Showing posts with label Personal Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal Training. Show all posts

No-one Wants Personal Training

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 3:39 AM Posted by Phill Wright
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by Paul Swainson, Functional Master Trainer


That’s a pretty disheartening statement if you’re a Personal Trainer. It’s also one of the common reasons PTs (especially those new to the industry) give when they’re struggling to find clients. What’s even more disappointing is that it’s true - most people really don’t want Personal Training, because very often they don’t understand what it is, and when people don’t understand something, it’s very unlikely they will buy it.



So what’s the solution? As with many things in our industry, a change of mindset is required – if people don’t want PT, offer something they do want!

Think about what the average person understands by ‘Personal Training’. They probably think of military style instructors making people sweat, or perhaps celebrities being put through their paces in a glossy magazine. Or maybe if they go to the gym they have seen the trainers there doing fancy, complicated exercises with their clients. These ideas are all focussed on the process of training, but is this what people want? Or do they really want a flatter stomach, or more toned arms, or less flabby thighs, or to have more energy? These are the results of training and have emotion and therefore motivation attached to them.

Think about the common headlines you see on the cover of fitness magazines – “get big arms in 4 weeks”, “the 3 best moves for a six-pack”, “melt away fat in 10 seconds a week” (okay I made that last one up, but it wouldn’t surprise me to read it somewhere). They are all carefully written to appeal to what people desire: quick, simple RESULTS.

Now I’m not suggesting you make outrageous claims like those above, but if you can find out what result someone is seeking, and can provide a specific solution to achieve it, you have something people actually want.

So imagine, or better still, go and talk to, your potential clients. Find out what they want, what they need, and why (this market research then doubles up as a perfect rapport building exercise). Then structure your services and marketing around what you discover. For example, male clients may want to ‘bulk up’ in order to look better. So you could offer 'effective mass gain' training. Female clients may want to lose body fat so how about designing a 'body sculpting' programme. You could even market yourself as a ‘body transformation coach’. If your clients are simply looking to take an hour out of their
 day to de-stress, put together a ‘chill out’ package involving gentle exercise, stretching and relaxation techniques. This way you’re not selling Personal Training, you’re selling the results people are looking for.

Do you value your clients

Thursday, July 22, 2010 3:44 AM Posted by Phill Wright
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In business, we talk about marketing, advertising, promotion and trying to communicate with prospective clients / customers to our business. This is an absolute must in business - if you're not growing then you're shrinking! That's just the way it goes.

However, something that I've learnt the hard way is that actually, the vast majority of income comes from existing customers. Therefore, why is it that most of our time and energy goes towards trying to entice new customers into becoming loyal champions. Well, probably a combination of things can lead to this mentality. Getting new business is a complete buzz, it is in my opinion one of the most exciting aspects of business. When we're desparate in business, it is often easy to see new customers as the only hope to help solving dismal situations. The reality is though that all the while, existing customers are there and often forgotten about. What would you do if someone you purchased from didn't seem to care and only delivered the minimum. I know what I would do and it wouldn't include putting my hand in my pocket.

By valueing your existing customers - showing them that they are the most important aspect of your company and spending every moment of your working life striving towards adding value, improving service and generally delivering as you would want to be serviced, you can be sure to have some extremely loyal customers and advocates to your business.

If you'd like more detail on the specifics of how to add fantastic value to your clients or personal training business and winning the most loyal set of customers then contact us at info@creatingchaos.co.uk

Hope this is useful

Success in Personal Training

Sunday, February 21, 2010 11:29 PM Posted by Phill Wright
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I've decided to put together a blog that shares some tips and hints that can help people become more successful in Personal Training. After a good few years gaining great success with my own business and then managing a vast number of trainers, I've come across some excellent and some dog poor examples of this thing called PT.
My first hint is one that can save you time. Have a system. One of the greatest trends that I've noticed in personal training is that good trainers spend and dedicate so much time to their clients with programme writing, nutritional planning, writing up reports and much more. However, for some reason, they seem to re-invent the wheel everytime and run themselves into the ground whilst trying to cater for all their clients. Have a system in place that makes your life easier. Not just the consultation as most trainers have at least some format for this. (If you don't already then get one - there are some great examples that you can google to give you pointers). What I mean is, have a structure that has literature that you can just hand to people specific to their goals. It would be quite easy to come up with a set number of general goals that people are looking for: weight loss, increase strength, more energy etc. Why not come up with a starter pack for each of these that discusses nutrition, exercise and how to approach it and lifestyle. This is where the greatest results are made, educating your clients. Not just thrashing your clients or giving them excellent workouts but giving them the information. The more you can guide them towards making the right decisions, the better informed they will be towards making the right choices. However many sessions you have weekly with your clients will not make up for 7 days of bad living. Put the ball in their court and guide them.
Slaving yourself to your clients is risking giving poor service too. The number of trainers who I've seen looking majorly tired is shocking. Turning up tired will almost always result in under performance on the trainers part. Poor coaching won't do you any favours in getting new business or retaining existing business. Having more time to yourself will give you what it takes to feel refreshed and on form when delivering. The best way to do this is through streamlining your systems as much as possible.
I'll chat a little about language patterns and influential ways in which you can get your clients to stick to healthy lifestyle or make the better choices more often.

Phill Wright
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