7 Habits of Highly Effective Personal Trainers (Part Two)

“7 Habits of Highly Effective Personal Trainers (Part One)” provided an effective outline for building a successful personal training business.  This article will continue going through the process to provide the next four steps to complete the recipe for building a successful and profitable personal training business.

4.  Client Satisfaction and Care

The overall goal of a personal training business is to provide exceptional service and care for paying clients.  When clients are happy and satisfied with their results they are more likely to:

• Continue with their personal training
• Refer friends and family
• Provide testimonials for marketing purposes

This area of the business requires the majority of a personal trainer’s attention.  This requires the development of effective training programs, the delivery of good personal training experiences, good communication with all clients and effective strategies to promote ongoing sales.

5.  Making Continuing Education a Priority

Fitness is still considered a “young” and evolving industry.  There are constantly new ideas, concepts and innovative ways being introduced to the market to help people improve their bodies and live healthier and better quality lives.  It is important for personal trainers to maintain awareness of what’s new and what can help them improve their business.  Continuing education courses and workshops:

• Provide personal trainers with ways to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
• Keep personal trainers up to date with what is new and what other personal trainers may be adding to their service offering.
• Provide personal trainers with new and innovative tools to help them run their businesses better.
• Make personal training more fun and exciting!

The more effective, efficient and innovative a personal trainer can be … the more value they can bring to their existing and future clients.

6.  Creating a “Brand” for the Business

A brand is a what differentiates one personal trainer’s services from others in the market.  The goal of developing an effective personal training brand is to accentuate the qualities or characteristics of a personal trainer’s services that make them special or unique.  A brand is therefore one of the most valuable elements in marketing a personal trainer’s service offering.

Elements of an effective brand include:

• Business logo
• Business slogans and tag lines
• Consistent written content (marketing materials, website)
• Proprietary programs and services (branded programs, written publications, YouTube channel, DVDs, etc.)
• Personal trainer’s appearance/attire (design and style, business logos)
• Personal trainer’s communication style
• Personal trainer’s physical gestures and actions

The personal trainer essentially becomes the brand.  What they say, how they look and what they do all reflect the expectation of experience that they are trying to sell … their one-on-one services with each personal training client.

7.  Creating a High Value of Worth for Personal Training

Personal training is not a commodity that has a set value based on market needs and demand.  For example, a one gallon jug of milk costs approximately 3 dollars in the U.S. and the price is consistent in most cities.  Milk is essentially the same no matter where you buy it.  Personal training can range from ten dollars to upwards of one thousand dollars an hour (i.e. celebrity personal trainers).  In today’s consumer market, people will pay more for services if they believe they are worth it.  Exceptional personal trainers create a high value for their services by effectively incorporating all of the strategies outlined in this series (habits 1 through 6).  It is important to consider the following when determining the value of your services:

• Don’t undervalue your services.
• Don’t overvalue your services.
• Be confident in your ability to deliver services that dictate the price.

By confidently selling your personal training services at a higher value you end up working “smarter” and not “harder”.  You are providing a high quality of service without having to provide a large quantity.  This way you end up working less, making more money and maintaining a balance between your career and your personal life.

Final Thoughts …

The only thing stopping an average personal trainer from being one of the most successful personal trainers in business is commitment to an effective business plan and dedication to reaching their business goals.  This series of articles provides a guideline for personal trainers to achieve success in their growing business and take advantage of the exciting developments over the next few years in fitness, health and wellness.