Why Live Video Calls Can Make All The Difference In Your Fitness Program
Have you ever wished to be the star of your own film?
Me neither.
Whether the spotlight makes you stand taller or slink sweatily into the back of the room, occasionally standing in front of our audience is a must for every coach.
But how do you connect with your clients during the current COVID crisis?
It’s done with live calls.
When you’re running a group training program, live calls are one of the most pivotal ways to drive real, authentic connections with clients.
If you’ve been camera shy or just want a refresher on how to conduct a killer live call with your clients, we’re here for you. We’re going to drop a strategy you can use whether you’re running a live health and fitness summit, meeting one-on-one with a client, or hopping on Instagram Live.
Get you notebook out, here’s 4 simple steps…
1. Create Your Live Call Plan
A captivating live call that leaves absentees with FOMO must have a gripping topic. Just like you do when creating content, pick a subject that is really important to your audience, answers a pertinent question they have, or gives them the key to fixing a problem they’re struggling with.
Next, outline the topic or topics you want to cover. Rather than getting super technical covering personal training science or geeking out about niche nutrition research, keep your points simple, relatable, and actionable.
For example, if your clients are struggling with sugar cravings, your live call could quickly cover why we have sugar cravings (keep it simple). Then you could talk about the most common habits we all have that can make those sugar cravings worse (make it relatable). Finally, you could give them three simple changes they can make this week that will lessen their sugar cravings (give them action steps).
Afterward, open up the floor for questions and responses. Help your clients gain the most from your talk, absorb all the info, and ask pointed questions by staying on one or two topics.
Keep a time limit of an hour or less to make sure you or your attendees don’t start monologuing. You’ve got a business to run, after all.
2. Pick Your Platform
After creating your live call plan, pick the platform that would work best for your current and potential clients. Depending on your plan and the people you’re inviting, different live video chat tools could be a great fit.
All three of the options below allow you to record and save your live calls from your computer—an important step we’ll get into later on. For now, check out these three to get started:
- Zoom: Before 2020, many of us hadn’t even heard of this video conferencing app. But today, it’s in many of our daily routines. It’s a great user-friendly option whether you’re meeting one-on-one or demonstrating exercises and leading yoga classes. Plus, its handy scheduling function for meetings makes it easy for people to join in. Here’re Zoom’s quick instructional videos for getting set up.
- GoToMeeting: Another popular tool for video conferencing, GoToMeeting also has great features. You can share your screen, provide HD video, and make sure no one bomb’s your live call thanks to their SSL encryption for security. GoTo has a long list of instruction videos you can watch to get started.
- Google Hangouts: Within Google Hangouts, you can send messages, make voice calls, and conduct video chats with up to 10 people. Google Hangouts is another super popular option today for video conferences that might be a great fit for your live call. Here’s an instructional video that’ll help you get set up and started on Google Hangouts.
Some alternative tools you could also try include:
- Facebook Live: Facebook Live lets you Livestream events, chats, performances, and gatherings on Facebook. To invite others to join in and share their video as well, follow these four steps:
- Tap the red camera icon at the top of your News Feed.
- Tap “Start Live Video”
- At the bottom of your screen, you’ll see this icon: Tap it to invite friends or group members.
- If a viewer has a good question, you can add their video to your live call by tapping . Select the friend from your viewers list and then tap Add. Your friend will receive a notification to join your live video. When they’re done asking their question, just tap the X on your friend’s video to remove it.
- Instagram Live: Like Facebook Live, this tool within Instagram’s platform lets you broadcast video to your followers in real-time. Adding in an audience member with a question to your IG live takes four steps:
- Tap the top or swipe right in Feed, and scroll to Live at the bottom of your screen.
- Touch the bottom.
- Tap on a person’s name to invite them to join your live video. Then tap Add.
- Once they accept the invitation to join, they’ll appear in a split-screen view.
These tools also work great for public and private groups. It’s up to you what tools will work best for your plan and people, but don’t be scared off by the options.
Pick the platform and tool that seems best and experiment with others later on. After a few tries, you’ll find what’s most comfortable and gets the best response from your audience.
3. Set the Date and Start Promoting
Now that you’ve created your plan and picked your platform, it’s time to get it on the calendar.
The entire purpose of going live is to connect with current clients and gain new ones, so don’t just pick the most convenient time for you. If you step in front of the camera at 5pm happy hour on Thursday or the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, the only show-ups might be two or three crickets on the other end.
Make sure to take your time and pick a date and time when you know your audience will be available. Try a weekday evening or a lunchtime slot where people are likely on break. Make it as easy as scrolling through social media on off-hours for them to show up for your live call and ask questions.
Once you’ve solidified a date and time, shout it from the rooftops. Promote the hell out of your live call to your clients. Mention it in your weekly emails, post about it on your social media or private client groups, even consider mentioning them on your services page on your website.
Express to your people how they’ll have a chance to chat in real-time and get answers to their most urgent questions and they will come armed with plenty to ask.
4. Time to Step Up and Go Live
You’ve done the prep work. Now it’s time to step up and go live.
A solid time strategy is to give yourself a 30-45 minute talking window, then a good 15-30 minute time slot for questions from clients.
Sometimes live calls can get derailed and off-topic. Someone attending your live call might have a great question, but one that doesn’t really apply to the rest of the group. Rather than making the rest of the group sit and wait, say suggest following up via email to set a time to discuss individually. This will keep your live call on topic and ensure that the client has their question answered.
What do you do after your live call?
First, make sure to record and save them. Afterward, share your live calls with those who attended so they can make sure they caught all the golden information you offered. Just simply send your saved live call via a link in a follow-up email and thank them for joining.
And that’s it! You can dust your hands and tuck away a great and first live call into your business toolbelt. Now, you simply can rinse, repeat, and watch your clients return for more.
Say goodbye to stage fright, and hello to the limelight.
Even professional speakers deal with nervous butterflies before getting out there in front of a crowd but with these four steps, you’ll be prepared to run successful live calls that will grow your coaching business and your wallet.
Kick that stage fright aside and step into the spotlight. Get your first live call under your belt and you’ll see how simple it really is.
If you want to sit back and watch someone else complete a live call first, we won’t judge. You can join us on one of ours when you build your own app with SPRNG. We run live calls with our SPRNG coaches 2 times a month to talk marketing strategy, industry news, and more.
If you’re ready to take your coaching business seriously and start drawing in new clients and cash in loads, take six seconds and schedule a free demo of the SPRNG app. We’ll show you how to get your own personalized coaching app that will boost your business like no other tool out there today.
In the meantime, we’d love to stay in touch. Join our weekly SPRNG newsletter and get our top business tips sent straight to your inbox.