Business Secrets and Marketing Tips for the Serious Personal Trainer

by Jesse Cannone CFT, CPRS

Personal training can be a very rewarding career and for many trainers including myself, it’s more than just putting clients through workouts. For me, the feelings of appreciation after helping someone achieve their fitness goals, is what drives me. The trouble is, many personal trainers switch careers because they find they just can’t make it.

I know personally how hard it can be. I’m a father of five and know that raising a family can be very challenging, especially financially. What disturbs me is that many of the trainers leaving the field may have been able to stick it out if they had a better understanding of the business side of being a personal trainer.

I’ve been a personal trainer since 1996 and have found that one of the biggest problems is the lack of focus on teaching trainers not just exercise science but basic business principles. So what happens is many individuals go out and get certified and are led to believe that if you’re a good trainer you’ll get clients. Plus, some are even lead to believe that the better you are the busier you’ll be… unfortunately, that’s not the way it works at all!

How many times have you seen trainers who may lack knowledge, experience, or even certification that are busier than others? The problem is prospective clients don’t know the difference between an ACE certification or an NSCA, nor  do they really care! What they care about is results – what benefits they’ll receive. You might think that’s common sense, right? WRONG! If it were common sense, all of the personal training certifications and courses would teach it.

I know of few trainers who know this and even fewer who implement this into their business. There’s a lot of talk in the personal training field right now about professionalism, and while I agree it is important, it doesn’t matter one bit if you don’t have clients! Plus, you can be the most educated, certified, qualified, and professional trainer out there and still struggle to stay busy.

Prospective clients are more concerned with whether or not your going to help them, not how many certifications you have. The good news is there are a few simple and basic business and marketing strategies that can make all the difference in the world. My goal as a personal trainer and business consultant is to help you understand what your “ideal” client wants and give it to them.

So here we go…

Business Secret #1 – Know your “ideal” client

It’s critical that you know who they are, what they do in their spare time, where they eat, etc. The more you know the better off you are and the easier you can get your marketing message across.

Business Secret #2 – Become an expert

No, I don’t mean just know your stuff (which you should), but you should position yourself as an expert in a specific category. For example, you might work with busy business executives – you can position yourself as the expert at getting busy corporate execs into shape fast.

Business Secret #3 – Use multi-step marketing

This is where so many trainers make a huge mistake. If you get a lead or prospect and they don’t sign up what do you do? Forget about them? I hope not, because that’s what most trainers do. Leads are not easy to come by, nor are they cheap, so why give up on them? You should add them to your mailing list and send them informative articles or your newsletter – you never know when they might be ready to sign up. Plus, many people feel uncomfortable doing business with someone they don’t know. Let them get to know you, your company, and your services.

Business Secret #4 – Get some help

Just like your clients need your help, don’t be afraid to get help in the area of business and marketing. I remember about 3 or 4 years ago I was struggling to keep a steady flow of clients and was burning myself out in the process. So I got the help of a successful business coach and it made a world of difference. After that I read every business and marketing book I could get my hands on.

In the past few years my business has nearly tripled and I’ve helped dozens of other personal trainers learn and master the principles of effective business and marketing.