot in a tight t-shirt, right. And now I don't mind, I want to look better, but I'm never going to be hot in a tight t-shirt again. That ship has sailed right. So I just want to stay as fit and strong and healthy as I can, and if I look better in clothes, then that's a bonus. Do you find that most gyms are curious about this market and the opportunity it represents, or most of them still like oh, I don't want to deal with old people, they're boring, they don't have any money, but what's the feeling out there?
Speaker 1:No, so honestly, there's a huge piece of our gyms. They really want to target the 50 plus population because, one, they know that there's a huge missing link there and two, you know, like, they have disposable income right. Like when we talk about, like, if you're really trying to help people, you don't care their age, you know their sex. Do you want to be helped? Okay, I can help you. This is what it'll cost, you know, because at times now there still are gyms out there that only want to focus on 20 year olds. But from what I've seen, our best gyms I'll put it like this our best gyms they have a space, which is why it made us create specific marketing for people that were 40, 50, 60 years old, because our best gyms were looking to fill that void in that client demographic. So, our best gyms they're definitely coming after you guys, jay, for lack of a better term, they definitely are.
Speaker 2:Well good, because that's why I'm in business is to help them do it, so I'm I'm happy to know it. What do you do after you help them get the, the leads, you help the, you do this Facebook marketing and the ads on Facebook, and then what else is Lasso all about?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so once we help them get the leads, and then we help them with the with, with the followup process. Right, like gyms, to work with us, they must have a CRM, and if they don't have a CRM, we have a CRM that they get for free just for working with us. Because we figured out over the years Guys, it's 2025. If you're listening to this, your gym owner, it's 2025. You have to have a CRM to deal with leads. Right, you just have to, because you can't possibly keep up with the correct number of touch points and all of that automation and stuff on a Google spreadsheet. So we help them with their CRM, the automations. We also help them with objection handling and the sales training for them and or their staff as well, because we can get you quote, unquote the best leads in the world, which we can't guarantee. Every lead that we get you is going to be a rock star. As a matter of fact, they're not Right. But the people that are serious, that end up sitting in front of you for your intro Now, you need to be able to talk to them. You need to be able to handle some objections. Jay, here's one of the biggest things that I find sort of concerning for the gym industry is that there's still so many young and when I say young I don't mean necessarily age, I mean sort of in their mindset. There's so many young gym owners out there that they believe if someone gives them one objection, simple objection, whatever it is, you can price time, locate whatever they just feel like. Oh, that person isn't. Oh, no, they're not interested. They said they need to and if you really think about it, many people when they end up in front of you in your gym, well now we know they have a problem because they've driven across town, they're talking to a relative stranger talking about things they probably don't talk to many people about. So they're interested. But of course they have objections because they just don't know if this is right for them. Objections because they just don't know if this is right for them. And if you can't explain how your service solves their problem, you're actually doing them a disservice. Because I tell people all the time if you're not great at sales especially if you lived in Gainesville with me when I had my gyms it's okay if you're not great at sales, if you let that person leave and come to my gym because they want to check out multiple gyms in town. You will never see them again because I'm not letting them leave. Once they come in and talk to me for 30 minutes, they're not leaving. They are going to join. So I think that's one of the cool things that I've seen.
Speaker 1:Some people really want to level up in their salesmanship. Again, no one wants to be the used car salesman, but at the end of the day, we know that if most clients join our gyms and take our advice for 12 months, we're going to radically change their lives. And that's what I tell people. You're not a used car salesman. You know everyone's thinking about the guy with the plaid jacket on. He's trying to rip you off. You're going to drive down the road. It's going to be a lemon Like. If you are really serious about helping these folks and they join your gym and take your advice, you know that it's going to be life-changing for them. It's going to add years to their life. So why wouldn't you really focus on becoming the best salesman or saleswoman that you can? Because that's how you're going to have an opportunity to change more lives.
Speaker 2:Right, and a big part of that is anticipating those objections or even questions that are not deal breakers. There's a step in the conversation, you know, and I think that's perfectly reasonable. For instance, I'll talk to sometimes to a gym owner and they'll say, yeah, I want your content to use, but I don't have time to do anything with it, so I guess I'm not a customer for you. And I say, no, I'll do it for you. You know that's an upsell. I charge extra to do that. Like, I can just send you my copy and you can copy and paste it into your material and make the most of it for a lower price. But if you don't have time, I'll do it for you at an upsell. And nine times out of 10, when I bring that up, they say, oh, I didn't know that Sold. When I bring that up, they say, oh, I didn't know that Sold, I'm in, let's do it Right. So they're not had. I just said oh, yeah, sorry to bother you, I guess you're not interested. I wouldn't have made the sale. But instead I not only made the sale, I made an upsell Right, and that's because I know that that's going to happen.
Speaker 2:About one out of seven times someone says that and another common response is I don't want to send emails, I'm not going to buy your content because I don't want to send emails and be a spammer. And the common response to that is then don't be a spammer, don't send spam. Send good material that they're happy to have. If you send them crap, then you're a spammer. If you send them crap, then you're a spammer. If you send them good material, then they're getting to know you and like you and trust you and realizing that you're sincere and that you're qualified and that you can help them. So it's like that for the gym owners too. They just need to know what those objections are going to be and have their answers prepared.
Speaker 1:I really like that. You say that that's something that we do at Lasso. We give them some, some resources, and one of the resources that I love is common objections that we hear right, yeah, so we sort of give them that, especially for new sales folks. New sales folks, it just sort of it's okay for you to not have all the answers yet you're new, but having knowing that six, seven common objection, you're gonna hear okay, when they say that this is what I say it's okay to get to, of have that it's better to have it than just freeze up and not know what to say. Right, and they say, well, let me like, let me go home and talk to my spouse. No, like, no, no, no, no, like, no, no, no, because I know when you leave here, the odds of you coming back is slim to none. We're going to deal with this now.
Speaker 1:But I believe that one of the you know this is a little secret for the listeners. I believe that when you ask for the sale right, so we've gone through a rejection and you ask for the sale, there's a like. For instance, if I was talking to you and I say, jay, I think I know the perfect program for you, jay. It's this $795 per month program, jay, let's get you started with that and I just wait for you to respond. Regardless of how long you take to respond, people will have many more sales. But what happens is the salesman, saleswoman they're uncomfortable, so they say a price. They're already sweating, hands are sweating, heart is beating fast. So when they say the price and that person doesn't respond immediately, they jump up and say well, I have something cheaper for you. And they say oh well, I like the $7.95, but if you have something cheaper, let me hear about that first as well.
Speaker 1:So you guys that are listening, once you ask for the sale, sit in the awkward silence. I know two seconds feels like two minutes and I know 30 seconds feels like Jay. One time I had like it was just sort of who I am. I was like, once I offer them the sale, I am not going to talk, man, I'm not exaggerating. One time, a few times, I would sit down, ask for the sale. These people would sit there. It felt like an attorney, but it was probably 30 seconds. But 30 seconds in silence, 30 seconds in silence, is super awkward and is wrong. However, these people are genuinely thinking and I would say that 75% of the time, when I let them really think about it, they come back and say oh, you know, yes, a little expensive, but let's do it Like it happens.
Speaker 2:That you just gave one of such a great tip. I hope everybody picked up on that. Really, whatever business you're in I think most of our listeners are in the fitness business but whatever you're in, it's called the power of the pause and it's one of the greatest tools in any communications. I was a newspaper reporter for many years before I got into this and I learned very early on in my career that if you ask someone a difficult question, be quiet. And if they look at you with this look in their eyes like you, son of a bitch, I don't want to talk about that. Why are you asking me about that? Then just sit there because they will be awkward, they will break and they will tell you what you want to hear and you will have what you need to do your job. And it's the same in you know, from your point of view. It's the same in sales, but we're not comfortable letting a silence just sit there.
Speaker 1:it's very effective okay, yeah, no, I'm glad that we're talking about this because, uh, that's a good one. The power of the pause.
Speaker 2:I've never heard it like that, but I love that oh yeah, it's where you get all the good stuff, because people get nervous and they think they're supposed to sell you something Sure, whatever, correct. Tell me all your secrets, man, let's get down to it. Got any other secrets? I can't help you with your wife. No, no, no, you're not getting involved in that. Give the listeners another tip on how to close the deal. Man, you're the master closer, and so tell me this. Okay, I'm going to go home and talk to my spouse about this, because it's a lot of money and I don't want to get in trouble. So, no, I'm not going to sign today. I'll see you later.
Speaker 1:Okay. So like we're going to backtrack a little bit, yes, but I try to handle the objections before they become real objections. And now what I mean by that? So let's say, jay, you and I are talking. I'm going to say, jay, I think I know the correct program for you, but, jay, tell me this Is there anything that can stop you from signing up today, jay? Because, listen, jay, my goal is to get you started with us later this evening, tomorrow at the latest. So I want you to leave here and say you need to think about it. So, jay, is there anything that can stop you from signing up today?
Speaker 1:Now, what I've done? I've sort of handled their objections before really I've gotten to the price, because the price is the big objection, that's the one I'm really. So when I ask you is there anything that can stop you signing up today, you're going to give me one or two answers. Jay, you're either going to say no, I'm ready to get going, and if you say that, I'm going to say, all right, jay, you tell me you're ready to get going, I don't want to show you these prices, and you tell me that it's too expensive, or you need to go home and talk to your wife? Or are you going to say, well, it definitely depends on me, well, I'm definitely going to have to talk to my wife once we get through this? I'm going to say, jay, no problem. So, jay, what we're going to do, we're going to find the right program for you and then, once we figure it out, I'm going to step outside of the room, I'm going to let you call your wife and if your wife says, honey, I don't want you to be extremely good looking, I don't want you to, and we'll leave it at that.
Speaker 1:Now, here's the thing. Sort of like you did, you sort of smile and laugh. It works every time. Because now they sort of see what you're doing and they're like, ah right, because here's the thing, after you've been in the gym industry long enough, done enough, gym sales and consoles, you know, if you let this person walk with the idea of their coming back, the odds of them coming back is it just plummets. So for me, at this point, I have nothing to lose. So I am going to sort of pull out all the stops to get them to sign that day. You know, for me, jay, I used to even say okay. You know, if it was a woman, I would say okay. Now, like if you go home and your husband says honey, I don't want you to be in great shape, I don't want you to look amazing, you call me back tonight and I'll cancel out this invoice that's going to hit tomorrow. Okay, but I doubt your husband's going to say that. So I try to deal with that stuff before it becomes like the main thing.
Speaker 2:Okay, very good. You have given the listener a lot of great actionable tips here today and I really appreciate it, and I know that the listeners do too, so I want to have you tell the folks where they can go to learn more about Lasso and you and whatever they need to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely guys. So if you want to get in contact with me specifically, you can reach out at sherman, at lassoframeworkcom, or you can find us on Instagram at Lasso Framework, facebook at Lasso Lead and Sales System Optimization. But just put in Lasso, we're not hard to find. We have a podcast on Apple and all of that stuff. I just really know about Apple. You can find us on there, but we're not hard to find. And here's the thing, guys. If you reach out, I want to be clear. We're in the space of helping gym owners. So if you even have questions, reach out. We'd love to help. You Doesn't mean you have to work with us. We want to help you because we strongly believe a rising tide lifts all boats, so we want to see everyone crushing it. There's enough success. There's enough unhealthy people out there in the world that need help. So if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.
Speaker 2:Excellent, and same goes for me too. I'm happy to talk about this stuff all day, and I know you are too, and so I'll put all your contact information in the show notes. And not hard to find you, sherman, at lasso L-A-S-S-O. So we'll get that out there, and I want to thank you for joining me today, man. It's been a pleasure to get to know you and I love what you're doing. Let's keep talking. Yeah, definitely, thanks for having me. It was great. All right, talk to you later. Bye, thank you for listening to the optimal aging podcast. I'm your host, jay Croft of Prime Fit Content. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll subscribe, review and tell a friend. All of that helps me grow my audience. I hope you'll share any comments you have with me, including suggestions about people I should interview and topics I should cover. You can learn more about my newsletter and content business at primefitcontentcom and write me at jay at primefitcontentcom. Again, thanks for listening. Join me next time.
