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Sam: So, what’s going on everybody? It’s your main man, 7 Figure Sam. I got my boy, Kaiser, in the house, the original Super-Trainer. And so now that I got the privileged of having him in my office, we call the Lab. So we’re actually here in Cali. I’ve seen you coming out here with the big escalators. One guy who had opened a big ESB stretched out escalator. You’ve always done things the big way.
Kaiser: Yeah.
Sam: Now, that’s why I always love Super-Trainer when you first started Super-Trainer. I was a big fan. And then …
Kaiser: I have a great teacher on how to ball. I’ve always had great a teacher. So, that’s where I got it from.
Sam: Thanks man.
Kaiser: I have to give you all the credit.
Sam: Thanks. So let me ask you something, man. Why – what made you get into fitness marketing in the beginning and how did you come up with the idea of Super-Trainer?
Kaiser: It’s a funny story, Sam. We always talk like yeah, it’s a funny story. But I was doing my thing as a trainer. I started the whole health club thing. I just thought it was a dead-end for trainers. Once you’re out on your own, it’s just so amazing. Like have your job as we all know like that kind of job – well, having a job period like a typical manufacture job sucks but that kind of job, working in a health club sucks even more. So once I was out like it was such an amazing experience finally making money, making money that people thought I never – I was never going to make, being able to do what I wanted to do, call my own shots. That was really good. And I felt that I had a story to tell in that sense.
On the other hand too, I felt like I was ready for something new. This is when fitness marketing was becoming very big Ryan Lee was really going [indiscernible] [0:01:43] at that time. I went to his events. So a combination of both factors, I was ready to take the next step, I want a new challenge. And also, I felt like I have a really good story to tell. So, that’s why I do it. I delved into at first and everything I do was geared towards those kinds of trainers. I had a health club job. We’re getting strong, maybe I had a few clients on the side but didn’t really know how to get themselves organized and take it to the next level. And I had a lot of – my former customers [indiscernible] [0:02:13] to yours moved up and done amazing things. Michael Duivis was a health club employee. He bought my course. Quit the next day or two weeks later, the rest is history.
A lot of guys that I’ve seen, your friend at the last event, The Weekend With Sam, I haven’t spoken to these guys …
Sam: Shameless plug, February 1st and 2nd, 2013, Irvine, California. Shameless plug. Be there.
Kaiser: Yeah. So, all those guys who I hadn’t seen and talked to in a long time were guys who cost me [Phonetic] some money, that just bought my courses and they moved up and doing really big things, multi – multiple 6-figure for any businesses. Yes. So I feel like what I did was a lot – was a lot of fun, it gave me everything. I got a lot out of it besides money and it got me to where I am now. Why I – I’m not in my business anymore now. I’ve done my own thing offline back in the fitness business and I’ve done it in a way that again, serves me, serves my lifestyle and gives me challenges.
Sam: Yeah. I remember when you had Super-Trainer, I was a huge fan of Super-Trainer. And I remember, every time that you sent out an email and that’s one email like automatically, like within 30 seconds got opened because I wanted to – I love your no BS approach. I love the way you worded things and I thought that you didn’t sugar-coat anything and you just keep – give it like it was. So now tell me, how – what was your style? Why did you choose that style?
Kaiser: That’s always my style like I’m a little different. In the whole marketing – the whole marketing world or like this whole get-rich-quick marketing world, I mean you’re friends with all the top people in this business, John Carlton, Joe Polish, guys like that. I think what a lot of people, when they learned from these guys, they go a little bit too much on the side of hype. And I think even people that are doing well with it, other fitness business coaches, other coaches in other industries, you know they’re doing well and they have established businesses, they go too far in that area.
I’ve always been a little bit more about quality. We were discussing some of my old courses when we’re talking about the production that will open and that’s always kind of been something that on the one hand you want to be productive, you want to get a lot of content, a lot of products and stuff out there but on the other hand, like I had this discussion with one of my trainers, he runs one of the boot camps and he says like, “We could do things differently but I wouldn’t even like coming in here. Like I myself would feel sick coming in here.”
So it’s the same thing like I don’t want a website – a blog post. I can just get it out there, just put together some stuff, just vomit on the page or whatever, just throw some pitches in there. But I don’t feel comfortable with that. Even if that’s the way you’re supposed to do it. I wouldn’t like that. And so, I used to do something internal – with me, you’ve been talking about why and you asked me, “Why did I start Super-Trainer?” and I was reading a book, Start With Why, I’m sure you’ve read that book. I’ve bought it actually because I saw …
Sam: Yeah.
Kaiser: Yeah, I saw it at your place. Yeah. And he talks a lot about that that when you do something just from the marketing angle, just to move products, just because of a survey you did or whatever, it’s hollow. But if there’s something internal inside of you, if that’s what’s coming out then that’s when something [indiscernible] [0:05:30]. That’s why he keeps pointing at Apple. So when Apple lost Steve Jobs and it was around no – it’s still doing really well. So that’s I guess along when you [indiscernible] answer your question.
Sam: So now – I know that now you have some very, very successful offline businesses. And you do some serious volume. When some of your numbers that I’ve seen people coming through that man I’m like, “Holy cow!” Tell me – what is your number one tip for success? What do you do to get that kind of volume into your boot camps? What are you doing?
Kaiser: It’s something that you talk about all the time, I think it would probably be the one word that just describes Super-Trainer is differentiation. You talk about that all the time. And I was listening to Differentiate or Die [indiscernible] [0:06:26] when I was going to sleep the other night, I just – I had it on. And there are two things he talks about, that was two ideas going to any businesses, how it operates, that needs to be – that needs to be done properly and the strategy. Now to that, I was kind of thinking about – the other thing that I’m sure you’ve heard of this in marketing, just knowing – being tactically very strong. And so, I think that’s one thing he forgot, the author of that book. But one thing I hang my head on is I’m not a good tactical marketer. I was just telling you I’ve sent – I’ve not yet sent a single email to my list.
Sam: Wow!
Kaiser: And the operations, we always want to delegate as much as possible. So I pay a manager. What typically a business owner would do, I pay a manager a lot of money to handle the operations. What I hang my head on, I feel and this is like a funny thing to say but it’s a strategy. I just – I’ve learned a lot. We just talked about my years at Super-Trainer, spent a lot of years learning skills, spent a lot of time learning. And this is making those good decisions upstream, making my place a place that I feel appeals to my target market, making the tone of my business. The message we communicate on Facebook, the message we communicate within the place, the style of the training, the music, uniform, exercises, description of exercises, the type of trainers, everything, I just – I feel like – those decisions I spent a lot of time on. I’m a perfectionist on them. And when you do that, even if your strategies suck – even if your tactics suck, word of mouth and all that stuff is such – so big in a business.
And I also feel that when you do get a lid in, I did not talk about this in a blog post over a few weeks recently, that when you go to a restaurant, there’s a feeling you get that you know the food is going to be good, the second you step in. And there’s also the feeling you get the second you step in and you speak to the first person standing at the door that you know it’s going to suck. And there’s nothing really that’s going to change your mind.
So I tried to get that part right. And then everything kind of – and once I get my act together with your help and everything else and maybe – you can’t fix [indiscernible] [0:08:38].
Sam: One thing that you mentioned was before that always stuck with me and this is something that I would – lesson that I’ve learned from you and to this day man, everywhere I go, I always remember your quote. And it’s – you know what you said? “The person who has the most important product for the best price is always going to win.” You said that, “In every trade, the person with the best product, most important product and the best price where there is the drug-free, where there is boot camp or where there is fitness training, is always going to win.”
And as simple as that statement might be, I took that to heart and really, really started implementing it in my own programs. Like right now, if you look at it, I love the auto industry. I’m looking at it and one of the fastest growing companies is Hyundai. Now, a few years ago nobody ever looked at a Hyundai or ever thought about buying a Hyundai. But if you look at them right now, they – these Hyundais are with 100,000 miles warranty, they look better than some of the Toyotas and the Hondas out there. And now, I see them in pretty much every corner. Again, the best product, the most important product for the best price with that kind of a – like the best warranty.
So, tell me how you – I mean you structured your boot camp that way. That’s where you’re getting the volume that you’re getting that’s why you don’t ever have to worry about your next client. So can you elaborate how you’re doing that?
Kaiser: Yeah. I mean that’s so true, man. The potency, and that’s what, what I was talking about that I heard in the book that – that I would equate to the whole operations thing. At the workout environment, that has to be potent. Now, there’s also the whole part of differentiation that I talked about. So that’s the other aspect. But if the product sucks, then – and it’s not a potent product …
Sam: So, your workout is like crack [Phonetic] [0:10:32].
Kaiser. Exactly, yeah.
Sam: They got to – they got to come. They are feeding to go and get some more.
Kaiser: Yeah, yeah. Speaking of blog post, I’m writing a post about that because that’s what you hear over and over again. Yeah, exactly. That’s the potency of the product. At the end of the day, you can differentiate, you can market, you can be good tactically but if they taste test your product and they taste test the next guy, the next guy is – that’s going to – that’s going to speak for itself. So that product has got to be strong.
Sam: And I feel like these days, just the whole marketing has changed. Some of the marketing channels that used to work, doesn’t work anymore. And with the invention of things like social media, you can’t like put a lid on something and feel like it’s not going to get out there. If you suck, it’s going to get out there that you suck. There is all these review sites. There is Facebook, Twitter. People can post stuff and it just gets – go viral right anyway. So having said that, what are some of the things that you’re doing as far as the marketing methods that used to work that don’t work? And what are you doing to the things are really, really working for you?
Kaiser: You’re talking about things that you take away from talking to me, there’s one thing that I took away the last time I came out here. I came out in this networking for a full day, it’s a couple of months ago, and there’s one thing you told me, this was in the last day, it was like a little throw-away idea. We were just sitting, we’re tired already and we’re just relaxing and you told me that at the end of the day, you just – you can be long-winded, you can do all this on – you just got to produce.
At a certain point, you have to produce. All that stuff, all the games at a certain point, you’re going to run out. And that’s what we’re doing. That we’re just – again, there’s so much importance to marketing differentiation but we’re trying to get better. I’m always hesitant to say that because being better isn’t only enough. We know that there are so many trainers that are going to every training event trying to become better trainers and that’s not helping them. So that’s why I’m hesitant to say that but we’re just trying to get better.
Sam: Yap.
Kaiser: Our trainers became more knowledgeable, a lot of time they continue education, constantly improving the workouts. That’s what we’re doing because yeah, we have had tremendous inflow, we have made good sales, we do have a lot of people that are kind of tied down on contracts but then what’s going to happen next year? At a certain point, there’s going to be time to when people go, “Show me the money” every time we produce. So that’s what we’re doing.
Sam: The ruler has to hit the floor sometime. The ruler got to meet the rope. Now, we talked about the two different types of trainer. The trainer that’s all about marketing and the trainer that’s all about the craft. And we know that one without the other doesn’t really work. You got to kind of have to do both, right? But here’s what my feelings about it really quick and let me know if you agree with this. I feel like if you are really good at craft, so you can get people in shape, great customer service, great training, OK? You might get a – get a little bit slower. And you may now have many clients off the bat but overtime, with the word of mouth, with the social media, with things like Google Reviews [indiscernible] [0:13:50] that kind of stuff, the word will get out and sooner or later you will get busy. OK? But you might not get out – get off again as fast, right?
But then you have the other fitness marketer which is really, really good at marketing and maybe is not really good at the service, that’s not really good at the craft. So, he might get out and leap really fast and he’s going to get a bunch of people signed up. And then again, what you talked about, sooner or later you got to show me the money. Right? You got a bunch of people signed up but you can’t really produce so many results and the service is not there.
I feel like if that’s the case, the more people get in front of you and find out that you’re not their real deal and you’re not doing well and you’re not producing results, the faster it’s going to go viral that you’re not any good. And it’s kind of like marketing yourself out of business. And I’ve seen that happened over. Have you – do you have anything to say with that?
Kaiser: Now in a real world for example like I pointed to you, I think any business that really blows up really fast and then you don’t hear about them anymore. These companies [indiscernible] [0:14:49] Super Bowl ads and stuff like that, they’re not around anymore just because whatever the product was, it just wasn’t the right product or we’ll see this, talking a lot about just kind of the type of marketing that – all my marketing and stuff like that, some person will have a product, a lot of people will get behind it, promote that person. But if that person sucks or the product sucks, sure that the emails went out to thousands of people, the network is essentially finished.
Sam: Yeah. Now, I’m going to ask you a couple of just like one-word questions. I’m going to throw a word at you and I want you to just give me like really quick what you think of it. Boot camps.
Kaiser: Boot camps, really quick. Wow! I mean that’s what I do. So really quick. Intensity. Lots of people are expecting, in my opinion. You’ve talked a lot about how you advise fitness professionals these days about starting a business not to name a boot camp, but in my mind when someone sees that boot camp, they’re expecting something. There is still something in their mind that’s expecting. So, intensity.
Sam: OK, intensity. One-on-one training.
Kaiser: Personally-born.
Sam: OK. So, how about private training?
Kaiser: It has its place. I think there is – it’s another – boot camp is very big semi private session. So you could raise a plus point and decrease the [indiscernible] [0:16:26] those people in your class.
Sam: Supplements.
Kaiser: Essential.
Sam: OK. OK. What will be – if you – somebody who is just getting started today in the game, what would be the top three advice you would give them?
Kaiser: For someone who is just getting started, probably a little bit of something that we’ve talked about. Get very strong at your craft. Learn a lot about marketing. And the last point is something that I think a lot of us with businesses that are doing well almost forget, presentation has to be strong too. I think that’s part of marketing which is also a bit different.
Sam: Presentation, like you mean when somebody comes in to your door, what are they going to see, how are they going to get greeted, is that the presentation you’re talking about?
Kaiser: Yes, yes. How you walk, how the place looks, yeah. That’s exactly right.
Sam: Speaking of that, do you feel like if you’re a trainer, you got to look like a trainer?
Kaiser: Yes. Yap. You know what’s funny? What you’re just talking about being strong at your craft will get you very far. But I learned from a lot of people. I won’t lie from you. Obviously, you’re probably one of the people in business I learned the most from. But I took a trip out and I visited Gunnar Peterson not too long ago. I spent sometime at his place.
Sam: I remembered that.
Kaiser: Yeah. And we talked for a long time for a couple of hours. And this guy was one of the strongest as his craft.
Sam: Yeah.
Kaiser: If you ever catch him, he’s always like, “I’m reading something,” or whatever. He’s reading – he’s reading research.
Sam: He’s one of the best.
Kaiser: And the only thing he talked to me about was presentation-related topics. He didn’t talk about marketing. He doesn’t do any over marketing. He doesn’t send emails out to his list. He’s never had a PR person or anything like that. But everything he talked about was how does the place smell, how does it look, how do you smell, are you spitting on your clients? Everything was presentation-related. And that’s – part of that is due to the people he’s catering to. He’s used to the best of everything, eating at the best place, wine, everything. He’s used to the absolute best. But – and there’s a big lesson on that. He doesn’t – he didn’t have to be strong in marketing because he’s very strong in his craft and presentation. He got two of them very, very, very right.
Sam: Well, they said there is that push marketing and there is a pull marketing. And a push marketing is when you’re always trying to push people to try your stuff. And a pull marketing is you do all the right stuff and you just pull people or just gravitate them towards you. And it’s so much – I always tell my little cousin, he just moved here, he’s 18 years old so he’s all into the girls. I’m like – it’s the same thing. If the girl is sitting at a club or at a bar, I don’t care. It’s not a church. It doesn’t – the location doesn’t matter. But if you really like that girl, if you just go out there and try to push up on her, most likely she’s going to be turned off. You know what I mean? But if you do all the right things and keep back, she’ll be more attracted to you.
So it’s always been – I think that the pull marketing is just so much more attractive than the push marketing.
Kaiser: I totally agree.
Sam: Well, thanks man. Thanks for all that awesome interview.
Kaiser: Yes.
Sam: My boy, Kaiser, the original Super-Trainer in the house who visits me here from New York. Thanks so much. Talk to you next.
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