King Sports International

Media - Fundamentals - and Responsibility

by Mike Pimentel, KING Coach

We are in the “information age”. It seems that the media hype has just what the advanced or experienced athlete is missing in their current training. The purveyors of the missing information present these secrets as “new”, “never before seen” and “recent discoveries”.

Such is the marketing industry, that in order to sell and therefore rationalize its existence, the information must be “sexy” and trend setting. Understand that trends follow very simple patterns. To use a popular real estate analogy, each trend carries these general characteristics; introduction, growth, prosperity, recession, depression (and dependent on the perceived value of the trend, the trend can drop from existence entirely).

Therefore, in order to continue the life of the marketing machine a number of scenarios are likely to occur:
1. the quest for “new information” to perpetuate the popularity of the existing trend – AND/OR
2. letting the trend run its life cycle and find/create “new information” to support a new trend

The experienced and committed athlete is in constant search of what it takes to become a champion. Their emotional desire for the edge over competition has them willing to take risks with their bodies and minds that the average individual would not……what better market population for “new information” than a committed and willing market?!!

My question to you is, what is new “cutting edge” information? Is it really the information itself? Allow me to offer this….. What if I told you that new information was actually your responsibility, not the media’s. That by your acceptance of responsibility you could yield an endless stream of information that would serve you 1000 times more effectively than anything offered through the machine. Let me explain.

Have you ever read a book, taken notes in a seminar, or been in a conversation where learning occurred. Then at some point in the future revisited that same information only to find it was as if the message had somehow changed? What really happened? The words on the page did not change, no one slipped in to your library in the middle of the night and rewrote the books or changed your notes. The reality is that YOU changed.

Similar to the cells in your body, your knowledge and experience changes and grows daily. Thus, affecting your perception of anything that touches your world and in this case, your training. This is the responsibility referred to earlier. It is your responsibility to learn, grow, receive and perceive. For the most part you choose what you are exposed to everyday and thereby are choosing what influences your perception. How you perceive information is your responsibility. Now before I go too far down this philosophical path, let’s come back to training.

Many experienced athletes would say they have an excellent grasp of the fundamentals or foundations of training. Some would even assume (also read as lacking the humility to understand differently) that the foundations of training were so ingrained in them, it would be a waste of time to revisit, and it would be “boring” and serve no purpose to view information they “already know”. To the contrary, it is your responsibility to grow and change, through experience and knowledge to achieve new levels of perception and understanding.

Fundamentals may not be sexy or trendy however they are the common denominator that permeates every aspect of the training continuum. When successful results are achieved, especially for long periods of time, it is guaranteed that deep appreciation of the foundations of training were consistently put in to action. Now if something carries with it the potential to affect every aspect of training is its value high enough to warrant revisiting? I would think so!

Now apply your earlier stated responsibility to the fundamentals. Provided you have the courage to apply your experience and knowledge to the fundamentals of training you will constantly yield new levels of fundamental understanding – i.e. new information! And perhaps of greater benefit – the fundamentals as they apply to you!

I am constantly and consistently amazed when I re-introduce fundamentals to experienced athletes. They are amazed by both their new found appreciation of something they thought they already knew and the fantastic results achieved.

Do an assessment of yourself and program by asking these simple questions?

1. What are the foundations of training? For an introduction to this see Ian’s Foundations of Physical Preparation http://www.kingsports.net/productsksi.htm#Foundations_of_Physical_Preparation_book or for a deeper appreciation of this concept applied to a balanced spectrum of life see the KSI CIP Theory Course
2. When was the last time you revisited these fundamentals?
3. Did your perspective of the fundamentals change as a result of your revisiting? Do you have a deeper or newer understanding of their meaning?
4. What was/is the impact of your understanding of fundamentals on your training?

Let us know the outcome!

The web site sucks!

Apparently the KSI web site sucks. Ok, that may be a bit strong, but I have no bones with that. I recently received an email that stated: "You have poor content and (a) poor website. over complicated ways to get the information - passwords etc.. Poor selling techniques and not good free information..."

Ok, so the web site and marketing sucks. He has got a point. I have no problems openly stating that when it comes to a comparison of web site and marketing techniques, ours could be at the lower end of the food chain.

But that's fine with me. I am first and foremost a physical preparation coach, and my primarily focus is to develop the most optimal physical training methods and then share them in clear, easy to understand words and images.

I am continually amazed at the fantastic web sites and marketing pieces I see around the broader physical training industry. Tragically, because I have been in the industry for nearly 30 years, I have seen enough to know who is who and who is capable of what. And many of these amazing web sites are owned by people whose real world experience could be summarized on the back of a postage stamp.

I know, that's harsh. but I want to be straight with you about what I think. There is no correlation between marketing ability and physical coaching competency. I've been closely exposed to some of the best self-marketers in the world, and their antics can take the wind out of my sails. Sometimes I do feel like going back into the gym and enjoying the solitude of the steel. Because I know the bullshit that is being passed off to the gullible masses.

It's got to the point where I have chosen not to contribute to some industry activities because firstly I don't want to be associated with the fraud being perpetuated, and secondly, on the surface I cannot compete with the bull-shit artists. I am willing to wave the white flag here. I back myself in the real world of coaching anytime, anywhere. But have no desire to play in the world of deception.

It's got to the point when I feel embarrassed to write about our 20 years company anniversary (1986-2006) because to most newcomers to the industry it probably sounds just like so many others - who one day were casually employed gym instructors and suddenly the next day, miraculously, they have 16 years of experience and are internationally renown....It's got to where I have to resist the urge to add a convincing line like 'It's true - really, we really are 20+ years old in business!" But why should have to?

So if you want to be impressed with flash and bullshit, and want heaps of instant gratification freebies - KSI may not be the place to meet your needs. But if you want the opportunity to learn the most effective training methods based on genuine, honest real world experiences under ideal real-world laboratory situations, then you may be in the right place.

Cost vs value conscious buying

Three examples in the last 24hrs on this topic of cost vs value conscious buying inspired me to share this life and business philosophy.

US financial education writer Thomas Stanley (The Millionaire Next Door,'The Millionaire Mind) wrotes about this so well. You might buy a pair of shoes that are cheap (e.g. $100), but over say five years have to replace them three times. Or you could buy on quality not initial cost and say pay $200, but not have to replace them over five years. You have better value for money with the latter option. better quality product, and loose less time in re-purchasing.

So what does thsi have to do with physical training? EVerything. For example, KSI business philosophy is based on the search and implementation of excellence. Excellenence at a level defined by our recognition that not everyone shares.

We have made incredible long term effort to achieve what we developed in training philosophies. How much it cost was never an issue. My focus was on getting the best information so I could give the best value to the athletes I trained.

So when we provide our services the hourly rate and how that sits in the market place relative to 'others' is of no interest. Not everyone will drive a BMW or simiilary safe car. Many will  be happy to drive cheaper cars. Not everyone will take the best vitamins. Many will be happy to buy 'cheap' vitamins. Not everyone wants to invest in the best information/service for their training. We understand that. Here's an example of this that we see regularly - a person shows interest in using a KING Coach. He chats with our coach co-ordinator. This is the summary of the chat:

"He has moderate commitment to training and is more cost conscience than value conscience.  Once we moved in to value discussion and minimum costs  - he pulled back and we ended the conversation."

We see the same in products. Check out these two examples, which occured following a pre-production offer, in which (and the only time) we may offer discounts on new releases:

"I would of purchased the DVD at the discounted price but am not prepared to pay the full amount."

Or this one, who was interested until he realized he was not going to be given the pre-production bonus five days after the offer expired:

"So I guess there is no DVD free with the discount offer, I am having to rethink this now."

When I develop my approach to training no expense has been spared on obtaining the information. It should come of no surprise that our focus is on sharing our way of training with those who value what we have to offer. As to those who simply 'would buy if it was at a discount'...there is always Walmart...

Ian King

Half full or half empty? What a difference perspective makes!

I am intrigued by the impact of attitude and perception. In this example, I will use two contrasting attitudes or perspectives that I have witnessed during the last 24 hrs. Such a contrast!

As product and service providers we/KSI not only have a satisfaction guarantee, we state quiet clearly that if you are less than excited about doing business with us, we will give you a refund and help you move on to greener pastures.

http://www.kingsports.net/ksiandyou.htm#Your_Guarantee 

100% Unconditional Money Back Guarantee!

Our goal is to have totally excited clients! We want every person who invests in our products and services to obtain the benefit that we believe we put into them. We would rather have one totally excited client than a hundred neutral clients.

If for whatever reason, that doesn't describe you.

Upon receiving your products, if you are not satisfied with them, we offer a 100% money back guarantee...

If we messed up, we fix it. If the client has pain in life we can't resolve, we happily move on. If you have pain in life and what to share it with us through abusive emails, we chose not to do busienss with you. LIfe is to short to spend time with unhappy people, and we are very happy to say we can't solve everyone's problems or make everyone happy. (that's what prozac was designed for...)

Now here's the tale of two people.

Person A received his products and found some of them to be faulty.

"Hello Ian, I am sad to say the Get Buffed DVD workout I bought from you is faulty because I can't watch Stage 1 Workout D and it frozen several times in on my laptop and PC.  I even tried on Window Media Player as well as Power DVD software.

I am wonder if I can get a replacement? What do I have to do? Is it viable to send a faulty DVDs to you for a replacement?  Thank you."

We responded to Person A with:

"No problems to replace. Before we do, to make sure we are not going to get the same result with the replacement, can you try it on 1 or 2 other machines? Let us know the outcome. And what about the 2nd disc – was that oK?"

The outcome was they needed to be replaced, we replaced them including international shipping, our cost - and we received this response:

"Again, thank you very much for look after your customer well.  I am thoroughly enjoyed it, and I know I have a way lotta more to learn, about 99% of it to go!"

Isn't it great to do business with happy, grateful people!

Now in the same day we received the final response from person A we had the following exchange with Person B. Person B also had a challenge - their Fed Ex order was apparently delayed 1 day by Fed Ex at this end, for reason unknown to us.

Person B wrote:

"They are telling me that there was a 'Delivery Exception' b/c it arrived after the dispatch left.  That really sucks.  I am so excited about this book and I was under the impression that I paid $35 extra to expedite this delivery.  What exactly did the extra money for shipping get me.  I don't want to sound like a prick, but $35 is a lot of extra money to me."

To which we did what we promise to do - offer a refund to any customer who is less than excited about doing business with us. A summary of our response:

"If you not happy with our service/products, this is what I suggest you do -When you get the package  - don't open it - send it directly to the US address below. As soon as this book arrives at this address, we will refund you your money.  We don't want unhappy customers.... Look forward to refunding your money and allowing you to move on to other service providers."

To which Person B responded with (en extract!):

"...Here is some FREE advice - Maybe if you tire so easily of people complaining about your shipping costs, you might consider articulating the cost in more detail.  For example, during the checkout process (on the e-commerce portion of your Web site), instead of just putting $35 you could enumerate comparable shipping costs for your CUSTOMER to recognize its benefit.  I train about 15 people down here in xxx, xxx at a fairly large facility.  I look forward to recommending your great customer service and then allowing them to move on to other service providers."

[you mean something like the info provided:

..at the bottom of this page http://www.kingsports.net/products.htm

...at the top of this page http://www.kingsports.net/productsgb.htm

...at the top of this page http://www.kingsports.net/productsksi.htm

....at this page http://www.kingsports.net/FAQspostage.htm]

We asked for confirmation that a refund would be sought to which we received (an extract!):

"Recently a great deal of attention has been paid to another class of stupidity: stupid actions by those that are very educated and worldly - like yourself. It is an important subject as it is increasingly evident that powerful, and generally very intelligent, people sometimes do stupid things.

...I like this one - YOU should pay particular attention here:

"Otherwise intelligent individuals may also become stupid when their rational thought is derailed by strong opinions or rigid beliefs." In this case the victim falls into confirmation bias and begins selecting data: becoming intentionally blind and deaf to contrary evidence, while at the same time collecting evidence which supports the beliefs. Rather than being based on low intelligence or missing knowledge, this is the stupidity of closed-mindedness and willful ignorance. Note that modern science specifically evolved to combat this form of stupidity. During scientific thought we should constantly criticize our OWN beliefs and assumptions (attempt to disprove hypotheses), while also using HUMILITY and extreme self-honesty to reduce our ego-based biases.

I am not sure where you should start looking for your humility, but the sooner the better.  In conclusion, I never f$%^ing asked for a refund.  Once again, I simply asked for more details regarding the premium shipping cost of $35 - which I still have yet to receive.

Thank you very much for your time.  Now piss off, wankers."

Mmm. Abuse, threats, insults, rants.  Person A, Person B. Person B, Person A - tough choice - who would we want to do business with?

I have vivid memories of hearing the late internet marketing guur Corey Rudl live in seminar say the email phenomenon (in the early days at least) brought out the rude gene in people.  Except he was more colourful. Irrespective, I don't allow my team to be the wiping post for the worlds unhappy . As a team we work hard and that is not acceptable in our world.

Ok - so we have person A who received a large percentage of his order faulty and politely asked for remedy - which was happily and swiftly provided. And we have person B who received his order 24 hrs later via independent shipping issues over which we don't control.

Person A shared their gratitude with us and is a happy KSI client. Person B shared their 'interesting' thoughts with us and is not a KSI client.

Isn't that a interesting contrast of perception and attitude!

PS. And did we tell you - person A is deaf and can't understand what is being said on the DVDs.  He has to rely on his mother, who makes a transcript of what is being said.  Mum presses pause and rewinds often to make the transcript.  Isn't that interesting - half full or half empty?

How To Teach DVD - first production batch arrived today!

I was exicted to see the HTT DVDs arrive today, a few days ahead of schedule! I know if you ordered one of these you would be excited about this too!

We have just enough to meet the orders from the pre-production offer! look froward to shipping them and recieving your feedback!

Learn more at http://www.kingsports.net/products-ksi-dvd-htt.htm

How to Teach released on DVD for the first time

I have been converting our extensive video educational range to DVD progressively over the last few years and the most recent one to be done is the KSI How To Teach Strength Training Exercises Series.

With over 100 exercises covered, I had visions for this product in DVD for some time. Having chapters on the DVD allows you to move quickly between body parts to find the footage you want.

I put out the 3 day pre-production offer yesterday and it included a massive $100 off for the three days as well as (for those who responded in the first 24 hrs) a copy of one of my latest developments - checklists in pdf for strength training exercises. Titled 'Ian King's Guides to....', each of these checklists is about 5 pages long so you can see they are fairly comprehensive.