Three Killer Mistakes Successful
Personal Trainers Don’t Make
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I have witnessed so much since my rookie year. So much worry, so much uncertainty. Fear everywhere. Soon they run. Too soon. Maybe to a bank or an insurance company. Somewhere they really don’t want to go to, but they’re ?red of being scared, not knowing what to do. No sense of direc?on. No one to teach them. The dream is over and the passion is gone. It makes me sad every ?me it happens. It happens too much… I have been in the personal training business since 1998, so yes I’ve seen it all. Not all bad, mind you. I’ve seen a lot of good too. I’ve been watching and listening for almost 20 years, and what I’ve learned needs to be shared. Much of my first E-­‐Book is going to ruffle some feathers and make some people preMy uncomfortable, and this E-­‐Book is only the start. I hope that some of the things I tell you make you uncomfortable. Maybe then I can get you thinking a liMle differently about our industry, and what you want out of it. I have so much valuable informa?on to send your way in the coming weeks, months, and years. I started this Personal Training Biz project over 5 years ago, but I had to put on the brakes so I could focus on being a good daddy. So, now I’m back at it full speed in order to help as many personal trainers as I can to keep their passion going. Page 2 of 23
Even though sta?s?cs show that our profession is growing like crazy, the turnover rate is also crazy. I guarantee that I can help fix this. I’m sure that many of you have no?ced that not many personal trainers last even 2 years in the business. Why is this? Did they think it was going to be easy? Did they think people would just call and offer them money? I know that even with the obesity epidemic not every personal trainer will be successful. Since you’re reading this, you must be willing to learn a few things from a veteran in the business who wants nothing more than for you to be successful or more successful than you already are. I want you to have a long future in this industry. I want you to have financial freedom. I want you to keep your passion of helping people. Let me help you. This short quote coming up should hopefully make you think a liMle. I will con?nue to make this statement in one form or another in this ar?cle and almost every future ar?cle. “You can’t make a difference if you aren’t making any money.” Below are three reasons why you may be struggling with your personal training biz. There could very well be quite a few other reasons, but today let’s start with Page 3 of 23
these three . In my mind these three issues need to be addressed very early on in a career, because they tend to go against popular thinking which can be preMy tough to get past mentally. 1. Not realizing that personal training is a business first and foremost Everyone wants to talk about the science of personal training and not the business of personal training. The minute I bring up the subject of marke?ng, networking, or referrals many trainers freeze in their tracks, and a look of panic comes across their face. Why? Tons of “experts” are out there on Facebook, on TV, YouTube, and in magazines telling you how to train your clients and what everyone should be ea?ng, but no one wants to discuss who your market is, how to get them, and how to keep them paying month a]er month, year a]er year. I mean seriously, don’t you think it’s funny that so many “smart” trainers are all over the internet just bashing other trainers? It’s comical to me. They think that there are so many horrible trainers out there. I’m sure there are quite a few, but why does the “bad” always have to be the focus? I love that you’re reading this. This tells me that you are one of the greats, because you are willing to learn. I learn everyday and I’ve Page 4 of 23
been doing this for almost 20 years. “What counts is what you learn a]er you know it all.” John Wooden So what makes a great trainer? Is it the trainer with a degree in exercise science and 5 cer?fica?ons? Yeah maybe, but for sure it’s the trainer in your club or in your city that makes the most money. The trainer that is crazy busy with the same 15 clients training 2-­‐4 ?mes per week, week a]er week, month a]er month, and year a]er year. That trainer is ge`ng it done. That trainer has stability. That trainer is changing lives. Why won’t trainers discuss this? Well, I’m gonna… I’m so ?red of the pompous scien?fic guru trainer talkin smack, rollin their eyes, judging everyone when many of them have next to no clients, because they have the personality of a dead fish. If they’re so great why are they worrying about other trainers? Yeah, yeah I know that most successful personal trainers have a decent educa?on, but they also bring great communica?on skills, a caring nature, and a humble a`tude to the table. I understand and totally agree with the fact that how you train can make or break your business. The science side of personal training is a HUGE part of a successful training business, but there are so many scien?fically brilliant personal trainers who have quit a]er 6 months, because they Page 5 of 23
failed to realize that this is a business. They failed to realize that they have to actually market themselves. That they need to network. That they need to communicate well, be ready to adapt, and maybe drop their ego a liMle bit so they can then share this wealth of knowledge they have acquired. It’s quite easy for me to tell within a week of mee?ng a new personal trainer if they have a chance to be successful, even without knowing their educa?onal background. Many closed minded personal trainers, health club owners, and sales managers solely base poten?al success on degrees and cer?fica?ons. Hey I’m the first to say our job like most has to start with educa?on, but that believe it or not is the easy part, because science is our passion. You must be well informed in order to get your clients results, which then builds trust and helps with reten?on. The business, the marke?ng, the asking for referrals etc is the tough part for most. Can you sell your service? I remember one ?me when this guy came up to me at a health club and told me that he was at one ?me going to be a personal trainer. He gave me all of his creden?als which were very good. He even had his masters in exercise science. Page 6 of 23
Of course I then had to ask him why he decided not to become a personal trainer. He told me it was because there was no way that he could make $100,000 a year as a trainer. Wow, really? Again, here’s another person with a wonderful educa?on, but zero drive, passion, or business sense. $100,000 per year in our profession is very doable! Let me ask you this. Why did you want to become a personal trainer? Was it because you like to work out? You like being at the gym? You want to help people? Did making a lot of money ever cross your mind? Why is everyone in our industry so scared to talk about money? Is it a bad thing? What, can’t money go hand in hand with helping people? How will you help anyone if you’re broke and have to quit??? I guess you could train people for free… I want you to think bigger. There’s so much more to being a great personal trainer than just reading medical journals or ge`ng your 7th cer?fica?on. This might rub you the wrong way, and I kind of hope it does, but honestly I don’t care about your creden?als. I have seen fantas?c trainers who didn’t have a degree, had a simple cer?fica?on, but researched con?nuously, get a ton of people great results Page 7 of 23
and make a ton of money. In my mind they just had what it took. They changed people’s lives. The best trainers have the most clients. Read that statement again and say it out loud. How is that statement not true? Trainers are just too afraid to admit it. Who’s the best hair dresser? The busiest one. Who’s the best den?st? The richest one. Do you really think a trainer could fool people for months and years? Don’t you think people would quit if they weren’t ge`ng what THEY wanted out of the sessions? Who are we to tell a client what they want and need out of a trainer? It’s their money. Maybe they just want to have an appointment to break a sweat. Maybe they want someone to listen to their problems. Maybe they need a posi?ve environment for an hour. Remember that bad trainers and bad hair dressers and bad den?sts will weed themselves out. No need to worry about them. Here’s an example for ya… there was this male trainer I knew from one of the clubs I trained at who just “had it.” He wasn’t the most educated trainer I’ve ever met, but people were lined up to work with him. He was a blast to be around, and he got people results. He was so posi?ve and mo?va?ng. Well, this other female trainer from that health club would con?nually make fun of him to me calling him Page 8 of 23
a “hack.” She just couldn’t understand how he was so successful when she felt she was so much smarter than he was. She had like 2 clients. I think she is now out of the business. There’s far too much ha?ng of the successful in our society. Look how many people can’t stand Peyton Manning. It’s crazy. Some of you will say this situa?on of the less educated successful trainer doesn’t happen very o]en, but in my almost 20 years in the biz, I have seen it a ton. I’m just so ?red of the so called smart personal trainers ha?ng on the less educated successful trainers, because they don’t con?nually berate their clients on insulin sensi?vity or how to isolate their teres minor. Again, am I knocking educa?on? No way. It all starts with science, but it definitely doesn’t end with it. 2. Not geGng your own clients Believe it or not, you don’t want to train just anyone. Yeah really. Seriously. You should be preMy choosy when it comes to picking who you want to work with. The earlier in your career that you realize this, the beMer. Don’t you dare fall into the trap of training anyone and everyone. Most young trainers are hungry to prove their worth. They’re so eager to prac?ce their new cra] on anyone that’s Page 9 of 23
willing, even for a super cheap rate, even for free. No, No, No! Don’t do it! 95% of those types of clients won’t s?ck, because they haven’t invested much at all for the service. Ok, maybe a couple s?ck with you. They keep paying you next to nothing, if anything, and con?nue to drag you down the path of eventual BURNOUT. Are you really going to con?nue to work as hard as possible session a]er session for a client like that? You’ll probably disagree with me, but no you won’t. You will turn into a very lazy trainer. A]er all the years I’ve been doing this, my clients s?ll keep me on my toes, and I have been training the majority of them for a minimum of 5 years. On my toes with my program design, my punctuality, my look, my a`tude. What kind of referral do you think that a cheap 2-­‐4 ?mes a month client will give you? I’ll tell ya who… another low paying person wan?ng a lot for a liMle. You’ll say, “But Mark I want to help everyone that wants help. That’s why I chose to be a personal trainer. It’s not about the money.” Again, you won’t be helping anyone when you can’t pay the rent and you have to find a new job. Page 10 of 23
Here’s a ques?on. Why would you let the sales staff at the club pick your clients? Hey, no offense to those guys and ladies though. I’ve known many and really liked most. They have a job to do, and I know that they want to make money too. They’re smart and usually try to sell a training package during the sale of the membership, but personally I wouldn’t want any part of that deal. Why aren’t you marke?ng for yourself? Are you afraid? Don’t you know where to start? Are you just lazy? If it’s fear holding you back, you of course need to face it and take ac?on. If you’re lazy, you beMer up your work ethic or find a new job. If it’s the fact that you feel lost and don’t know how to go about finding the right clients, then look no further. Let me help you. Like I said earlier, I’ve been in this biz since 1998 and have been working on this Personal Training Biz project for almost 5. Raising my son kind of slowed things, but here I am now to make sure that you make plenty of money while feeding your passion of helping people reach their health and fitness goals. It’s a horrible idea to wait around for people to come to you. Why would they come? Nobody knows who you are. Hey maybe you’ll get lucky…I doubt it. Get off your buM and go get who you want. I mean how serious can a poten?al client Page 11 of 23
be if they’re willing to let a sales person pick their trainer? What if the sales person lowers the price to get the sale? What if the client got “pushed” into the sale? What if they hate taMoos or people that drive imports? I’m only kind of joking here, but it’s definitely something to think about. The last thing you or your client needs is an uneasy feeling or resentment. It is so much easier to build a rela?onship with a client that you chose to market to, or one that was referred to you by one of your long term clients, because all the informa?on is on the table before money is exchanged. Your look, your personality, your creden?als, your philosophy, your price, the brand of car you drive… ; ) So why aren’t you looking for clients outside the club? What do think your boss would think if you actually marketed your services to people that weren’t already members? I guarantee they would be pumped. First off, you’re thinking outside the box, and compared to most trainers you’re actually trying to market yourself. Secondly, you are not relying solely on the club to market for you, and thirdly you are marke?ng the club itself. A couple other benefits of bringing clients to the club from the outside world is that you don’t have to give a percentage to the sales person that usually sells the personal training package for you, and I bet that Page 12 of 23
you receive a commission on the membership sale. Hardly any trainers take advantage of this wonderful strategy. They tend to sit around and wait for someone to hire them. Why not ini?ate your success? I will show you some of my past techniques for doing so very soon in a future ar?cle. There are so many easy and inexpensive ways to market to people outside your health club. I can’t wait to share that one. Who do you want to train? Is there a niche you want to go a]er? Do people know who you are and what you do? Does your den?st know? Your doctor? Your mom’s friends? I know that there are ?mes especially early on in your career when things are so scary and the fear of failure is overwhelming. Let me help you with this. Let me teach you how to grab 15-­‐20 clients that train 2-­‐4 ?mes per week and will never ever leave you. Will that ease your worries? Not if, but when this happens you will become an even beMer trainer. You will be training people you actually chose and like working with. A commiMed personal trainer training commiMed clients. Not training because you have to. Training because you want to. Ya know I’m that overly happy trainer that smiles at everyone… nods, winks, pats backs, waves across the room, actually makes eye contact and doesn’t hide Page 13 of 23
behind my phone or water boMle pretending I’m busy. Why am I like this? Mostly it’s because I don’t have to worry about next week or next month. I don’t have to worry about ge`ng clients or losing clients. I have much less stress than other personal trainers, because very early on in my career I chose who I wanted to market to, and never felt forced to take on a “suspect” client. In all reality no maMer what, you need to be that overly happy trainer from day one. It will get you no?ced right away. Most importantly it earns you respect and rubs off on everyone. Many quickly forget that customer service is s?ll very important to everyone. You want everyone to know you. It doesn’t really maMer if you know them, because you are the expert, the “celebrity.” Kind of a funny thing, me being the way I am. I always acknowledge everyone before they acknowledge me. I know it annoys some of the other trainers. Wonder why…LOL! It’s important to be the person that’s “running” the room, the trainer that everyone wants to hang with. I’m not talking about that loud obnoxious trainer we’ve all seen that thinks that tons of loud clapping and yelling is mo?va?ng their clients. No, to me that screams, “Hey everyone look at me!” God I hate that crap! ; ) I’m talking about charisma and charm. Work on it. Page 14 of 23
Reten?on is the key to your long term success as a personal trainer. It’s the only way for you to grow your business to a point where you will gain freedom in your life. This is another reason to choose your clients very wisely. Maybe you want to train athletes. Maybe you want to train stay at home moms. Maybe you want to work with people suffering from diabetes. All of those choices are just fine. One item describing them more clearly is missing though. They all need to have something very important in common. I train athletes, doctors, teachers, lawyers, nurses, re?red people, pregnant women…I could go on and on, but there’s something about all of them that puts them into the ul?mate category for personal trainers to market to. In a very near future E-­‐Book I will be discussing who your market should be, so definitely be on the lookout for it. It’s a very exci?ng topic, and in my opinion the #1 secret in the personal training business. I can’t wait to let all of you in on that one, because it will absolutely solve 90% of the problems you may be having in the industry. 3. Not valuing your service So many trainers feel they’re underpaid. Do you? If so, whose fault is this? Not the club or your clients. I’m sorry, but it’s yours. Maybe you don’t value your Page 15 of 23
service enough. If you don’t, who would? What’s your ?me worth? What’s your knowledge and passion worth? I know it sounds harsh on my part, but you are in control of your situa?on. Fix your problem. 90% of the trainers I talk to say that their biggest problem is that health clubs take too high of a percentage of their fees, and/or that health clubs run too many personal training deals and specials. Well, who said you can’t charge more for your sessions, and who said that you had to be a part of these specials? Get a backbone and talk to your boss lady or boss man about that. I will definitely discuss the “charging more” topic in a near future ar?cle, but as far as these Groupon, Living Social, and Amazon Local deals go, I’d stay away from them. Seriously. I promise that in the long run these “deals” will end up hur?ng you more than helping you. If you truly value your service, you won’t need to run these kinds of specials. I mean how many of the clients that signed up with you through a buy 6 sessions get 6 sessions free garbage special will pay the “normal” rate a]er the 12 sessions are used up? Not many, if any. And if they do they’ll probably cut back on how o]en they see you which means fewer results for them and less referrals for you. Page 16 of 23
What’s the key to our clients’ success? There are so many answers to this ques?on, but the best answer is consistency. Consistency with nutri?on and consistency with workouts. There’s no way to argue this. This is why we need our clients to commit. CommiMed clients lead to beMer and faster results, which leads to them falling deeply “in-­‐love” with us, which leads to boat loads of referrals. Oh and awesome birthday and Christmas gi]s too. : ) On a later date I will talk more about referrals and how they are undoubtedly the easiest sale, along with a fool proof way to obtain commiMed clients for life. So maybe you’d like to know what Mark Ruehle would do if he was to run a “deal” with a poten?al client. Well, it would be a deal solely based on ge`ng them to commit to me long term. This deal has to work in my favor, but s?ll look aMrac?ve to them. Just like at car dealerships. Believe me, you didn’t get a great deal when you bought your last car even though you think you did. If that was the case, car dealerships would be closing le] and right. Your purchase definitely worked in their favor. We’re the same ya know. Like I’ve said this is a business. We can’t give away the farm and expect to grow. An example of Mark Ruehle’s deal would be something like, buy 25 sessions for $1875.00 and get 2 sessions free. So Page 17 of 23
instead of ge`ng $75 per session, you’re now ge`ng $69.44. Not that big of a loss, and more importantly than the chunk of change you just banked, you got roughly a 9 week commitment. It’s so easy to get someone great results and to have them fall in-­‐love with you in 9 weeks. Also, if you value your service enough you will demand that these sessions be used in approximately 9 weeks. I hate when trainers train a person 2-­‐4 ?mes a month. Why do this? I will only work with clients who will train with me 2-­‐4 ?mes per week. My clients feel like they can’t workout without me. They rely on me, and that’s a good thing. The more a client trains with you, the beMer the strength gains in the gym, the more you get to talk about nutri?on, the beMer the results, the more they like you, the more referrals they give you. That’s why ge`ng your own clients is so important. You can go a]er the beMer clientele and charge what you’re worth. Don’t you think that the club owner will be just fine with you charging more? More money for everyone. Ya know, I can’t really tell you what to charge. I get that ques?on a lot. It again goes back to what you think you’re worth. One of the worst things that can happen to a trainer is when they charge too liMle for so long and get to that point where they feel Page 18 of 23
trapped. They then resent the ?me they spend with certain clients that in their mind don’t pay enough. Everyone in every industry raises their prices. You should too. When I advise a trainer to raise his or her prices they automa?cally conclude that they will have a harder ?me closing the sale. You shouldn’t need to worry about “closing the sale” if you go a]er the right market and focus on referrals. I’ve never ever wondered what my closing rate was or is, because I’ve always avoided the very uncomfortable “ice cold” mee?ng with a poten?al client. More than likely I avoided this dreaded encounter because a current client had already buMered them up for me, which made it a slam dunk. They were going to buy before they ever met me, because my current client, either a rela?ve or friend of theirs laid the founda?on of who I was and what I was about. The other way I ensured that any ini?al mee?ng was easy and tension free was to mail out tons of my bio/ad early on in my career. I accumulated boat loads of home addresses of people in my target market that were poten?ally interested in my services from current clients, friends, and from my health club’s member list. A future ar?cle from me will show you how to use the mail for marke?ng your services. It’s a tool that many people have strayed away from and I’m not sure why, because people absolutely love ge`ng mail. Especially mail that has their name and address hand wriMen on the envelope. They have to open it out of curiosity. Plenty more on Page 19 of 23
that in the future… Anyways, over the years I have sent out hundreds of copies of my bio/ad so that hundreds of people in the area knew me, my background, my philosophies, and had access to my references. Quickly I became KNOWN… known to the point of consistently having to turn down clients. Funny, it just happened again the other day. I turned down a father/son combo at the grocery store. What a great feeling to be known that well. Ok two quick stories that you need to hear about and think about. Not too long ago a club owner came up to me and told me that one of their trainers asked if he could lower the prices so he could get more clients. I looked at him in bewilderment, but then chuckled. I just couldn’t believe that this was true. That someone would honestly think that lowering their prices was the answer. You need to create value. Someone will always cherish and take care of their new car more than their cheap used piece of crap. Which type of personal trainer do you want to be? The highly valued new Mercedes Benz personal trainer, or the old rust bucket cheap second hand personal trainer? Don’t you think you are a good trainer? Don’t you think you deserve more? I’ve read a few ar?cles where many are blaming the low charging personal trainers, like the one I just men?oned, for Page 20 of 23
the devaluing of our product. Supposedly this will lead to every trainer having to lower their prices, because the public will run to the trainers with the lowest prices. Really? I seriously doubt it. Every industry has people that give it a bad name, but the best don’t complain. They only worry about themselves and how they can provide the absolute best service and experience. The other story came from a different health club I frequent. A trainer came up to me and we started talking about the business. He told me that he thought that the biggest problem in our industry was that most trainers only think about the money. Huh? With so much turnover in our industry I don’t think so buddy. If most trainers cared about money, about success, about a long career in the industry helping people, every personal trainer I know and have known since 1998 would then be making a minimum of $75,000 a year. I know of only three. Alright, enough for today. I very much hope you enjoyed this E-­‐Book, and I thank you for taking the ?me to read it. Hopefully you’ve picked up a few things from this old trainer (wise & experienced) ; ) to help you become an even more successful personal trainer/coach than you already are. As I’ve told you, I’ve Page 21 of 23
wanted for so long to share some answers to some problems I’ve found in this industry since 1998. I have so much more to share in the weeks to come. I hope you sensed some of my passion here, because that’s me, and I want it to rub off on you. I’m a preMy intense dude mentally that has spent much of my life visualizing and thinking. Many ?mes over thinking… I can’t even begin to tell you how o]en in the past 5 years that I’ve dreamt of the day that I was finally able to feel the sa?sfac?on of releasing all of these thoughts out of my head to people that could use them. I want you to dream too. DREAM of what you truly want, but don’t stop there. So many stop there… DO! Make it happen! I want you to want to dominate your market. There’s nothing wrong with wan?ng to be the best, and yet so many are so afraid of the responsibility that success brings. I don’t want you to ever have to worry about money or ge`ng or keeping clients again. I don’t want you to have to market yourself ever again unless you really want to. I want people from all over calling you and emailing you out of the blue begging you to take their money. Hey if you have all the clients you want, great. I just think that there’s so much for all of us to learn in life and in business, and that informa?on and those experiences need to be shared to help others. Not to beliMle, not to embarrass, but to help. Page 22 of 23
I am a self employed personal trainer. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree and studied under The Na?onal Academy of Sports Medicine. I have been in the personal training business since 1998, and self-­‐employed since 2000. During this ?me I have completed over 30,000 personal training sessions. I just might be the busiest personal trainer you will find, because I complete on average 40-­‐60 personal training sessions per week. This includes in-­‐home and on-­‐site training where I train people of all fitness levels, from high school, college, and professional athletes to senior ci?zens. I have trained over 20 high school athletes who have gone on to par?cipate in major college or professional athle?cs, and many others who have had the honor of becoming an all-­‐state, all-­‐league, or all-­‐star team selec?on. I’ve also have performed many speaking engagements for various groups, and have been published on many occasions. Frequently, I am sought a]er and trusted by many people which placed me in the na?on’s top 10% in annual income for personal trainers. Being a great trainer has helped me achieve this, but my marke?ng skills have certainly made the difference. I’ve learned so much and con?nue to learn by watching and listening to the struggles of personal trainers at various health clubs as well as the self employed. This is why I’ve developed personaltrainingbiz.com. I absolutely have to share the knowledge I have aMained over the years with all of you! Page 23 of 23