Today we interview Hey Coach Founder and Online Health Coach Alex Fergus about how he successfully uses Hey Coach in his online 'Hormone Reset Program'.
Q. How has Hey Coach benefited your business?
Tremendously! It has allowed me to scale my business, working with more clients and doing less work.
As soon as a client registers on my program I get them to download the Hey Coach app and register as a client. Instantly they can start logging their meals. My team and I can start reviewing their diet - no matter where they live in the world - and help give them feedback, educating them towards a healthier diet.
I used to do this through email and photos, and it was a painful process. Now everything (and everyone) is in the one central place. No matter where I am, I can pull up all my clients information and meals.
I schedule all my client calls for Thursday, and prior to the call I quickly pull up all my clients data - I can not only see their meals for the week (and the scores my team have awarded them) but also how often they have done various tasks - such as how often they trained, how often they got out for a walk, how often they did a sauna session etc.
Having all the clients data in one place helps Alex offer a premium coaching service
All this data is in one place. Within seconds I have a complete picture around what the client has been up to. In the past I had to limit how many clients I could work with. I have a premium coaching program and it's important to give my clients a premium service - this meant I had to keep up with what everyone was eating and doing.
Logging and tracking all this without Hey Coach was time consuming.
Now with Hey Coach I can work with so many more clients - drastically increasing my revenue - whilst still maintaining the high service standards my clients deserve.
Q. How has Hey Coach helped your clients reach their goals?
As I mentioned, with Hey Coach, I can see everything I need to know about my client on one screen - diet, activity, what they have and haven't done and more.
When I'm speaking to a client, or touching base via email, I can give them accurate and detailed feedback on what they have done (or haven't done) well. In turn the client can make the necessary changes. All this happens with less fuss and far more rapidly than when I was simply using email to track everything!
This also applies to a micro sale - every day my team are reviewing my clients meals. As they review the meals through Hey Coach, they provide feedback, suggestions and score the clients meal.
Every day.
As simple as taking a photo - clients logging their meals with the Hey Coach App
My clients love it - in less than 24 hours they will know how good (or bad) the meal was, and can get expert advice on what needs improving. It's like they have a health coach sitting with them at the table.
And all the client has to do is snap a photo with their cell phone! No counting calories or weighing food! It's simple, and because it's so simple clients continue to use it.
Q. You mentioned 'scoring your clients meals' Can you elaborate on this?
Yeah so one of my favourite features of Hey Coach is the star rating system.
When a client logs a meal I can like it, comment on it and also award it a score out of 5 stars.
When a new client joins my Program, I send them a booklet with their diet plan, but I also send them a points guide based on this diet plan.
Clients know if their meal has vegetables in it, this is worth 1 point. If they simply log a meal its worth another point. If it has a good amount of quality fats in it, thats 3rd point - or star I should say.
So clients know what they should be eating, but they also know what they need to do to get full points.
When a client logs a meal, they'll get a score - this score helps them know when they're doing great, or when they're slipping.
A shot of Alex scoring his clients meal with the Hey Coach App
Also - because I have all my clients in one group, other clients can see what their peers are doing well, or falling short on. This serves two purposes, one it holds the client accountable - no one likes scoring bad in front of others.
And two, it allows my other clients to see what their peers are eating and learn from their mistakes - this removes some of the work I have to do as a coach!
Q. You have a rather unique reporting system in place for your clients, can you explain more about this and how it benefits your clients?
Sure thing.
So what I do is average out my clients meal score over the week. I simply use the Hey Coach points system to find each clients average meal score.
A perfect week would have a 5 star meal score average - meaning all my clients meals were 5 stars.
I have one number - ranging from 0 to 5. This number tells me a lot about my clients diet for the week. If I'm on the phone with them and they are telling me their energy is off, and they've put on weight, and I see there meal score is really low, I know straight away what caused these problems.
If their meal score is high, and they still are having issues, then I know the problem wasn't their diet, instead it must be something else - like training, or sleep.
A sample weekly report from Alex's Hormone Reset Program - scores calculated in the Hey Coach App
I actually report and score these things as well as my clients diet.
I utilise Hey Coaches habit tracking feature - clients have to tick off tasks when they complete them. I love how I can create unique tasks for each group.
So for instance in a fat loss group I will have my clients tick off when they go for long walks and when they strength training. I then count how many times clients have done these tasks and create a weekly score - just like I do with the meal score.
And now I have some simple numbers that give me - and my client - a lot of information about how well (or bad) their week was on the program.
It's a weekly score card that keeps the client accountable and the coach informed. It's great. And it would be extremely difficult to do without Hey Coach.
Q. You used to work as a Personal Trainer, coaching clients one on one in a gym, now you work solely online. How has Hey Coach helped you with this transition, and what could other PT's wanting to get online learn from you?
My transition from face to face trainer to online health coach started when I wanted to go on holiday but realised I wouldn't have any cash coming in.
I decided then and there that I needed to get online and setup weekly subscription payments with my clients.
I knew that there was more to health and fitness than the daily gym session, so I decided I would charge my clients a weekly fee to help monitor their diet and habits.
This is where Hey Coach came in. My clients would pay me my hourly fee for a gym session, and then they had an option of paying me a weekly fee for me to track their meals - giving them feedback and using the point system I mentioned above - and also track their lifestyle habits.
Habits such as sleep, how much time outside they got, rest, recovery, training etc.
Clients loved this extra layer of coaching and support. So much so that when my PT clients moved cities, they would stay on as an 'online client' even though they found a new Personal Trainer.
And it simply snowballed from there. Clients would see the value I was adding with my meal and habit tracking, and refer their friends. Then I started building an online presence and offered my services to people around the world.
Eventually I stopped Personal Training all together and focused solely on my online coaching using the Hey Coach app.
Q. With a lot of clients, you must get a lot of emails, how is Hey Coach helping you reduce these emails with your clients?
I hate emails. I often tell people the best way to get ahold of me is to post me a letter - at least I'll open envelopes mailed to me!
Thankfully, emails from my clients are not an issue. I simply run everything through the Hey Coach app. If clients have questions they can either post a message in the group newsfeed- just as you would post a message in facebook. And everyone can see this and comment on it.
Eliminating emails via the message function in Hey Coach
Or they message me or their coach privately through the app. This makes life for coaches so much easier - you just check your Hey Coach messages and don't need to fill up your inbox.
Plus, you can instantly click the clients profile to see their meals and stats - so you know exactly who you are talking to and their current situation.
Q. What do you love most about being an online coach?
Freedom. Being my own boss. Being rewarded for the work I do.
If I want to sleep in and start my day at midday, I can do that.
I don't have to wear a uniform, and I don't have to follow orders from a boss.
Once you have a taste of this freedom you will never go back to a regular job.
Q. Where can people find out more about you and your coaching program?
The best place to learn more about me is through my blog at www.AlexFergus.com
And you can learn more about my Hormone Reset Program at www.JoinTheProgram.online
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