Fitness industry social media often falls into 3 categories:
- “Look how ripped/strong/sexy I am! I look so hot; how can you not pay me for my superhero/goddess routine?”
- “Look at me with this (rented) Italian sports car! I’m retired at 26, wear great clothes and vacation in cool places... click the link in my bio for a discount on Ultimate Cleanse 2020... new COVID-fighting formula?! #influencer”
- Legitimate fitness and nutrition content... yawn
Guess which one gets the fewest clicks.
This can lead fitness professionals to believe the best business strategy is to focus on getting more online followers and “likes” to really “level up” their business. This perception is reinforced by the throngs of “fitness business coaches” currently found on social media. “Simply join my Inner Circle for $18k a year!” Oh, someone’s getting rich, it just isn’t the trainer.
No wonder good trainers contemplate leaving the profession when they don’t feel they look like an Instagram model or they just maxed out their credit card for “Business Guru Secrets” that didn’t work.
Personal trainers have two main options to make more money: train more clients and charge more per client. This holds true whether training is in-person or online, and if the trainer does one-on-one, semi-private or small group training.
Education and experience will always be the foundation for a great trainer. But to get and keep clients long-term, trainers need to be someone clients enjoy spending time with and like AS A PERSON, not some phony online persona!
All trainers should be able to get a client results (and safely), but many trainers only focus on learning about training and ignore the “soft arts” that make “Personal Training” ... PERSONAL.
Rather than spending their free time collecting an alphabet soup of certification letters after their names, trainers should focus on developing the traits that keep clients coming back for years and result in countless referrals from those happy clients.
Trainers need to learn the art of listening and exploring emotional intelligence. They should take a public speaking course and even a stand-up comedy class. They should study psychology and motivation and habit formation.
Also, be interested and interesting. Travel, go to museums and read about things other than programming and the Kreb’s Cycle. Become someone clients want to hang out with, even when they don’t feel like training. When clients want to go to the gym to see their trainer and not just to train, success will surely follow.
