Your business isn’t for everyone. Or at least it shouldn’t be if you’ve developed a unique selling proposition.
So, mathematically speaking, how possible is it to build a business that is successful for the long run if you have a narrow niche?
It’s a numbers game.
Let’s say you’re a Personal Trainer whose USP is that you take a very slow, gradual, long term approach to exercise.
And you have ten clients.
Regardless of how targeted your marketing was, it’s unlikely that all ten of these people will be lifelong raving fans. Not because there’s anything wrong with your business, and not because anything is wrong with them, but because the relationship just doesn’t work.
Some people just don’t want the experience you’re selling – and (of course) that’s completely fine. Maybe of these ten people, only two are the sort of people who want that slow, long term approach. The remaining eight are looking for fast results and quick fixes (and again, that’s fine – who are we to tell people what they want?).
So over time, those eight people (20% of your total clientele), leave. It wasn’t a good fit.
But you still have two ‘life-timers’.
Those who gradually leave are replaced by a different eight people. Of these, maybe six aren’t a good fit, but two are.
Now you have four ‘perfect fit’ long-term clients.
And the pattern continues. People start, some leave, some stay. Some fit, some don’t.
And at face value, this can seem exhausting. But it’s not the revolving door it looks like.
Because although your total number of clients stays the same, the percentage of those who are lifelong advocates for you and your business, increases.
And those clients who are your ideal avatar bring with them a lot of perks. They’re more fun to work with, they refer their friends, they promote your business.
The problem a lot of Fitness Professionals face, is that they get disenchanted early in their career, when they have high turn over. They don’t realise that the high turnover is actually required to find those perfect clients that they can build their business around.
And they do one of two things, they either throw in the towel and quit, or they try to be everything to everyone – losing sight of their unique selling proposition. And as soon as you try to do everything, you end up never increasing the percentage of your total clients who are that perfect fit.
So, identify your niche and USP, then do the hard work to get enough clients exposed to your business that you’ll eventually find the ones who will help you build the business of your dreams.
