When the realities of being a new personal trainer set in, one quickly realizes how important the business fundamentals are to growing a client list or creating consistent monthly revenue. Interpersonal skills such as active listening and empathy are imperative to building your value package and helping personal trainers make a relationship with the potential customer standing before them. Understanding that, most likely, the potential client sitting in front of you does not enjoy exercise, which was a major accomplishment in itself, is an important understanding of working in this career. Most fitness professionals are in the minority, and they enjoy exercise and seek out activities that involve their health.
Listening to potential clients can be a powerful tool in learning more about their likes and dislikes and building a relationship that leads to repeat personal trainer sales. Podcast guest Sean Greeley shares strategies and techniques for new personal trainers to emphasize during their careers. Sean owns NPE, a fitness business coaching and marketing solution, and has helped thousands of fitness professionals create seven-figure businesses.
Improving Your Sales Strategy
In the early 2000s, “sales profiles” were taught during onboarding new personal trainers to mold professionals into what some thought were successful traits for working in the fitness industry. In truth, there is no one way, and soft skills turned out to be the key to unlocking personal trainer sales.
In this episode, Sean shares why these sales profiles are not ideal and how, over the years, his company has worked to create strategies that lead to sales. Sean shares how eccentric personalities used to be thought of as the best way to work as fitness trainers, but it’s most likely introverted because of their listen-first mentality. Listening allows the potential client to speak more and gain more comfort in an environment that may be intimidating.
Realities of Personal Training
Personal training marketing is often portrayed as flexible work hours and all smiles. Truthfully, it is a challenging journey to gain new clients, and work hours revolve around when gym members are available (before work and after). This industry can often be cutthroat, with a high turnover rate that frequently leads to new professionals leaving before a year (American Spa, 2019). Starting your career with a strategy for gaining new clients and a business-first mentality can hopefully lead to growing your monthly revenue as a personal trainer or group exercise instructor and improving your chances of staying in the fitness industry.
Improving Your Digital Footprint
One of the most significant portions of this podcast with Sean is when he discusses improving your digital footprint over the next ten years and how this can lead to a more fruitful fitness career. Paid Instagram and Facebook ads used to be the gold standard for growing your fitness business. However, over the next ten years, improving your online search can lead to better sales leads who are more likely to purchase personal training packages.
In this episode, Sean shares how Facebook(META) and Instagram ads have become more spam content, which is not improving your fitness business and is hurting your wallet more than anything. Sean discusses a strategy that involves gaining data with new clients that can lead to reviews on the most prominent online platforms and more customers ready to purchase your services.
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