As an e-commerce fitness company, Bells of Steel finds itself at an interesting crossroad. We are a tech company and an old-school physical goods business. Since I spend 90% of my working day online, I learn a lot from tech companies and implement their practices into my own.
There’s nothing more frustrating for a new client than to have to send ten emails to try and set up a time to meet or get on a call. Calendly is a free tool (with a paid upgrade) where you can set your availability. It then syncs with your calendar to provide a timetable for clients to book a meeting. The free version allows one meeting type which is more than enough to cover most people's needs.
With Calendly, you can embed a calendar on your website allowing instant booking and eliminating the need for an email exchange.How are you and your coaches/team communicating?
WhatsApp groups, SMS, and Facebook pages are cumbersome. These were never intended for work. Remember MSN messenger? Slack is like that for business. It's simple to use with the ability to add channels to keep discussions organized and a search function that is one of the best available. The best part is, it’s free for life. There is a paid version but it doesn't offer much for smaller teams outside of the tech industry.
Persistence pays off. Studies show that 44% of salespeople give up after one "no". A follow-up plan is one of the easiest ways to convert more visitors into paying customers. FollowUp.cc is a free service that allows you to bcc a customer's email, which will then automatically send you follow-up days, weeks or months later reminding you to re-engage the contact.
Billionaire mogul Warren Buffet has stated on numerous occasions, that he reads 500 pages each day. He claims this is how he keeps getting richer and richer. Running a gym can feel like there are not enough hours in the day to even go pee let alone read a book. That’s where the power of audiobooks comes in. Overdrive is a free app that in conjunction with your library card, allows you to borrow audiobooks for up to 21 days for free. The books available rival those of paid sites like audible. Bonus: Check out Stitcher for an easy-to-use podcast player with offline functionality.
Some of our favourite business podcasts include Barbell Business, Noah Kagan Presents, and Under the Influence. Alright, this one’s not free (though you do get a 30-day free trial) but I couldn’t resist. This is an exciting startup out of Colorado and is paving the way for an online coaching interface. If you are doing any online coaching, or even in person, TrueCoach centralizes all your programming into one interface, eliminating the need for cumbersome, messy spreadsheets and emails.
You’re even able to save templates that you can generate and modify for new clients, use their messaging service for videos and chat and track progress. With gyms like OPEX using TrueCoach and an enormous database of exercises performed by world-class coaches, it is the perfect programming tool for gym owners and coaches. Bells of Steel is America's leading fitness equipment supplier. We also provide high-quality weightlifting and cross-training products to thousands of Canadians.
We offer wholesale pricing to gym owners/operators.
