Running a fitness business is both challenging and rewarding, but to be successful you need 3 things:
- In-depth knowledge about exercise, physiology, phycology and nutrition as well as specialist knowledge to set yourself apart from other trainers.
- Business skills to help you gain a client base and earn an income
- On-going support, resources and education to help you be the best you can be as a fitness professional.
You need to ask yourself these questions: Why would somebody choose you over another personal trainer? What is unique and special about you? What defines you and separates you from the rest of the market?
Once you know the answers to these questions then you have to promote them to other people. Having completed 3 courses on how to treat lower back pain and eliminating sclerosis is all well and good, however, if nobody knows this information then you’re going to appear as the same as Johnny Smith who’s fresh out of his personal training course. You need to provide potential clients with multiple reasons to choose you over others. On top of this, you need to make these reasons extremely obvious.
A good example is if you picture yourself going into a bookstore. You will come face to face with several rows of books. Some of the books have their front covers facing up while others simply have the spine showing. Which book would your eyes be drawn to first? The book with its front cover displayed. This is due to the fact that this book is far more accessible to the mind than the other books. It’s easy to examine the books details therefore providing you the ability work out briefly what the book is about (even though you should never judge a book it’s cover!).
You need to make yourself like the front facing books; accessible, understandable and easy to consume.
This demonstrates the need to make it blindingly obvious what your strengths are on posters displayed in gyms, business cards that you hand out and social media profiles that you make. It is also important to add these strengths to your name in order to catch prospective clients attention. Look at some examples below.
‘Shelly Baker – Nutrition Expert & Trainer’
‘Derek Lowe – Strength & Conditioning Coach’
‘Alice Dover – Fat Loss Guru’
It may seem obvious, but keep your branding and unique selling point (USP) consistent across all forms of advertising and social media. Another great tip is to make your contact details easily accessible. Do not give a new lead or potential client the chance to contemplate not contacting you.
Exercise: Take 2 minutes to write down the top 3 workout types that you enjoy. Now match them to your skillset. If you have a match, that’s where you should be focusing. If not, perhaps head to back to step 1 and re-educate yourself in something that you’re interested in. Knowledge is powerful!
