This is the first in a series of posts that are focusing on how to start your very own personal training business. You can use this as part of your PT business plan, but it is more like a hands-on guide to turn that exciting idea in your head into a fully-functioning PT business with a strong client base.
The first step in the process is to research your target market. I know, I know… you’ve heard it all before and quite frankly it bores you. Market research is for people that don’t know what they are doing…right? You’re a personal trainer; of course you know what type of location, price, service and results people really want. You deal with clients every day.
Wrong……You think like a personal trainer, not a client – it’s only natural. Personal trainers have a very different mindset to their clients. It’s hard to step outside of your head and think like a 42 year old overweight female (if that’s who you are aiming your business at). So rather than even attempt that crazy mind trick, why not just ask?
As someone who has started a lot of personal training businesses, this simple rule always seemed well….sort of like an insult to me. The over-enthusiastic confidence of youth mixed with a little bit of “no one can tell me how to run my business” was a dangerous combination for me as a young business owner. If left me with a number of inferior business models that resulted in years of learning my business lessons the hard way. I now humbly listen before I act. 
Business Start Up Rule #1:
“The truth about this business ‘thing’ is to sell clients a service they already want. Because then your not really ‘selling’ it to them. You’re just simply giving them what they want.”
Ok, so we have established that asking your target market what they want in a service is a good thing. So how do we go about doing it?
In this technological age, we are blessed (sometimes I wonder) with more connections to more people through text, phone, email, IM, facebook, twitter, blogs and a variety of other methods through the net. Add this to the “real life’ relationships that you have and slowly you are gathering momentum with your collective network.
Even if you personally don’t have a huge network, I am sure that you know someone who does and they know someone who does so you just have to look a little laterally to ensure you reach enough people. So here is my 7 step process to gathering market research for your new business:
1) Write a feedback form that you will send out to the people in your network.
- In the introduction, let them know that you are developing a new PT business and would really value their input.
- Also make sure that you identify how long it is going to take someone to fill out the survey (eg: 4mins) so they know what they are in for.
- Ask them to identify age and sex but not name.
- Ask open question that will give you more information rather than yes / no answers.
- Ask questions about type of service (1 on 1, small group, boot camp), location (home, outdoors, studio, gym), price (explore different pricing structures), delivery schedule (how often) and their view on the important aspects of a pt service.
2) Make it look pretty.
- First impressions count. This is your first official impression so it would be nice to have an impact on all of those who complete your form.
- Check out www.surveymoneky.com which is a free software program that allows you to open an account, up-load your form and then it is completed by your contacts on-line. You simply get a link to the page and you send that out to your crew.
- If you’re not up for that, simply email everyone and get them to reply their answers to you.
3) Contact your network.
- Using all of the methods that I mentioned before, work hard at getting the word out.
- This may mean talking to people that you don’t normally talk to but it all for the greater good.
- Include a subtle time reference on the contact “If you get some spare time in the next 24 hours, I would really appreciate…” so that you are not getting responses back three months later.
4) Encourage sharing.
- To ensure that you get as much data as possible, encourage your people to share the form with their people.
- If you are targeting a specific demographic, make sure that you outline this in the introduction of the email so that your network knows not to send it to their little cousin in Tasmania for example.
5) Send a thank you email.
- Once a few days have passed and you have received a number of responses back (40% return is a good number if you can get it), make sure that you send a personal thank you email to each person who responded (this is the start of your business relationship building).
- In the email, let them know that you are grateful for their feedback and that you will let them know what your business ends up looking like.
6) Collate (and listen to) the information.
- Collate the data and look at the patterns and trends for each section.
- Sit down and plan the structure of your business based on the information you have been provided. If it is obvious that people want to train in groups, outdoors and for a low price then a group training or boot camp may be your business model.
- Your specific target demographic will decide your business model.
7) Present your new business to your contacts.
- Once your have built your basic structure of your business (covered in pt 2 of this series), you can then present it to your network.
- There are two approaches to take depending on what type of business owner you are or want to be. The first is the subtle approach which is a simple email letting them know that you have built your business, thanking them for their input and a link to your website so they can check out the finished product.
- The more direct approach is to again thank them and direct them to your site, but also offer them a free session or nutritional consult. Anything to get them to try your service.
- I am more of a subtle kind-of-guy but you can choose your own angle.
So there you have it. A really basic way to find out how your potential clients feel about your personal training business. Once you know this, you can then not only provide the service they want but you can also talk in their language with your future marketing.
What market research have you done in the past?
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.
