Due to the economic climate in the UK and with many being made redundant in the recession, there has been a surge in people training to be personal trainers. Unfortunately, many run back to jobs they hate when the clients are not forthcoming. Business and Marketing Skills are so important in the personal training profession, particularly when more and more competition enter the industry. So I thought I’d write this article, giving a step by step overview how you can build a profitable personal training business and get to 30 sessions a week within 12 weeks.
1. Get a blog based website, you can get your own domain (recommended) or you can get the free version, have your city name in the domain and the words personal trainer in there somewhere don’t pay more than £5 per month and don’t pay hundreds to get it designed.
2. Get a members online area
3. Set up Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Linked in accounts
4. Get some branded T-shirts and business cards, keep it simple and don’t pay anyone to design anything, its all about the profit remember
5. Tell 10 people a day about what you do, start with the people you know and move down
6. Set up 2 fitness bootcamps, 3 mornings a week and 3 evenings a week and charge a monthly fee for it, do it indoors where possible and have two places that pay you by referring 2 people per month
7. Name and Package your programs – what sounds better “12 PT sessions for £350″ or “Extreme Fat Burn – Guaranteed 1 stone loss in 12 weeks”
8. Go business networking
9. Give a talk on fitness at a community meeting, give an offer at the end
10. Set up EFT, you can do this through PayPal and charge clients monthly
11. Negotiate a space to workout of, can you teach classes rather than pay gym rent? Can you pay per client and can you get a discount if you block pay?
12. Cycle rather than drive if possible
13. Speak to local gyms and council leisure centres and offer yourself up as a “cover” instructor, you can pick up regular work this way too
14. Develop a sales consultation forms that help your prospective clients make a decision
15. Be a fantastic personal trainer, really invest in your education, get people great results, collect testimonials and reviews and the rest will look after itself