ON-LOCATION PERSONAL TRAINING: TRAINING WITHOUT LIMITS - Looking at in-home and on-site training … (video commentary attached)
Jul 31st, 2008 by Kaiser
Hope you’re enjoying the completely gratuitous shot of me on my new bike! But it’s not JUST to show off - there’s a purpose to it (yeah right!) - to talk about how to do IN-HOME, or how I like to call it, ON-LOCATION PERSONAL TRAINING. The point about the bike is attitude, because that’s what it comes down to: your attitude.
To a lot of trainers, meeting clients in their homes or at their locations is a less secure, inexperienced, and free-wheeling way of dong things - and yeah, it can be that if you let it. But so much of Personal Training is how you perceive yourself. That means if you’re confident in the services you’re providing on-location, your client will be too.
I recorded a little video talking about my views on this and how I like to do it - we’ll get into the subject a little more after that:[youtube nUZAUb6qGLk&eurl nolink]
Of course, no system is perfect - but training on location has several benefits for you the trainer:
- There are no overhead costs (except gas)
- There’s little to no competition in the work environment
- It’s more convenient, which allows you to charge more for sessions
- It’s a more personal service that will lead to increased client retention
For these reasons, making this at least a part of your training offerings makes sense. And for a surprisingly large number of people, having you come to them is their preferred way of training: they’re either too busy to go to the gym or like many people these days, have a phobia of it. These clients recognize they have special needs and will be willing to pay a premium for it. Combine that with a lack of overhead for you the trainer, and it’s an excellent work situation.
Considering the benefits for both parties involved, it’s not surprising that a recent franchise has been created specializing in on-location training called TrainersOnSite. They even drive around in those cute new smart cars - cool, but not as cool as my bike!
Here’s how their CEO Robert Foster describes the development of the idea and the business:
“Too many of my clients who had trainers before were tired of the Joe Shmoe’s Personal Training. Showing up 15 minutes late (or not even at all), wearing a basketball jersey, driving a rusted out Honda, some generic website, accepting cash only, a cell number and a hotmail for contact info - just unprofessional. Clients expect service. They want to be pampered. Customers want a franchise-like, recognizable, systematic business that is not just one person.”
I agree with him on everything except that last part, about clients wanting a business instead of a person. All of the research into consumer habits whet it comes to a personal service shows the opposite. But everything else he points out is spot-on, because it explains some of the pitfalls you need to avoid when you’re providing this type of service.
Even though you’re not in a typical work environment, you still have to stay sharp and on your game. In these situations, it’s even more important to pay close attention to your image and presenting yourself professionally. Even if you’re going to see the client in their home, you still need to dress as if you were training clients in a crowded gym. If you let your image slip, you’ll eventually have the client begin to lose faith in the relationship. You’ll then either lose them, or have them start to take advantage of you. They’ll start canceling more sessions, asking for concessions on price, and eventually lose interest and stop training with you. It’s completely up to you to keep the power and momentum in this relationship.
It’s also true that traveling to clients can eat up a lot of time and leave dead zones in your schedule. To combat this you’ll need effective time-management and geography-management. Make sure you only serve a small, key area either through independent gyms or trainer’s gyms that are giving you a favorable percentage, or public areas like parks that serve your purposes well. You can do this through regional targeting of your advertising, marketing, and relationship building at first, but it’s a situation that’ll begin to grow organically as your referrals start to take shape.
And in terms of time, schedule clients just as if you were working out of gym, in chunks and at times that work for you. You can go out of your way for a client occasionally, but make sure that the majority of the time the scheduling is convenient for you.
Ideally, as trainers we’d like a situation where we can train clients in one convenient place, without overhead charges, the need for marketing, and without competition. This is a situation I enjoy for most of my training hours (which you read about in the Whistleblower Report), and is entirely possible for anyone in Personal Training. To find this situation for you, you’ve got to be active and feel around until you find your “sweet spot”. But this is only possible if you too explore what’s out there - that’s just another reason why it’s good to be mobile (motorcycle optional!).
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I actually completely agree Kaiser. I found that when I first started doing in homes very sporadically in the beginning I would feel awkward. After the first few in homes however, I loved it. I started using every part of the house just to change up the area of training and it was great! Luckily the in homes were in a very nice area and they were basically mansions(Great Neck). My clients actually prefered the in homes as they felt they had a higher comfort zone. And nice R6 man. Definitly ALWAYS ride with gear, no matter what. I have been riding since I was 18 and had a MAJOR accident when I was 21. MSF course is key also. Keep the rubber side down.
Kaiser,
Great post. I’ve just started my own in-home business on Cape Cod where we have a high percentage of elderly residents. They love this service, because of the exact reason you stated. They are intimidated by the gym scene, and lack both the knowledge and the confidence to get going on their own.
Thanks for the post, and the great information you make available.
Hey Kaiser,
It’s funny because two days ago after putting a client through her first intense strength session at the gym, she looked at me and said something like–”so when are we going to get on the machines..”
It didn’t hit her until the end of the workout that we hadn’t really touched a machine (other than the lat pulldown if you count that)–she was too busy doing squats, stepups, and deadlifts..
Any recommendations for mobile equipment to carry with you as an in home trainer?? Does anyone carry free weights, etc. with them??
I’m thinking a combination of good body weight exercises and some movements that incorporate dumbells or kettlebells could work for an in-home trainer..
Oh and nice bike by the way–I’d be looking to show that bad boy off every chance I got.
Another great post that I can relate to-my business is totally in-home!
You make a good point about time and geography management-this type of training can make or break you financially depending on how smart you are about organizing your schedule. I constantly work with my clients on this, doing slight shifts in scheduled times and days to achieve the perfect combination of minimum drive time and maximum face time with clients. Another thing that makes it work for me-having a membership for myself at a chain gym with multiple locations I can go to (like a Bally’s or Gold’s) ensures that whenever I have a break in the day, I can easily slip in my workouts between sessions.
As for equipment, I bring along a 65cm ball, BOSU, resistance bands, a small set of Powerblocks (3-21lb range), 6lb medicine ball, and things for outdoor drills-agility ladder, cones, etc. Usually the client will have some equipment of their own, but even if they don’t, I can always give them a complete workout with very little equipment. I don’t use everything each time, but it comes in handy to have a variety of basic equipment-endless variation and combinations of exercises!
Great post. I am trying to tap into the in-home training market also. It seems to be a real slow time right now for personal training in my area, a lot of people I run into want to get into better shape, but don’t want to put in the training. In fact, the last 3 or 4 that have approached me about Personal Training just flat out said “I know I need to get into better shape, but I’m just too lazy and I don’t want to workout and I don’t want to eat clean, eating clean is boring.” I’m not kidding, that is a direct quote. I don’t even take the convo much further than that, these kind of people are not my ideal clients.
I see you big ballin’ on the bike Kaiser. I ain’t mad at cha!
Thanks Doug for sharing what type of equipment you use–Very interesting that you do only in-home training because I see that as one of my biggest barriers– figuring out how to find a place to train and/or learning to give quality workouts in someone’s home.
Actually in regards to in home training you dont necessarily need many tools; as pointed out by Doug Murphy. I am sure he gives his clients an excellent workout and results. In fact when I started all I used for the first year were powerbands and boxing gloves and thai pads. My clients hated every minute of it but they LOVED the results. In my opinion if you could only carry ONE peice of equipment then that would be a kettlebell and incorporate that into bodyweight training.
Yup, all I ever real carry to sessions are bands and boxing equipment - but in the car I keep a bunch of other things, pretty much every thing you mentioned Doug - you’ve got to see my trunk - it looks like a Perform Better catalog in there! I also notice those Trainers On Site guys carry the Lebert Equalizer (http://www.lebertequalizer.com/index.htm) which is very adaptable -
Remember that when it comes to all of this, I’m not referring to just sessions in-home - I wouldn’t consider myself an in-home trainer, just that’s one of the options available to my clients (I really only train three current clients in their actual homes, and with one of them could hardly call it that since he built a complete gym in there!)
- I’m usually looking for an alternate place to train my clients, at or close to their location - one of my clients drives to meet me at a public park, another I train at a gorgeous park near her home, and the rest at the gyms in their residential condos - and you’ll also want to find out trainer’s gyms and private gyms that allow outside trainers when those other options aren’t available. Through your marketing and when you speak to them on the phone, just let them know that you’ve got a ton of options in terms of location -
And yeah Jason you said it - they need to have some heart, internal drive and commitment - or else they’re not ideal clients!
Hey Kaiser - great posts! All of the recent ones and especially getting your ideas on alot of these things that I’m going through right now! Just one question ….
What did you mean by “sweet spots”, that thing that you mention at the end of this post? Can you expand on that for me a litle bit?
Thanks for the motivation! I’m now a devoted reader!
Yeah real simple - what I mean by that is just feeling around until you find a situation that works really well for you - this could take a few forms:
- a private condo that has a lot of wealthy residents, no trainer fees, and is underserved (this is my “sweet spot”, so much so that I even moved into the building)
- a gym that’s giving you a great percentage (look for 75% or over), and is working with you on marketing and keeping out competition
- an advertising source that’s working really well for you in bringing in consistent leads every time you run it and is turning out to be a worthwhile return on investment
- a business you have a partnership with (like a massage studio or health food establishment) that’s working with you on marketing and always bringing you good leads -
Even if you get one of these situations going however, you can’t rest on your laurels - if anything, you now have the free time to market even harder - this will allow you to find more of these so-called “sweet spots” and also allow you to refine your client list, host semi-private sessions (more than one person at a time), and charge higher prices. It also brings you that situation of putting your practice on “autopilot” that I always talk about.
Hi Kaiser,
Love the site and the article. I must say i’ve cut back on training clients at home as i try to get my days to make the client sessions run back to back throughout the day with a couple of hours break for my own training as I found I was loosing alot of money driving around town stuck in traffic jams! This does obvioulsy depend on where you live though- Brighton Uk is horrific! To travel 3 miles can take up to an hour - quicker and more healthier to run but can’t carry the equipment! http://www.samuelponttraining.com/
Hi,
Love the site! I am a new personal trainer and based on my research for the area I’m now living in, I think in-home/onsite training is a great service to offer. There has been a boom in condo construction here and I wondered: what is the best way to approach condominium managers to offer onsite training in their fitness centers for residents? If anyone has any feedback/advice, it would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
Hey Abena -
I know how it is when you’re first starting out - sending out a
mailing to this group is probably out of your budget - it would cost nearly a couple of grand to produce and mail, and would require a good website to follow up with -
But find out if they have a local community newsletter or magazine - most of the better buildings and communities do, and advertising with them can be relatively cheap (less than $400) which should be paid back with one solid new client -
On a shoestring, I’d do some detective work on the phone -
find the numbers to their healthclubs (if they’re staffed) and
find out about the policy regarding outside trainers - if they’re
allowed, ask to meet the fitness manager just to tell them a
little bit about you, and speak to other members of the
staff (on the phone) and let them know about you and what you do in a casual, non-threatening way, and leave behind plenty of business cards, or better yet, brochures. Also, for employees besides the fitness manager, let them know you have a very generous referral fee - give something like $200 or more, since a new client’s value is many times that to you - after you’ve met them, also try bribes like buying them all lunch and things like that (nothing special, just pizza is good enough) - I keep the staff at the places I train VERY well taken care of -
Also offer this same kind of finding fee to the other local health and wellness people in your area - chiropractors, massage therapists, physical therapists - massage therapists and therapy centers are especially good - leave everyone plenty of business cards and brochures -
Yeah, just a little bit of calling and finding out in the beginning, but finding that one good place to train out of will basically leave you set and never have to look for clients again - so be creative and keep searching -
The “stickyness” of your service - how many resigns, referrals, and new inquiries you get - depends on your personal marketing and the quality of your service - keep following the blog and e-letter and you’ll have that handled -
You also need to get a little lucky - just work in the high-income areas, form relationships, do some local advertising, and eventually you’ll penetrate that market - and all it takes is one client for it to take off from there -