By Jeff Jucha, Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business Mentor
Think about Affinity Marketing: Your next client likely knows you or one of your current clients. Similarly, your next staff member likely knows you or someone on your team.
When looking for staff, imagine a dartboard: We’ll start at the bull’s-eye. That’s the area where people have the most affinity for you, your business and your existing team. As you move outward from the center, audiences have less affinity.
For example, a person who’s never even heard of you would be at the very edge of the dartboard. Most business owners often start looking for staff there through ads on job sites. But what if you started looking closer to the center?
When looking for a coach, look at your closest connections first, then move outward. Here’s the order:
- Your seed clients, then all your clients.
- Your current coaches.
- Your contacts.
- The internet.
1. Clients
Start with personality and train for skill. You like your seed clients—your very best clients—and you want more of them.
We tell gym owners to run an annual “advanced theory course” to identify potential coaches from among their best clients. But your best clients probably also know other trainers in town. So ask them, “Have you trained with another coach you really liked?”
After speaking to seed clients, approach other clients or post in your members group and ask them the same question.
2. Coaches
Next, ask your team members if they can think of anyone they would love to work with. Who do they know who would be a great fit in the business? You’ll want a name and method to contact the recommended people. If your current coach feels more comfortable setting up an introduction, let them start the conversation for you.
3. Contacts
Pull up your contacts list or friends list on Facebook. Ask, “Who has impressed me in the past and could be a great fit here?” Those are the next phone calls to make. Don’t promise employment; just let them know you have some opportunities coming up and they came to mind. Ask if they’re interested.
At this point, you’ve gone through three audiences to grow your pool of potential hires. Next comes the stage where most people actually start their search for staff.
4. The Internet
There are multiple services for connecting employers and employees: Indeed.com, Barbelljobs.com, etc. You can definitely use these services. Just don’t forget your local audience.
You can make an online application using Google Forms and post a link to it on Facebook and Instagram with a short description of what you’re looking for. Ask your staff and clients to share it. If you’re a client of Kilo (Gym Lead Machine), there’s already a done-for-you job-posting funnel you can use. If want more views on your post, consider boosting it for your local area and set the interest field to your type of business service, like “CrossFit” or “martial arts.”
Start in the Center
To find the best staff members, move outward through each audience. When you find a potential fit, you don’t have to stop there. You can keep building your pool of applicants if you want a more diverse group to select from—now or later. You should always be in “hiring mode.”
After you’ve broadened your pool of applicants, you can start interviewing your potential hires to find the next great fit for your gym.
