Marketing is a fairly misunderstood concept for most personal trainers and fitness entrepreneurs, but essential to a successful business. This is a continuation of “Why Does Marketing Matter? – Part One”. Understanding the Demand When it comes to successfully selling personal training or fitness-based services, there needs to be a physical, mental, or emotional desire for what is being sold (i.e., positive health benefits, weight loss, strength gain, improved … [Read more…]
Marketing, especially for someone who is passionate about fitness, biomechanics, and anatomy, is a foreign subject that can be really scary and intimidating. To keep it simple, marketing is everything you do to position your fitness (and nutrition) products and personal training services in front of potential clients. It’s an activity, involving a wide variety of actions and strategies that result in making products and services available that satisfy the needs and … [Read more…]
Personal trainers have (without a doubt) the best “feel good” job in the world, helping people feel better about themselves and empowering them every day. Unfortunately, the majority of personal trainers also struggle when it comes to making their business financially successful. Very few personal trainers (i.e., Bob Harper, Jillian Michaels, Chris Powell, Harley Pasternak) get the recognition they deserve and make whopping six-figure salaries. Most get into the … [Read more…]
Role Playing for Personal Trainers #2 Role play is an incredibly helpful tool for anyone who interacts with other people (which is essentially everyone, except for the hermit or person isolated on a desert island). Personal training is DEFINITELY a career where you are faced with questions that challenge your credibility and expertise with a client (or potential client). Whether you just finished your first personal training certification course or you’re an … [Read more…]
From Personal Trainer to Personal Training Manager Personal Trainers work hard throughout their career to be successful and excel at helping their clients get results. Typically when this happens in a fitness club environment these personal trainers move up in the ranks (just like in any other company structure) into a management role. Unfortunately, the majority of them aren’t prepared or ready for the change in roles or the new skills required to be a good … [Read more…]
Dealing with Incidents at the Club Personal trainers may spend hundreds (even thousands) of hours working towards getting their personal training certification and thousands of hours training clients in their careers. Unfortunately, nothing can truly prepare them for an incident where they are the first on the scene in an emergency situation. No matter how hard you study or how good you may be as a personal trainer, nothing can prepare you to respond when you are … [Read more…]
Role Playing for Personal Trainers #1 Personal trainers are typically “thrown to the wolves” when it comes to starting their career. They just finish a personal training certification or course and start working at a club … but have little to no experience speaking with clients, dealing with issues outside of traditional exercise (i.e., health concerns, injuries, personality conflicts), answering personal questions or asking for the sale (and the sales skills … [Read more…]
Personal Trainer “Burnout” Personal trainers have an important role when it comes to helping and motivating others to make their lives better … but what isn’t talked about is how “lonely” it can be or how “stressful” it is taking on the responsibilities of a personal training career. Because personal trainers take on a lot trying to build their business and support their clients it’s not uncommon for them to experience “burnout” … even the ones who are … [Read more…]
Personal Trainer Retention Whether you’re a personal trainer for a fitness business that employs personal trainers … retention is something that is on everyone’s mind. Personal trainers want to be a part of an organization that they believe in and want to stay with for the long term (especially if they are looking for stability and a team environment). Fitness businesses are concerned with personal trainer retention because these individuals can significantly … [Read more…]
Mobile Fitness Solutions Starting your own personal training business doesn’t necessarily require a massive outlay of costs of investment funding … it could start with some creativity and your ability to get mobile using your own vehicle (or possibly a truck) and bringing fitness to clients or client groups. In this week’s episode Pharoah Kafele (www.puravidaclub.com) and Andrea Oh (www.todaysfitnesstrainer.com) discuss their experiences taking fitness to … [Read more…]