A friend of mine asked me to help her out with her workout because she felt she needed to amp it up for the marathon she's running. She has been a member of a popular "Gym" chain for a couple of years which has now changed its name in order to serve a more diverse population. I'm not sure who was in charge but it was obvious to me that stupidity was running a muck.

She dicussed with me goals, time constraints and where she was going to train. I produced a workout card that I give all of my clients when they finish a consultation with me and she headed over to her "Gym" for her workout. Although I did my best to orientate her at my facility with exercises, reps and weights, the set up wasn't the same at "her Gym" so she asked one of their trainers for some help. Amazing but true: all she received was a couple of strange glances and some lame comment that they didn't know what a "Triangle Row" was. The trainer also went on to say that he was not familiar with most of the exercises on the workout card... so much for some help. As you would expect, I received a call from my friend and she relayed the story to me, asking if I would accompany her to her next workout. She didn't feel comfortable and thought she would perform the exercises incorrectly. I scheduled some time and off we went. This is where the bullshit began.

We walked into "her Gym" with my guest pass in hand. I was informed that I needed to fill out a form . . . fitness goals,age,name,address, I think you get the picture. BANG! Then it happened: "Mr. Castellano you need to meet with someone". What? Why? I came here to workout with my friend. Are you friggin' kidding me? Here comes "Smiling Bob", in his blue dress shirt, looking like he wants to sell me a used car. I have to give it to him, his shirt was pressed to impress. I felt every nerve in my body surge. Before he even started in on his sales pitch rant, I told him to stop and that I was only there because his inadequate staff couldn't help my friend and that I would just be working out with her this once. He didn't know what to do but to let me workout.

I'm not completely sure who has influenced this "Used Car Sales" approach but if these clubs know what's good for them, it needs to stop. A nice comment like "If you have any questions I'd be glad to help" or a mild greeting from the assistant manager, manager or sales person would go a long way in establishing a relationship with that potential customer. You don't need to be a sales and marketing genius to know that if you present yourself with a friendly smile, say your name clearly, that's a good first step in establishing a relationship with your potential customer. Whenever I get that full frontal assault I always feel like I'm under attack and will never buy what they are selling. Something I always try to do is get as much information from the potential customer, present myself in a way that would be positively memorable, let the person experience my workouts, products or websites and then follow up with them in a friendly manner and schedule a time to talk to them about how my products can help them.

If you're talking at me...I'm not listening. Go sell it somewhere else.