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You need to build this in order to get more personal training clients

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One of the biggest and most beneficial ways to get more sales and more personal training clients is to build rapport with current clients and prospects. Follow these five tips to build the relationship and friendship with your client.

1.) Be Real – If you put on an act or try to fake who you are then you are guaranteed to lose the client. People are not as dumb as you may think. They are already timid and have their guard up because they have been burned before, so the worst thing you can do is start to fake who you are. Also, a key point to being yourself is you will attract personal training clients who are like you and have things in common. Remember, you should not be everything to everyone. Use your personality and characteristics to attract people whom you fit in with.

2.) Quit being serious – It is important to build credibility but enough with all the serious stone face attitude. In the mind of the client personal training is already hard enough and the last thing they need or want is to have a personal trainer that is ALL business. Now, I know what your thinking and it is okay to be disciplined and consistent with your client but lighten up and show them you are human!

3.) Let your passion shine – If you love what you do and you show enthusiasm when you are with your clients then your clients will keep coming back to you. People are attracted to positive and energetic people and trainers that show this at every session gain the most clients.

4.) Listen and recall – It is so important that you listen to what your client says and talks about. You need to find out what profession they are in, if they are married, how many kids, birthday and etc… Make sure when you see them you recall things that they have told you. If you have a hard time remembering write them done, put them in notebook, set up reminders on a service like www.birthdayalarm.com.  

5.) Be honest and truthful – Do not sugar coat the relationship. You need to be honest and truthful about what you tell your personal training clients. Don’t lie and tell a prospect something that isn’t true just to get them to buy more personal training sessions. This will come back to haunt you one day and you will be sorry you lied and didn’t stay honest from the beginning. 

Building rapport takes work but if you follow these five tips then you will put yourself in a great position to build a long solid relationship with your client that can lead to endless opportunities.

Does the “Past” matter?

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When it comes to getting more personal training clients does the prospect’s past experience with a personal trainer matter? Of course it does, and I was made aware of this again today when one of my newest trainers encountered a new member who told her a horrific story about the last time she met with a trainer. Listen, the fitness industry is notorious for creating negative experiences in people’s minds and it makes the job of changing that perception in the prospect’s mind much more difficult. Don’t worry, all hope is not lost, if you are going to have any chance of landing this prospect as a personal training client you are going to need to do the following:

1.) You need to establish trust with your prospect. Become a Trusted Advisor. I have said this before, but I can’t say it enough, ” clients buy because they trust you.” Now in order to establish this trust you need to listen to them and find out what their needs are and show them how you can help them achieve their goals.

2.) Create a memorable experience. Once you have established trust it is important to create a memorable experience. It is so important that the initial experience that a client has is something they enjoy and have fun. Yes, I mean make it fun for your client because if there is one thing that is missing with the “gym experience” is that we, as health professionals, sometimes forgot to have fun and make the experience memorable.

Let me be frank here and tell you that you have an uphill battle when it comes to changing the past of a current prospect but it can be done with the establishment of trust and an experience that leaves the client wanting more. Focus on these two sales strategies and you will win over the past and create a new future for your client. Good luck!

Coach Dave

How to train like a “Navy Seal”, so that you can be a successful personal trainer

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I just finished reading one of the best books I have ever read. The name of the book is “Lone Survivor” and it is about the true story of the Navy Seal that survived the battle of Red Hawk in the mountains of Afghanistan. I can tell you that while reading the book I experienced all kinds of emotions and left wanting to know more about the courageous and remarkable men who serve our country. With that being said, I wanted to write today to tell you how you can improve your training and life if you take just a small chapter from the attitude and trainig techniques the Navy Seals go through to become who they are. 

Let’s first start by looking at the Navy Seal’s philosophy:

“I will never quit…My Nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teamates…I am never out of the fight.”

Okay, I know the Navy Seals are extremely tough and on the other end of the spectrum but one thing is for certain and that is their resolve to never quit. If you want to take one thing away from the Seal philosophy it should be you believing that you are never out of the fight. I see it all the time, new trainers come in to the industry and don’t give themselves enough time to make it stick. They give in too soon and don’t stay in the fight long enough to give them a shot at winning. I will be honest I almost quit the industry but I remember reading a quote one day that said “When you think you are at the end of a rope tie a knot and hang on.” Boy, am I glad that I hung on because after a few years of personal training and working with my clients I came to realize my true purpose in life, which has led me to where I am today. So, if you adapt the philosophy of the Navy Seals and never quit! you too can become a successful trainer

The Art of Closing

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Last week we talked about the 5 Steps to Successful Selling and I wanted to finish it up with the last two steps. Just to recap the first three steps were:

I. The Importance of Personal/Professional Development

II. The Necessity of Prospecting

III. The Power of Planning

Okay, well step number four is The Art of Closing. Step four is probably the step I see trainers struggle with the most. The main reason for this is trainers try to wing it and don’t use the proper tools and techniques.So here is step four and if you want to increase your sales become a master at closing.

A.)Prepared Presentation

  1. Develop rapport
  2. Establish credibilty 
  3. Enforce the need

B.) Closing Techniques

  1. Sampling – puppy dog close
  2. 3 questions – Do you see the benefits, Interested in benefits, and when do you what to start?
  3. Need/Desire and the “time door” 

C.) Closing Tools

  1. Special offers
  2. Supporting materials