Welcome to part 4! In this post I share another 10 Tips to Help Personal Trainers and Personal Trainer Business Owners stand out from the crowd and make some serious bacon!…

1) Emulate Awesome Businesses

Companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google are super successful for a reason. Apart from outstanding products, much of their success can be attributed to what happens behind the scenes: company culture, work ethic, values, staff, and technology. Start looking at companies that you admire, ask pertinent questions, why do I like them? and how can I apply similar concepts to my own business? There’s a fantastic book on this topic and i’d highly recommend it… it’s called Good To Great by Jim Collins

2) Schedule Content… save time and prevent headaches!

Did you know the likes of Facebook allow you to schedule content to be delivered at a time of your choice? Let’s say for example, based on your analytics that most of your audience is online at 7pm in the evening – you can schedule all your posts to be delivered at that exact time! You can also use apps like Buffer to schedule posts across multiple platforms (humongous time saver!)

“When I’m on Holiday I schedule all my posts in advance. It’s like having a member of staff working for you whilst your away… FREE of charge!”

3) Important Dates you need to add into your diary

Christmas, Easter, Summer, Client Birthdays, etc! All the traditionally  important times of the year. Small things like wishing a client ‘Happy Birthday’ go a heck of along way! For the past 2 years i’ve also bought all the LEP Members Easter eggs and Christmas presents! It’s another way of adding value and letting your customers know how much you appreciate them.

You can also use your pre planned annual themes throughout the year to help tailor specific content e.g. In Summer – Get your Summer Beach Body! This helps create flow/structure to your content and provides relevant information at times when people are likely to be looking for it!

4) Re-Charge! have a break and a kitkat…

One of the best things I did last year was take a full 7 day break with my partner in crime Sally (hopefully my future wife!). Initially I was anxious, what will happen to business? I’m just so use to being busy! What will I do on holiday? What if this happens when I’m away? arghh! and all the other stuff us personal trainers worry about! The holiday was amazing though, I completely switched off, I chilled out, read books, relaxed, and had many epiphanies (one of which was to buy my own house – which i’m now sat writing in!). Take regular breaks to re-charge the batteries so you don’t burn out!

5) don’t focus too much on your competition 

It’s good to be aware however don’t get too wrapped up in what they are doing. Competition is healthy, it can boost economy, lead to innovation – ultimately providing better products and services for all of us. But remember that your on a mission to build your own business. Don’t be a copycat, always in the shadow, 2 steps behind your competition! Be aware of them, but put your own spin on things, innovate and be unique.

6) Before & Afters

One way of enticing new customers is to share your results, anyone can talk a big game but have you got the proof to back it up? Using before and after pictures (providing you get your clients permission!) is a great way to show people that you know your stuff and can deliver the results they are seeking.

7) Keep up with the latest trends & fads 

Imagine you went to sleep for 10 years, what the heck would you wake up to? new phones! gadgets! self driving cars! robots! who knows! Things are constantly changing: new training methods, scientific studies, diets, etc. Make-sure to keep up to date by continuing to invest time and money in ongoing learning: training courses, qualifications, books, etc.

8) Comfort Zone Expansion

If your truly wanting to become the best version of you and run a successful personal training business your going to have to do things that scare the cr*p out of you! Speaking to people, walking up to them and making conversation, dealing with pre consultation nerves, doing your first Youtube Video (worrying about how it will be received!), and of course experiencing your first ‘Hater’ (a person who greatly dislikes a specified person! in other words…a person with anger issues! lol).

It’s nerve-racking, but your not alone – I guarantee that all personal trainers have at some point in their career experienced these exact same issues. What’s the worst that can happen? Often it’s your mind playing tricks on you, fabricating a story that fills you with utter dread (but actually never happens!). Look at all the successful people in the world: Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, etc – they’ve all had to face rejection, heartaches, failures, set backs. Take comfort in this thought and push yourself out of your comfort zone (it’s where the real treasure lies).

9) What’s your Exit Strategy?

Even if your only just starting out in the industry it’s important to think about how you want to leave it (retire! what ever you want to call it!). I don’t think you can put an age limit on personal trainers, but it’s inevitable that at some point your probably not going to have the energy to do 40 sessions per week… until the age of 70! + it’ll cost you a fortune in chiropractor bills (you’ll end up looking like Quasimodo!). What does the end look like for you? Do you want to eventually sell your business? have trainers working for you? do you want to use your income to invest in property? start another business? do you have a pension set up? It’s super important to think about where you want to end up, or at least narrow down some options. Think of the big picture even though it may feel a million miles away.

10) Don’t Sell Sessions

Sell results, your not selling personal training sessions your selling a desired outcome. People aren’t coming to you for 1 hr of personal training, there coming to you because they want to burn fat, look great on their wedding day, be able to kick a ball around the park with their kids without having a heart attack, etc! Talk about this in your consultation, factor in the time that’s involved. Are you going to be doing a nutritional plan for them? is this included in the price? or separate? Are you going to design them an extra workout plan to follow outside of your sessions? You need to factor these into your pricing strategy, but remember sell the results not sessions! Your focus is to get them to their desired outcome as quickly, and safely as possible. Feel free to check out the way I structure my packages if you like.

Thanks again for reading, I appreciate it and I hope you learned a thing or two (or ten!), if you liked this post or have any questions please leave your comments below.

Next Week… 

Make-sure to check in next Friday for the final part (part 5!) containing 10 more knowledge bombs for you hungry ambitious personal trainers!

👱💪 Nick