Personal Training Business In A Box » Converting PT Clients

7 Ways To Make More Personal Training Sales

rick — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 04:39:39 +0000

A video post by Rick Watson to show you how to make more personal training sales.

One thing that drives me absolutely crazy is watching personal trainers bust their hump to generate warm leads for their business, only convert a small number of those leads into actual paying clients.

In my experience, most trainers get a little freaked out when it comes to selling their own service. Whether it is the fear of rejection, that they don’t like talking about themselves or that they just dissolve into a nervous mess – making sales is never high on a trainers priority list on a daily basis.

It should be.

Whatever your reason for not loving sales – it is a very necessary process to get your head around because if you ain’t making sales, you ain’t making money (and I don’t know about you but I got a mortgage, wife and little grommet all relying on me to bring home the bacon).

In this short 10 minute video, I run through 7 practical sales tips that you can start implementing immediately to ensure that you get more bang for your marketing buck.

Enjoy…

If you are reading this post via email and cant see the video, click here to view.

Now one thing that I didn’t mention in the video is how important it is to create a sales script for you to follow (essentially a guide of what to say and when as you progress through the sales conversation). This simple tool will guide you if you get nervous and ensure that you ask the right questions at the right time.

You can easily develop your own script simply by testing some different questions (and statements) and recording what works and what bombs.

Like everything else in your business your sales should be consistently measured and refined.

Keep developing your script over time as this will also be one of your greatest tools (especially when work your way into a position in your business when someone else can do all the sales for you).

If you have any questions about the content in the video, throw them in the comments section but what I would really like to know is how you feel about your current sales process in the business?

Keep rocking,

Rick

Why Your Losing Potential Clients While They ‘Think’ About It And How To Fix It

rick — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 23:57:09 +0000

“I can definitely see how you’re going to help me get back up to 70kg and focus on my guns for the beach this summer. I am also really excited about all that nutrition stuff that we have talked about because I need alot of help in that area, BUT….I think I might just go home tonight and think about whether this is really for me….”

Uh-oh (as my 14 month-old boy would say)…

You have just delivered what you thought was one of the best presentations of your service. You spent some quality time developing rapport and making sure your prospect felt relaxed, you chatted about there training history, their goals, what their goals mean to them, their preferred training times and you have provided a tailored solution to there exact problem using various parts of your service.

You had just outlined which package you think is the best for your new client that was within there budget and then they hit you with it…..

I want to think about it.

Crap, you didn’t see that one coming. But don’t worry, I have a few theories on why this happens and how you can fix it:

Theory #1: Some New Clients Become Anxious About Getting Started

Lets look at the world through the eyes of your potential client (disclaimer: there may be some gross generalizations in the next paragraph so prepare your grain of salt). They are not in a regular exercise habit, they don’t have a healthy and nutritious diet and they probably have formed some emotional identification with this (eg: I am this because I currently look and feel like this).

So even talking to a personal trainer (who embodies everything they they are not – remember that grain of salt?) can become an anxious experience for some. Now moving forward down the process and they are faced with the decision to begin this life-changing process that you have just beautifully outlined for them or to retreat to the safety of their home and “think” about it.

Obviously, there are only a small percentage of potential clients that will choose option B no matter how tight your marketing and sales are there will be some. Accept it :-)

Theory #2: You Are A Personal Trainer Not A Used-Car Salesman So Act Like It

A personal trainer provides motivation, guidance and support to their clients and I am a firm believer that this should start when talking to prospective clients. If a client wants to think about it, ask them what there major concerns are. Have a good chat about everything they bring up as this is the start of you being a supportive, positive influence in their life.

Let them know you understand that starting a new personal training program can be a daunting process, but that is why you are gong to be there to help them every step of the way (note: connecting new clients up with other clients in your business around the same fitness level and goals is a great way to reduce this anxiety - other regular people making it happen).

Now even after you have discussed their concerns, some clients will still want to go away and think about committing to your program. That is a reality of this industry but it doesn’t mean you have to just sit by the phone and wait.

Theory #3: Conversions Increase When YOU Take Control Of The Follow Up

I cant remember the amount of times I have spoken to trainers about leads and they tell me that the prospect is thinking about it and then they are going to call back – THAT WAS 15 DAYS AGO. Getting back to theory #2, you are a personal trainer and as a trainer it is your job to make people accountable and motivate them to start training. So here is my three step’s to following up a “thinker”:

During your initial chat once they inform you they want to think about it, let them know that you will give them a call tomorrow to follow up and ask what is the best time to call. A decision is made in 7 seconds not 15 days.
If they don’t respond to that 24 hour follow-up call, leave another brief message the next day at a different time.
If they still don’t respond to the second call, leave another message 24 hours later letting them know that you understand everyone is busy so this is the last time you are going to touch base. If they want to start (insert goal here) then give you a call when they get the chance.

Ok, so worst case scenario your thinker doesn’t call you back at all and within 36 hours you have touched base as promised and it is now their responsibility to begin training.

Before I wrap up I do want to clarify – this is not the preferred path to walk down when converting a client but it is simply good business to have a simple system in place for the small percentage of people that do want to “think” about it.

Do you come across any “thinkers” in your business?

Cheers

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches and writes books for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read and would be up for some daily banter, you can follow him on Twitter @ptbusiness or check out his Facebook page.

5 Annoying Insecurities That Are Affecting Your Personal Training Business

rick — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:15:15 +0000

I know that from the outside, we all like to give the impression that we are well-adjusted, socially rounded, professionally developed, emotionally complete individuals who know what it takes to live a healthy, balanced and enjoyable life. That is why we chose this profession right? To show others how they too can be as healthy, balanced and emotionally complete as us fitness professionals (insert rye smile here).

But as you may acutely be aware, personal trainers are not perfect specimen’s (well, except for Michelle Bridges who I may have a weird crush on after following her on Twitter). In fact even Michelle Bridges may not even be perfect because even she is human like the rest of us and as humans we all have our little insecurities that have developed over time.

It is these insecurities (no matter how small they may be) that are causing many trainers to make certain actions in their business which satisfy the little voice in their head but not their bank balance. I understand that talking about this topic is something that is not normally a done thing but thankfully caring what other people think of me is not one of my insecurities so lets rip into it…..

5 Reasons Why The Little Voice In Your Head Is Costing You Cash

Before we dissect your deepest thoughts, I just want to clear something up. It is human nature to have insecurities – the point I am making today is that they don’t have to run your business like some weird split personality. We all have them but only some people let them rule our lives, let me show you what I mean…

Insecurity #1 …”It’s my fault my client isn’t getting results”

I think that we have all been down this path at some stage in our career or if you haven’t then you probably will. Let me set the scene: You do everything you can for your client, your train to the right intensity of the client with appropriate overload based on comprehensive assessments. You assess and monitor their nutrition to make sure that they are eating appropriately for their goals, you give them exercise homework based on their history and follow up at every session but STILL NO RESULTS.

You research more training techniques, you lift the intensity, you recommend relaxation exercises to reduce cortisol levels – STILL NO RESULTS.

Sometimes, just sometimes – everything you do for your client is not enough. Why? They might play up outside of their session, they might have a medical condition but when it all comes down to it you can only do everything in YOUR power to get results for your client – the rest is up to them. So don’t beat yourself up and if a client doesn’t want to to stick to the program but is happy to blame you them that is the time to educate them.

Solution: Look them in the eye and tell them to be accountable.

Insecurity #2…”I never ask for the sale because I hate talking about money”

I am not going to rabbit on about this because the heading says it all really. But I will talk about the reason why. I my humble-arse opinion, people that don’t like asking for the sale don’t think that they are worth the money. They want the client to agree to the price without asking because that gives them the validation that everything is OK and that they are worth the money.

Look, I am no sales guru – I will tell you that straight up. But I do have a 95-100% conversion rate when it comes to converting leads in my own business (which sort of makes me a sales guru – woo hoo). Seriously though, when ever a question is raised about price I look the person in the eye and let them know that they are getting a quality product and that I am worth every cent. How do I pull this off? I truly believe that I am worth the money that I charge.

Solution: Believe in yourself and start asking for the sale every time.

Insecurity #3…”My competition has a much better business than me”

It’s so much more fun looking at others people’s perceived success than actually going out and creating your own isn’t it? checking out your competition should become a bloody national sport because so many people waste so much time looking sideways rather than forwards it drives me mental.

The funny thing is that too many trainers fall for the smoke and mirrors that other training business put out there. In my eyes, success isn’t something that you talk about it is something that you experience. Forget all the shit, play your own game and see if your competition can run as fast as you.

Solution: Look forwards not sideways, if you stand around with your mouth open the world passes you by (and you catch flies).

Insecurity #4…”Every one of my clients must like me”

Acceptance is a bitch isn’t it? Now as trainers, we are all social beings but there has to be a line drawn between our “friends” and our “clients”. I was given some good advice very early on in my PT career and it is something that I always remember….”you need to be friendly, but not friends.”

In our industry, it is so easy to step over the line between client and friend (and over time this often happens naturally). But my point here is that it is not essential for every one of your clients to like you. You are paid good money to provide a service and sometimes you need to be strong, providing accountability when it is sometimes not wanted.

If you are searching for acceptance you may be bitterly disappointed.

Solution: Keep your focus on your service and always provide massive value that is focused on reaching your clients goals, not on satisfying your need for acceptance.

Insecurity #5…”I think my sessions are getting boring”

The funny thing about being a personal trainer is that as you get busier, you may be pumping out 30, 40 or even 50 sessions per week. From your point of view, all your sessions may be starting to blur into one but from your clients perspective there is no doubt a huge point of difference (I hope). So this perceived boredom may just be in the eye of the beholder…..

From a practical perspective, the basic training concepts of progressive overload and periodization should be applied to ensure each client is always moving forward Julie Gillard style but we still have one small issue. How do you keep your role interesting and exciting from your perspective?

Solution: Loads of professional development, courses, workshops, live events and help from other trainers. The day you stop learning and passing on information is the day you can hang up your Asics.

As you can see, our insecurities can play a big part in essentially wasting a hell of a lot of time (and thoughts) in our personal training business – and consequentially costing us a bunch of money.

So the moral of the story: LET IT GO and get on with the job (you may have to have a word to that voice in your head first).

Did any of these insecurities ring a bell with you?

Cheers

Rick :-)

About the author: Rick Watson is the surfing, smiling personal training business guy who tells it like it is. He blogs, coaches, writes books and runs an online community for personal trainers but most of all he is a father and husband (with a healthy respect for road trips). If you like what you read, subscribe to the blog here or for more daily banter you can follow him on Twitter here or Facebook here.

Rapport and Relationships – The Secret To Converting Your PT Clients

ptadmin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:07:28 +0000

The other day I caught up with Kellie from PT Business Success for a coffee and we were talking about what we found as some of the common weaknesses of new personal trainers as they entered the industry. I mentioned that while most people can implement any old lead generating strategy, not everyone can get their head around the simply psychology of converting the leads. We both agreed that it was all about forming good relationships and I liked what Kel had to say so much that I convinced her to put a little bit of it in writing for me as a cheeky guest post. Here is what she had to say….

I have helped over 3000 people get started in with their health and fitness goals and a question I always get asked is what would be the 1 thing you tell me about sales? Simple answer is rapport. What does rapport mean? To find a common ground! Now have you ever been at a party and you have just met someone and you are having a general chit chat? Then they mention that they went to the same school, then all of a sudden the whole conversation changes and you can’t stop talking, that is rapport – you have found a common ground through the school!

People buy from people they like and trust, so rapport is the first step in this process. Anthony Robbins says the ability to establish rapport is the one of the most important skills a person can have! Other aspects you need to be aware of is that you only have a few seconds to make a first impression so look at the words you use, how you dress, how you smell, your body language all make up the first impression – it is crucial that you get this sorted.

Gone are the days of sleazy, pushy sales tactics to make people buy; people are much more aware these days and it really pushes them away from buying from you and I still hear of people doing this today in our industry.

Yes I agree that there is are certain ‘techniques’ you need to do to help them make a decision however there is a huge difference between that and hard core sales, if you have to resort to hard core sales best look at yourself as the person didn’t trust or see value in what you were offering.

So here are 8 tips to help with the sales process:

1. Make a friend is crucial – people buy from people they like and trust

2. Be genuine, people can pick up if you do not care

3. Have a sales system in place

4. Overcome the objections before you present the prices

5. Know your prices back to front and be proud of them

6. Have confidence, if you do not believe in your product why should they?

7. You have to hit their pain – why are they here to see you?

8. Get rid of your fear of selling – we help people!

And remember people do not come in to waste your time, so if you find yourself not converting at least 70% of your leads – ask for help because there is something you are doing that is making them walk out the door.

If you are struggling with fitness sales email me at kellie@ptbusinesssuccess.com and I will send you a copy of 47 Ways that You Can Increase Your Conversions to Get More Personal Training Clients.

Thanks Kel for taking the time to share your thoughts on developing great relationships. I think this issue is not only important for making your prospective leads feel relaxed but it can also be carried right through the personal training process as they become your clients.

Do you use a similar approach when talking to prospects? Do you have a systemised sales process? Love to know your thoughts?

See you next week

Rick

4 Simple Questions To Comfortably Convert Your Personal Training Leads

ptadmin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:36:27 +0000

When you run your own PT business, converting your hard-earned marketing leads into paying clients is a really important skill to have in your kit-bag. Now there are whole businesses out there that specialise in teaching trainers this process and they are very good at teaching you to convince people to buy. Although there is no-doubt they are effective, sales mind-tricks have never really sat well with me.

What I want to show you today is the list of questions that I developed in my business that every trainer could use to confidently convert their leads without resorting to ninja mind tricks. I feel comfortable using this method (because it shows the client you actually care) and I also know that our conversion rate by using these 4 questions is consistently above 80%. Let’s get cracking…

Let me set the scene:

“It’s January 2010 and you are have just launched three new marketing strategies to get the year off to a good start and make the most of the new year resolution weight loss rush. You have set up promo for the local businesses in your area, you have written an article in the local newspaper and you have contacted your entire database with a New Year promo offer.

As all of your planning and hard worked has now been put into action, you sit with your fingers crossed. Hoping like mad that this marketing mix and your regular lead generators will provide you enough leads to have a strong start to the year….. and then the phone rings and you smile to yourself with excitement.”

Ok, now it’s time to get to work. You planned long and worked hard to generate these leads, so converting each and every one of them is your goal. The first thing you have to do is forget about your business, forget about making money, forget about how many clients you need just to break even. You need to clear your mind of all of that because the phone conversation you are about to have needs to be completely focused on one person – the lead.

Before we even get into the questions, the golden rule of any type of interaction is to develop some rapport with your lead. Now this serves to relax the lead (the majority of people WILL be nervous about calling a trainer for the first time) and also to relax you. Ask them where they are calling from? How there Christmas break was? Did they go anywhere?

Once you have had a little chat (and sometimes if you are both feeling good, feel free to chat for 5 mins), it is time to get into the questions. Now commonly, people will ring up and simply state:

“I am just ringing to find out how much your personal training sessions are?”

This little gem is one of the major reasons why I started to implement the four questions. When I am confronted with this one, I answer with a question:

“Before I get into all of that, can I ask you if you have had a personal trainer before?”

Now I normally don’t like answering people back with a question, but in this circumstance it is important to regain control of the conversation and get the lead to begin to start to talk about themselves a little. So a respectful spin in the direction of the conversation can go a long way.

So to the first of our four questions:

Question 1

Can I ask if you have had a personal trainer before?

And if they so no, follow up with:

Have you used a gym or boot camp before?

If you still get a no, try the last option:

Have you exercised before?

Now depending on their level of training experience, they will have had a trainer, used a gym or boot camp or at least done some exercise before. So question one is all about establishing a basic exercise history that you can build your conversion on. Once they have answered your initial question, you then ask another question based on their answer…

Question 2

Why did you leave your last trainer / gym / boot camp?

The funny thing about human nature is that we tend to enjoy bitching and moaning about things. Now me, I can’t stand it. But if you ask most people about a bad experience, they will tell you with great detail. This is your opportunity to find out what your leads views as important it a service (all in their own words).

“I just found that they weren’t very punctual with starting my sessions on time and with assessments”

“That’s terrible, I don’t blame you. How were the results?”

“Ok to start of with but after while I sort of felt like a forgotten client”

So with a simple little investigation, you know that this lead places great importance on session punctuality, assessments and an on-going customer service experience (as all clients should). You can ask any number of questions from their initial answer to find out all sorts of great detail’s about how your lead ticks. All the while, your lead is thinking “this trainer actually cares about me” which is of course true (and rare).

The more open questions you ask; your lead will become more relaxed and confident that you really are the solution to their problem.

Question 3

What do you want to get out of your training?

Heard that before? I bet they have too. This is where you get to take the conversation to another level. Establish what their goals are and then the next step is to really investigate what this goal means to them. Some further questions you could ask here are:

Have you achieved this goal in the past?
What has previously stopped you achieving this goal?
Why do you want to achieve this goal?
When was the last time you achieved this goal?

These additional questions will then give your lead further opportunity to discuss with you the REAL reasons why they want to start training. Every client wants to achieve something – the skill is to establish what that something means to them in this first conversation. In doing this, by taking the time to have this discussion with your lead, you will create a relationship where trust and care are the foundations of your business.

This creates loyal, passionate clients who love to tell their friends about your service because you do more than anyone else ever has for them. Just ask and listen. Once you have listened, it is now time to outline your services focusing on the areas that are important to your lead (because you just wrote them all down).

Question 4

In a perfect world, would you prefer to train in the mornings or in the evening?

This question is based on the assumption that they are going to start training. If you are getting good vibes from the lead you can then attempt to book them into their chosen timeslot. If they need a little more convincing, you can then start to field any questions that they may have.

Make sure that you use the information that they have provided you as your triggers to what they do and don’t like in a service and simply play to your strengths. Sometimes a complimentary session is in order and sometimes people want to think about it overnight. If someone wants to think about it, ask them if it is Ok to give them a call at … pm tomorrow to check in. Try to always make a sale, comp session booking or return call time. That way you always stay in the loop.

Now these four questions have served me well over the years. I know you too can feel comfortable talking to people about their exercise history, what they want to achieve and why it is important to them.

Now I am sure that you are using or have heard a version of these questions before, they are not new to our industry. The real power of these questions lies in the depth of the investigation. The more you dig and discover, the more information you receive and the more your lead feels like you care about their needs (which is true). I believe that this simple fact of digging a little deeper and not just touching the surface with people is the reason that this approach converts so well.

No bullshit, no sales – just treating people with the respect and time that they deserve.

Have you tried an approach like this before? I would love to hear how you convert your leads and what works (or doesnt work) for you?

Cheers

Rick

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