New year, new you — or so the salesperson hopes. Time to ask the right questions and hold your ground.
You've walked past the new gym on the corner for three weeks now, telling yourself "next Monday". Today, on a whim, you actually go in. Glossy floors, a wall of running machines, someone lifting something enormous in the corner — and a bright, friendly face heading straight for you with a clipboard.
You want a few honest answers: how much it really costs, what you're tying yourself into, and whether it suits what you actually want — not what looks good on the poster. The trouble is, the person greeting you is paid to sign you up today, and they're very, very good at it.
So this isn't about being talked into anything. It's about staying friendly, getting the facts, and walking out with either a fair deal or your dignity — ideally both.
Curious but cautious. You'd genuinely like to get fitter — but you've been burned before, and you're not signing anything until you understand exactly what you're getting.
Warm, quick, and quietly relentless. Every objection has a smooth answer ready. There's a "today only" deal — there's always a "today only" deal.
Here's your toolkit. You don't need to memorise it. Read each phrase, say it out loud once, and pick the ones that sound like you. You'll have it open while you practise.
Draw a card and say what you'd say, out loud, in one or two sentences. Use your own words or the toolkit. Then peek at one possible answer.
Done a few rounds? Try again with the toolkit covered. When it flows, you're ready to hear them in a real conversation.
Read it out loud, one role each, then swap. Spot as many phrases from your toolkit as you can. Listen for how the newcomer keeps smiling while saying, in effect, "not so fast".
1. The newcomer walks in wanting "a bit fitter, a bit stronger" — nothing more. Why do they make a point of saying they're "not training for a marathon", and how does that shape which plan makes sense for them?
2. Three times the consultant nudges the newcomer towards the premium, twelve-month plan. Pick ONE of those nudges and explain the pressure tactic hidden inside it.
3. "Is that offer really only available today?" The newcomer asks it politely, but it isn't an innocent question. What are they actually testing — and what does the consultant's answer reveal?
No script this time. You'll have a real conversation with a real person. They have their own mind, and you have a goal.
Say each step once, out loud, in your own words. No writing, no peeking at the phrases.
Pick your situation. Your partner plays the other person.
🏆 You win when you leave with facts and a fair deal, or the freedom to think.
Start the scene first. Partway through, draw a card. Whatever it says, it just happened.
Now you're on the other side. Your partner takes your old part.
Draw another twist whenever you like.
Tick what you actually did, in either seat.
Run it one more time. Draw a twist before you start, and try to reach a good result faster than before.
You're worrying about thirty-two pounds a month and whether you'll actually turn up. Spare a thought for the Spartans, who took fitness rather more seriously. In ancient Sparta, physical training wasn't a New Year's resolution — it was the whole point of being a citizen, drilled from childhood in a brutal state programme called the agogē.
No "today only" offers, no off-peak discount, no quietly skipping leg day. You trained, or you weren't really a Spartan. Twenty-five centuries later, we've turned the same instinct into a business — glossy floors, monthly direct debits, and a friendly face with a clipboard.
The Spartans never had to be talked into it. You, on the other hand, just have to survive the sales pitch.