If you haven’t heard of our top-downloaded manual, “Six-Figures In 67 Days,” then you must have been hiding under a rock! Just kidding, but I do bring it up a lot. The reason I’m always tooting the horn of this free download is that it’s helped people cut $1,000 in expenses and add over $5,000 in monthly gross revenue within the first month. My personal trainer marketing plan is extremely simple to replicate, no matter what your budget or business model may be.
For most people, it takes 4 years of college education, 2-4 years of grad school, and another 5-10 years in the working world before they can climb the ladder to making $100,000 a year. The majority of people will NEVER make that much. I’m offering you the pathway to make it there in less than 3 months. I don’t want to mislead you or promise that everyone makes the leap practically overnight. Rather, I’d like to highlight how effective it is to climb the ladder when you take fast and focused action. Keep in mind, the average salary of a trainer is $60/hour and the average client trains 3 days a week. So that means you need about 10 or 11 clients to earn six-figures this year. That doesn’t sound unreasonable, does it?
The best place to begin your journey in learning about my plan is to download the free “Six-Figures In 67 Days Blueprint,” which outlines all the steps you’ll take in building a successful six-figure fitness business. If you like what you read, you can go on to check out the “Six-Figures In 67 Days Program Manual,” which gives you the meat and potatoes to replicate my success. The opportunity exists to make rapid growth in your training business in a short period of time. This fitness trainer guide is designed to help people who recently ventured out on their own or trainers who want to break free from their 9-to-5 jobs at low-paying gyms.
Our industry offers unique opportunities to make limitless income that we never thought possible. There are several reasons why. First, we need relatively little education. It may take someone 10 years of formal education to become a doctor, but we can jump right in and develop a base of marketable skills and knowledge in a matter of months. Another factor in your favor is the fact that we’re in an industry where the average hourly rate is $60 – much higher than most industries. Another benefit is that you do not need to educate the public about what you do like a nutritionist or chiropractor may. People are already familiar with how to use personal training to reach their goals. All you need is a good personal trainer marketing plan to get the word out. We’re also in the business of personality and relationship marketing, so if you are a likeable individual with a knack for people, you can be very successful in this industry simply by being yourself.
Here are some of the tactics I recommend:
- Mine for referrals. Often times, clients are more than willing to offer up people who may be interested in training services. They may not realize that referrals are the bread-and-butter of a personal trainer, so there is no harm in asking. Offering a free fitness and nutrition assessment is a great opportunity to qualify new prospects, provide perceived value, and begin the training relationship. It’s a lot less awkward to meet with someone sitting across the desk, chatting casually, than it is to meet while you’re explaining technique and the prospect is sweating it out. Before you agree to take on a new client, make the referral a condition on doing business by simply asking, “Is there anyone you know at work, in your family, or in your friend circle who needs a trainer right now?” Ask again after a really good session. You should be mining for referrals from each client on a monthly basis. When they deliver, be sure to reward these amazing clients with a $20 gift certificate or a well-thought book.
- Use my scripts. When you are calling a referral, there is no more effective technique than the “Questioning Dialogue” from the Sales section of The Program Manual. I show you how to tell if a referral is “hot” (and ready for a large group of sessions) or “luke-warm” (and better suited for a three-session intro pack). Also use the “Closing Dialogue” in The Program Manual to bond with the client and get them warmed up to the idea of long-term training.
- Dedicate phone time. If you don’t have many clients, you’ll need to play the role of Columbo The Detective, conducting at least four hours of phone research. This may sound like a lot of time, but it’s a lot better than driving around in search of leads and locations. Call private gyms to find out if they allow outside trainers. Getting into a gym with a dedicated base of prospects and conducting group training during peak hours is a great way to drum up clients for private sessions and boot camps.
- Get online. A website will be the strongest way to get new clients and the good news is: you can have this up, running and reeling in leads in less than a month! We cover website design heavily in The Program Manual, BTW. You may also use Craigslist to alert people about the free trial period for your new boot camp and draw people into your low-price intro pack. Deal-of-the-Day sites like Groupon can be a way of driving a tremendous amount of business in a very short period of time, but keep in mind you will need to have solid programs in place, conversion scripts to get these prospects signed up for long-term business, and (of course) the staff on hand to manage all these new people flooding in.
- Consider direct mail prospecting. Be forewarned: this can be a huge waste of money if you don’t know what you’re doing. You must have a TREMENDOUS low-barrier offer for this to be successful. You will need to promise gifts and keep prices low to attract prospects in a method marketers call “bait and switch.” However, if you follow the structure outlined in my personal trainer marketing plan, The Program Manual, you really can’t go wrong.