By Brandon J. Green, RTSm, CMSS, PTS,
So, you’re not making over $100,000 a year … yet.
That makes sense. After all, the majority of the trainer education you’ve had available to you primarily focuses on fulfillment and technical delivery, doesn’t it?
You know the drill. Which exercises and strategies are the best to achieve XYZ result? And this is important stuff! Thankfully, there’s an abundance of high-level academic information available to anyone who strives to become an incredible personal trainer.
Yet while this is true, it’s disheartening to know the average annual income for an ESTABLISHED, full-time personal trainer in Canada today is $53,000. Not surprising then to learn that the average career length for a personal trainer is just three years. Most leave the industry because they can’t create a sustainable career out of training between income and life balance related matters,
Some trainers have developed a considerable talent for sales and communication. But because they don’t successfully implement these skills within their practice, they too often abandon their dream and move on to a different career. Sad when you consider how relevant a skilled trainer’s work is in this day and age.
My goal is for you to have a lifelong, sustainable career as a personal trainer, earning more than $100,000 a year by using simple systems that are tested and true. I developed Fitness Pro Mentors to help trainers like you double and triple your income through marketing and sales practices just like these.
1. Professionalism vs. Commodity
Professionalism is an excellent place to start. When you think of a stereotypical personal trainer, what comes to mind? Your grandparents might envision an overly muscular male in skin-tight clothes with a whistle around his neck. Funny, right? The truth is, this was once the trainer stereotype.
Now, to play with stereotypes a bit more, what comes to mind when you think of a high-powered Wall Street banker? Sharp. They control their image and career from head to toe, and you know it by looking at them. You know they know what they are doing. Am I right?
Isn’t that the perception you want for your business? Like a top-of-the-game professional? Then why not own it?
This level of professionalism is exactly how our students and staff at my gym, Strata Internal Performance, are perceived in the training world. If you have a niche market and an expert-level skill set to solve one particular problem better than anyone else — pain management, scientific weight loss, scientific hypertrophy, whatever your niche is — you have to be the best!
Your facility, the way you dress, the way you speak, and every element around you in your professional environment should confirm to your client avatar that they’ve made a great choice in trusting you.
Who is your client avatar? For example, think of your most affluent, consistent clients. WHO are they? What type of entertainment do they prefer? What hobbies do they have? What pains have you helped them resolve? Once you have an idea of your avatar, you can showcase your skills directly to your customized demographic through the strategic use of your marketing and business contacts.
Learn from experienced fitness professionals and personal trainers, including Brandon Green, at the 2022 CPTN Personal Trainer Online Summit launching on June 4th, 2022. www.cptn.com
2. Community Based Sales (Insane Value!)
Marketing and sales are dirty words in the fitness industry. Most of us avoid associated tasks and don’t even believe they work. But what if I said you have yet to discover a systematic way that’s enjoyable and generates high-quality leads.
Below is the three-step sales process that’s been an absolute game-changer for our students. (Shhh. Don’t tell my marketing guy I gave this away!)
ONLINE COMMUNITY
Create a high-value online community (a community filled with all of your brandings, messaging, and also alumni clients to your products) where you give away your best information. An online community is one of the simplest lead magnet strategies you can create. Every time you meet someone, invite them to join your online community. This is additional work, but this community creates a “FARM” of leads that you can communicate with daily. Creating an online community alone has meant significant gains for our students.
TRIAGE VALUE CALL
Talking to warm leads and unsure if they’re a good fit? No problem! After they join your community, offer a triage call. Triage calls are an excellent opportunity to jump on a Zoom call, see one another face-to-face, and for you to provide them with a bunch of free, high-quality tactics that may help them with their problem. For free. YES, for free! The goal is to build a strong relationship with the process so they will know, like, and trust you. Once they do, it’s easy to move on to the next step.
SALES!
Now that the prospective client is interested in working with you, it’s time to consider how you will SELL them. An ethical sales process is a great way to acquire new clients or, in the case where there’s no sale to be made — to make great connections!
Learning how to sell ethically without being pushy or negative is a process. Understanding how to identify a prospect’s pains/problems so you can create a custom solution is a powerful skill. If you can’t identify a problem or need for your prospective client there should be no pitch. Leaving a prospective client unsold but with the utmost trust and respect for you can also be of value.
3. RICHS are in the FOLLOWUP
This step is straightforward. Yet, if I keep it completely real, every trainer I have ever mentored drops this ball. Following up with inactive clients and old leads is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to get quality clients and fill your schedule consistently.
How do you follow up in a value-giving way? Consistently create strategic lead magnets that offer high-quality information. These high-quality lead magnets will help past clients and prospective clients overcome problems ASAP, building a relationship with you that is founded on value.
If you consistently offer excellent information and people still don’t see the value in retaining you, they aren’t likely to be a great client. Still, they will speak of you highly, and that’s great P.R. There are many reasons why talking to inactive clients and old leads is a goldmine.
Learn more from Brandon Green at the 2022 CPTN Personal Trainer Online Summit launching on June 4th, 2022. www.cptn.com
With more than seventeen years as a veteran personal trainer and ten years as an international leader in biomechanics & fitness business education, Brandon Green is the Owner/Operator of Newmarket, Ontario’s largest personal training studio, Strata Internal Performance. Brandon is also the founder of Fitness Pro Mentors, a personal training business education platform designed to help trainers and gym owners build lucrative and sustainable business models. In August of 2020, Brandon launched the Fitness Pro Mentors Podcast, showcasing interviews with industry titans who offer valuable MBA-level business tips, tricks and insights for listeners.
www.stratainternalperformance.com
