It’s 2019 and health and fitness professionals are on the rise because of the increased demand in the marketplace.
The competition for new clients is growing as time goes on, so as a health and fitness professional, you need to make sure you are finding the exact places where your prospective clients hang out online.
The typical spots are getting crowded. Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and so on. But there’s just one place that is shockingly not being infiltrated as much as it should be…
LinkedIn.
If you aren’t on LinkedIn (just signing up doesn’t count), then you’re missing out on a huge slice of the client pie.
It’s the hottest social media network to tap into in 2019 if you’re wanting to let the floodgates open to new clients. 84% of LinkedIn users say they’ve received several business opportunities through the platform (as studied in the Sales and LinkedIn Study).
LinkedIn has been around for a number of years but everyone crowded to Facebook. Then Youtube. Then Instagram. These typical channels have become so saturated that it’s become so difficult to stand out. But don’t worry… there’s one platform that has made it very clear that…
You can kill plan B and stick with your guns.
LinkedIn has become the hotspot for eager, paying clients who are seeking training and consulting. You have a chance to get in quickly now before it fills up like the other networks.
The difference with LinkedIn in comparison to the other major social networks is that the other platforms have “friends” or “followers” whereas LinkedIn has connections.
There are different levels of connection; and depending on how close of a connection you have with someone, it will allow you to interact with them in different ways. For instance, you can only send private messages to someone who is connected to you at the 1st-degree. This ensures that the closer a connection, the more likely you are to build a professional relationship.
So the more people you are able to “meet” through LinkedIn and build that first connection, the higher your odds of landing another client are.
Here are the top 3 ways you can dive into LinkedIn to fish out new clients:
Research other businesses.
There are a huge number of businesses and business owners on LinkedIn. As a trainer or consultant in the health and fitness industry, there is a high barrier to entry. Competition is all around you and in order to stand out above the rest, you need to niche down. Most people when they first thought of getting into consulting or training imagined themselves serving the consumer market. Unfortunately, most people are missing out on an untapped marketplace in the business-to-business sphere.
A ton of businesses these days are offering specialized perks and programs beyond the standard medical and dental benefits to their employees to keep them healthy and happy. One way that business owners are doing this is by offering group packages for fitness trainers, nutrition consultants, health coaches, and more within the health and fitness industries. The employees have access to these services so they can improve their overall health beyond standard medical and dental benefits. These service providers are able to offer a discount to employers as well because of the specialized group rates they offer.
So, if you have been training or consulting within the business to consumer medium, but can see that competition is fierce, it’s because it is. Try taking a shot in the business to business field. LinkedIn has a huge variety of tools you can use to connect with other businesses and business owners. Researching businesses and those who are a part of them is easier than any other social network. You can read people’s business profiles through LinkedIn, connect with people who work for those companies, and beyond. By reaching out to a business owner and making a connection with them, you may be opening up a relationship with 10+ employees under their wings. LinkedIn offers incredible networking abilities to connect with business owners so you can get potentially ten times the client reach through a single connection.
Stand out as an expert using the LinkedIn content platform.
One of the quickest ways to establish yourself as an expert in your field in order to gain new clients is to give your prospects free information on your niche. Blogs, articles, videos, e-books, courses, and beyond. The old rules of marketing yourself to a client through knocking on doors and cold-calling have changed. Yes, there is still a huge need for connecting face-to-face. But we are living in a different era now. The shift from the industrialized revolution to the information age means people want to know you are legitimate, and they want you to prove your credibility through what you know.
LinkedIn encourages its users to create all forms of content. One of the easiest ways is simply by posting articles. If you had a choice between two people with the same profile, except the one difference is that one profile had 10 articles all speaking on their niche and you learned something valuable, who would you prefer?
You can establish yourself as credible and trustworthy on LinkedIn by posting informative, relevant content.
You don’t need to write a massive 10-page report on your field. That may actually be daunting to some people. Save that one for the big fish that you’re reaching out to. All you need to do is think of the most common mistakes people make in your field based off of your experience in working with clients in the past and write them down. Chances are, prospective clients, will relate to your article, and by keeping it short and sweet, it will likely attract them to read it. If you’re a terrible writer and even a small article sounds daunting, you can simply use LinkedIn to hire a freelance writer to do it for you.
And don’t worry, if you’re thinking to post an article to reveal your “secrets” means they don’t need to come to you for consultation now that you’ve given them part of your program, you have nothing to worry about. In fact, by giving this free information up front through LinkedIn, they will trust you more and see you as more of an expert in their eyes, and ultimately become more willing to hand over cash for your services.
LinkedIn has an incredible feature that is borderline cheating compared to Facebook.
Want to know the secret little hack you can use to snipe out your next client? Here it is:
LinkedIn tells you exactly who has viewed your profile.
Think about it.
You can see the history of every single person who has checked out your profile. No longer do you need to worry about who is interested in you. LinkedIn tells you exactly who is interested. This is a feature people paid for on the pre-Facebook social network, Nexopia around the 2005-2006 era. You could buy a “premium” membership to see who’s checked out your profile. Now, this was more about seeing who was interested in you in a different way, but the concept is the same. LinkedIn is giving this away for free.
This is something you can’t do on Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube. LinkedIn has an incredible advantage here. The way you can use this to market yourself to clients is by directly messaging those who view your profile. Ideally, have a short script ready and say something like, “Hi there, I noticed you viewed my profile. I’d love to chat about helping you with [your niche].” One way to get bonus points on this one is, go to their profile before you message them, read it, find something you like about them or their work history, and compliment them on it.
This will not only prove to them that you aren’t just firing off generic scripts to everyone, but you actually noticed something special about them, making you appear as more of a professional. The compliment will also make them feel pretty good, thus making them more likely to want to work with you.
LinkedIn is the best choice for any freelancer or health and fitness professional looking to take off with a collection of paying clients in 2019. Whether you’re just starting out, or have been mastering your craft for years, LinkedIn is the best path for a business owner to build a real connection with a prospect and ultimately, gain a paying client through their simple connection-building platform.
Here are three more easy bonus tips on making your personal brand stand above the rest through LinkedIn:
- Fill out your entire profile. Empty space or lack of information will leave money on the table. The more information your prospect has available to them, the more they can see if you are the right fit. It also builds trust and credibility when you have a complete profile, as they will take you seriously as a professional.
- Join LinkedIn groups. You can join niche groups with people in the same field as you where you can learn even more specific insider’s tips on how to better market yourself to your prospects. This is a huge way to avoid niche-specific pitfalls and get a step ahead of your competition.
- Get 3-4 people to write up a recommendation for you as soon as possible. People are social creatures, even on more “business” platforms like LinkedIn. They want to know that other people like you and have worked with you. So when people see that a few people had a great experience, it further builds that trust they have in working with you and makes it that much easier to say yes to your offer.
If you are not yet a coach or want to learn additional coaching methods, review the entire list of certification training programs.
It’s that simple!
The NESTA/Spencer Institute Team
http://nestacertified.com
http://spencerinstitute.com