Optimal Aging

5 Lessons from Launching Selling Longevity

• Jay Croft

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In this solo episode of The Optimal Aging Podcast, host Jay Croft shares five key lessons he’s learned from promoting his new book, Selling Longevity, and appearing on multiple podcasts. These takeaways will help fitness, health, and wellbeing professionals better connect with the over-50 market — a powerful audience with time, resources, and motivation to invest in their health.

You’ll hear why telling stories beats quoting statistics, how to build trust with quick wins, and why aligning every aspect of your business matters. Jay also offers actionable steps you can start implementing today to refine your marketing and improve client engagement.

Whether you’re a gym owner, trainer, or wellness coach, these insights will help you present your business more effectively, sell more persuasively, and serve your clients better.

Timestamps

00:00 – Why small changes can make a big impact
 01:30 – Welcome and book launch update
 03:00 – Lesson 1: Understand the over-50 market
 05:00 – Lesson 2: Lead with stories, not statistics
 07:00 – Lesson 3: Build trust with quick wins
 10:00 – Lesson 4: Master your message so you can improvise
 13:00 – Lesson 5: Align every part of your business
 15:00 – Recap of the 5 takeaways
 15:30 – Where to get Selling Longevity and connect with Jay

Episode Outline

1. Understand the over-50 market

  • Replace outdated stereotypes with inspiring, capable, and adventurous portrayals.

2. Lead with stories, not statistics

  • Emotional, relatable client success stories create lasting connections.

3. Build trust with quick wins

  • Small, visible changes can signal expertise and commitment.

4. Master your message so you can improvise

  • Know your material so well you can adapt it to any audience.

5. Align every part of your business

  • Ensure your marketing matches the actual client experience.

Resources Mentioned:

🎤 Host: Jay Croft
Jay Croft is the founder of Prime Fit Content and author of Selling Longevity, helping fitness and wellness professionals grow their businesses with more people over 50.

🌐 Podcast Website: primefitcontent.com
📱 Instagram: @primefitcontent
💼 LinkedIn: Jay Croft

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Speaker 1:

It's not one big thing that will change everything. Rather, it's starting to do a series of small things or meaningful little wins that add up. For instance, you can change the lead image on your website to show a vibrant, active client in, say, their 60s or 70s. You can update your intake form so that you're asking about life goals and even fears, inhibitions, not just about weight or strength targets, how much you want your weight to be or how much weight you want to be able to lift Um. You can also add a short client success story to all of your email blasts, because these things are really easy to do. They're low hanging fruit. If you're doing your job, you've got these stories to share, so you need to be doing that, and none of these are magic bullets. It's not going to change anything for you overnight, but they are simple and they are honest improvements that signal this place is for you to the over 50 fitness consumer out there. Well, hi everybody. Jay Croft here. Welcome to Optimal Aging, the show for fitness, health and well-being professionals who are trying to grow their businesses with more people over 50.

Speaker 1:

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind for me in a great way. It's been very exciting. Since the publication of my first book, selling Longevity, I've been going on a bunch of podcasts talking about the book and about the issues behind it and the ideas behind it, and how fitness professionals and others in health and well-being can communicate better to reach more people over 50. And communicate better to reach more people over 50. And this week, in fact, you can hear me on Rick Mayo's Alloy podcast, which I know you'll enjoy, because Rick and I always have a good time talking about these things running smart fitness businesses that are doing well by tilting toward people who are just a little bit older 40, 50 and above. Now, don't worry, I promise this podcast episode is not going to be just me talking about my book and rattling off all the recent podcast appearances I've made, because that wouldn't be fun for you, wouldn't be much use to you. So instead, though, I want to share just a few lessons that I've picked up from these conversations that I'm having with different people, who are all coming at this from a different angle. Some are gym owners themselves, some have, like Rick have, the heads of large enterprises, so it can be a different nuance depending on who I'm talking to, and so they all have different points of view and it's been a real learning experience different nuance depending on who I'm talking to, and so they all have different points of view and it's been a real learning experience. So I want to share these five simple things with you that I think will help you present your business better as well and help you sell better and ultimately serve your clients better. So there are just five of them.

Speaker 1:

Here's number one this market, people over 50, I say 50, some people say 40, some people say 55, whatever. So from here on out, we're just going to say the over 50 market. It's still misunderstood by so many people in fitness. Here's something that kept popping up in these interviews. People kept putting forth this mental picture either that they have, or that they're aware that their prospects and clients have that once you're in your 50s, let alone 60s or 70s or later, you want to slow down and you don't really want to do much. And if you do anything, it's got to be gentle because you really don't want to get hurt anything. It's got to be gentle because you really don't want to get hurt, and that's just not what the facts bear out. It's not what my reporting shows. I've actually heard about so many clients that these folks have.

Speaker 1:

I've met many people shared their stories in the book and in my work at Prime Fit Content about people going out on these multi-day hikes and about grandmothers who start deadlifting, about retirees who find a whole new social circle through small group training, on and on. So the opportunity here well showed them as strong and capable and excited about life. Instead of dialing things back automatically, position your programs as tools for building strength, independence and, yes, even a sense of adventure. So here's my action step for you. On lesson one, take a look at your marketing materials. Do people in their 50s, 60s, 70s, etc. Can they see themselves as the hero of the story that you're telling, or are they missing entirely from the story that you're telling? If it's the latter, that's a problem you can fix, starting right away.

Speaker 1:

Lesson number two stories tell better than statistics. Now, I love a good statistic, trust me. I've shared plenty about spending power and participation rates, changing demographics, you name it. But here's the truth. I could feel it when a story I told was landing with a podcast host better than any data point that I was presenting. One of my favorites is a story about a woman here in Atlanta, who told me that she was heartbroken when she was trying to play with her two-year-old granddaughter and she couldn't do it because she got winded almost immediately and she then joined a gym, started working out, taking better care of herself and six months later she was with the same little girl at the playground, running up the slide, climbing up the slide, going down it together, running around, just laughing their heads off, having so much fun. And she said she almost cried, telling me the story of the little girl running up to her with her arms open and saying do it again, nana, do it again. Now, that's the kind of moment that people remember and it's the kind of moment that makes a lifelong customer out of that particular grandma. But it also really spreads to all the other grandmas and grandpas out there who can relate to her, grandmas and grandpas out there who can relate to her. So here's my action step for you.

Speaker 1:

On lesson number two, make stories a regular part of your content. Put them in your newsletters, in your social media, even in your sales conversations that you're having with prospects, because people will forget statistics and people already know that they're supposed to be exercising, but they will remember a story that makes them have an emotional reaction. They'll remember the way you made them feel about someone just like them. Lesson number three everybody wants quick wins. That's not the same as looking for a shortcut. Everybody wants quick wins. That's not the same as looking for a shortcut.

Speaker 1:

Now, I've had a number of these podcast hosts ask me if I'm a gym owner and I want to reach out to more older clients, what's one thing I should do right away, and it's not one big thing that will change everything. Rather, it's starting to do a series of small things or meaningful little wins that add up. For instance, you can change the lead image on your website to show a vibrant, active client in, say, their 60s or 70s. You can update your intake form so that you're asking about life goals and even fears, inhibitions, not just about weight or strength targets, how much you want your weight to be or how much weight you want to be able to lift. You can also add a short client success story to all of your email blasts, because these things are really easy to do. They're low-hanging fruit. If you're doing your job, you've got these stories to share, so you need to be doing that, and none of these are magic bullets. It's not going to change anything for you overnight, but they are simple and they are honest improvements that signal this place is for you to the over 50 fitness consumer out there.

Speaker 1:

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. Back to the show.

Speaker 1:

So here's your action step for lesson number three Pick one change you can make this week and do it, and then pick another next week and do it. Keep stacking those wins. They'll add up faster than you think and if you have trouble thinking of what they might be, ask your staff. Right, you can even ask your members whose opinions you trust. What could you do? One little thing that would open the world up for some people. Lesson number four you need to know your stuff so well that you can improvise.

Speaker 1:

When you've been talking about one thing nonstop, like I've been doing for the last couple of weeks in promoting selling longevity, you start to notice how you adapt your message to different audiences. Some of the podcast shows were more about business, the dollars and cents. Some were more about the emotional stories, and I could pivot my examples without losing the thread of the conversation or distorting the integrity of the message. And that's the benefit of being off book, which is what actors call it when they're far enough along in the rehearsal process that they can drop the script and just really be in the moment. That's where they get the good stuff of discovering their characters and that's where you're going to get the good stuff of connecting with people.

Speaker 1:

Here's a little trick that I've used for years. You know, when something gets too complicated, I say explain it to me like I'm your neighbor. I'm smart, but I'm not an expert and I'm interested enough to be listening to you, but not interested enough to waste a lot of time while you prattle on right. So try that it forces clarity. Here's my action step for lesson number four I want you to work on your one sentence pitch, write it out, edit it, write it again and then try it out on somebody who's not in the fitness industry and see if they get it immediately. If they don't, you need to keep refining it until they do. You know that expression, your elevator pitch. That comes from the scenario of being stuck in an elevator with someone and they say, oh, what do you do? Well, that's an opportunity. Every conversation you have is an opportunity to deliver that elevator pitch in a way that has some impact and is going to resonate with the person who's hearing. So it needs to be tight and relevant. Lesson number five everything about your business must align.

Speaker 1:

Someone asked me, I think, just yesterday one of the podcast hosts asked me what was the most surprising lesson that I learned, or the biggest surprise that I learned in writing the book, and I had to say that it was from putting everything together for the first time in order one, two, three, four, five, all the way down the line and advising gyms on how to choose the perfect customer, how to come up with their key messages, how to do their marketing, how to ensure that their client experience delivers. On all of that so that they're putting raving fans back into the community, who bring in their own friends with referrals right. I'd written about all of these things many times, but it was the first time. Putting together the book that it was, uh. I put them all together, laid them out in a line, and I saw all the pieces click together like Lego pieces and I thought, oh, this is right, this is good. I'm not forcing anything. I'm not um, I'm not trying to make a piece fit that doesn't fit. This is all very organic and it all goes together. And that made me feel really good about the stories that I'm telling and the book that I just wrote and the business that I have that I'm trying to get more people involved in, because when everything fits together, that means you've got something good going on.

Speaker 1:

It's when you find yourself jamming to make something fit that you need to rethink it. So here's my action, step for lesson number five when you step back from your day-to-day grind and audit your business and your business communications. I want you to see where your marketing matches what actually happens when someone walks in the door. Does your client experience reflect the promises that you're making? These kinds of things all the way through, from soup to nuts, as they say and if not, then you'll see, perhaps, what you need to work on next, the thing that stands out. So, to wrap up, the five big takeaways address the aspirations, fears and active lifestyle of the over 50 market. Number two lead with stories about real people, not about you or your staff, but about the people you help. Number three build trust with quick, honest wins that show your expertise and commitment. Number four master your messages so that you can adapt them. Number five make sure every part of your business fits together.

Speaker 1:

If you want to take a deeper dive into all of this, I've written a book Selling Longevity. You can get it on Amazon in print and on Kindle. You can also find it on my website, which is primefitcontentcom. That's where I market my own material that I sell to gyms like yours to help you attract more clients over 50. And we do this with my premium marketing materials used in your email newsletters, your social media, your blog, things like that it's a way to distinguish yourself and your community and stake a claim that this is who you are and what you're all about, and the right people will then find you. So I hope you'll follow me on LinkedIn, on Instagram, facebook, all the places, and I want to thank you for listening to Optimal Aging today. I'll be back next week. See you then.

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Jay Croft

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