Scott Sonnon: The Flow Coach

My Colossal Miscalculation, so Sending You a $500 Return

I need to stop this mistake dead in its tracks. Though only 24 hours have passed since the release of TACFIT, from the flood of orders I realize now the mistake only I can take personal responsibility for. Let me get to the bottom-line first: I’ve asked RMAX International to send you a return of $500 on your order, and for those of you who have demanded lowering the price, I’ve asked RMAX to reduce the price by 72% to $199 on its promotional offer release.

Because of grossly miscalculating the individual consumer interest, RMAX International had anticipated only 30-40 subscriptions ordering the downloadable system per month. We expected continued agency and club-level orders, not hundreds of individual consumers on Day 1. I can only assume this to be my fault… We entirely miscalculated the market interest from individual customers wanting to use TACFIT for their personal use.

When I initially started assembling this system into a commercial format 2 years ago, I had taken all of the programming that I had been teaching different aspects of the “Tactical Community” and distilled it into a commercially-viable platform. After 12 months of beta-testing and debugging the format commercially, the success compelled the board at RMAX International to negotiate a price point for the project. So, at the board meeting we negotiated a price point reflecting the target market for TACFIT: agencies, departments, and health clubs.

At a health club level, classes only requiring 30 minutes to administer (5 minute introduction, 20 minute performance, and 5 minute cool-down and scoring), priced competitively at USD $15 / person. With only 2 classes taught per day, 5 days per week, TACFIT generated an additional revenue stream of USD $10,000 per month for only one hour of time investment from one instructor. Considering the typical licensing fee for group exercise fitness classes is USD $10,000, RMAX finalized on a premium of $899 for the 26 program library.

You see, at a research and development level, the genius of the production wasn’t that it was 26 DVDs which are inaccessible to group fitness instructors, but that the workout of the day was already loaded into their iPhone or PDA synced with their digital calendar. The instructor only needed a 5 minute review before stepping in to administer the class. I constructed the downloadable tutorials in this format so that the club could easily distribute the class administration to a wider and wider instructor base: adding one more hour a day increased the revenue by $10,000 per month; and with multiple facilities that meant hundreds of thousands of dollars for the health club.

At a departmental or unit level, the portability of this technology-driven simplicity allowed even a substitute training officer to administer the program with ease, no matter where the location or deployment. Greater portability, ease of use and simplicity of design meant greater administrative satisfaction and wider proliferation. TACFIT was a huge success right out of the gate, and only continued to grow over its release.

But, then came the internet release of the system. Perhaps it wasn’t the price point. Maybe it was the description of the intent of the program which confused my loyal individual customers. Certainly, TACFIT is highly effective on a personal level. I use it myself, and apply it to teaching my very exclusive celebrity clients due to their absolute need for a time-efficient fitness system which can be as nomadic as their vocational demands, whether that be due to security or privacy concerns.

I honestly never anticipated so many orders from an individual level, and I must take responsibility for that mistake. I felt devastated when I read several feedback posts that you thought the price too high, because I had invested so many years not only in the project development, but actually in this ingenious delivery platform for administering the daily workouts without you even having to understand the science behind the waving protocol cascade, the exercise selection and sophistication and without you even having to understand how to organize the presentation, since I organized that in the production to be replicated to your clients.

I get emotionally attached to the success of my programs, and I heartily absorb feedback - good and bad. I’m proud of my work, and even prouder of the loyalty my students and customers have for the high quality of my products. So, when you gave me this critique, I felt like I had taken a blow to the stomach. TACFIT is my baby that I’ve worked on for years and years, that I’ve taken around the world and had so much success from such varied clients military, law enforcement, protective, fire and emergency rescue. When my public customers responded that the price was too high, I admit emotionally attachment to your comments.

If you know anything about me personally, you know I take things heavily to heart. My wife kicked me out of the bedroom because I tossed sleeplessly perturbed for hours before finally calling a board meeting by conference call this morning of RMAX International. I had to rectify this, because regardless of the incredible quality of the system, and the intense forethought that I invested in the technical design for the platform, you were unhappy with the price point.

So, like I said from the beginning, I asked RMAX International to return $500 to you, and for those of you still waiting to order because of the waiting list we needed to institute due to the volume of downloads crashing the capacity of the server, I asked RMAX to reduce the price of TACFIT by 72% to $199 for the promotional offer.

It’s difficult when you’re visible personality, because everyone makes mistakes, so when you do, it feels so much bigger. This is one of them for me. I have to accept responsibility for the error in this price point, for the miscalculation of the market interest, and for not re-evaluating a premium finalized 2 years ago in light of the current economic circumstances.

Please accept my apologies and gratitude for your continued loyalty. Allow this may sound odd to some ears, I love each and every one of my students and customers as I do my own brothers, and will go the distance for each and every one of you. It pained me to see your confusion, because I NEVER want to see your trust in me waver to provide you with 100% satisfaction that you consistently receive the best and highest quality services.

I wish each and every one of you, my students, continued success, happiness and growth.

Flow Thyself™,