We’re now officially two weeks into the year.  How are your resolutions doing? Just kidding.  If you’re anything like me, I know you’re not in the “resolution” crowd.

That’s for OTHER people, to give them excuses to make changes once a year (which they usually back out of).  But for me and you, we don’t need an excuse to make immediate, wholesale changes to what we’re doing.  Anytime is a good time to go harder.

 

And on the subject of the new year, I realize that I kind of missed the whole boat on writing good new year’s themed articles (God knows I milked Christmas for all it was worth).

 

So knowing that I’m beyond late, let me finally get into the NEW YEARS spirit.  Considering that this is the week that most people’s new years enthusiasm starts to diminish, I’m sure you won’t mind.

 

For this article, I want to hit you with “a BIG IDEA.” Do you want to know THE SECRET to success for personal trainers and fitness business owners?  And on the flip side, what causes more frustration, disappointment and failure than any other single factor?

 

In the training business, where some trainers struggle working for big box gyms for what averages out to less than minimum wage, why are some trainers booked solid at $100 plus per hour?

Especially when hundreds of trainers argue with justification that they have far, far superior credentials and content? Why is EVERY Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse successful, when in virtually every city in which there’s a Ruth Chris, there are steakhouses serving steaks of equal or even superior quality, at lower prices? Why does every city house both starving gym owners and millionaire gym owners?

The answer really comes down to one word:

Presentation.

I think this concept frightens those trainers who are unable to come up with any flair, style, or image of their own. They prefer to believe that just the training is everything.

In other types of businesses, this would be an example of thinking “the product” is everything.

 

But it isn’t just the product or the training. It nearly never is. A steak is a steak, a tabata is a tabata, a bootcamp drill is a bootcamp drill, within a small, marketplace-acceptable range of competence.

If you stubbornly insist on believing you have (or need) a superior or unique certification, technique, training type or competency, or worse, insist on complaining the injustice of possessing such a superiority and still losing out to inferior competitors, you’re only hurting yourself. You closing your eyes to reality and suffering needlessly.

 

And since we’re dealing with the subject of secrets, I’ll tell you one of my own. I know there are trainers out there worlds better than I am, who have charged at most $25, or $50, or even $75 for a private session, when I’ve charged $250.  And there are that have done group training who are worlds better motivators and teachers than I am, who have made less than $30 for a group session, when I’ve made hundreds more than by positioning myself as an expert in mine.

They are more adept than I am, work much harder during their sessions than I do, and arguably deserve greater fees than I command, but who work for peanuts compared to what I’ve commanded.

I know of a few, and I’m positive there are hundreds I don’t know about. Why did I get so much for the work I put in (and even more for the work I didn’t put “in”, but that’s a different point).

 

It all comes down to Presentation.  In this case, not the presentation of the training itself, but the presentation of me.  It’s all the little things, like the self-marketing, positioning, promotion, and expectation and frame management that goes on with training services that adds up to presentation. It’s the hundred and one things that have nothing to do with the actual training program itself.

I know a lot of trainers get this internally, but have just been missing the reminder or motivation to actually consciously focus on it.  This is one of the biggest things taught in the SIX-FIGURE TRAINER PROGRAM, which really goes into the details of creating an outstanding training product in detail.

And talk to any real fitness business owner, that’s been doing this for a long time with MASSIVE SUCCESS (not the long-time struggling complainers) and they will tell you the same thing.  I’ve featured how Gunnar Peterson mentioned this very same fact in a national magazine, and I’ve never spoken to a successful trainer who would argue against it.

So by all means, keep the quality and integrity of your training product high, and progressively make it higher, and be sure to “sharpen the saw” on a consistent bases.  But remember there’s a lot more to this game than just the training, so make sure you spend A LOT more time learning about that.

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NOTE: On the subject of “image” and how it relates to selling your fitness services and getting the absolute highest rates possible, a new service is being introduced today.

It’s THE SUPER-TRAINER BRANDING PROGRAM.  And as part of it’s launch, you can get in for a great price from today until Friday, January 21, 2011.  For the next three days only, you can save a full $100 on the program, by getting in for only $297 (not the full price of $397).

This is ONLY for orders before Friday, after which it’s going up to full price.  To check out everything you get, go here:

Awesome Branding Program For Your Fitness Business <== CLICK HERE

Be sure to only use the first link for $297 that’s for this promotion.  That’s your savings link, and will get you in for the special intro price.  Here’s where to check it out again:

Awesome Branding Program For Your Fitness Business <== CLICK HERE

If it’s sounds like it’s right for you, I’m looking forward to hearing about the success you get with it.  Good luck.