The Game with Alex Hormozi - Competitors Stealing Customers & Tactical Abundance | Ep 190

Episode Date: March 20, 2020

"Winners will always win. Whenever there's panic, there's always opportunity." Today, Alex (@AlexHormozi) provides advice and strategies for gym owners to navigate the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. He discusses the importance of transitioning to remote training, cutting overhead costs, and running advertisements to fill the bucket back up.Welcome to The Game w/Alex Hormozi, hosted by entrepreneur, founder, investor, author, public speaker, and content creator Alex Hormozi. On this podcast you’ll hear how to get more customers, make more profit per customer, how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons Alex has learned on his path from $100M to $1B in net worth.Timestamps:(1:54) - Competitors don't steal clients, but you lose clients.(4:58) - Reciprocal relationships elevate both parties and promote growth.(11:56) - Improved headspace leads to helping others indirectly.(12:50) - Best clients share aligned psychological beliefs and values.(16:15) - Tactical abundance: use my resources, don't talk bad, be apathetic.Follow Alex Hormozi’s Socials:LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Acquisition

Your competitors don't steal clients from you, right? No one steals clients. You lose clients. Welcome to the Jim Secrets podcast where you talk about how to get more customers, how to make more per customer and how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons that we have learned along the way. I hope you enjoy and subscribe. What's going, everyone?

Happy Saturday morning or whenever it is that you are listening to this. I wanted to, this just came to mind. I've had a bunch of recent experiences that have kind of, really made me think about how I approach or think about competitors, quote, stealing clients, and kind of the reverse of that, what I'm calling like tactical abundance. So over the last, I don't know, how many years I've had people in, you know, our direct space who served gym owners, et cetera, reach out because they wanted help, you know, with their businesses. and I, believe it or not, help them out with their businesses, even though they directly,

quote, compete with my business. And I kind of wanted to give you a little bit of breakdown around that. Now, if someone is publicly, you know, just an asshole about me, then I'm probably not going to help them. But for anyone else, I help them with their business. And I think that it has been one of the things that has kept me sane throughout this process and I think you've if you've been in this space for a while or any kind of the information marketing et cetera space people come they they zoom up you know and then they poof they're gone right

and you know I think we've stood the test of time and we've been a very big person in this category the biggest that I'm aware of for a very long period of time at this point and so I just wanted to kind of break down some of the thoughts around it and I think that they will serve you from a mental health standpoint in thinking about your competitors so first is that some of the beliefs that I have around this. First, your, you don't, your competitors don't steal clients from you, right? No one steals clients. You lose clients, right? Just like, in my opinion, no one steals your wife. You lose your wife. Your wife becomes open, or your spouse, whatever, becomes open to the possibility of entertaining someone else, right? They become open to the

possibility during some instance or instances that amount during your relationship. with them. There have probably been times in your relationship with your spouse where if someone came onto you, you were just like, I have like, no, I'm not open for business. Like, nothing wrong with you. I'm sure you're a great person. I just like, I'm, I'm, I'm in. Like, I'm not on the market or not for sale, right? And I think that if you, if you think about your customer relationship, and I think all relationships are like this, in that same context, it allows you, one, to have a lot more power in your own business. And two, to just stop all of the, the mindless, needless worrying that comes with managing lots of relationships, right?

Because that's ultimately what we're doing is we're building a relationship at scale. When you have a service-based business, you're having a relationship with your customers at scale and trying to replicate yourself and your beliefs in how you act and how you want to treat your customers with staff who are less incentivized than you are, right? Everyone is intrinsically less incentivized than you are to help your customers, right? And so I think it's one of the most freeing things in the entire world to help someone who in most people's minds would be a direct competitor. And I can tell you that the more times I have done this, one, the amount of awe and shock that you get from the person who you are helping of like, are you helping me. Like, I don't get it.

It fundamentally shifts how they view the world when you help them when you don't have a quote vested interest in them succeeding. In any ways, you have a correlate, you have a direct or what most people would consider an inverse, what do you call it, incentive to help them, right? You'd be incentivized to not help them and have them go down. But it just hasn't been my experience because what What happens is, one, more and more people are like, you know what, that guy's legit. You know, like he really actually wants to help.

And if you do genuinely believe in your mission of helping your client, if you really want to help, I mean, because I hear it all the time, Jimmer's like, I want to help a million people lose weight. I'm like, do you think realistically in the next year you're going to help a million people lose weight? Do you think in five years to help a million people lose weight? Probably not. So if you helped somebody else who probably has a pretty similar mission to you, do you think

that net positive it's going to be a good or a bad thing, you're probably just going to help more people. And you'll build a relationship with someone else who also actually struggles with, believe it or not, the same things you do. And what happens is you start creating these reciprocal relationships where both of you get better, right? And then all it does is just elevate the bar. And the people who want to have a more scarcity mindset continue to isolate themselves onto their islands. And the communal whole always grows better than an individual, period. The Jimler's community is far more valuable than I on my own could ever create anything, right? It's just because as a community, we can test at such a faster rate and we can innovate

at such a faster rate that if you're not in that community, you're at a fundamental disadvantage. And so it works with any type of business, right? Like it's not just, you know, the info business or not just the gymnast, but any business. And I'm just saying, like right now I'm actually prioritizing, so this may sound crazy to everyone, but I'm actually prioritizing helping a lot of other people who are in the gym space who serve gyms. Because, just because, you know, we've, we've, we've made, we've made more than, more than multiple lifetimes worth of wealth. And I just can tell you that the more abundant my thought processes around this, the more

money I make. And also, just like the better I feel. Like I, like, I can, I can look in the mirror and be like, I really do believe in this mission of saying that we're trying to help these, you know, small business owners just do better because it's hard to say that. And then at the same time when you have a direct way of helping another group of business owners that you're not going to help. And, you know, one of the things is like understanding how big the, like, freaking pie is.

Like the pie is huge. You know, when I hear, I mean, even in this group, you know, in this free group, like, people say, what if there's other gyms using gym launch in my neighborhood? Well, one, if you're not one of them, then you're at a fundamental disadvantage, number one. Number two, there's also like 500 other gyms that aren't using it. So would you rather be one of the six that is or would you rather not? You know what I mean? And what ends up happening is that the six that are just end up keeping more customers

and serving them better and ultimately making a more profound impact. And so in thinking about that, I guess I'm trying to give like tactical abundance. It's like you only lose customers. No one steals them from you. Stop thinking that anyone steals your customers. Like no business has had any impact on the growth of gym launch whatsoever. New guy starts up. Steels, word for word, copies and paste everything that we have at gym launch.

Are they as big as gym launch? No, because they don't have the skills to build that, right? Because if that's the mind space that you're operating out of, you're never going to be. Right. You're not going to be best from that. Right. And so like it's like the only way to win is to just kind of realize that it's not about you and that there's a much bigger game of foot. Right. There's a much bigger game. And like I even have this conversation because I've just recently had this conversation with probably 10 different people who are gym agencies, gym gurus, things like that. And like, and like I've had on almost all of them the same moment where they're like, dude, I can't believe you're helping me. And I'm like, dude, I don't like there's enough. There's enough gyms. There's enough gyms that need help. that we can all pitch in, right? The market's huge.

It's so much bigger than you think it is. And me as probably the biggest player in the space, I'm telling you, we're a tiny droplet in the ocean of help that is needed. The supply of help that I can provide is still so limited compared to the demand that exists for gym owners or any business owner that needs help, right? And it would be egotistical of me to say,

every single person is going to be attracted to my style, my candor, my message, and kind of who I am. Right. Like, I am somewhat polarizing and partially by design from a marketing standpoint because I want to attract people who are willing to grind, who are willing to hustle, who are willing to roll their sleeves up. You know, like, I'm taking sales calls for something right now that makes zero financial sense for me to do.

But I'm doing it because that's what I believe in, right? I tell everyone in our community, you should sell it first. You should get on the phone first. You should work chat. You should work intercom. This isn't my company, right? I know that because I do it, right? And then that way I have absolute conviction in understanding the problems that each of the positions that are my company have.

Any executive that wants to start at Zappos, which is a billion dollar plus shoe company that Amazon owns, they have to start by working frontline customer service for two weeks. Super highly paid executives, you know, million dollar plus, multimillion dollar plus, executive stock options, bonuses and all that stuff, starting at a front line. frontline job so that they can understand how it really works. And so they can make decisions based on reality, not their theoretical chair mindset. And so I guess I say that to say, I try and have that messaging because that's what that's what we want to attract. But there are people who are not attracted to that like do the boring work, do the repetition, grow or die,

speed is king. You know what I mean? Violence is the answer. Like that's how I roll because that's what I believe works best in the people who vibe with that stay in our community and continue to succeed, right? And there are people who have come into our world and been like, I'm not about that, right? I want to, I want to, I want to, I want to have balance. I want to, I want to have this moral lifestyle thing. That's amazing. That is just not how I do business, right? Not to say that you can't, not to say that you can't, not to say that you can't, not to say that you can't, extra 200,000 a year, maybe you make an extra 80 and you're cool with that. And that's a tradeoff that you understand that you are making. Moza Nation, real quick, if you are a business

owner that has a big old business and wants to get to a much bigger business, going to $50, $100 million plus, we would love to talk to you. And if you like that, we'd like to hear more about it, go to acquisition.com and you can apply anywhere on the page and talk to one of our team and see if we can help you get there. Right. And so the thing is, is that there are other people, there are other agencies, there are other gym gurus, there are other whatevers, right? And I'm using the word guru loosely as much as what's so funny is that there's, there's so many people are like, I'm anti-gourou. I'm like, if you sell information on how to improve a business, you would be categorized

as a guru. So you can lament the name, but, and to be fair, when I got into the business, I think one of my, my first ads was stop believing gurus. I was like one of my first ads and I just went on this huge rant and actually did really well for a long time. The thing is just like, at the time, I was really like, I just had this, like, you know, like let me let me go beat the beat the world kind of mentality and I think it's really shifting the mentality from beating everyone to saving everyone and believe me I have no fucking savior

not at all but in terms of your mind space of like am I really trying to help or am I trying to win and I think that as we've as as as time has gone on and I feel like my headspace has improved it's really like how can I help it and the reality is that I can't and so if I can't other people that can help people that I'm still helping those people indirectly and that's good enough for me because like I said there are people who are not attracted to me there are people who are attracted to a female avatar right somebody who's a female guru because that's more what they vibe with there are people who are more like hey I travel all the time and this is my this this is this is this is who I'm like cool be attracted to them that's fine you know what I mean like you're going to

attract and repel and you can't go vanilla in the middle because then you're just not being true to who you are. And so I think it's like, be you, you'll attract the people who are right for you from a psychographic standpoint, not just demographics. It's not like, who's your client, woman who are trying to lose weight? If you really look at your best clients, they have psychological beliefs, they have values that are probably aligned with yours. And that is why they truly stay. Right. And so big picture, if you want to, if you help a competitor out, you're not even really detract them from your business because they probably have it. a somewhat different belief set, value set than you do.

And that's okay. But to help them get better results for their clients or help them retain their clients better, like the only thing that all of us are competing against is the couch, is doing nothing. Like the biggest winner in the marketplace in any market, B2B, B to C, whatever, is apathy. It's doing nothing. And if you can shift your mindset towards like all of us are together, all gym owners are united in the fact that we're trying to beat the couch. We're trying to beat doing nothing.

We're trying to beat staying at home and not showing up your appointment. We're trying to beat you saying no that you can't commit to something right now. We're all trying to beat that together. If you can shift your perspective from that, I guarantee you that you will have so much better headspace and life and just energy

that it's been a really profound change for me. And now that I've actually been leaning into this, it's been really rewarding for me. And believe it or not, I make the same amount of money as I did before. right but I feel a whole hell of a lot better right and so if you have these kind of you know animosity relationships like um I don't know if I'm going to show that uh I won't but let's let's say that you had a trainer right at your gym and they say you know what I'm out right and and they leave

and they take customers from you right your first gut reaction is to pace is to be like screw that guy. I hate that dude. He took my client. Right. Now, mind you, you lost him or her to the same degree that you would lose a client, right? Or that person grows and eventually gets to the point where they're like, this isn't, you know, I've evolved, I've grown. I've learned all the things that you've taught me and I think that I'm ready for the next chapter. If you can have, if you can have the conversation and say, I want to help you start a gym to your trainer. I want to help you. I guarantee you that the entire dynamic of your world will change. The thoughts that consume you, because believe it or not, when that trainer leaves, right,

and they have a negative experience and then they start smashing you and talking shit and all this stuff, right? Versus you being like, dude, let me help you with all the things that I struggled with early on. So you don't have to go through that. The whole dynamical change, A, B, by the way, all the shit talking that they're going to do against you is going to go. I'm just saying, I mean, unless they're an absolute psychopath. And you're really like, no, my trainer was a psychopath. Well, you hired them and they worked for you for a while. So maybe, maybe not.

Maybe it's just situation. Who knows? But let's just pretend that they're a normal person. They just have incentives. They're always self-interested. And you, being a smart business owner, want to align yourselves with people's selfish incentives. Because believe it or not, people always act on their own self-interest.

And if you do that and you always align with that, then you will be so much better served in your life. And so you have this conversation with this trainer and say, cool, how can I help you win? right how can I do you know how many people are overweight here like we should work together you know I mean there's so many people are overweight need help like if both of us are working to try and grow and improve then we're both going to improve at a faster rate because I can use some of the things you make you can use some of the things I make and we're going to grow together right versus having this this really scarcity mindset you getting in you know either a having them

should talk to you and then you should talk back which I strongly strongly advise against like the best road is to just not not engage that has been my experience this whole time is just don't engage because all people are going to see is you looking petty that's it and all they're going to say they're not even remember what the conversation was about they're just going to remember that you were petty and then the second is that uh if you if you do the if you decide not to do anything so one is you are petty and respond terrible decision option two is you don't respond at all option three is you rise truly above and you help the person even though most people would think that they wrong to you. And I think that it's literally been one of the most rewarding things for me in

terms of character growth that I've ever done. And so I just wanted to share that with you because it's been, it's been, it's been really transformative. It really has been. It's been, it's, it's, I'll even dare say it's been healing, um, to help people that you would once think for people who are against you. And so that's that's my, that's my tactical abundance for you is one, A, never talk shit. B, apathy, if you can't help, then don't try and flash out. But if you can get into the space where you can help people, right, who are in your mind, quote, stealing your customers, A, they're not, you're losing them. But you can actually work together and then accomplish the supposed mission that you said you

have because we are so small compared to the need. Your ability to supply help to the world of helping people lose weight, given your capacity in terms of your employees and your square footage and your everything is so limited compared to the demand that all we should be working on is how can we do it better so that we don't lose people right so that we can all collectively work against the couch so we can collectively work against apathy and I think that if you can reframe that it will really fundamentally change your life and so that's just it's been on my mind I've had I think 10, maybe 15 conversations with gym agencies and gurus over the last month or so

with people getting involved with Allen and whatnot that we're going to be rolling out. And I'm like, I just want to help you. I'm going to help you grow your business. I'm going to show you how we market. I'm going to show you how we retain customers. I'm going to show you how we serve people better. I'm going to show you how we can help your gyms increase their average client value. And they're like, why are you doing this?

And it's just like, I'd just rather everyone win. I really would. I genuinely would. And it's been what it's honestly been some of the most healing stuff that I've ever gone through. So that's my that's my two sense for everyone. I hope I hope it was somewhat valuable for you. Hopefully there's maybe there's someone in your heart that you harbor regret or you know anger or poison against. But the thing is it's like it only hurts you. And I think that's been one of the biggest revelations. It's like you just being angry only hurts you. It doesn't hurt anybody else. And so I think this is probably one of the most healing things that I've done. And I, I just strongly recommend it. So anyways, have an amazing day, guys. Hope you have a great Saturday. Hope you're crushing sales, taking names, taking credit cards, and saving lives, or at least helping. All right. Be easy. Bye.