Relationship Marketing FTW

“You don’t ask a date to marry you on the first date” - this was a great quote from one of my newly onboarded mentorship clients as we discussed some hiccups in his marketing strategy.

Burnt out from running workshop after workshop in a never-ending attempt to acquire clients, we reverted back to the old-fashioned strategy of simply building relationships. I’m going to share with you the lessons from that coaching session and what I have learned over my career.

Relationships are truly everything. Think of the referrals you personally hand out; they are probably for people you have a genuine connection with (at some professional level). So how do you extrapolate that into your business network? 

Let’s use a simple example that applies to many of those who read this: Performance Based Physical Therapist who is niched into working with fitness and recreational athletes. 

The first thing that is important to point out in this example is that we have a specific avatar we are looking to acquire, which helps us narrow down where that client is. 

If you are searching for fitness and recreational athletes, where would you find them? Likely in gyms that match the qualities of training and the importance of health to this consumer. Some examples would be CrossFit gyms, Orange Theory Fitness, F45 facilities, powerlifting or weightlifting facilities, and recreational sports leagues…. You get the point. Notice I didn’t really point out globo style gyms here, mainly because I don’t know that simply belonging to a gym is a prerequisite for the avatar described. There’s a big financial discrepancy between a globo style gym and a more boutique or micro gym facility, so we use that aspect as a pre-qualifier for our higher priced, higher value services. 

Now that you’ve identified both the avatar and where they are training, it’s time for the long game to engage. This process requires becoming a staple in the community until you turn into the rehab authority. You may want to go into the facility guns blazing and start talking about how you can help the gym in “xyz” way, but in reality, all they are hearing is “you want us to send you clients”. Instead, I want you to integrate yourself into their community, genuinely care about their business, and their members, and begin to create your ecosystem. The best way to do this: truly become a member (maybe for the gym you click with the most) or drop in (and pay for it… buy apparel, buy recovery drinks… support their biz!). 

Once you’ve “dated,” aka frequented the facility enough, the resistance to working together will be much lower. They know who you are, what you stand for, and how you can help. 

Next, create awareness with the staff of each facility. Once the relationship is solidified, offer each of the trainers/coaches a complimentary evaluation with you. This will give you the opportunity to highlight how your process is different from traditional models.

Now it’s all about maintaining a true genuine connection. Go to lunch, get coffee, continue to drop in, and refer YOUR friends to their facilities. This is how symbiotic relationships are built!

The moral of the story, invest your energy and resources into people and their businesses before you expect them to do the same to yours. If you do this, you’re going to crush it.