Personal Training: How to Make a Sale from a Complimentary Session

IMAGE BY SHUTTERSTOCK

Oftentimes trainers are told by their supervisors to offer free workouts. Well that’s great, but how do you sell off of your free workout? How do you get prospects to want more and see the value in your services? Trainers usually feel that if they nearly kill their prospects during the workout then that alone should sell them. Because who doesn’t want to walk that tightrope of death each workout?

Unfortunately this will not fly for your average prospect. Sure, some of your more hardcore people will enjoy this, but most will not. As a trainer/coach you need to get prospects to understand how your program will help them reach their goals. They need to see the benefits of working with you that go past a killer workout. Here are a few things to help you master this:

Specific program design. Before walking onto the workout floor, a proper movement assessment should be completed. This will provide the trainer with the knowledge needed as to what exercises will be most beneficial to the prospect and which to stay away from. From this assessment the trainer can then give the prospect a teaser of the type of exercises they’ll be performing.

Communication. The perfect program means nothing without proper communication. You need to thoroughly explain what and why you’re doing what you’re doing. What is the benefit of performing these weird movements that are oddly difficult? The more they understand what goes into their program, the more likely they’ll see the value and buy your services.

Be interactive. There are a few ways to be interactive:

1. Perform buddy exercises. This makes it feel as though they have a partner.
2. Be extra critical of their form during exercises. You need to show them that even the simplest exercise needs to be done correctly, otherwise they run the risk of injury.
3. Use touch, but be cautious in doing so. Become too touchy and bad things happen to your reputation. Ask permission, only use two fingers when touching and stay away from obvious areas. Touching is another form of coaching. It helps prospects to hone in on what muscles they should be using. Touching is also another way we connect as humans. Since your goal should be to connect with and build rapport with prospects, touching can be a valuable tool.  
4. Assume the sale. Talk as if they are already your client. Educate prospects on how the exercises they are doing now will help set them up for success later down the road.  

At the end of the day you have to build rapport with your prospect. They have to trust you have their best interest in mind. If you approach each prospect with the mentality of wanting to truly help, rather than needing to get a sale, you’ll take the pressure off of yourself and probably have a better closing percentage.