Everyone would love to say they have one of the top personal training departments in the country, but it takes impeccable management to make that a reality. Vic Spatola, the director of personal training at Greenwood Athletic and Tennis Club, understands the importance of great management as the basis of Greenwood’s successful personal training department.
“I find a lengthy interview process and clear expectations upon hire, set the tone and drive home our core values to new hires,” Spatola said. “If your training department develops a reputation with members, you will carry it with you for a long time — good or bad. Your membership communicates amongst themselves more than you think. And, a bad reputation or experience with a trainer will spread like wildfire. This in turn will hurt your referral basis. Therefore, it is important that when you have a success, you spread the work with members via e-mail, posters or social media.”
For franchise models, personal training has also become a highly important aspect — just ask Shannon Fable, the director of exercise programming for Anytime Fitness.
“As a franchise-based model, our goal is to first educate on the culture of Anytime Fitness,” said Fable. “Consistency is crucial to developing an exceptional member experience. Trainers must be working towards a common goal instead of delivering, at times, contradictory advice.”
According to Spatola, the personal training department in the club, regardless of size, should lead the direction of the club’s fitness education and helping people improve lives. This means that leadership is crucial to help other trainers drive education for members.
“If your top trainer is producing great numbers, but has a terrible attitude towards the rest of the department, or the manager, get rid of them,” Spatola suggested. “No one person is above the department or the team. No matter how much they bring in, it will not exceed the other, more happy, trainers’ production.”
Fable concurred: “At the end of the day, we’re all on the same team trying to improve the lives of every member, whether they are our clients or not,” she said. “As well, a goal of every club should be the transferability of clients in case of vacation, illness, relocation or the like. We educate in a variety of ways, both live and virtual.”
However, sometimes keeping everyone in the group happy can be quite tricky. According to Fable, it can be common for trainers to begin feeling left behind, but that’s when it’s on the head trainer, or director, to help bring morale back around.
“We tend to place a lot of emphasis on revenue generation and sessions rendered,” Fable said. “Find other ways to highlight every member of your team, even the ones that, on the white board mid-month, seem to be under-performing. We have tracking and incentives in other areas to keep morale high because not everyone can be a top producer. But everyone can play a significant part in keeping members happy.”
It’s crucial, as a training department and manager, that you remember there is more to a goal than a number. Some trainers may have slightly lower numbers, but the clients they maintain are the happiest in your system. However, when you have those trainers that produce at a lower level, your managing skills are important to making them better.
“If your lowest-producing trainer does a great appointment with a new member, praise them,” Spatola said. “If your top performer takes time out of their day to help a random member, acknowledge that with praise. Sometimes the little things being noticed get the most grateful employees.”
