Selling Personal Training in Your Gym
Isn’t it time your health club steps up a notch in terms of marketing your services? You’re a personal trainer who has established a new gym in your community and as part of that you’ve hired some additional personal trainers to come and join you in this endeavor. For a couple of months your gym is doing pretty well because you got everyone busy in their schedule. But you don’t need to wait until a client says goodbye before finding a new member to fill in that soon-to-be vacant schedule. There are a couple of sales and marketing techniques to know to get that consistent, smooth business flow. And that begins with yourself and your colleagues.
In the best case, you would have your own sales and marketing training, which you could then share with everyone working with and for you. Firstly, you need to embrace a positive mindset – if you anticipate failure, then you probably will. You need to embrace that ‘whatever it takes’ attitude, because sales all starts and ends in the mental arena. Get a positive outlook. Spread that to your trainers. Given, floor shifts can be a pain at times; some trainers even start their floor time as if they’re on death row. They reluctantly clock-in, but seriously, this is a big mistake, starting your customer interactions with a negative attitude is foolish on many levels – and will not generate ANY personal training sales. Whereas, if you have passion for personal training and that you seriously want to help others get fit, you won’t have that sluggish, tired mindset. And if you’re serious of selling your services to clients, show them you love your job and everything else will follow (better client satisfaction, member retention and more referrals). Personal training results, perhaps, reflect your effectiveness as a trainer and that won’t happen if you’re half-baked and not interested into effectively training your clients. Simply put, see your floor time as an opportunity to get new clients (that might never come again).
Positivity influence guests who may be going the wrong direction without the insights you are offering them, even if they not become your client right away, you will be the first one he would go to by the time he is ready to train, be it a couple of weeks or months from now. No one knows what interaction will win you clients, so always wear that positive attitude when on the floor. That’s where selling personal training begins (at least it has to start somewhere, right?).
But then attitude won’t be enough if you’re not going to put it into practice. Now get out there and standout from the crowd by starting better conversations when approaching members or potential ones (guests). A client has taken some time out a busy day to come and see you and your services. Don’t pass this opportunity, but control the conversation. Talk to him or her and ask what is it he or she wants to achieve, and listen. Focus on the needs of this person, take notes and make them feel you seriously care. Get a pen and paper and really DRIVE the conversation in the direction of their goals, encourage them to share their, in their mind at least, unobtainable fitness ‘dreams.’
Start sketching out a plan for them, and ask follow-up questions. Then, again, listen and paraphrase their answers to show you actually understand what they’re saying before moving on to the next question, such as, if they had any injuries, what their goals are and had they been a member of any health club before…? Pause for a few seconds and make sure the client is done talking before going on.
And once you already know of their goals, selling personal training now moves on to selling results, not gym packages. Since this may be your first time talking with this guest, for instance, lay out your plan, though it doesn’t have to be perfect. You can fill in any blanks later. Explain the reasons this plan is tailored for his goals and ways this will deliver him fitness results.
Paint the picture and leave out a few details that don’t matter at this point. Be brief and let him lead to asking details on what else he wants to know.
By the end of this conversation, make sure this potential client has a clear picture of what your proposed plan has for him and that he can already imagine himself training in the gym with you as his personal trainer.
Next thing is that the client might ask why he or she has to train five times per week, as example. Be honest and tell him the reasons. Communicate why this is the appropriate workout sessions per week to meet his or her goals. Now if they object, adjust the plan so that your proposed program fits into their schedule. Remember, present what you think is best and relevant to this potential client and give him options – what may be best for their health on the bottom line may not be feasible for them, to tailor their program to something that they could accommodate.
Finally, be the product you’re selling (results) and believe in it—its value and present it the best manner a client would understand; perhaps, personal training is all in your confidence so that you won’t miss another opportunity again. By following these tips to selling personal training, you can make ends meet to establishing a successful gym business. Train your colleagues on these sales techniques that actually come naturally, starting with your positive attitude, better conversation techniques and excellent presentation skills.
And part of achieving a successful personal training business in your gym is to show that you really care, especially in terms of high quality fitness equipment you can get at the fraction of the cost at UsedGymEquipment.com—your partners to developing an excellent gym that people ever need. If you want to upgrade or add a few training units in your workout area, pick up the phone and discuss your needs with one of our seasoned gym experts. We can help you come up with that ideal gym package for personal training gyms with our complete range of training machines, including multi gyms, selectorized equipment and free weights and benches and racks and so much more. Best part is that we carry the best brands—Life Fitness, Precor and Cybex, among others.
Call us today!
