My wife, Brandy is in Chicago today attending a conference on persuasion and influence based on the teachings of Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

She was there yesterday, too. Spent the day in the conference and the evening shopping on the Magnificent Mile (gulp!)  Not looking forward to the MasterCard bill.

Brandy’s recently launched her own biz, after ten years in sales for a Fortune 500 company.

And she’s doing almost everything right.  she’s already in action…already marketing to drive leads and build a list.

And she’s getting LOTS of information and instruction, learning best practices and getting coached. She and I meet every Sunday for a strategic planning session so I can help her flesh out her marketplace domination plan!

But I’m far from her only resource (I just happen to be the cheapest).

In fact, she’s on a bunch of local ‘gurus’ newsletter lists (she’s doing biz locally). One of them is a woman who is apparently a pretty sharp marketer.  A few weeks ago, this woman made an offer to her list to provide a 2-hr “marketing plan” session for a couple hundred bucks.

Brandy showed me the info, and we agreed it would be a good move to make in order to get feedback from a local expert. So she bought.

Last Thursday she met with the woman.  When Brandy got home I asked her how it went.

“Great,” she said. “Carol’s full of ideas.”

Red flag goes up for me immediately.

“Ideas?” I asked, “I thought this was a marketing planning session?”

“Well, we didn’t really get around to that because Carol was just throwing out one great marketing idea after the next,” Brandy explained.

I’ve talked to Brandy about this before. And I tell her the same thing I’ve been telling fitness professionals since 1998…

“Ideas…and a nickel…will get a stick of gum.”

Marketing ideas (tactics) are important, for sure.

But they are ONLY *valuable* when they’re integrated into a STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN.

The kiss of death for new biz owners, and veterans alike, is getting caught up in tactical thinking and marketing.

Because then you confuse activity with accomplishment.  You don’t gain any ground.  There’s no coherence and congruence from one activity to the next.  You jump from this tactic to that, from press releases to public speaking, from ebooks to ebay, from magazine ads to postcards, etc., etc.

And none of those activities - those tactics - are integrated into a STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN (do you have this tool in your fit biz?)

So you spin your wheels.  You don’t get traction.  You don’t get MOMENTUM. And you start every day thinking…

“What am I going to do NEXT to get more clients?”

Being tactical - always looking for the next big idea or next cool marketing activity - is like being a dog chasing his tail.

You go round and round, get dizzy, tired and frustrated, and then take a nap.

Look, until and unless you get a ROCK-SOLID comprehensive, integrated, congruent and complete STRATEGIC fitness marketing action plan in place, you will keep chasing your tail.

It’s just that simple.

And you already know it. You’re probably experiencing that in your biz right now.

Which is precisely why Sean, Dick and I are doing our NPE Mega-Training Workshop in October.

It’s ALL about putting into your hands a complete 52-week strategic fitness marketing BLUEPRINT action plan you can follow to make sure 2009 is your best, most profitable year ever.

This Workshop is how to get the single most important and valuable tool you will EVER have in your fit biz.  If you don’t have one - a fully formed and complete strategic action plan - then you’re at a severe disadvantage.

Because this tool is the bridge across the gaping pit between where you are now and where you want to be.

There’s a hundred buck early bird discount when you register for the Workshop before the end of this month (by July 31st).  Here’s how to get the tool you want:

http://www.NPEMegaTraining.com

Of course, the reality is you have a choice:

You can either work hard *IN* your fitness business and earn a living, or you can work hard *ON* your fitness business and earn a fortune.

You’re going to do one or the other, so the only question is - which would you prefer?

If the second option is more appealing to you, then register for the Workshop now (and save 100 bucks):

http://www.NPEMegaTraining.com

All the best,
Eric Ruth

P.S. Want to get a jump-start on some of the strategies we’ll be covering in detail at the Workshop? Then watch this 5-lesson video training series here:

http://www.FitBizBlueprint.com

Here’s an interesting bit of info for you about the NPE Freedom Sale…

The hottest selling product, by a factor of 2, is the AUTO-CLOSER Fitness Sales System.

Twice as many AUTO-CLOSERs have sold than the next best seller, which is DUPLICATOR Fitness Business Management System.

And the third best seller?

The AUTO-CLOSER + DUPLICATOR Bundle!

I swear I’m not making this stuff up.

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

I just talked to Christina and she said the phones and web chat in our online store are, in her words, “blowing up.”

“Brigett was running three live chats simultaneously at one point,” Christina said.

So, as usual, things heat up right near the end.

But we don’t want anyone to miss out on this last chance to get all individual NPE Products at 30% off, and bundled products up to 58% off. So we’re going to extend the sale until 5pm Eastern Time today.

Since the store is new, the chat is new and we’re all sort of scrambling to make sure everything works for you guys, it just makes sense to extend the sale for 2 more hours to make sure everybody is happy and gets what they want.

But 5pm eastern time is the drop dead deadline — the NPE Freedom sale will shut down at 5PM today.

So be sure to head on over and make your choices right now:

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

Have a great weekend,

Eric Ruth

P.S. Batman Dark Knight opens today!  Really looking forward to seeing that one. Christian Bale is the best Batman, in my opinion, and Heath Ledger’s Joker is supposed to be a sociopath of the highest order. Can’t wait to see the conflict…and the ass-kickin!

P.P.S. Sale ends at 5pm Eastern today:

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines during our 30% off FREEDOM SALE, I want to remind you that everything ends at 3pm EST today.

EVERYTHING we’ve got… including some products and programs you may not have even seen before… are all on sale now at:

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

Here’s what Gold Plus Member Brad Scott has to say about this BIG EVENT:

“Yesterday I received a postcard in the mail talking about Freedom sale being held by NPE. I was initially excited by what I saw an anxiously awaited the unveiling of what I knew would be a great opportunity.

Notice I said opportunity. Like many of you I have been making plans to take advantage of some of the great courses offered by Eric and Sean such as AUTO-CLOSER and DUPLICATOR, but my timing was always a little off due to personal road blocks. So I was extremely excited about this opportunity to get the courses I wanted at a great discounted rate. But once I clicked on the link provided and saw all the great packages and deals available…

…I FREAKED OUT!

NPE, this is a truly wonderful site. Great work! I hooked up my AUTO-CLOSER and my DUPLICATOR that I have been waiting for so long, but when I checked out.

BAM-I was hit right between the eyes!

I cannot even describe the amazement I saw appearing before me. Talk about a great opportunity. I am not even going to ruin the surprise. You must see this for yourself.

Once you see all the great offers, you too will freak out. In fact, if you walk away from this opportunity empty handed, you must be a freak yourself. If you feel nothing on this site is worth your investment, you better ask somebody and quickly.

Personally, I must recommend the following:
- AUTO-CLOSER
- DUPLICATOR
- GOLD RUSH
- Small Group Coaching
- Strategic Alliance Marketing
- Fitness Advertising
- Advanced Lead Generation
- Direct Mail Marketing

All of the products are spectacular; these are just my personal favorites. And once again, prepare yourself to be blown away.

For you members new to NPE, consider this Christmas. Because it feels that way to me.”

-Brad Scott, Sport and Life Fitness, Melbourne, FL

Thanks Brad for your kind words, and it’s the success of great members like you that continues to inspire us to what we do.

Get on over the FREEDOM SALE site and see what Brad’s talking about… and take advantage of the 30% discount… before the clock strikes 3pm today.

This is a SPECIAL EVENT that will not be offered again this year.

Best Regards,
Sean

P.S. All the fitness marketing, sales, and management systems, tools, and coaching you need to reach your goals in 2008 and beyond… at an unheard of 30% discount. Check it out before everything ends of 3pm EST today at:

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

I want to tell you about a quick and easy way to get speaking gigs that’ll grow your fitness business.

And it’s not just quick, easy and simple to do…it’s also free.

Hard to beat that.

I imagine you already know just how potent a tactic public speaking can be for generating leads.

What you might not know is that before Sean and I teamed up to form NPE, he ran a large, multi-location personal training business in Orlando.

In just a couple years, he built it up to 650+ clients.

And the bulk of those clients came as a result of little public speaking gigs, seminars and workshops he did.

Sean will be the first to tell you that he definitely wasn’t a captivating public speaker in the early days.  But he was passionate and confident of his ability to educate folks and help them, if he could get them to listen.

It took him some practice, but he pretty quickly nailed down a way to deliver presentations that sell.

And soon enough, every speaking gig yielded lots of new leads and even some instant new clients.

So, true to his nature, Sean documented the entire process in a duplicable system.  Because he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t like to re-create the wheel.  Once he’s got something working, he does it and does it and does it…making just minor tweaks and adjustments to fine tune the system along the way.

And that’s smart.

From that systemization process, he built out the Platform Selling Toolkit, which we now offer in our NPE Web Store (it’s on sale til this Friday at 3pm eastern):

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

The Platform Selling Toolkit is an impressive product. It contains lots of great stuff, but two things of particular note:

1. Sean’s “5 Keys To Transforming Your Body” powerpoint presentation, done for you, all the slides are ready for you to personalize and use, and

2. His follow-up conversion email sequence: you plug the leads you generated into this sequence and new clients pop out the other end.

So, with the Platform Selling Toolkit, and the quick and easy way to get gigs I’ll tell you about, you’re all set to really explode your lead-flow and client-flow pretty quickly.

And during the NPE Freedom Sale, we’ve sliced 100 bucks off the PSToolkit price. You can get it for just $86 down by going here and following the simple instructions (be sure to use the special sale code: freedom):

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

Get the toolkit (in the “sales” section of the web store), then head on over to:

http://www.meetup.com

Meetup is a very cool free service for locating groups in your local area.  Just punch in your topic of interest and zip code, and it’ll spit out all the local groups.  Then you just shoot off an email to the group administrator, letting them know what you do and what you can offer the group with your interesting, relevant and beneficial presentation (you just use Sean’s “5 Keys” presentation).

It really is that simple.

So get the Platform Selling Toolkit (and anything else you may need) before the sale ends this Friday at 3pm.

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

- Eric Ruth

P.S. If you want even more ways to get an endless supply of speaking gigs, you can get the Platform Selling Toolkit + Advanced Public Speaking System bundle. That’s two great products bundled together for even bigger savings. Advanced Public Speaking System comes with lots of strategies for getting speaking gigs and a done-for-you “cold contact” marketing campaign. Just check out the “Special Packages” section of the web store by going here:

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

Yesterday we unveiled our new online store and kicked off the FREEDOM SALE.

Today it continues… with over 42 products and special bundles… MANY of which you’ve never seen before.

Come on over and take a look, then pick up anything you’d like for an unheard of 30% discount.

We have NEVER discounted our products like this before.

And not sure if we will do it again at all this year.

So if you’ve had your eyes on one of our “Gold Standard” coaching programs on fitness marketing, sales, or management… now is the time to invest in yourself and your business growth.

Everything is posted (along with complete instructions and your discount code to use at checkout) at:

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

To your success,
Sean

P.S. Not only are we offering a unheard of 30% discount on everything to celebrate opening our new online store, but if your purchase totals over $350 you can request a 3-payment option on your investment. Sale ends this Friday at 3pm EST, so be sure to get over here before you miss out on this opportunity!

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

P.P.S. If you’re not having week’s like these fit biz owners, then get educated and get empowered:

“Hi Guys. Just wanted to let you know that we closed our first $10,000 package on Thursday.  No payment plan, no CC - straight CASH! Recession my a@*! Group training is @ $7K/month - every month and growing. Retention is @ 90% for clients staying over 1 year…with 75% staying multiple years! We now have a waiting list for private clients-  pretty cool!

We just wrapped up our best quarter EVER and are $125K (YTD) ahead of last year! I delegated all consults and sales to my two lead trainers and it’s worked great!

Also adding a 2nd CSR/admin. I work 25 hours a week (or less) and am “living the dream” Thanks again for all your programs. Don’t worry, I’m not done yet….the empire will continue to grow

Doug J. Krueger, Peak Performance Personal Training, Pewaukee, WI

“Hey guys. The attached picture is another example of me living the ‘Duplicator Dream’. It was taken on a Thursday afternoon at 2pm. Last week we signed 15 new clients and I only worked an hour and a half on Thursday. I spent the rest of the day doing things around the house. This week we have signed 8 new contracts. I am taking tomorrow off to take my family to St. Louis and go to the zoo. Once again, something that is possible thanks to Duplicator.”

Tony Maslan, Custom Fit Personal Training, Evansville IN

Dear Friend of NPE,

First of all I want to echo what Sean said to you yesterday…

THANK YOU!

NPE has grown tremendously over the past two years because of our commitment to giving you fitness marketing, sales, and management systems, tools, coaching and products that really work.

And because we are blessed with the best customers and Members anywhere!

In appreciation of you, and in recognition of our 2-year anniversary, we’re having our FREEDOM SALE…

…and it’s a doozey!

=========================
    ALL INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTS

                30% OFF!!!
=========================

And we’ve got some great surprises for you, namely…

=========================
    SPECIAL PACKAGE BUNDLES

           UP TO 58% OFF!
=========================

Those bundled packages are where you’ll save the most, so be sure to check them out.

**********NOTE**********

With this sale, we’re launching our new NPE Web Store. It’s just like a traditional shopping cart you’d use at any of the big online stores.

So you’ll feel comfortable with it.

But here’s something important to remember:

=========================

 YOUR NPE FREEDOM SALE
   SPECIAL SAVINGS CODE

You’ll see the simple 3-step instructions on the sale page, but just keep in mind that in the shopping cart you need to enter the Special Savings Code to get the savings.

    Your CODE Is:  freedom

=========================

One other important note: we have a very cool feature in the store called “LIVE CHAT.”  Again, just like the big online stores.

If you have any questions at all, just click on the “LIVE CHAT” button and we’ll be right there to help you!

Okay, that’s it.  Let’s go shopping…

Head on over to:

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

And save BIG $$$.

Once again, thanks very much for your loyalty and for being someone committed, as we are, to always “sharpening the saw.”

Sincerely,

Eric Ruth

P.S. The NPE FREEDOM SALE is on! Head over to:

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

P.P.S. Sale ends this Friday, July 18. So don’t put this off. The savings are HUGE!

http://www.NPEFreedomSale.com

I’m sending this e-mail later than intended today, but still wanted to get it out the door to you anyway.

I’ve got some big news to share.

But first, the background you may or may not know about…

July is a special month for us over here.

This month marks the official 2-year anniversary of NPE.

Hard to believe… but just 2 years ago Eric and I got together to form NPE. And I’ll tell you what, things have grown FAR beyond any of our original expectations.

It is truly amazing how much we’ve grown and how far we’ve come in a such a short period of time.

And we have you, our customers, to thank for that.

So, from the bottom of our hearts, I want to thank each and every one of you for the pleasure it is to serve you.

We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without your support. And I’ll tell you the past 2 years was just a warm-up… we’ve got a LOT more to come!

Ok, onto the big news for today…

Over the past 3 months we’ve been hard a work to put together an ‘online store’ where we have a complete listing of all our products and programs… all in one place.

Up until now we’ve only had a bunch of random bits-and-pieces of everything scattered in different places.

With MANY of our products that we’ve released during different launches, not even available ANYWHERE online.

Well, after a lot of hard work we’ve pulled everything together.

And tomorrow morning we’ll be launching a BIG SALE to celebrate both our 2-year anniversary and the opening of our new webstore.

We’re calling it the FREEDOM SALE.

The name has special meaning to us, because that’s what NPE Members are doing with all our systems, tools, and coaching… they’re “FREE-ING” themselves from all the problems the average fitness professional or studio owner faces.

So, tomorrow morning keep your eyes peeled for a special e-mail from me with the subject line “FREEDOM SALE”.

It’ll contain the link to our new online store, and a special code for you to grab anything you’ve been waiting to get your hands on….

…FOR 30% OFF!

That’s right.

Everything we’ve got… including some products and programs you probably weren’t even aware we had available… will be posted with a special code for you to grab everything at a 30% discount.

It’s time to celebrate… and empower yourself to FREEDOM.

More to come tomorrow,
Sean

Go watch this video, then come right back for an important fitness marketing strategy lesson.

Ok, did you watch it? If not, please do. This will make more sense. I’ll wait.

Alright, now for the fitness marketing lesson… get your emails, postcards and press releases ready to ride Dara Torres’ wake. If you don’t know who Dara is now, in a couple weeks you’ll know everything there is to know about her, as she becomes possibly the biggest story of the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics.

Here’s a little primer for you about Dara:

– She’s 41 years old - a generation older than most of her competitors. She was medaling in her first Olympics in 1984…before many of them were even born.

– She will go the Beijing Olympics as the oldest-ever member of the US swim team.

– She’s a mother - and still has maybe the most impressive abs I’ve ever seen on a women.

– She’s about as all-American wholesome and attractive as could be.

– She’s considered to have the purest and most efficient swimming stroke…of any woman in the world.

– She’s medaled in four consecutive Olympics…Beijing will be her fifth, and she’s favored to at least medal, possibly win the 50 meter freestyle.

– She owns 8 Olympic medals

– She retired from swimming after 2000 Olympics in Sydney…and now she’s BACK!

– And she is amazingly fit.

If she medals, which is almost a foregone conclusion, she’ll be on the cover of Sports Illustrated…if she gets the gold…maybe even Time magazine.

Remember how the movie “300″ sparked so much interest in the “300 workout?”

Dara will do the same thing for fitness.

Because it’s her fitness that has given her incredible longevity: 3 decades of being at or near the top in her sport.

An NBC reprentative (they’re carrying the Olympic broadcasts) said this:

“It’s not even close. Dara’s far and away the best story of the summer and of the summer games for television purposes.”

The movie “300″ was probably seen by a few million people.

The Olympics, and Dara, will be seen by Billions.

By the end of the Olympics, there won’t be a household in America with a TV that doesn’t know her name and her story.

But you don’t have to wait until then to start leveraging this amazing lady’s story for your marketing.  After what she did in the Olympic trials, she is already huge.

So start talking to your list about her. Find out everything you can and start spreading the good news about how “you’re never too old to rock and roll!”

Be a marketing maniac,

Eric Ruth

P.S. Marketing ‘ideas’ like this are very valuable because you always want to look for ‘reasons why’ to be contacting your list, sending out press releases, etc. But in order to really gain traction and momentum in the marketplace, you need an integrated PLAN.  You can have it here:

http://www.FitBizBlueprint.com