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Welcome to The Figuring It Out Podcast.
At 22, I took the plunge to go on the entrepreneurial journey and start a fitness business, 7 years later I’d been the nutritionist for 2 elite sports clubs and private coach to some of the worlds best sportsmen and women.
Now it’s my mission to show fitness coaches how you can put yourself in a league of their own, become the go to coach, and finally eliminate the self-doubt and imposter syndrome that's holding you back from building the business of your dreams.
This podcast will help you figure out how to thrive and conquer the fear that comes with the lonely entrepreneurial journey.
If fear is the only thing stopping us from achieving our dreams and we only fear what we don't understand, then the antidote to fear is knowledge. All we have to do is find out who has the knowledge that we need to conquer our fears and achieve our entrepreneurial dreams. My name is Callum Walker, and welcome to the podcast that will help you figure it out and conquer this lonely entrepreneurial journey. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the podcast. You have no idea how much joy I am currently experiencing because the sun is out.
Callum Walker:It is shining. I genuinely would love to know how many podcast episodes that I record going, the sun is shining and giving you a great British weather report. But it's really important actually and it's no coincidence because I record most of these podcasts when I'm on a walk and I only really want to go on a walk when it's sunny. So it's no coincidence that I record these podcasts in the sun. But what am I going to talk to you about today?
Callum Walker:The importance of social proof. Okay? The importance of social proof. Now when I kind of talk about social proof here, the reason why I want you to kind of listen to this episode is not just to say like you need to get your social proof. I want you to almost kind of see how powerful social proof can actually be.
Callum Walker:And if you use it correctly, it really could be the thing that actually takes your business to a whole new level. And specifically the reason why social proof will take your business to a whole new level, and why that is important is because I think the thing that's really kinda sad in the fitness space is that, especially more recently, it's just solely been almost kinda focused on that the the only way to go and grow your business is just through Instagram, through DMs and all these specific things. And the thing that never really kind of made sense to me was that, you know, I only actually got onto social media because of COVID. I was running a fitness business for five years prior to COVID. And I I I if you actually look at my content, it absolutely sucked.
Callum Walker:Like, I was never I was never DMing people. I was never posting content. I was solely actually growing my business through word-of-mouth. And I think it's really, really sad that like with the rise of business mentors, that the whole word-of-mouth concept is completely ignored. Now, why is social proof important?
Callum Walker:And is it actually that important? Well, I'm gonna kinda like just share a couple of examples to you as to why social proof is actually the most important thing that you need to really kind of address within your own business. And I wanna use it a I wanna kinda like share this through telling a couple of stories. The first one was around my haircut. Now I very recently changed barbers.
Callum Walker:And the reason why I changed barbers, will become very clear to you in a second. But originally, I was pretty happy with the barber that I was going to see. I'd go there, it wasn't expensive, it was like £15 for a haircut. He would cut my hair in a way that I was like, yeah, I'm really, really happy about. And then what happened was that they then like clearly just got really, really invested and obsessed in growing.
Callum Walker:The barbershop got busier and busier. I could never really kinda get an appointment. And then what would happen would be that when I did get an appointment, like they'd cut my hair in like fifteen minutes. I'd walk out and I'd be like, is fucking dreadful. And I was just kind of another number.
Callum Walker:So what happened was that like after five times of having a crap haircut, I was like, I'm not going here anymore. Like I'm leaving. I'm not going to this barbershop anymore. So I left. Now, not only did they lose me as a customer, but also do you know what else I did?
Callum Walker:I decided to tell my friends, don't go there anymore. Told my family, don't go there anymore. So not only did they lose me as a customer, so let's say that that was I get my hair cut every two weeks, that's £30 a month, that's £400 a year. Well, it's not. £360 a year that they're losing from me.
Callum Walker:But then also let's say that 10 other people that I've told about, that's only 4 grands worth of business that they've lost because they were giving you crap service. So most people think of social proof solely from like, oh, it'll get me clients. But it's not just that. If you're crap, people talk and people would tell everyone else that you're crap and you're missing out on business. But then another interesting thing happened was after I left the barbershop, there's actually a hairdressing salon directly opposite the barbershop that I used to go to.
Callum Walker:And that hairdressing salon was nearly three times as expensive to go and get my haircut. But I'd heard from, funnily enough, my business mentor at the time that he got his haircut there. And I looked at him and I was like, I kinda like your hair. And they seem to obviously do a good job and he was like, mate, they are the crib and they will look after you. So despite knowing it was three times the price, I went there anyway and you know what happened?
Callum Walker:They did a really good job. So you know I did. I kept going back. So not only did I actually triple the amount of money that I was spending on my hair and they the new hair salon acquired me as a customer but also people started to notice and go have you done something to your hair? And I was like well I changed barbershops.
Callum Walker:See what happened was then people would ask me I go where'd you go? I go you need to go there. So not only did this new hair salon acquire me as a customer, they also acquired new people, my friends, my family as a customer. So your social proof can work two ways. First of all, it can work in a way that yes, absolutely, it can acquire customers for you.
Callum Walker:But then also, your social proof is bad, if people think of you as not very good at your job, then they will naturally tell people that you're not very good and people will leave you. But also people will be put off by ever working with you. You have a bad reputation. I think about all of these business mentors. There's one who slides into my DMs every single time and I ignore him.
Callum Walker:And the reason I ignore him is because he's got a terrible reputation. I'm not going anywhere near you mate. Like what you're saying might be true. You might say to me that, oh yeah, you know, my this coach has just like made a billion pounds this month. And it could be true.
Callum Walker:But because your reputation is dirty, slimy and I'm just gonna be another number, I'm going nowhere near you champion, like nowhere. So your social proof is so important. Another example of this, think about when you go on holiday, yeah? One of the the most exciting parts about me going on holiday is is there anyone here? There we go.
Callum Walker:Alright. Sorry. I'm I'm always on a walk and I'm always conscious as to whether there's anyone around. But one of the most beautiful parts of going on holiday for me is going out for a meal. And specifically like trying out a new restaurant, it's really, really exciting to go to a new restaurant to try new food and almost kind of see what this new cuisine could potentially bring me.
Callum Walker:But what is the first thing that you do before you go and check out a new restaurant? You look at the reviews. Why do you look at the reviews? Well, I will tell you the specific reason why you look at the reviews and this is actually the only reason why someone will not purchase from you. There is only one reason why people will not sign up with you and that is the fear of making a bad purchase.
Callum Walker:That's it. If you can find another reason please tell me but it is the fear of making a bad purchase. The only reason why your clients are not signing up with you is because they're scared that if they sign up with you they won't get back in return the same amount or more. They are scared that they're going to buy something, sign up for something, it's not going to work. They're gonna lose money and they're gonna feel stupid.
Callum Walker:Okay? They're scared of that. So when we're looking at bringing new people into our business, we only ever have to do one thing which is calm the worry, calm the fear of them making a bad purchase and effectively make them realize that your money is safe with me. Okay? Your investment is safe.
Callum Walker:Which brings me back to the restaurant thing that think about when you go to a restaurant on holiday, what is the first thing you do? You don't just blindly walk into a restaurant and go, yeah, we'll have like a meal for two. Why do you not do that? Because the potentiality is you could sit there, get really excited about something, go and have a crap meal and be like, was just a waste. Like that happened when we were in Portugal actually.
Callum Walker:We were in Portugal a few weeks back and we just walked into this one restaurant. We sat down. The menu looked really nice on the surface and the food came and it was just dreadful. It was so bad and it was the only it was the only bad meal that we had but it was so bad and it really almost kind of like ruined the experience for us really because we were just so like, I absolutely love Portugal because we never have a bad meal. But if we'd have just looked at the reviews, we'd have seen, don't go to that place.
Callum Walker:Don't go there. So if you think about it, what do you do? You go and look at the reviews. Why do you look at the reviews? To prevent making a bad purchase.
Callum Walker:So if I almost kind of look at the thing that I'm most proud of, so I have a page which I refer to as my next level coach wall of fame. So if you didn't know my program is called the next level coach and I train personal trainers and online coaches to level up the nutrition game. Yeah. But I have, a page called the next level coach wall of fame. And on that page is I think 15 video testimonials of Next Level Coaches.
Callum Walker:Yeah. So 15 video testimonials, but there's three very special things about these video testimonials. And if you can really understand these things, it'll really, really kind of help you understand how you can really use social proof as well to take your business to another level and why it's so important. The first thing is that first of all, they're video testimonials. So my client has actively gone out of their way to film themselves and go, Hey, you need to sign up to this thing.
Callum Walker:So first of all, fact that it's a video testimonial and someone is actively articulating that builds trust because anyone could write up a screenshot, anyone could doctor a you know before and after picture, anyone can just like you know write up a text message or whatever but for an actual video of someone to articulate like hey this thing is like the bee's knees it's very powerful. But the second thing is that each of those 15 testimonials are not just people who originally came through my six week course, but every single one of them came through my six week course and then upgraded onto my twelve month program. Okay. So I have two programs, my next level coach, which is my six week course. And then I have my elite coach, which is my twelve month program.
Callum Walker:And each of those 15 people went through the six week course and then upgraded onto the twelve month program. So what does that tell you about the course? Okay. Would they have upgraded to the twelve month program if the six week course sucked? No.
Callum Walker:Okay? No, they would not have. So that tells you again the six week course is a safe investment. But there's a third part out of those fifteen, four of those guys, sorry out of those fit that there's actually four parts. Okay.
Callum Walker:The third part is that out of those 15, the average retention of them for me is two years. Okay. It's two years. Bearing in mind I only actually opened up that program three years ago in terms of the twelve months program. So the average retention is two years.
Callum Walker:So not only do these people go through the six weeks, through the twelve months, they then want to continue for another twelve months. What does that tell you about the service? But in the fourth part, is really cool, I have something that is called my lifetime offer, which is an offer that for a one time investment, the guys on the Elite Coach can sign up and they have a lifetime membership with me. Okay? Lifetime.
Callum Walker:It's stuck with me forever. Four out of those 15 took me up on my lifetime offer. And I only opened up that lifetime offer three months ago, four months ago, sorry. Okay? So again, like, look at the power that social proof has.
Callum Walker:Okay. That social proof is there to overcome the only reason why someone won't buy for you, which is because they don't believe that they'd be able to. So which is that they are scared of making a bad purchase. Now I think one other thing as well is that with your social proof like you know I've spoken a lot about how you can actually directly use it already like to bring in new customers and for them to see it. But I also think for yourself that, I know for me the thing that helps me on sales conversations more than anything beforehand is looking at my testimonials.
Callum Walker:Like I look at all of the testimonials over the years that I've had, my clients who are doing amazing and it fuels me. And when I go on to a sales call and a conversation with someone to become a client and I see their results and I really believe in what I'm doing, not only because like I believe it, but I have living proof that it actually works. It changes the dynamic of the sales conversation instead of me going on there going, ah, you know, I hope it kind of works. I'm entering in there knowing that like, no, this really, really will help you. Like it will help you.
Callum Walker:And that then kind of gets you away from almost like trying to take from someone. Like, I don't know if you've ever kind of felt dirty on a sales call, but you know, I used to feel kind of dirty on sales calls where I'd be like, you know, almost kind of feel like I'm taking from people. That was solely because I didn't fully believe in what I was selling. I didn't fully believe that what I was selling was really, really of a high quality. And what delivering a high quality result has been able to enabled me to actually do is to have that certainty, to have that confidence, to have that conviction that, I really do believe in what I'm selling and I really can help these people.
Callum Walker:So, you know, if there's one thing that I could really, you know, press on you over the next I would just try an experiment. Try this experiment for the next sixty days. If you I promise you, if you ignored your business mentor, yeah? If you ignored your business mentor who tells you to just relentlessly post a load of content that no one really cares about and to spam a ton of people in DMs begging them to work with you. And if you put the same amount of energy that you're putting in to the content and DM strategy that you're trying to use at the moment and for the next sixty days the only thing you did was go absolutely full in on delivering a truly world class service.
Callum Walker:The best possible result that you could possibly deliver. I promise you, you would get so much more back in referrals, in word-of-mouth from that than you would from any content strategy. Now I'm not saying that content in DMs isn't important. Like, you know, content is important. Like, you know, this right now is content.
Callum Walker:It's important. But what I'm saying is that content without confidence, content without conviction, that's not like it's not powerful. It's not powerful enough. So go and just try for the next sixty days to go all in because the beauty is for us in the fitness industry, our clients are literally a walking advert for the result we can get for someone. They are literally a billboard.
Callum Walker:Like if someone's in shape, they're literally like, hey, k, you need to work with Callum. Look. K? Like we literally have that at our disposal. Now here's something that I always ask myself.
Callum Walker:I go right, okay. My clients are a walking advert for the result that I can get. My clients are actively selling my service. Would I buy what they're selling? And if the answer is no, ask yourself why and then go and get to work on plugging that hole.
Callum Walker:Go and make sure that your clients are a walking advert for a service that you would actively buy. And I promise you, it will bring in so much more than anything else. There's a reason why I always go on to never forget that if every one of your clients gave you just one new client, you've doubled your business because it's true. It's true. I know for myself, I had these two amazing clients and they would bring in two referrals every single month each.
Callum Walker:Yeah? So that's four referrals a month all in all. Over a year, that's 52 clients for me just from referrals. 52 clients just from referrals. I should probably get back in the fitness game, I reckon.
Callum Walker:Never forget, if every one of your clients gave you one new client, you've doubled your business. If you got a client who isn't losing weight right now and you have absolutely no idea why, and maybe you're worrying that if nothing changes, they could drop off at any moment. Well, I've got a free nutrition masterclass for you where I reveal the secret nutrition strategy that guarantees that that stuck client loses two to four pounds in the next seven days without lowering their calories, upping their cardio, or even tracking macros. Click the link in the description to get access to the free elite nutrition secrets masterclass and get your client moving in the right direction, stopping them dropping off today.