In 2006 Barcelona Football club did something that went against the very fabric of what they stood for and risked the wrath of their very own fans.
You see Barcelona Football Club, were always claimed that they were different that the rest of football. They were anti-establishment and proud of it.
Even their club Motto said this, “mes que un club” translated to English means “more than a club” and one of the core values was that they refused to wear sponsors on their shirts. They always said that no amount of money was worth ruining the traditions of the shirt, and no company was worthy, so they never had a shirt sponsor.
Until 2006 that is…
..and there's a huge lesson here for your fitness or personal training business.
You see the fans were very opposed to the shirt sponsors, so instead of accepting a bucket load of cash, what the club did was PAY Unicef (kids charity) £2 million a year for 5 years to adorn the famous red and blue shirts.
They knew the fans wouldn't complain as it was a charity and they wouldn't want to be seen opposing a charity.
It was a stepping stone to the next stage (an actual paying sponsor)
Fast forwards 5 years and they signed a £30 million a year deal with Qatar Airways to go on the front of their shirts.
They knew the fans were now used to the shirt with a sponsor so they cashed in.
It's Robert Cialdini's 2nd law of persuasion in action and something that every fitness business should be using to get more clients.
Get someone to take a small step and then once they have done that, they are more likely to take the next step.
Barcelona fans would never have stood for the Qatar Airlines deal back in 2006 and it's exactly the same when you try and sell a client onto a 12-week transformation program or 6-month membership.
You have to ease them into your business, just like Barcelona.
That's why when you sign up for our SWAT Personal Trainer Website System, you get “More than a Website”, you get a step by step business building system, using the website as a tool to grow.
Liam “mes que un website” Thompson
Internet FitPro
Personal Trainer websites That Build Businesses