Have you spent any time learning to write your best bio? Who has right? Who learned copywriting in college? Who got real life marketing support from their certification? Answer? No one.

Now is the time. Everyone is online and everyone is reading your bio... if it's good. Otherwise they're gone in 3 seconds. 

Best Bio Reasons

A boring bio will not help you get noticed, get hired, or get profitable. You can stand out better on social and your website with something unusual. You also want to be doing interviews. Get booked in the media, and on podcasts and summits right now. [Need help? Comment and watch for a future training.]

You’re going to want to download the cheat sheet I created for this episode. If you’re creating a niche- serving women in midlife or some other niche – you want to be nailing that everywhere you are introducing yourself (website, social media, webinars) or you’re introduced (media appearances, podcasts, summits). You want to be the funny, credible, relatable trainer that stands out. So, go download that worksheet so you can do a few of these tricks for yourself.

Avoid a boring bio and start standing out as the unique fitness professional you are.

1) Read your current bio.

That includes anything you’d share with a podcast host, media producer, or in your “about” section of website or social media If anyone else could insert their name and it would work, you’re making people yawn. Are the people you really want to work with going to be impressed?

Are you remarkable? Is anyone talking about you? Do they remember you out of all the other trainer bios they read?

Be yourself, everyone else is taken.

2) Say a lot in fewer words. Pack adjectives in before your name.

Bestselling author, 8-time Ironman, golf mom, and Old English Sheepdog owner Debra Atkinson….

So, what do they know about me? I’ve got a little credibility, and I don’t have to lead with degrees and certification alphabet soup so actually I become more credible than someone who has education but hasn’t really been all that successful. Makes them wonder at least right?

I may gain a little respect among athletes, win moms over who’ve spent time dealing with bleacher butt, and pet owners think we’ve got something in common.

Keep it fun, too. I’ve done that here by not following the stuffy boring intro everyone is expecting.

3) Add an element of humor that makes them smile. Try the rule of threes.

She’s currently swimming in paperwork, riding the desk, and running Flipping 50 more often than training for triathlons and she’s here to share her new book… TEDx talk… program…

Keep it fun. (unless you're not: but usually people want to have fun)

You can do that all the way through. I share my book titles with my audience because they tell a lot about my attitude about aging, and fitness for midlife women and make women smile.

She’s the author of six books including You Still Got It, Girl: The After 50 Fitness Formula for Women and; Hot, Not Bothered.

You don’t have to have books or funny titles though. Tell something funny about yourself. Again the goal is unexpected.

She’s a TEDx speaker, a blender chef, and an average golfer.

Then you’d add for your host, Here’s Debra Atkinson.

Or… Please welcome TEDx speaker and hormone balancing fitness expert whose son still asks when she goes to the kitchen, “what’s better than burnt?” And the answer is not burnt… Debra Atkinson ….  

The point is to relay your credibility but yet let them know you’re far from perfect and poke fun at yourself. They want to know you’re just like them. If they can't relate, not only are you on stage, but you're on a pedestal and they think what you're teaching won't work for them. 

4) Write 2 or 3 questions that an interviewer can read before he/she reads your bio.

They should be relevant to the topic you’re going to talk about.

I frequently speak about exercise interventions for menopause. So a few questions relevant to the topic and audience of women in midlife might be:

What if I told you everything you learned about exercise was a lie?

What if you could reduce hot flashes, night sweats, as well as belly fat and get rid of low libido by changing your exercise?

Then host’s next line is… ”Well, stay tuned because my guest is …”

The last thing most media and podcast hosts want is a long bio. “Send me your long bio” said no one ever. So, make it short and so fun they feel brilliant, witty, and can take the credit for it by reading it. When you make them look good you’ve set yourself up for success even before your interview starts.

That’s it. Take the pieces and put them all together.

I created a download!

Want help? Download the worksheet for this episode and start having more fun.

Here’s the added secret about making your best bio by making it more fun. You start to think about yourself differently. You’re suddenly more unique, the only you there is, and that can change everything.

Go to the show notes at fitnessmarketingmastery/boring-bio

"Conversational is the new professional."

Other episodes you might like: 

When You Feel Like Quitting

Best Fitness Marketing Tools Right Now (free to fee)

Leave a rating in iTunes if this was helpful! Thank you! 

Whether it's a Yelp review or it's your own observation, every business can experience that moment when customer support sucks. Here's 3 reasons it does and what to do about it. 

#1 Cause of Customer Support Sucks

There’s no “delight” factor.

• Do you ever surprise them? In fact, do you surprise them as soon as they buy?
• Do you surprise them for no special reason?

Sending little gifts – even as small as a pdf, or a video – that is unexpected can change the relationship you have with your customers.

Is there something fun that happens on the phone, when they log in, when they get an email, or stop in your front door?

If you’ve got a receptionist or a front desk staffer who seems to suck the life out of you, it’s probably happening for members too. Often someone who needs attention themselves may want to have a front desk position. Be sure you recognize someone who wants to be the center of attention from someone who wants to make a customer feel like the center of attention.

Authentically Own Your Mistakes

Every business has technical issues or a customer who isn’t as comfortable navigating online whether it’s Facebook groups and pages or a webinar or your member’s area. So do I. When I have someone who is upset, whether they want to cancel or whatever, and I can I personally either

• Call them
• Send a video text

And they’re so surprised. No one does that anymore. If they see you on social media or YouTube videos, you are a sort of celebrity to them. Just taking the time to let them know you’re sorry they had a poor experience, admitting it was a problem you too were frustrated with if that’s appropriate, and letting them know what you can do, is often enough to turn someone who wanted to cancel into someone who is grateful for your support.

It’s not easy. You and I can take it so very personally. But if your customer support sucks, even for a minute and it wasn’t your fault, own it.

#2 Cause of Customer Support Sucks

My Pleasure vs No Worries

Did you know when you say “no problem” or “no worries” you actually tell a customer they were a pain in the ass? The brain doesn’t process “no” or “don’t” – those negatives.

Instead, relay that:

• It was an absolute pleasure to serve you.
• Of course, I am here to serve you.
• I was happy to do that.
• I am glad to make it easy and smooth for you!
• Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.

It matters! To the customer and to your customer service staff. If they can’t say it, or feel uncomfortable saying it, they likely aren’t your source of customer delight.

I’ve said it and you’ve said it, though, right? No worries! Hanging out with your friends and family maybe it’s okay. But this small thing is a big think in terms of the psychological impact of words on your customers. Remember your role. You are only there to serve them. Let that shine through that this is what brings you joy… making their day.

You can go from customer service sucks reviews to raving fans. 

#3 Cause of Customer Support Sucks

Instead of Over and Over, Fix It Once

They’re fixing things with a one-off that should be fixed at the root of the problem

I had a customer support staff member quit abruptly. After an f-bomb and then followed by a “have fun in the support box” wish. During the middle of COVID19.

Best thing that has happened to my business for 14 months (since he started). Only, I didn’t know it at the time. I thought he was doing okay. Customers did like his ability to help quickly. However, unbeknownst to me – and that is 110% my fault – he was creating more problems than he was solving.

What Problem Solving Ability Does Your Support Have?

Because he was just fixing same problems over and over and assuming that was his job, he never pointed out that he was repeatedly having to do the same – literally – task for specific programs.

Like training clients, you don’t want to give them a stretch to relieve low back pain. You want to find out why they’re experiencing low back pain. I needed to know this kept coming up over and over so we could have identified months ago that more people than were every asking customer support for help were coming to the site and going away unhappy. 

Keep Training Even After You Hire

He could only do what he was capable of doing. He could follow instructions, but he couldn’t see the bigger picture. The system of having him track frequently asked questions wasn’t detailed enough to give me insight on the isolated problems we could easily have fixed.

Then I, in effort to pick up the slack was in my own support box for about 2 weeks. It was eye-opening and again, worst and best thing that could have happened. We’ve fixed and automated so much in the last two months we’re increasing traffic, increasing leads, and increasing revenue at a dramatically greater pace.

How do you set this up?

First in hiring staff members you’ve got to take them through some problem-solving questions. Literally, give them some scenarios that happen in your business. How would they proceed to solve those, what would they look for, how would they document, and how would they language the customer?

If your customer support sucks, whether you ARE your customer support or there’s someone else handling it, like me, you’re responsible.

• Test it. Optin to your own funnels.
• Send secret spies into your business and have them call your business during regular and off hours.
• Get reports about the experience.
• Take a look at the consistency of different staff members and different time of day.

Imagine how inconvenient it is for someone to stop in during evening or weekend hours when they want to use your services and find no one can help them with gaining access. Does that happen in your business on or offline?

How can you prevent it from happening?

Always Open

There’s a rock and hard place with online business. You promise 24/7 solutions and access. But if your customer is in her tights and wants to workout and can’t access her account at 7am Saturday morning you better have some automation or someone to help. Customer support sucks if a customer can’t get help to use your product or service when they want to.

Going from “customer support sucks” to raving fans isn’t easy. Best and worst thing about our jobs is working with people – and technology – and people who are very opinionated about technology.

You can do this if you remember why they’re upset and take control of the things you can.

The future of the fitness industry is changed, that’s no secret. In this episode I take a look at the past, present, and make a few predictions and express our wishes about the future with someone who has plenty of experience.

My guest

Rico Caveglia Chronological Age 78 Fitness Age 35 is America’s Healthy Aging Trainer and creator of The Ageless Living Lifestyle, The Vitality For Life Training System the Be Bold Never Be Old Wellness Club and the Fearless Aging Podcast.  

He is a speaker, author of 29 books/DVD programs and a personal trainer and health coach, for 38 years. He is a multi- Gold and Silver Medalist in the California State Senior Olympics.

His mind/body/spiritual interactive training programs educate, inspire and empower participants to enjoy a high level of total wellness for life.

Debra Atkinson, your host

My own background with one foot in academics teaching at a university for 15 years, supervising our interns from the advisor side of the table, while also running a personal training department during half of that and training interns who worked for us. I’ve spent time working on private and public sector of fitness, working with agencies and associations, and for small privately owned businesses.

This episode

We thought it would be fun and worthwhile to look back at the start of our experiences in the fitness industry, Rico’s 38 years and my 36 and take a decade by decade look at then, now, and the future if we could predict it and at the very least our hopes. By looking back we look at the future of the fitness industry too.

How did you start… so let’s be honest, health coaching wasn’t even a thing. Personal training was just – where you were – rooting at that point.

Share a bit about your start and where that was.

From the perspective of getting clients, hourly wages, revenue. What was that like for you?

So move forward into the 90s. We’ve had the good sense to have a little smaller hair, stop wearing our underwear on the outside of our tights, and slide, and step were in full swing about then.

Questions in this episode:

• What changed for you in the 90’s?
• Late 90s, early 2000, do you recall that?
• Where were you when 911 was happening?
• Then after 911, the recession, how did that effect your business or what you were doing at the time?
• From 2010 to 2020 it was a pretty optimistic, lazy environment would you agree if I said that?
• What scares you most about right now?
• What is the silver lining right now?
• What do you see for the future? Who will survive?
• The take-aways from this episode are most important to me. If you were advising a trainer whether early into their career or middle of their career, what three things would you suggest they do right now to be one of those who thrive in the future of the fitness industry?

Connect with Rico:

ricoc@AgelessLivingLifestyle.com    

www.AgelessLivingLifestyle.com     

www.BeBoldNeverBeOld.com 

www.VitalityStick.com

Show notes:

https://www.Fitnessmarketingmastery.com/future