(bright upbeat music)
- Vince Del Monte now this is not
just a social media influencer,
he's really the trainer for trainer,
right? - Yap.
Like they are the fitness expert for fitness expert.
So Vince, maybe take us back in the beginning a little bit,
like from days back then,
like how did you get into business,
and how did you get into what you do today?
- Yeah, sure well,
I knew nothing about business way back in the day.
I was nicknamed skinny Vinnie.
I was a long distance runner,
I was raised in a runners family.
- Yes. - Went to school,
and I got a degree in Exercise Science
in our university would call it kinesiology,
and I was destined to be a high school physique teacher.
- [Dan] Oh, wow.
- Yeah, that's what I was meant to do because, you know,
summers off and hey, you're helping kids
and you're sounding a cool I'll be a physique teacher,
and while I was going to school,
I was also enamored by these dudes I was living with
who were buffed and super muscular,
remember, I was skinny Vinnie.
- [Dan] Yes.
- And I was really always trying to figure out my identity,
and thank goodness I had running.
I was a very competitive long distance runner,
I was very good at it.
I found my identity in it,
I've been represented Canada in triathlon
and went to the World Championships.
And that's kinda how I got through university
and through high school, and I managed the nicknames.
But I always had this curiosity with,
if I transferred 60 to 100 miles a week of running
into the gym.
- What would that look like?
- Yeah, could I get big?
It was just a curiosity, there was not like,
can I monetize this?
Can I write an E-book?
Can I make more money?
- Just doing it for your own like improvement,
right? - That was.
- Got it. - Just to get the girls
at the front desk and maybe take a second look,
that was it. - Yes.
- So um, I get into the workforce
after spending $50,000 on a university education
and working for $10 an hour at the age of 22
at a local YMCA,
five minutes from my house where my dad works.
So and one of the first things my dad asked me
after he sees me in the gym every day,
helping other gentlemen, do the back extension,
the same machine, he uses he's,
"Are you gonna be a personal trainer when you're 35?"
And I thought, he doesn't believe in this path.
And I quickly realized
that it wasn't his job to believe in me
because nobody has ever gone down this path,
there was no playbook for being a personal trainer--
- At that time did he feel like that's not a real career?
- Yeah. - It's almost like,
it's just a hobby that you do, right?
- And do how you make it 10 bucks an hour
after a $50,000 university education?
You know, I mean, anyone on the other side would be,
"How do you make that calculation?"
So I quickly realized that I needed to make him believe
and that's when I started getting introduced
to books on wealth creation, one specifically,
"The Cashflow Quadrant" by Robert Kiyosaki,
and I quickly realized
that I was hitting a ceiling working at the gym.
And my first inclination was asked for a raise.
So I asked my boss for a raise, and she said,
"Let me talk to the boss."
They came back to me the next day and they said,
"Yes, we can give you a raise,
"in one year from now, we can give you a $1 raise."
From 10 to $11 an hour, and that's when I discovered
the definition of job, Just Over Broke.
And that's when I realized
it wasn't my boss's job to make me rich,
but to provide me a paycheck, I was capped.
And I went to a gym nearby that was known for sales,
very aggressive, it was always full.
And I got my first introduction to selling,
which is something like--
- You sell your gym membership?
- Gym memberships, and then quickly
so I could make more selling personal training,
and selling 144 sessions and getting a 10 to 20% commission,
And I quickly saw--
- You do high-ticket sales?
- Literally. - That's like
high-ticket closing right there.
- I was doing high-ticket closing at the age of 22.
- What was the package and what was the amount?
- So my biggest package was 44 sorry, 144 sessions.
- For how much? - At you get a reduction
on that if they paid in full for $40.
And I still remember my biggest package was selling
a husband and a wife for the year paid in full,
and it just blew my mind. - How much was that?
- Sounds around six, 7,000 dollars,
but then I made 20% on that.
- That's like, yeah.
- Yeah, and I quickly realized
that was my first introduction
that I could write my own paycheck.
And I was like, wow, this is my opportunity
to figure out how to make a name for myself
and how to master this skill of selling
and communicating persuasion, and following up with people
and handling rejection.
I had no idea that I was building
what we would call today entrepreneur muscles.
And I didn't know I was building this emotional resilience,
that has served me to this day,
but that's where it all started.
That's where like my birth into the world of sales
and I became the guy in the gym,
where everybody would just keep showing up at the office
with coffee, and they just put it outside the door
and they just want me to stay in the office
because it's my job to sell
the training. - Sell the training, yeah.
- And I was writing everybody's paychecks,
not literally but--
- But you created, you're the Rainmaker,
you're the one that's generating revenue.
- And I was like, I'm running the show.
I'm like, Well, I brought this one department
from two personal trainers to 15 personal trainers
because I knew how to sell. - Yes.
Which is the number one skill you need
by the way to be successful in business.
- Yeah, - And the ability
to sell and close.
- The next thing I know my boss is offering me 20%
I started down at 10%, and when I sold over 20,000,
I get 20% on that instead of
I think 5% as a scale structure, which was really smart
and then you remove my base,
and I just work on pure commission and I mean,
on my mid 20s I was-- - You were closing.
- Yeah, I was closing,
I was a high ticket closer my mid 20s.
And I loved it, but it was also a roller coaster.
It was a fricking roller.
It was days I was like, this is brutal,
people left the office because I got things got awkward,
I didn't know what I was doing half the time,
but I was persistent.
And it was probably man oh man, I learned more
from those years selling in the gym
than I did four years combined the university.
- What are some of the things that you maybe
one or two key lessons you've learned during
that period of time that helps you close a lot of sales?
- People are not buying a product,
and they're not buying an outcome.
When you buy Personal Training,
you walk in overweight, you walk out overweight.
People are buying feelings.
- Yeah, emotions.
- And the more you make someone feel
the more you get someone to buy.
- I like it.
'Cause if you think about it,
even if someone who buys Personal Training,
yes, if they are going to show it up, exercise
and couple times one wonder how many times per week,
will have a personal trainer?
but that's still a future possible outcome.
- Right. - Right?
But they are investing they're buying right now
to get the outcome right?
So I think you all need to understand,
people they buy because emotions they justify with logic.
I think we know that.
So that's cool I like that, give me another one.
- Yeah, I think also, um, one thing I always threw up
threw back at people was,
are you doing this with or without us?
Are you doing this with or without us?
So you joined the gym,
so you're gonna lose 30 pounds no matter what, right?
Yeah?
Okay, cool.
So you understand today, you're buying four things,
you're buying speed, you're buying knowledge,
you're buying relationships,
and you're buying accountability.
Does that makes sense?
So you're already invested, so I wanna find out,
are you pursuing this, whether you hire us or not?
And now they see us as a vehicle to get there faster.
So I want them to know what they're buying.
- Yes. - Right?
And that way, they could say, "Yeah, I'm buying speed,
"I'm buying knowledge, I'm buying relationships."
You know, they're in a culture of
community of trainers
and other--
- It's like they are in community, right?
- Yeah, yeah, and then they're buying accountability.
So I think that's really really important
so that when they say "Yes, I'm doing this."
Like a cool, and I think
that's really big, because people get that.
- Yeah, and they can see oh, maybe just on my own,
well, I am going to get there slower,
I'm not gonna get the knowledge as fast
'cause as I kind of figuring out on still,
the school Hard Knocks right?
I'm not gonna get their relationship
'cause I'm just kinda do it on my own.
And I definitely don't get accountability
'cause no one holds me accountable except myself.
So they kinda get no no no no for all four right?
That's interesting.