January always feels like a funny month to me. It’s mostly cold and miserable outside and the expectation for a personal trainer is that you’ll have leads coming at you from all angles. I never experienced that. Sure, I had one or two more enquiries but I always found February to be a busier month lead wise. I tried to spend January prepping for February by ensuring I was happy with my systems, asking for feedback from current clients and roughly planning things like my professional development and marketing (as you never get round to finishing this before the year ends!).
Anyway, the first “thoughts on personal training” were well received, so here is another! Read the first instalment here
1. Paid Trials Work, Don’t Hesitate to Use Them
Should I give away my service for free or should I charge a reduced amount? That is a question many trainers have when it comes to acquiring new clients.
Both work, but trials are the direction I think most people should head, and for a good reason.
Trials cost money, which means you don’t get people completely devaluing the service.
Trials, by name, tell people it’s a period of time for them to try the service out and after it finishes, they’ll be expected to pay full price.
Trials allow you to get people in and show them how great your offering is.
Trials cost less than normal, so people feel less pressure about signing up.
Trials have an end date. People like end dates.
Consider charging around 60-70% of your normal fee for something like 30 days of training.
2. “The question before you is not whether you need this person to be interested in your service or product; the question is, do they need your service or product?” – Bob Berg
Before you walk into a sales conversation of any kind, the main question running through head throughout should be “does this person need the thing I offer?”. Rather than thinking, “I really, really need this person to sign up to my thing!” your focus should be on figuring out if what you offer can help this person. If the answer is no it makes no sense to get them as a customer as they’ll only cause you hassle down the road. If the answer is yes, you should be doing your utmost to show the value you provide and how you can solve their problem using your service or product. You can do this by understanding their needs and linking that to your offering.
3. Approaching New Gym Members
It can be daunting approaching any kind of new person. If you work in a commercial gym it should be one of your daily habits to say hello to more people. But how do you go about doing this without it coming across as weird or like you’re interrupting what they are doing?
Make it easy for yourself by having some icebreakers that will give you easy ways to start up conversations. Here are a few examples:
– “Hi, I’m Stuart one of the personal trainers here. I just wanted to come and introduce myself. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to come and ask me. I’d be happy to help with X,Y,Z.”
– (walk around with a clipboard) “Hi, I’m Stuart one of the personal trainers here. I’m doing some research into the members of X gym and I just wanted to ask what it is you come to the gym for? What would you say your main goals are?”
– Use a compliment: “I love your shoes. Can I ask where you got them?”, “Hey! I always see you in here and you work so hard. Can I ask what you’re training for?”
With each of these, your goal is to learn their name and a bit about them. This can be then be used the next time you see that person to spark up more of a conversation. If the time feels right, don’t hesitate to offer a taster personal training session or a free consultation session, but don’t force this. The goal is to start a relationship with more people, not sell them into something.
4. Postcode Dominance Should be a Goal for Every Trainer
If you’re a trainer, especially an in-person one, one of your goals should be to aim for becoming the go-to trainer for something like weight loss, strength training or similar in your local area. If you’re able to become known as the trainer who does X, delivers an incredible service and result, you’ll never struggle for clients.
Don’t spend all your time on your online presence, make sure you’re doing activities that bolster how well you’re known in your postcode.
Things like local seminars, charity events, partnerships with local businesses, referral campaigns and taking part in or volunteering for community events will all help.
If you’re in somewhere like a commercial gym, your postcode could simply mean the inside of your gym.
5. The Follow-up Means More Than You Realise.
I went to see a physiotherapist about a shoulder issue I’m having recently. The actual appointment went well and after the therapist had shown me a few exercises they’d like me to do, they finished by saying they would email them over. I’m now 7 days post-appointment and I’m yet to hear from them. I’ve emailed to ask about the exercises and to see if I can book in a follow-up appointment and I’ve received radio silence.
Guess what I won’t be doing?
- Going back
- Referring them to other people
Make sure you do what you say you’re going to do on a timely basis.
The questions running through a prospects head after a consultation and/or free session include: can I trust you? Will you do what you said you would do? And do I matter you? If you don’t follow up those questions will be answered in a way you really don’t want.
Find Out More About LTB
If you would like to learn more about what we offer at LTB, head here to check out our membership benefits and to learn about our 1 month for £1 trial. You can come on board, watch any of our courses (ranging from programme design to marketing to finishers to psychology), download any of of our documents (things like marketing checklists, PAR-Q’s and meal plans) and then decide it’s not for you on day 30 without paying more than a pound!