Boot camps are opening up on every street corner every week now. Now more than ever you need to set yourself apart from the competition. After running boot camps for years, we have put together a few tips to help you separate your boot camp from the rest.
Here are some tips to help you build value in your boot camp, and keep your campers coming back for more:
1. Specialize. Pick a specific niche market of training such as kettlebell training or TRX. Consider a niche market based on target market: pre-pregnancy/post pregnancy, sports specific, young athletes, women’s weight loss, or child obesity. Be sure to choose something you have a passion for or have experience with.
2. Develop Clubs within your Boot Camp. We have a 5K Club in our Boot Camp and we train two Sundays a month as a club. We also attend different races and events together! Build other mini clubs of interest within your camp…people love to feel like they belong to something.
3. Add Nutritional Guidance. If you don’t have the expertise in nutrition, it’s critical that you team up with someone that does. A good nutrition program is an integral part of your campers achieving the results they want. Offer nutrition workshops, grocery tours, challenges, and nutritional tips at the end of boot camp classes. Be their go-to person for ALL their fitness and nutrition needs. They will get faster and better results if they eat better and exercise.
4. Create a Monthly or Bi-Monthly Newsletter. Build your list. A newsletter is a great way to keep in touch with your current and past clients. You can include a helpful article, recipe(s), upcoming events, a workout, birthday list, and Q & A section. Another way to be their go-to person for your fitness and nutrition needs! Our boot camp clients look forward to our newsletters every couple of weeks!
5. Send Out Cards. Technology has changed the way we communicate with each other. People have gotten into the habit of text messaging and email. Very few people send cards anymore. Try sending your clients cards- it will make your campers feel like a million dollars and will set you apart from 99% of other boot camps. Send a nice birthday card (include a little gift if you want), send a thank you card for their referral, send an accomplishment card for personal or camp achievements, or send them a “we miss you” card. Don’t you like to get cards!?
6. Develop a Referral Rewards Program. People love to get things for free. If people like your boot camp they will share it with their family and friends. Having a referral rewards program in place is an incentive for them to make even more of an effort to spread the word. Word of mouth is your BEST advertising. Offer them something for free such as two weeks free of boot camp for every referral they sign up.
7. Be Prepared. Your clients pay you for results. How do you get results? With a plan. Don’t show up for boot camp picking your workout exercises out of a hat. When you do they can tell! Class will not run as smoothly and you’ll tend to repeat the same old exercises over and over again. You must change it up. If you don’t they will plateau and they will blame YOU! Plan your workouts and be prepared.
8. Run Contests/Challenges. Once a month we run a challenge, which includes a fitness, nutrition, and drinking water component. We have people participate for the whole month. We create a calendar and record sheet to make it extremely easy for them. We invite them to share with their family and friends, and campers love it! When it gets closer to the end of the month they start asking what the next month’s challenge is.
When you build value into your business and services, you build lifetime clients! Focus on using the suggestions above and your campers will feel appreciated and it will take a herd of elephants to get them to leave your camp!
Good Luck!
Alicia Streger, RKC, CSCS
Carrie Kukuda, RKC, NC-CPT
For a FREE BOOT CAMP WORKOUT, visit: [http://www.FreeBootCampWorkout.com]
[http://UltimateBootCampWorkouts.com]
