552: Personalized SMS Text Messaging for Small Gyms Personal Fitness Trainers with Off Day Trainer David Pitts

Unknown Speaker 0:00 marketer of the day Episode 552 personalized SMS text messaging for small gyms, Personal Fitness Trainers with off day trainer David Pitts.

Robert Plank 0:11 Hey, everyone. And welcome back to the show. We're talking with David Pitts from off day trainer calm. And David is the co founder of off day trainer, which is a text messaging platform that's built specifically to help fitness professionals better connect with their network and ultimately grow their business. And David is a former gym owner, and he's a former fitness sales manager and personal trainer. So he knows fitness. But more importantly, he knows how to make fit pros successful using technology to make their sales cycle faster and client retention last longer. So David, glad to be talking to you.

David Pitts 0:44 Oh, man, thank you for having me. I'm excited. Me too. So

Robert Plank 0:47 I mean, I'm really curious about this platform that you have. So can you kind of tell us about it?

David Pitts 0:54 Yeah, absolutely. So we do text messaging. And we do it in a way that's unique simply because our automation, our technology is really smart enough to recognize every recipient of the message by by name, by goal by status, you know, by the preferences in which that, you know, we identify with the algorithm in our system. And we've really found a way to personalize automated text message marketing.

Robert Plank 1:24 Well, awesome. And I love this whole concept of, you know, going from like a one size fits all sort of thing, because I mean, there's there's probably a ton of text message blasting services out there, but you sort of tuned it, you personalize it for a specific niche. So what the heck makes you guys stand out? And why should someone use your system as opposed to some other generic thing out there?

David Pitts 1:49 Yeah, man, Well, I'll tell you what, this whole thing all started because I was, you know, my background is health and fitness. I've, for a long time, I managed a team of 20 trainers, and I had my own studio. And I was looking for a way to to better engage and connect with my clients outside of the session. And when I looked for something to kind of help me automate this process and scale my business, there wasn't anything that really resolved my issue here, because everything was very general, right? Like all the text messaging, solutions that were available, really just allowed me to send one text to the masses. And what I needed was I needed a way to send a personalized text to everybody in my network. And when I realized that that didn't exist, I partnered with some people that could help me create it. And here we are now. And that's really the key differentiator is, is our system, and we have a patent on it, which is really cool. Our system is the only text messaging solution in the world that is smart enough to recognize everybody who's receiving your text based on their personal preferences. And so what is

Robert Plank 3:01 what are those that look like? Exactly, because like, I've seen some sort of text message blast things where they'll personalize the name, or where the recipient can say, you know, I only want to get messages during this window of time during the day, but I haven't really seen it get much more personal than that. So So what do you got? What do you guys do that really makes it this personalized thing dialed in?

David Pitts 3:26 Yeah, you know, the key is in what we call our questionnaire, so when somebody opts in, whether it be an existing customer, or client, or even a new prospect, who who is inquiring about your services, the way it works, is our system will identify certain things about this individual that allows us to to personalize our messaging, for example, in the health and fitness space, when we get a new prospect who's interested in our services, the questionnaire is geared towards, you know, what are your health and fitness goals? What's prevented you from being successful in the past? What are your injuries? What does your diet look like? And it really goes into these, these questions that, that as a fitness professional, I need to know, in order to, to better serve them and to sell them my services, right. And this is applicable in any industry, really, whether you're, whether you're in finance, or or real estate, or whatever it might be, we all market our services, and it and it really helps to understand who we're speaking to. And the reason we do the text messaging thing, is it because text messaging has become the number one form of communication that exists today. So if I'm running a marketing campaign, and I, you know, generate 20 or 100 or however many leads, it only helps me to kind of put each and every one of these leads into this process where identify who they are, and and really figure out how to speak to them on a personal level to get them excited about how I can help.

Robert Plank 4:55 So what does that look like? Exactly, because I mean, it's one thing to say you know, personalized messages, but I'm just sort of curious, like what, how the messages would would change based on their answer. Like if someone says, No, I'm looking to be nutritious versus I'm looking to lose weight? Does that mean that like, are they on a different sort of autoresponder sequence in the other? Or like, how does that sort of play out in the actual text messages?

David Pitts 5:19 Yeah, that's exactly right. So the key to the personalization is in our questionnaire, so we have every opt in, submit their questionnaire, and then from there, it really varies depending on you know, is this a prospect is this a current client of mine is this a former client of mine, right, and then based on the algorithm, we send them the next series of messages. And we have in our system, we, we have over 500 text messages that are that are already created for our users that they could access immediately. And these messages are based on business best practices. So we've done the research, we know what, what people need to receive and win what works and what doesn't. And then depending on the answer, right, so let's say I asked somebody about their goal. And their goal is to lose weight. So now I can put them into a bucket of messages, that's going to provide a series of text messages that increase the chances of helping them lose weight. And then on the other end of that, maybe I have a client who opts in who's interested in, in building muscle. So now that individual is going to receive text messages from me in regards to muscle development, and so on and so forth. And it just goes so much further in regards to the frequency of messages, you know, the time of day that they want to receive the tags, and so on and so forth. And because we have so much content that's already created in the backend, it's really a turnkey solution for our users in the sense that they don't have to create the content, but they can customize whatever they like.

Robert Plank 6:48 Yeah, that is pretty cool. Because like, as you said, there's, there's sort of a real drawback in just saying, Well, I'm going to sign up for some text messaging platform, because as the as the client, you're like, well, it's one thing to have the tool at my disposal, but I have to write all this content, I have to create all these different trees and things like that, I have to write, measure and see like, what gets a good open rate or a good click rate and things like that, and just do all sorts of trial and error. And so what you're saying is, so your your off day trainer system sort of has all of this kind of pre package. So if someone's a personal trainer, they can just say, you know, I mean, let me plug in and use this exhibit these existing templates, and just start rolling from there.

David Pitts 7:31 That's exactly right. I mean, we've done the research, right, like we've done, we know the numbers, we know how soon we need to engage a new prospect when they're on your landing page, or they're looking at their website and they submit their phone number, we know that you have less than 45 minutes to engage that individual or you're likely going to miss that opportunity forever. So what do we do we have the system, send them a text immediately, and get the information that we need from them in order to take the next steps. So this whole process a lot of times what I didn't want, when I created this, this product was I didn't want something that was going to create more work for our users, I wanted something that was going to create more, more time freedom in my schedule, and something more importantly, that was going to help the clients of these trainers, you know, achieve success or increase the chances of them achieving the results that they're paying their trainers for.

Robert Plank 8:25 Yeah, and that's really cool. Because you're like, well, you yourself, put in all this time and effort to making the system work for yourself. And it's like, well, you can only reach so many people in you know, in your geographic areas. So why not leverage that and give everyone else your template, your system your tools to, to get that done. And so this is really interesting, just because like, you know, I, I don't know a lot about, like this personal trainer space. But I think it's really interesting. From like a technology point of view of someone has a problem, they come to this web page, they fill this out and within, you know, 45 minutes almost instantly, they are getting those text messages. So can you kind of walk us through like what, what sort of happens in that initial contact? Cuz I'm, I mean, I think I think back to, you know, a few years ago when I was looking for a gym, and I think I got a call back like a couple of days later. And by that point, I'd already like moved on other stuff. So if someone comes to this web page, and they're filling out this form, like First of all, what are they filling out exactly?

David Pitts 9:29 Well, you know, there's a few ways to get an opt in is what we call it, right? So when somebody opts into my account, there are really three ways that that could happen. One is a keyword and a shortcode, which just means you pull out your phone, you text David to 12345, you've joined my text program, and then I'll use that keyword and shortcode to advertise my services on social media on whatever right on any of my marketing and advertising campaigns. That's one way to do it. Another way to do it is to promote My, my website or my landing page, if I'm running a 60 day challenge or whatever services I'm trying to promote, I just drive traffic to that landing page. And then once somebody submits their name and phone number on what we call the opt in form, then it's going to add them to my text messaging program. And it's going to initiate that automated texting. The third and final way to opt into a text program is through tablets. Now we have physical hardware that we can place in small businesses within our community to promote our services. So if I own a gym, here, in San Luis Obispo, California, maybe I can purchase a few tablets and I could put a tablet in a supplement shop down the street, or a cafe around the corner, or a deli on the other side of town, right. And then when you go into to order a sandwich, you're sitting there waiting, and you see this tablet, with maybe you know, a transformation photo, or a testimonial from one of my clients talking about how I'm the best trainer in town. And if you want to lose weight, you should enter your name and phone number into the tablet. And that's the other way to opt into my text program. So there's three ways there's a keyword and shortcode. There's a landing page, and then there's a tablet. And from there, it's all the same right now, the system knows, okay, you have a new opt in, let's Let's greet them. So we send them an automated text message that's welcoming them to your program, or whatever it is you promoted. And then we ask them to submit the questionnaire. And this is where we find out about you. We figure out what your goals are, what it is you're looking for, why your goals are so important to you. And whatever else we want to identify on that questionnaire. And then the process goes once you submit my questionnaire, now I know everything about you, right, so and so does the system. So the system can take the information you play from the questionnaire and create a personal text messaging engagement with you. So you submit my questionnaire Robert, you're going to get a text back that says, Thanks, Robert, this looks awesome. I can't wait to meet you, instead of this free personal training consultation. Okay. And then you're like, Oh, that's cool. And then I tell you go ahead and click this link to submit to schedule your your your free consultation. And then now you're looking at the availability that I provided on the back end for these training consultations. So perhaps I said, I'm available to meet with new prospects every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from eight to noon, will you say okay, cool. Friday, 9am, that works perfect, I'm gonna go ahead and schedule that appointment. Now. you confirm the appointment, then I get a text says Robert Plank, scheduled an appointment for Friday at nine, and you're on my calendar. And even if I've never met you or heard of you, before I can access your profile, look at your questionnaire, and I can see exactly what your goals are, why your goals are important to you what your injuries and availability is. Right? So now Friday comes along, I'm in a much better position to sell you my services, because I know everything I need to know about you. That makes sense. It does. Yeah.

Robert Plank 12:59 And it sounds like along every step of the way, you're using technology to sort of fill in the gaps. Whereas before, we might have to do a lot of back and forth. I mean, just that the scheduling alone, right or the you're comparing the survey results to what's coming up and stuff like that. And so I love the sort of outside the box thinking or maybe it's, it's simple for you, but just I haven't haven't heard it explained in that sort of three in one way there of you know, number one, someone could send that five digit shortcode on to a text message number like you promote on Facebook or create your graphics or whatever and say, you know, Texas code to this five digit number and get on the list that way, or fill in something on a website, or just if you're going the local brick and mortar away, when you should do all three, just have those tablets set up in some other related business around town where somebody can fill in their details right there on that physical tablet and and get on the list. And then so then what's also cool about what you describe there is that with that questionnaire, it feels like, well, if the questionnaire is done over text message one at a time, it seems like maybe people fill out more things than they probably would on a web page. Or if they had all the questions laid out in front of them, they might be overwhelmed. And it seems like by sort of making those small micro commitments over over texting, they can fill out that survey over time, where maybe they would have stopped short before. I mean, have you seen that? Or does that make sense?

David Pitts 14:34 Yeah. 100%. And, and taking it a step back? You know, I think everything we do is is is designed with the intention to keep the experience completely personalized, right. I don't want to feel so much like it's an automated system. I want to feel like I'm engaging a human. And there's someone on the other side of the thing that really cares about me in my success. And with that being said, I mean you also got to Consider the fact that we're sending text messages versus email in the fitness industry alone, that the average email send, or the average email read rate right now is 22 and a half percent, versus a text message that receives a 98% read rate within a matter of five minutes or less. So the real savvy fit pros in my industry are running an ad on Facebook, they're driving traffic to a landing page, and they're collecting an email. And then as soon as I get your email, they have an an email marketing system that's going to send automated emails over the next week or two, which is great, but you're getting that 22 and a half percent read rate. So a lot of people are falling through the cracks there. As opposed to text message, we do the same thing, right, we run an ad on Facebook, we send people to our landing page. And instead of clicking an email, we want your phone number, we get your phone number. And now instead of the 22 and a half percent read right now we're getting a 98% read rate within a matter of minutes. So we know our leads are actually seen our message. So the question doesn't, isn't really should I be texting versus email, it becomes a no brainer that we should be texting, the question becomes what do you text when and why. And that's my obsession with the personalization. Because like I said, if it feels automated, that feels like you've just joined another automated text program, nobody's going to get excited about that. People are gonna get excited when it feels like there's a human on the other end of this text message. And it comes out to me immediately. And that, that I'm taking the time to figure out who you are, and how I might be able to help and getting you excited about meeting with me in person so that we might be able to work together.

Robert Plank 16:30 Yeah, yeah, I mean, it sounds almost like it gets you getting to the point where people can't really tell if it's an automated system or person, and it doesn't really matter, right? Because the result is the same. It's like if, if, if that if you as the trainer are texting me these questions, and I'm responding with the answer versus if a system is doing it, it's the same sort of idea, right? You're still collecting the information and something that you said early on, we talked about this, you said that people opt in. And then 45 minutes later, they get text message. So is that sort of 45 minute delay there in the beginning? Is that part of that? Is that like, on purpose? Is that something that you tested? Or to make it seem more like a human? Or is that? Is that just not important?

David Pitts 17:14 No, actually, it's very important. And we may perhaps you misunderstood me, we don't send the text 45 minutes later, what I meant was, we know based on our testing, that we have 45 minutes to engage with that lead, or we're drastically going to lose the chance of converting that person or even getting them to agree to meet with us. So we know that there's a 45 minute window where we have to, to connect with that person. And even really, really, it's a 15 minute window, right. So there's a drastic decrease from 15 minutes. So if you're, let's say you're on my website, you're looking at my services, and you submit your phone number into my opt in form, there's really a 15 minute window where it's prime, if I engage you within 15 minutes, then I know your your your feelings, your emotions are still tied towards the reason you gave me your phone number in the first place. And if I connect with you, there's going to be a much greater chance of you submitting my questionnaire and scheduling that free consultation, we know what the 45 minute marker, the chances of you actually take an action on this are slim to none. So we know there's a 45 minute window where I almost lose you entirely. But really, it's within 15 minutes. And the sooner the better, right, because if I could send you a text while you're still reading, you know about me on my website. Now I know your your your feelings, your emotions toward towards your goals are warm, and you're more likely to give me the information I need and to engage with me. So yeah, we've built the algorithm based on these best practices, all of the text messages that we've automated, have been tested. So not only the initial opt in responders, but we have follow up text messages based on business best practices. So let's say I asked you to submit my health and fitness questionnaire, and you're driving and you go Holy smokes, this guy's on top of things, but but I'm gonna have to fill this out. When I get home, and you get home and you forget to submit my health and fitness questionnaire, we know the best time to follow up with you, again, is within 24 hours. So what do we do we have that automated text follow up message, if you haven't submitted my questionnaire go out to you if you haven't, and then we do it 24 hours later, and so on and so forth. So we've kind of created this whole follow up process that's automated. And we know over 90% of sales come through the follow up process. So this is drastically helping our trainers and gym owners convert more prospects to paying customers.

Robert Plank 19:33 Yeah, and this is pretty cool. And from what I'm hearing here, as you're describing this as it's really hammering the point home for me as far as why the automation is so important, because it'd be easy for someone to say, Oh, I don't need this. I just have a phone number. Someone can send me a text. But if you're in the middle of something if you know if you as the trainer are driving or you're in the middle of a session, and you lose that 15 to 45 minute window, then they're already off to something else. And I mean, let's Be honest, I mean, usually when when all of us get a text, we answer that text later that day or the next day, and then by then it's too late, they've gone cold. And what's also really great about what you've explained here is that it sounds like if they haven't finished filling in that, that survey, if they, you know, get to question number three, and then they they stopped replying there, then you're saying to me that after a few hours, it'll text them again, to make sure they pick things back up. Is that right? That's correct. Super cool. And then, so then as far as the so like, they fill in the survey, get the data, they make the appointment. And then I imagine also that there's also some sort of automation involves, where when the appointments coming up, there are like texts reminders for that sort of thing, too, right?

David Pitts 20:45 Yes. And and really, there are tons of systems that provide text reminders for sessions and whatnot. But again, what what makes us unique is is the personalization. So now and the way we've written our messaging, right, so now, it's not just that generic text that says, session reminder. 9am tomorrow, right now, it's Hey, Robert, hope you're doing well. Just wanted to remind you that we have an appointment tomorrow at 9am. Here's the address. I look forward to seeing you. Right. So the way we've kind of created our copy is really did the differentiator because we're we want to really make this thing feel as human as possible.

Robert Plank 21:24 Yeah, and I love that that small touch there of having the address in there. Because you know, I, I've dealt with doctors and dentists and people like that, like, from the patient side of things where I get that generic text reminder saying, hey, just confirming ATM tomorrow, and I'm like, wait, what is second, where's the where's the address, I have to go and like, check out their stuff. So that's great that you've, you've got that refined to that point where you have those little touches that like we said, if someone else was trying to create this on their own, they might forget this, or they might have to do all the trial and error and figure it out. And so so this I mean, this sounds like a really sort of great system here. So I mean, Who is it for? Exactly? Is it for, like all trainers, trainers of any size? Like if someone's listening about your great solution here? How do they know if it's something that they should pick up and use for their business?

David Pitts 22:14 Yeah, so initially, I mean, we really went after the the fitness industry, so a fitness professional of any type we have, we have the small gym owners, we have the big box gym owners, we have the corporate accounts, we have personal trainers of the gym, you know, basically anybody who's looking to, to either grow their business through their marketing efforts, or really just stay connected with their clients. That was that was the original inspiration for for what we're doing was, it was a tool that allowed us to connect with our clients outside of the session, right. So if you and I are meeting, if I'm your trainer, and we're meeting two or three times a week, there's four or five days where we're not meeting. And I need to find a way to remind you of your goals to provide more motivation and accountability to ensure your success to keep you disciplined when you're not at the gym with me, because everyone does what they're supposed to when they're with their trainer. But not everyone is incredibly successful. And the reason being is because even on the days you're training, there's 23 hours a day, you're not with your trainer, right? So we got to make sure you're doing the right things. And with that being said, we've also I mean, the way we wrote our technology, the way we develop this stuff, is now it's it's being utilized in different verticals as well. So if you can imagine, like I said, you know, whether it may be you own a restaurant, and you want to send personalization to your customers, right, so if I learned what type of foods you order, you know, I can promote special offers based on your you know, your personal preferences, if you're trying to buy a home, whatever it might be, you know, maybe for a church or, or whatever it might be. So anyone who's looking to, to connect with somebody in a way that's going to either help them achieve a goal or even try to, you know, essentially sell their services could potentially use off a trainer.

Robert Plank 23:59 And that's awesome. And I imagine that. So it sounds like with these other verticals that you're tapping into here, that you're kind of applying the same thing as far as the templates are already pre configured and everything. So you're saving these people like years of potential work, trial and error.

David Pitts 24:16 Yeah, that's exactly right. So we just started with the health and fitness space, because it was my background, it was my expertise. So you know, myself and some of the relationships I have in the health and fitness industry, you know, I happen to have relationships with some of the top fit pros in the country. So I got with these guys. And we really created the business best practices of engagement in text messaging for the health and fitness space. And now what we're doing is we're in the process of just, you know, recreating that process, but through different verticals. So we'll go to the best in each industry. And we'll figure out you know, what are the best practices, what type of copy needs to go out what type of messages needs to go out when and why and then we'll have these turnkey solutions for every vertical.

Robert Plank 25:03 And then a super cool because, as you know, David, it's really tough to I mean, sometimes it's easy to get away from the original scope of things, right. And there's that temptation to be everything to everyone. And then you end up second guessing yourself and saying, well, I want my text message, broadcasting personalization platform to have all these different things. But we you said is, well, here's the space that I know. And here's the solution that I want, and that all my friends want. So that seems to eliminate a lot of the guesswork, and then you just like really dominated the space there. And then now you're saying, Well, now that we kind of have this, this process, we went through as far as like looking at our needs, and putting all the stuff we in, we want to have in there, instead of like expanding to, again, fall in that trap of being everything to everyone, you said, let's just focus on this other area, and help out them. And it kind of goes back to that whole whole adage of, you know, give people what they want, and not necessarily what you want. So this is pretty cool. And so in that in those other sort of verticals there. Is that still the off day trainer brand? Or is that like some other company or website? Or is that still a secret?

David Pitts 26:12 Yeah, it's not really a secret. But we're in the process of launching these, these new features. And we're not these new features. But these new platforms essentially going to be our same technology that we created. For off day trainer. We're going to rebrand them, so they won't go by off day trainer we're doing we're doing some beta testing with it right now through other verticals just using off day trainer as is and customizing it. Because like I said, you know, we provide over 500 text messages for our fit pros. So now we're going to these other verticals, we're creating that same level of content, business best practices, whether I'm engaging a lead, or you know, my existing customers to provide a world class experience through text messaging. So now we're really just kind of defining those things. We're testing them, and then we're going to launch them with with a different brand, but all under the off day trainer umbrella.

Robert Plank 27:01 Well, super cool, exciting stuff ahead. So in the meantime, before the future gets here in the present day doable terms, if someone out there is that small gym owner or that personal trainer, or someone who wants to stay connected with their fitness clients, where should they go right now today after listening to our interview,

David Pitts 27:19 I mean, there's you can go to off day trainer comm we have tons of information there. And obviously you can contact us there. I know everybody loves social media now. So of course, we have a Facebook account and an Instagram account. You can just go to Facebook slash off a trainer just search us on any social media, you'll find this as well.

Robert Plank 27:37 Awesome. So Facebook at off day trainer and off day trainer calm. And I mean, yeah, it sounds like this is a really important thing for people, especially gyms and personal trainers out there to have because I mean, I mean, as you know, David, this, that space is superduper competitive. And I'm sure that you also have seen dealing with some of these local businesses that a lot of them have this sort of lead capture in place, but they don't really use it very well, right, they either build this list and let it sit or maybe there's a welcome message, or maybe they'll do a broadcast once a month. But it seems like just on the receiving end to some of these text messages that they could be doing a heck of a lot more. And it's a real shame that they're they're putting their you know, their time and their money into some of these monthly services. But they just don't know what to write. They don't know what to do. So it sounds like if they either are lacking the lead capture or are not getting the results from that lead capture on that text messaging, then they need to check out off day trainer calm so that way they can plug into you and your system and what you have there and so, off day trainer.com is a place for everyone to go and we'll see you there. And thanks so much, David for stopping by and for talking about this innovative stuff that you have going on and about your story and I really appreciate it.

David Pitts 28:50 All right, Robert, thanks for having me, man. Appreciate it.

Robert Plank 28:53 Heck yeah, you too. Need more guests for your podcast. How about a podcast that setup in the first place, schedule a call with us right now by visiting done for you podcasting.com