Here is the second part of the interview about Boot Camp Marketing with owner Shawna Kaminski from Fit Body Boot Camp Calgary.

You can check the 1st part of the interview here.

Fernando:
And you've been a trainer and a fitness expert all your life pretty much? Is that all you've done?

Shawna:
Well, I was actually a school teacher for 20 years and during that time... like I was always athletic and into competitive sports. And because of that, I naturally was always in the gym and kind of went into training. Even when I was teaching school I was always doing some sort of training one-on-one and that sort of thing. And then in 2004 I started a small studio, and a fitness business in 2007, and a month after that I opened a boot camp, so I've been running boot camp since 2007. So I've been a trainer for a very long time.

Fernando:
And you can see the evolution of the boot camp business model throughout those years, right?

Shawna:
Oh my goodness, yes I've really streamlined. My workouts have become more effective... I'm getting better results for clients... all research-based workouts that really can get clients the most benefit... the most bang for their buck in the shortest amount of time. It's pretty exciting that my one-on-one training... initially... has evolved into this boot camp which I feel is much more effective than one-on-one training, and I enjoy the group training so much more anyway. So yes, there’s been a huge evolution. Our strategies for Boot Camp Marketing also evolved tremendously.

Fernando:
So let's go back to a little bit more into details about how you run your business. What would you say are the areas that you excel at the most? That you'd say that you are better at ...in let's say boot camp marketing, lead generation, closing clients, I mean transforming them into your regular paying clients. Because I see that you have very few... I mean you have 1 out of 100... so you have only 1% of your clients that are on a month-to-month... and about 10 that need to convert... so you have about 90 clients on some sort of a contract. So what do you think is your best area of expertise?

Shawna:
Well I think the first thing is giving results-driven workouts so that my clients, once they get into the program, whether they're coming in on a 14-day Fat Furnace or 3 weeks. I'll always kind of have a low-barrier of entry to get clients in the door. Once they're in the door they're basically sold because first of all they love the workout so they can see the potential of results in the workout which is super important for a successful business... successful boot camp. And then secondly it's just we give them an offer that they can't refuse. So we turn over that money, say from the 14-day Fat Furnace, put it back in their pocket when we convert them into a long term membership. First of all they see the value of a membership and then we make it too good to be true by just converting them into a membership. I like to treat my clients the way I would like to be treated. So customer service and over delivery is super important. Knowing their names, knowing every ache and pain so they don't feel like a number. They’re missed when they’re not coming… just making everybody feel super special, giving them that sitcom "Cheers" where everybody knows your name… kind of giving them that sort of experience. It's like a community that we've created for them and I have... we just kind of create a community so that people feel welcomed... so they're getting results, they're getting called and "texted" when they're not there by me, or a trainer, or by their friends that they meet in the community within the boot camp community. I guess I don't know if I've answered your question, but really creating a community atmosphere so people want to be there. It's just a place people want to be.

Fernando:
Perfect. A little bit more into detail… How did you decide on your boot camp session times? Is it something that evolved... did you start from the get-go at a certain point... how did you do it?

Shawna:
Well what's super important is knowing when clients are available. It depends on what part of the city you live in. My Northwest location times are a little bit different than the North location in that 5:30 is a great time. I think that that's a no-brainer for everyone. They should always be starting at 5:30 unless they're super far away from that core of the city where most people work. 5:30 seems to give everybody enough time to get home, to get showered and get on to work. Or quite often for wives to get home so that husbands can get off to work... so that the moms can get home for child care. So the 5:30... easy enough. Then I did 6:30 because I started off with 55 minute sessions. I'm backing it down in the summer to 40-minute sessions. It's going to go 5:30 and then 6:15, and I think that will be very successful because 6:30 is a little bit less in attendance because it's kind of right in the middle. If husbands have to go to work then wives aren't home in time or it's not enough time to get to work. I think if we back it up to 6:15 and then everybody is home by like 7:10 it gives everybody a little more time and that's what's really worked at Calgary North. And the 9:30 time is just based on the start of school. So I want to give enough time for parents to drop their kids off at school, at playschool, wherever they are, get down to work out, and then have enough time to maybe buy groceries before they pick up their kindergarten kids or that sort of thing. So the 9, or 9:15, 9:30 start is just basically based on when schools in the area are starting.

Stay tuned for part 3 in a couple of days!

Learn more about Fit Body Boot Camp and see if a franchise opportunity is right for you.

This entry was posted on May 11, 2012 at 10:49 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Boot Camp Marketing by Steve Hochman | No Comments Yet