We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Scott Keppel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Scott below.
Scott, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How has Covid changed your business model?
Covid has changed not only our business model in a number of ways. When we had to shut down due to Covid we instantly lost approximately 80% of our business. Just like that we were faced with the reality of we either adhere to the Marine Corp philosophy of “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome” or we will need to close our business.
Along with other companies that not only survived, but thrived during the pandemic we chose to adapt. We started coaching clients using Zoom and FaceTime. We also met clients outside and once we were able to see clients in person we sanitized more than ever, created sections for clients to train to assure they had a safe distance and adhered to strict health guidelines. In addition, what I feel really kept us going is the fact that we stayed true to our word on how we handling business. I heard countless stories of companies stating they would practice social distancing, but did not. Those that stated they required masks, but in fact did not. We had our policies posted and adhered to them following the laws of Arizona and thus our clients new they could trust us and in turn referred even more people to us and came more often. The online coaching, which we were doing before really opened opportunities for clients to train with us and be a part of a community while working out where they felt safe. We now have more clients than ever that we train and online and I feel clients are more willing to train with someone online as long as they stay true to their word.
I believe due to the unfortunate fact that a number of people lost their jobs, had to change careers and/or just need to cut back on spending people started to value their dollar and time more than ever. This led to the best rising to the top and those that may have been delivering adequate or less services and/or products to close their doors. I do realize that some companies that were great and some people that are great had to shut down and this is less than fortunate, but I believe those that were able to pivot and listened to their consumers survived and some thrived.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have been coaching clients over 20 years. I got into the fitness/nutrition industry in college. I played division 3 football and during that time hurt myself badly and thus needed to change my program. Others saw the gains I was still making while not on the “normal” football program and started asking for advise. I then graduated college and worked in corporate America, but realized I had more to offer and pursued my personal training certification. Upon completion I moved from Ohio to Arizona to change my life and the lives of others. Since then I have coached clients with goals varying from losing over 100 lbs to recovering from breast cancer, pre/post natal, and I am the national fitness and nutrition coach for three different pageant systems and I work with several states in the Miss USA organization and the Miss America organization.
I have a brick and mortar in Chandler, AZ where I have 7 amazing coaches that work with me. We are all either nationally certified or have our degree in exercise science and kinesiology. Our focus is to empower and educate our clients no matter their fitness level and/or fitness goals.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
By far our best source of new clients comes from referrals. Word of mouth is the reason we are successful. We have run and continue to run ads on social media, we have done print ads, we have gone to events and we have been featured in both local and national media. At the end of the day, what our clients say about us has been the life blood of STS.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Where do I start? My wife had breast cancer twice. She broke both her arms at once. We both had hepatitis A. We both had Covid and lost 80% of our business due to Covid. We have had coaches leave and take clients with them. We have had business partners leave and stick us with payments on equipment. We have had neighbors that were not friendly and required us hiring a lawyer to defend our rights. I truly believe, what we have gone through we have grown through and they have all been learning opportunities.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.scottstrainingsystems.com, www.scottkeppel.com, www.thekeppelfoundation.org
- Instagram: #stsnation
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScottsTrainingSystems
- Linkedin: scott@scottkeppel.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ScottKeppel
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/scotts-training-systems-chandler-3