About Dave McGarry

I am a fitness and nutrition coach who has a passion for impacting and transforming lives both physically and mentally! From an early age I loved to work out and push myself to achieve better results physically and mentally. Over the past several decades I have helped hundreds of people get fit and change their lives. Now, I am on a mission to impact and change the lives of 5 million people across the globe. Your health is your wealth and I am here to serve others by sharing my knowledge and passion for health and wellness!

What Business are You in?

Posted on July 13, 2009 by Dave McGarry

Duh! The Fitness Business, Dave! No, if you are a fitness professional you are not in the fitness business. You are in the business of changing lives. You are in the business of creating experiences for your clients. You are the dream realization business. Too many times have I seen fitness professionals fail because they believe that the business they are in is working out. They believe that it is all about anatomy, biomechanics, sets, reps, and soreness. This is one reason we are having a hard time converting people who currently do not exercise into gym members. Here is a list of things we need to keep in mind when trying to get a prospect to use our services.

1.) Clients buy for their reasons not yours.

2.) Clients want an experience

3.) Clients want their problem solved

4.) Clients buy when they TRUST you

Keeping these four reasons in mind when approaching your business will help when you are in the prospecting mode and trying to gain more business. Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that you need to inundate a prospect or client with tons of scientific terms and movements. Keep it simple and remember that you are in the business of changing lives and solving problems. If you just focus on solving the client’s needs you will be guaranteed to generate more personal training sales.

Building your list

Posted on July 12, 2009 by Dave McGarry

Are you consumed with trying to build your list? I know I have been, until recently, when I read this blog post by Yanik Silver entitled ” Creating you Ultimate ‘to do’ list before you die” . It reminded me of the movie “Bucket List” but even better, and after I read it it led me to go take a list of 50 things I wrote down at the beginning of the year and see what I have accomplished in the past 25 weeks. It is important to take out those goals you set at the beginning of the year and see what you have accomplished and what is left to be done. Also, if you do not have a ‘to do’ list I suggest you create one. For me it was a great experience that really made me look at my life and what I want to do in the time I am here on Earth. So, instead of spending hours on building your email list take some time out an create your ‘big list’ of things you want to do with your life.

Coach D

Today is your Independence Day

Posted on July 5, 2009 by Dave McGarry

I hope you had a fun and relaxing Fourth of July. I know for me it is a day that I cherish and look forward to every year. This was not always the case when I was younger. Back in my late teenage years and college days I did not really appreciate the freedom that we have in this country.

I know today there is a lot of anxiety and uncertainty on what is going on in our country and government, but the fact still remains to be true that we have the freedom to choose and create a life of prosperity and wealth. The choice is up to you. You can stand up and embrace the freedom of choice or you can sit there and be miserable and make no progress towards your dreams.

If you are not where you want to be then change it. If you want more personal training clients then find a way to get more. Start a bootcamp. Go speak to local companies in your area and promote your business.If you want to make more money start a business. It could be an online or brick and mortar, but get started with something.

My final thoughts today on this wonderful holiday involves thinking about everyone who fought for the freedoms we have today. If you look back to the early days of the founding of our country the people fought hard for what they wanted and did not give up until they had their dreams realized. So, today I challenge you to create your financial independence and do something this upcoming week that will continue to push you towards reaching your goals and dreams.

Does the “Past” matter?

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Dave McGarry

When it comes to getting more personal training clients does the prospect’s past experience with a personal trainer matter? Of course it does, and I was made aware of this again today when one of my newest trainers encountered a new member who told her a horrific story about the last time she met with a trainer. Listen, the fitness industry is notorious for creating negative experiences in people’s minds and it makes the job of changing that perception in the prospect’s mind much more difficult. Don’t worry, all hope is not lost, if you are going to have any chance of landing this prospect as a personal training client you are going to need to do the following:

1.) You need to establish trust with your prospect. Become a Trusted Advisor. I have said this before, but I can’t say it enough, ” clients buy because they trust you.” Now in order to establish this trust you need to listen to them and find out what their needs are and show them how you can help them achieve their goals.

2.) Create a memorable experience. Once you have established trust it is important to create a memorable experience. It is so important that the initial experience that a client has is something they enjoy and have fun. Yes, I mean make it fun for your client because if there is one thing that is missing with the “gym experience” is that we, as health professionals, sometimes forgot to have fun and make the experience memorable.

Let me be frank here and tell you that you have an uphill battle when it comes to changing the past of a current prospect but it can be done with the establishment of trust and an experience that leaves the client wanting more. Focus on these two sales strategies and you will win over the past and create a new future for your client. Good luck!

Coach Dave

Success depends on you

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Dave McGarry

Does it bother you that in today’s society too many people think they are entitled to success without doing the hard stuff? Do you think that success happens to “Lucky People”. Hey, I was one of those people who thought that, well I have a college education and I should be handed success right off the bat. Harsh reality for me when I received my first paycheck and it was $18. Yes, $18 was all I made and I thought college grads started out of school making 40 or 50k a year! Well, in the personal training field you make your money on the amount of personal training sessions you conduct in a given week. So, being fresh out of school with student loans $18 was a rough slap in the face. However, thankfully for me I had a support system that encouraged me to stick with it.

Now what made me change my entitlement attitude? Well my attitude changed when I first read Stephen Covey’s ” 7 Habits of Highly Successful People.” One of the principles that has stuck with me all these years is the habit of choice. Covey says that one of the most powerful options available to us is that we have the ability to choose what we want in life. That principle has helped me throughout my career, however, I catch myself every now and again falling into another trap. The success trap!

What do I mean by the success trap. Well, I just recently read Darren Hardy’s article called “The Forgotten “Secrets” to Success.” and one of the key points he hits on is that most of us fall victim to our success. Success brings complacency and the hard work, attention to detail,and self-development is put to the wayside, leaving mediocre results at best. This is such a common recurrence and it is not immune to even successful people. I remember a keynote speech by Joe Theisman where he said one of the biggest things he learned in his pro football career was that after his first championship he let the success go to his head and felt that the next year was a given to repeat, however, that did not happen and now when he looks at his rings he tells himself that “those rings are last year’s success and what we did last year is history.” I have never forgotten that and I try to remind myself that yesterday’s success, whatever that might be, is history and today’s success depends on me.

So the next time you think you are entitled to success, think again. Success is a choice and even when you are successful it is yesterday’s news. Complacency can lead to your demise, so make the choice to be successful and continue to strive to be better.