Three Questions For Personal Trainer Success

I received an email today from a struggling trainer asking me how
he could find more clients for his PT business which, by his own
admission, is struggling badly at the moment.

As his mail was the subject of a section of the seminar I'm running
with Craig Ballantyne next month I thought I'd take the time to
answer him personally and did so by asking the question I ask EVERY
trainer I coach.

"Who's your IDEAL client?"

The answer I got back, almost immediately, was, to say the least,
vague.

This fella simply didn't have a clue about who he should be
marketing to and had set the simple criteria of 'anyone with a
wallet and a pulse'.

Big mistake!

(Being a subscriber to this newsletter, you know this already,
right?)

What this trainer was lacking was an affirmative answer, a yes, to
the following 3 qualifying questions that ALL marketing is hinged
upon.

A 'No' to any one of them spells a death sentence to your efforts
to find, get or keep a client.

Question 1: Do your clients (or the people you're trying to attract as clients) actually WANT your product or service?

Too obvious right? But far, far too often overlooked.

Personal training clients DON'T want personal training. They want fat loss, weight loss, sixpack abs, buns of steel, to lose the baby fat, to banish the back pain. They want specific.

If you're giving them 'general' fitness, if you're giving them postural correction and they want fat loss (no matter how much you think they need it) then they won't want what you're selling.

They either won't sign up in the first place, or they will but pretty soon quit.

Lesson: Match your marketing (and your training) to the clients you want and who in turn want you.

Question 2: Do they have the ability to pay for your product or service?

Simple question again, but ignored nearly always.

If you only sell your programs in package format that requires a large initial outlay and your prospective client lives week to week from their paycheque then you're onto a loser.

If you're a 'high end' coach (like me) who charges well beyond the average fees then advertising in your local rag 'because it's cheap' is wasting your money because your ideal client won't be reading it.

If you love training kids but their parents don't love paying for the priviledge then...

Lesson: If you're truly running a BUSINESS rather than building a job position, you have to, HAVE TO know that your clients and prospects have the ability to pay. If they don't you don't get to be, do and have the things that you want from your business.

Question Three: Do they have the AUTHORITY to pay for your product or services?

Strange as it may sounds, many people aren't authorised to buy your services (even if they have the money).

Wives or husbands who have to ask 'the other half' are an example. If they can't make the decision by themselves then they're not authorised.

Kids too.

But it doesn't stop there. Corporate sectors are renown for getting up the hopes of trainers with tales of bootcamp contracts, seminar bookings, weight management courses etc only to cancel them later when the boss finds out what they've agreed to.

Lesson: Make sure that when you're promoting the product or service that you address the authority issue by asking if they are 'allowed' to go ahead and commit. If they're not, don't waste your time or effort.

Not rocket science, but apply the three questions to your next marketing efforts and watch your marketing efforts multiply massively in next to no time.

To your success!

Dax Moy
www.personaltrainersuccessacademy.com

P.S - For a more in-depth look at how to apply the three questions and a heck of a lot more to your Personal Training Business check out www.personaltrainersuccessacademy.com/cbdax.htm and find out how Craig Ballantyne and I will be teaching a select group of hand picked trainers how to earn more from their fitness businesses.