Improve Your Personal Training Business – Stand Out
You’re a Certified Personal Trainer! Now What?
You went to school to become a personal trainer, studied hard and passed your exams! Congratulations you are a certified personal trainer! However, what now?
Many of our students at Infofit are clearly passionate about personal training and fitness. We all love working out, the vibe of the gym, setting new goals and smashing them! The body fascinates us in ways that many people don’t understand.
Unfortunately, a love of fitness does not always mean we have great business acumen. What does that mean? Business acumen is eagerness, promptness and desire to understand and deal with a business situation in a manner that is likely to produce a beneficial outcome.
In the Personal Training industry, there are many steps we can take to help ensure a successful personal training business outcome! Having been in the industry for almost 15 years, I have compiled a list of suggestions for a new, certified personal trainer to help start building your business skills for a successful start to increase your client base automatically.
Increase The Client Base of Your Personal Training Business
Be passionate about fitness, enthusiastic with your client, and make sure you are high energy. The majority of clients are most inspired by your enthusiasm, motivation and energy. And of course that you get results!
Make asking clients for testimonials and referrals a part of your training session. Ask them, at the end of each session, what they enjoyed about the workout. Offer rewards, such as a free session, when they post testimonials about your services on social media sites such as Yelp, Google reviews etc.
Contact your clients that have been absent for more than 3 weeks without reason. Send them a warm message or call them on the phone. Make special offers to people who have been absent for extended periods of time. It is important to be authentic; people sense when you genuinely care about their well being.
Train some friends and family for free, so you have people to use in promotional material to highlight what kind of results you can offer potential clients. It’s a win/win situation! You give the gift of health to loved ones, and they can help with referrals and promotion pictures.
Offer to do a grocery store tour, and kitchen clean out to educate them on better nutrition choices. Better dietary habits will ensure better results in meeting goals.
Build a professional referral network with physicians, chiropractors, physiotherapists, massage therapists and naturopathic physicians. Book an appointment with them to discuss client referrals and to set-up documentation methods.
Call around and offer to come in and do a “lunch and learn” for local businesses with ten or more employees. Give 20 to 30 minutes of information, 10 minutes of Q&A and then offer them an exclusive deal for signing up with you that day.
Offer new clients the chance to bring a friend along for the first two workouts. Having a friend at the initial sessions will make the client feel more comfortable and will give you the opportunity to obtain the friend’s contact information.
Offer your client a lower session price if they keep their credit card on file and guarantee to schedule at least 2 sessions per week.
Have business cards made up with your logo; get out in the community and talk to people where ever you go. Make a plan to hand out 2-3 business cards a day.
Network with local beauty businesses. Offer special prices for their staff and set up cross promotions.
Website, SEO and Social Networking
Make sure you attend workshops on marketing so you have a professional look to your web presence.
Set up a website, Google business page and pages on all of the appropriate social networks. Ensure you create original content with the appropriate keywords to optimize your SEO. When possible do paid ads on Google to put yourself on the first page of any search.
Market yourself on Craigslist, several times a day under services – such as beauty services, therapeutic, and general.
Write articles for local magazines and newspapers, establish yourself as a local fitness expert.
Make Yourself Stand Apart
Take the time to set your personal training business apart and build your brand. Study your competitors closely to see what works for them. What could you offer or bring to the table that they don’t so you can differentiate your business from their business.
Take the time to make your current clients feel special, don’t drop the ball on the clients that you do have by spending too much time focusing on new clients you could have potentially. Your biggest business is in retaining the clients you do have already.
Most of all just be yourself! Get help where you need help by hiring the right professionals and focus on what you are passionate about and where you excel.
Make your Personal Training Business stand out in today’s market place. Learn more with these webinars:
Unlock the power of content marketing
Cathie Glennon – BCRPA/SFL