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You’re certified, insured and passionate about helping others achieve their fitness goals. But when it comes to the business side of fitness, you’re lost.
So how do you find clients and make the kind of money that you deserve?
Let’s face it, not too long ago most personal trainers needed a second job just
to make ends meet. But times have changed and many fitness professionals today
earn more than medical doctors, attorneys and accountants. Still, a large percentage
of personal trainers struggle to find their way to prosperity.
Today, personal training is one of the fastest growing professions in the
consulting sector. Now more than ever you are in the position to help others realize
their fitness goals all while creating a successful business model that will provide
you with years of reliable income and security.
Here are four secrets to growing your personal training business into a thriving enterprise that
will win you
financial freedom.
 1. Specialize: Doctors and attorneys specialize all the time. In fact, those who niche themselves are usually the most successful. You wouldn’t go to a divorce attorney for advice on opening a new business, would you? You’d go to a corporate attorney who specializes in corporate and business law. Yet, personal trainers still offer “general” services, which makes it hard for clients to find them and even harder for them to find clients.
I know what you’re thinking. If I say that I specialize in all aspects of fitness and weight loss then I’ll have a larger market to
cater to.
While that sounds good in theory, the fact of the matter is that it does not work. Here’s an example: Let’s say that right now you do general personal training. If you need more clients, where do you advertise? In the local paper or community publication? Sure you may get a lead or two, but most people who see your ad are not likely your ideal prospects.
Now imagine if your niche was golf conditioning or high-income housewives. Now you know where to advertise, right? You can find golfers at the local driving range, the pro shop, golf course and even in the sports section of the local paper. And if you’re looking for high-income housewives, you may want to look at local day spas, boutiques, hair and nail salons and high end grocery stores.
See how easy it is to find the right prospect? Don’t you think that the potential clients would find you more credible if you specialized in what they were looking for?
One of my clients, 2006 NSCA Personal Trainer of the Year Michael Seril, has a unique niche. He gets his clients from local doctors who refer to him. Michael has positioned himself as the “expert,” therefore doctors trust him with their patients.
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 2. Market: There’s advertising and there’s marketing. You, the fitness professional, must learn to market. Marketing is everything you do to get and retain clients, position yourself as the local fitness expert, generate publicity and stimulate referrals. Advertising is the act of branding yourself and it can get pretty expensive. Businesses that can afford to successfully brand themselves are the big companies like Adidas, Gatorade, Coke and Pepsi because they have nearly endless amounts of advertising dollars.
If your goal is to quickly grow your business without wasting money, learn to market. You can easily get free exposure in your community by offering to write a weekly or monthly fitness column for the local paper. Or consider aligning yourself with local businesses that can refer clients to you. Establish your credibility by offering a free Saturday morning fitness boot camp in your town.
This is a great way to generate lots of free publicity via the local media and it also serves as a great lead generator. |
 3. Embrace technology: Your next client is more likely to search for you on the Internet than in the phone book. Technology has given consumers the power to seek out local services faster than ever before. Today, more people search Google for information than anywhere else. You can benefit from this in a big way.
Don’t let the idea of technology scare you. You can maximize your business potential online by creating a website. There are two types of websites: One works in attracting clients and generating leads and the other does not. What you want is a content rich website, one that has 15-30 articles written by you on all things fitness. People on the Internet are searching for information—not for a glorified virtual flyer. Your content rich site should educate, inform and position you as the obvious local fitness expert.
But the Internet offers more, much more. Thanks to online personal training, you can train clients from all over the world. That’s right, technology now gives you the ability to create passive income right from your home computer.
That’s not all the Internet can do for fitness professionals today. E-mail marketing is the fastest, easiest and most economical way to get new clients and retain the ones you have. If you don’t offer a weekly or monthly fitness newsletter, now is the time to start.
Take your business online. Your website can help you attract more clients. You can earn more revenue and reach more clients with online personal training. And a simple online email newsletter can position you as the local expert faster than you ever thought possible. |
| It’s time to stretch your mind. Look outside of your industry for ideas to help make your personal training business a success. Consider group sessions or semi-private training programs to maximize your time. Switch to 30-minute sessions. Sure it sounds like a bold move, but many of today’s top fitness trainers only train clients for 30 minutes. This is a great way for you to make more dollars per minute and allows you more time to reach more clients. |
Let’s look at two other business-building strategies that successful trainers use.
Number one: stop selling single sessions. The truth is that your clients are not going to achieve significant results with single sessions or even a handful of sessions, and this method of selling does not generate a reliable income. Consider selling long-term, results-based programs that allow the client to purchase a large number of sessions at once and to pay for them over several months.
This leads me to strategy number two: Electronic funds transfer or EFT. This system is no different than how a gym membership works. The EFT model is perfect for building a reliable and consistent monthly cash flow—and it even saves you time and effort so you’ll never have to be a “bill collector” when your clients run out of sessions. In a nutshell, EFT allows you to sell large session packages and gives the clients the opportunity to pay a given amount per month for your services. A win/win proposition!
Some the ideas presented here may seem foreign to you. But if your goal is to create a stable, secure and successful personal training business, I suggest that you give these proven ideas, tips and strategies a try before you write them off. After all, they’ve helped me and many of my coaching clients create a thriving six figure training business.
Bedros Keuilian is the author of the PT Business Course, president of Hitech Trainer and FitPro Newsletter and business coach to thousands of fitness professionals worldwide. Learn more and get free instant access to his business-building audio program by logging onto www.100NewClients.com.
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4. Think Outside the Box: 
