The fitness assessment is a tough art. Most times, you have an hour to build rapport and history, measure, plan and sell to your potential client, who may or may not know what to expect from the process. Hopefully, if you have time, you also try to educate the assessee so they have a better understanding of the measurements, plan and ultimately, value of your services. Even if you don’t sell them the first time, if you leave them with some knowledge that proves true as they start out on their own you have built trust for them to come back when they realize they need your help.
Summer Struggles of a Personal Trainer
The summer is here, which is usually a means for excitement, however it’s also the toughest time of the year for the fitness industry. It was always difficult for me as a trainer and manager to hit even modest goals in these lean months. But difficult times were also a good time to experiment to try to mitigate these realities; from varying training packages, to group programs and different marketing initiatives, with varying degrees of success.
Why is it Hard to be a Fitness Professional?
Looking at the interactions between trainers, clients and facilities shows just how this 'one hour paradigm' is created. Most trainers work at facilities, and those that are independent have their own overhead costs for equipment, facility rental, travel, etc, which all take up a portion of their hourly revenue. That is why even though the average cost of personal training in North America is around $56/hour for clients, the average wage that a trainer actually takes home is $28.64/hour (51%), while the real average take home wage is $15.88/hour (28%) when unbilled time is factored in (i.e. time spent creating programs, managing their business, getting new clients, etc…). At facilities, the cost to clients and the percentage of revenue that the facility takes off the top are both higher. Since there is so much unbilled time and overhead costs that go into training, it has become the norm to seek out clients that can train multiple times per week and commit to long term packages. Unfortunately, this 'all-or-nothing' approach prices most potential clients out of the personal training market entirely.
How to Get Clients as a New Personal Trainer
Starting out is very tough, and many trainers do not make it past the first 6 months because it is hard work to build up enough clients to make a regular income. You need to be willing to put in the unpaid time and effort to meet new potential clients, assess, and sell them training. You also need to hustle on the follow up and feedback for anyone who does not purchase training, focusing on 'aggressively caring' as opposed to aggressively closing. If you don't manage your own expectations correctly, it is easy to get discouraged. Many trainers expect to get busy right when they start, not realizing what it takes to build a client base, and quickly come to resent the non-training side of the business. Instead, use your downtime to learn, iterate, experiment and improve your process and brand. You can not sell or help everyone, but you can definitely learn from the time you spend with them, you just have to make sure that you are listening and paying attention.
Part 1: Why You Should Be Taking Time to Write Fitness Programs
Trainers are always too busy for their own good. In fact, even given a tool to help trainers save time, I have found that most of our first users are too busy to adopt a tool to get less busy. At least, that seems to be how they feel given the realities of being a personal trainer: selling time in one hour blocks and not getting paid for all of the unbilled time managing your business before, after and in between clients. But the reality is that it is this unpaid time that crowds the schedule with trainers balancing the common activities to manage your business, with maintaining your own fitness and ongoing education.
