Episode #34
Add $1M to Your Business Using The Profits Tap Framework with Stephen Jones
What if there's a simple seven-letter framework hiding inside your business that could add a million pounds to your bottom line, and you're already sitting on most of the pieces? In this episode, Paul Avins sits down with Stephen Jones, an expert on people, performance and profitability who was part of the team that scaled Fitness First from one club to the largest independent health club business in the world in seven years. Stephen was also called on by the UK government to chair a task force on employee engagement, and is the author of Turning On Your Profits Tap, the model at the centre of this conversation. Stephen walks through the Profits Tap framework: Purpose, Relevance, Outclass the Crowd, Find, Inspire, Time and Service. He explains why most owners never define their personal vision before their business one, why relevance is under constant threat from AI, and why positioning means deliberately choosing where you sit on product, market, service and price, the way Fitness First combined David Lloyd's quality with leisure-centre affordability. Paul and Stephen dig into winning referral partners without paying for them, the five fears stopping a professional referring their best client, and the five benefits that get them to say yes. They cover a proven sales meeting structure, why "can you make a decision today" is one of the worst questions in sales, and why pressure selling signals a weak pipeline. Stephen shares how Fitness First recruited and trained whole teams before a club had even opened, and the study that first got him noticed, proving a corporate gym paid for itself three times over in reduced sickness. The conversation moves into culture and motivation: the nine drivers behind why people really show up to work, why money is only a short-term motivator, and the barrister who quietly retrained as a landscape gardener after realising he was working from resilience, not energy. They close on AI, why the IKEA case study turned an 8,500-person cost saving into a $1.3 billion opportunity by repurposing staff, and why the businesses that win will use AI to elevate people rather than replace them. What you'll learn: Why personal vision should come before business vision. Why relevance is a moving target with AI reshaping industries. How to use product, market, service, price to position deliberately. How to build referral partnerships without paying fees, using the five fears and five benefits that decide whether someone refers you their best client. A proven sales meeting structure: agenda, positioning, fact-find, presentation, close. Why pressure selling signals a weak pipeline, not strong closing skills. How Fitness First trained entire teams before a club had even finished being built. Why the best salesperson is usually the worst sales manager. The nine motivational drivers behind engagement, and why money rarely tops the list. Why performing from resilience instead of energy is a warning sign. How to build an employer-of-choice wheel around story, vision, engaged managers, coaching, employee voice and lived values. Why AI should follow your strategy, not set it. Apply this: Map your business against the Profits Tap and score each area to find your bottleneck. Before asking a referral partner for their best client, ask what their biggest fear is in giving it to you, then address it directly. Move high-stakes sales conversations to a two-meeting model: discovery first, tailored solution second. Audit what worked in your first year of winning clients that you've quietly stopped doing. Run a motivational assessment on your team rather than assuming everyone's driven by money. Before promoting your best salesperson into management, check whether they actually want to manage people. Use AI to free up capacity, then reinvest it in higher-value, more human work. About Stephen Jones Stephen Jones is an expert on people, performance and profitability, and author of three books including Turning On Your Profits Tap. He was part of the team that scaled Fitness First into the world's largest independent health club business within seven years, and was later invited by the UK government to co-chair a task force on employee engagement. He now helps businesses scale profitably through positioning, sales and genuinely engaged teams. Get Stephen’s book here: Turning on Your P.R.O.F.I.T.S. Tap in an AI Era Connect with Stephen: steve@skillsforbusinesstraining.co.uk (mailto:steve@skillsforbusinesstraining.co.uk) Scale with Paul Avins Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulavins/ Book a call: https://www.paulavins.com/book-a-call Newsletter: https://www.paulavins.com/newsletter-opt-in Level Up. Team Up. Scale Up. Fire Up.
