Personal trainers are passionate, energetic and dynamic — all wonderful things that make them amazing at their chosen career.
But typically, they struggle with basic business practices necessary to build, grow and maintain their client base. Much of the fitness education available does an excellent job teaching kinesiology, anatomy, exercise prescription and other necessary components of being a personal trainer. What is missing is the day-to-day time management, personal marketing, client management and communication skills so intrinsic to a trainer’s success.
Here are some tips for building up these skills in your training team:
One-on-One Meetings: Schedule one-on-one meetings with your trainers and drill into their goals. What are they aiming for? What do you, as their manager, need them to achieve? Align the two and come up with a game plan to get there.
Be Specific. Start with the big end goal and work backwards until you and your trainer know exactly what is required on a daily basis. Ensure your trainer is clear on the expectations and plans, including why these are important to their success, the department’s success and the club as a whole.
Coach Daily. Once your plan is in place, coach to the daily implementation. When will they spend time on business development? Encourage them to time block their days so each important task is given dedicated time.
Get Their Feedback. Ask them to share their thoughts on the best way to implement their personal marketing strategies. As they begin to implement a well-thought-out and pre-planned marketing strategy and time blocking system, it’s important to track these activities against their successes. What worked best and what didn’t work for them as a whole?
As your trainers develop good business management tools and habits, they will see their rate of success increase. They will spend less time on the administrative work of being a trainer and more time positively impacting people’s health and fitness.
Take time to work with your trainers on these necessary skills that are critical to their and your club’s success.
