Check out this great article from TRX master trainer, Jonathan Ross. Jonathan questions durability of the traditional personal trainer's business model and suggests some solutions that he has proven will bring a more stable business and better results for your clients.
Trainers: If you get abducted by aliens tomorrow, will your clients still know how to exercise without you?
Ask yourself the following questions:
• Are you having the same session/workout with clients over and over again?
• Do either you or your clients get distracted easily during sessions? Are clients often late?
• Are any clients considering dropping sessions with you for financial reasons?
• Would you like to work with more clients without working more hours?
When the average person hears “personal trainer” do they have an image of a fitness leader/educator or a glorified workout partner putting them through a tough workout several days per week? And perhaps more importantly for the future of our industry: How do we, as trainers, perceive ourselves?
The answer to these questions is no longer simply a matter of how you prefer to structure your training business, but may determine your future ability to maintain financial success. The increasing financial pressures on people at every income level are causing everyone to reevaluate their expenses. As members of the fitness industry, we know that fitness is essential. However, are the services you provide essential and something your clients truly cannot live without?
To overcome potential future financial obstacles – and current perception ones – it might be time to rethink how we offer and deliver personal training services to better the results of our clients, the health of our businesses, and to become true fitness leaders.
The typical personal trainer has a low number of clients with a high session frequency.
Two sample trainers:
• Trainer A: 10 unique clients, 2 sessions each per week (20 total sessions per week)
• Trainer B: 40 unique clients, 1 session each bi-weekly (20 total sessions per week)
Consider the following: Who can afford to work with these trainers under the traditional model of one-on-one training even during prosperous economic times, much less during the current challenging ones? What is the potential impact on revenue for these trainers with the loss of a single client?
How Trainers Benefit
• Greater number of word-of-mouth referrals. In our example, Trainer B has 40 people singing their praises, while Trainer A has 10.
• Less negative impact of losing a client. Trainer A would lose two hours of income per week while Trainer B loses a half hour of income per week.
• You will no longer have clients that, despite several great workouts a week from you, still don’t get results. You know how it is…people get three great workouts from you per week and think that is enough. They spend the rest of the week eating like crap and not taking responsibility for their own results. With fewer sessions, clients realize that the only way for them to get results is to take what you teach them, own it and run with it.
• Clients will take time with you more seriously. They will rarely be late, and will show up ready to learn and get as much info from you as possible to make the most of the time.
• Almost anyone can now afford your services. Even with one session a month, by the end of the year that is twelve hours spent learning and growing in fitness knowledge.
The future direction and success of the personal training industry is up to us. We have enjoyed massive success in recent decades while reaching only the minority of the population. There is a great untapped market out there full of people who think they aren’t fit enough for trainers, can’t afford trainers, and are intimidated by trainers. If you teach your clients to be independent of you, you demonstrate professionalism and confidence in your abilities that will impress almost any client. Give someone a workout; they are fitter for a day. Teach them to work out, and they are fitter for a lifetime. Impart fitness knowledge to your clients; build on their accumulated knowledge of exercise, and watch them enjoy greatly amplified results. When you treat clients like strong, capable, intelligent adults, they begin to act that way and feel more confident in their exercise programs. As a result, their progress accelerates, and they start telling everyone who will listen that they just have to work with you.
(NOTE: For more practical details on how to implement the above strategy in your personal training practice, see the full article April 2009 issue of IDEA Trainer Success Newsletter.)
Jonathan Ross is a TRX Master Trainer, 2008 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year Award Finalist, the 2006 ACE Personal Trainer of the Year, Discovery Health Fitness Expert, and can be reached at www.AionFitness.com