Trainer Trilogy Part 3

Now you know what it takes to be a successful personal trainer, the next step is marketing. You've likely already done a little bit of marketing by submitting your CV/Resume to employers. Now comes the time to market yourself to potential clients.
And this will be a major step and the key to a successful career as a personal trainer...

You need to understand that you are your business and your business is you. How you present yourself and your business will likely determine the kind of client you will attract. Many personal trainers focus so much on exercise that they focus a lot less on marketing, which can often be 80% of how you get your clients. Marketing involves positioning yourself in such a way that people can see you exercising. This means that when you are at the gym, you are interacting with different gym members, so that others around can see your particular style and what you have to offer. You also want to make sure you market yourself outside the gym. Always have business cards on you. You can also go to events where you can pick the type of clients you want to market yourself too. There is no need to think of yourself simply as a sales person. You are simply watching out for other people's health as well as your own business. Networking will be the growth of your business or the death of your business so make sure you are targetting the clients you feel you are right for. You also need to target as many people as you can. This can be done via the internet, mailings and e-mail. You need to explore different avenues. Growing your personal trainer business takes time and successful personal trainers achieve their status because they have concentrated on something that sets them apart from others who are in the business of fitness marketing. Unless you can make yourself stand out from your competitors then you will never be able to charge higher rates for your services. A good way to market yourself is to get testimonials from other people.

One of the things that all successful personal trainer marketing exercises rely on is a unique selling point, something that makes them stand out from the competition. What most successful marketing relies upon is coming up with an idea that will alter the public perception of their business. If you want to make more money out of your business then you really do have to get tuned in to fitness marketing. No matter how many certificates you have or how great you yourself look, unless you can find a way of marketing your services then you will never make a lot of money as a personal trainer. Most small businesses stand or fall on how well and how consistently they are marketed by their owner. If you don't promote yourself and get into fitness marketing then nobody is going to do it for you.

As a sidenote, and as your business progresses and begins to succeed, stay true to the high standards that you originally projected. I used to work in a restaurant in Florida where you needed to earn the right to become a Server. I then found that many Servers would then become obsessed with getting higher tips that they would neglect the customers/guests who potentially wouldn't tip well. In America, most Americans tip well whereas in the UK, the British generally don't tip so well. Therefore having British guests in an American restaurant is not an ideal combination for a Server in the US. And although this reputation is unfortunately well-earned, there is no need to compromise your high standards. If you are a trainer at a gym and also personally train others while there, please do not neglect the gym members who perhaps you see each day but don't hire you as their personal trainer.

That said, you are getting paid for your time and if you are going to be successful then you want to be able to charge the highest rates for your time as a personal trainer. It is not just your expertise that sets you apart from other personal training professionals, it is how you sell that expertise and the kind of market that you attract - that is why you need to develop a unique selling point. What do you have to offer your potential clients that your competitors don't? When you are marketing yourself and your business you need to focus on the value that you offer your clients. Once this is recognized your success rate should start to improve. And I'm sure that me saying "do it yourself" is great and all, but if you've never done marketing before you may be asking yourself- So how can you do that? Well let's see...

You should first consider ways of attracting clients. Let's break it down into steps:

Step 1: Incorporate the 3 foot rule.

Everyone within 3 feet of you has the right to know about your business. Do not keep it a secret. You are a fitness professional and run a personal trainer business. Since health and fitness should be a top priority for the people around you, they most likely need your expertise, and specialized personal training services.

Make sure you brand yourself, and your business well. What is special about you? What do you have to offer? I was speaking with a trainer at my gym earlier this week about marketing. I recommended she focus on all the special things she has to offer that no one else does. She happens to be the only qualified and experienced Pilates trainer at my current gym. No one else is. She has a head start right there. You need to have personal trainer business cards printed up so you can distribute them to the people you encounter at any time. Putting your picture on the front of the card, and a motivational slogan on the back is a good idea. Maybe you could use the initials in your first name to form a slogan. Just make sure your slogan is unique and that your business card is designed using a simple font. If you were going for a really basic font I would choose Arial over Times New Roman. You can actually design your own font by visiting http://www.yourfonts.com/ . A website could also help. Examples of good fitness websites include the following:

www.kimlyons.com
www.jillianmichaels.com
www.mytrainerbob.com
www.jamieeason.com

Do not be shy or apologetic! Tell people, passionately, about what you actually do, and how you can empower them. If you happen to run a fitness class, don't simply say you offer personal training services at the end of class- offer gym members your card so that they have an option to get in touch with you.

Step 2: Build your referral network with other health care professionals.

You could simply contact health institutions to ask about leaving your card available for their patients. Maybe you could also try placing your business cards in a local tanning salon. Just make sure they are placed at a location where they aren't simply going to be thrown away.

Step 3. Seek joint ventures with fitness equipment retail stores.

When fitness enthusiasts purchase a piece of exercise equipment they generally need instruction from a qualified personal fitness trainer. Why shouldn't that be you? When establishing a business joint venture it is crucial to present yourself in a very professional manner. It is important to bring along professional sales literature introducing yourself, and your personal training business.

Step 4: Get in PR mode.

Educate yourself regarding PR, or hire a PR firm to aggressively market your business. Become the celebrity expert, or go-to personal trainer in your market.
Whenever you can get press coverage, take advantage of it. Another good tip is to give back to your community, and always be searching for opportunities to get your name out to your market.

Step 5: Incorporate seminars.

You can do monthly, or weekly orientation seminars informing potential personal training clients about how to get fit, and a greater insight into the specific of your personal trainer business. Or how about offering special fitness and nutrition consultations. If you feel confident and safe enough, you could offer clients a healthy shopping list review.

Share with seminar attendees how your services of fitness training can benefit them.

Attracting new clients does not have to be as difficult as it appears. It just takes a bit of action. Just do it! Do not let anything hold you back.

Focusing on acquiring more fitness training clients is the key to building a highly profitable personal trainer business. Utilize as many fitness marketing tips you possibly can to propel your training business to the next income level. With a little personal training marketing education, your business will surely grow profitable.

You could really raise your game by positioning yourself as the leading fitness expert in your area. Here are a few of the reasons/benefits to being an expert of this really high level:

- Media Exposure / Publicity
A positive piece of publicity is far more effective than any form of advertising or promotion out there. When people are told by their local paper/ TV news about how great your service is, they think much more of it because it’s coming from a trusted/credible source.

- Instant Credibility
In addition to the positive media exposure, being an expert adds instant credibility and allows you to get your message in front of many more people.

You can do radio/TV interviews, write articles, perform demonstrations, and even end up hosting your own radio/TV show – the possibilities are endless. Your chances of receiving the above benefits is much harder, if not impossible unless you position yourself as an expert. A starting point could be to contact the agents of celebrities you may wish to train and at a bargain price for them. Then perhaps the celebrity will provide you with a testimonial which will of course attract even more attention to your business. Be realistic though. In the UK, most major agencies and their clients are based in London, so if you aren't in London, be prepared to travel there. Also remember that no gym can obligate you to promote the gym you're working at in addition to your own personal training. Obviously though, mentioning the gym will be appropriate when you are using it to personally train that specific client. Essentially though, both you and your gym are separate entities.

- Large numbers of people
Another benefit of being the leading fitness expert in your field is that you have the ability to get your message in front of more people. For example, would you rather meet with one potential client/customer a week or dozens?

So how do you position yourself as an expert? Here’s what you need to do:

1. Write one new article each week/month

You should sit down at least once a month and write a short, but information packed fitness article. Then send it to your local media, put it on your website, use it in your newsletter, and submit it to other fitness websites. After a while you’ll find that you'll be getting all sorts of requests to use your articles and tons of exposure.

2. Speak to groups / teach classes / seminars / workshops.

Yes I'm mentioning classes and seminars again. These are obvious options but there are many other possibilities available to you. So how do you set up additional classes? You go online to the Google search engine and you type "Adult learning in your city". You should come across quite a few organizations that offer numerous classes and workshops for adults. Check them out and see if they are offering any fitness classes. If not, perfect… contact them and offer to teach a class. If they already are offering some fitness classes, that’s great too – this means there is definitely the demand and they see the value in offering fitness classes.

3. Write a book or produce a video

You can sit down and write a small book or you could simply compile all those articles you’ve written and do a little editing and there you go! I'm thinking about doing the same with this Fitness & Nutrition Lifestyle Blog. Now all I have to do is act on that idea. You can create an e-book or an audio CD or Download. As an example, when I put my first album 'Only Love - The Complete Remixes Collection' on iTunes and Amazon.com two years ago (it featured music from a student film I'd made in 1997), I did it via www.tunecore.com . You could record a piece of audio around fitness, nutrition or wellness and distribute it to the world. There are so many options. Just pick one and go for it!

Phew! There you have it. I'd like to conclude the Trainer Trilogy by saying that you determine the path you will take as a fitness trainer. You've learned in this trilogy of blog entries how to become a fitness trainer, how to be successful at it and how to market yourself, particularly as an expert in your field. I hope you've learned something from it, and believe that by you learning from it, your future as a personal trainer will be very bright indeed!

Good Journey!