personal training
Many PTs reject the notion of being sales people, yet this skill can be key to business success
“PROFESSIONALS MUST BE DEVELOPED IN THE MINDSET AND SKILLSETS TO COACH PEOPLE – NOT JUST TRAIN THEM”
‘why’ (how it subjectively and measurably changes the quality of their lives). There’s no actual obligation to lose
weight for that wedding in six weeks, for example: no-one has ever been removed from a wedding for exceeding the maximum weight limit. What we seek is the attainment of feelings that we believe will follow as a result of the weight loss – self-confidence, attraction etc – or indeed the avoidance of feelings that we believe would descend on us should we not lose the weight, such as rejection, etc. To this point – no-one buys training.
They are hoping for a transformational experience. They want to live a better version of their lives and are willing to pay for that if, and only if, you are able to help navigate the path for them.
NAVIGATING THE PATH If most human communication is not what we say but rather how we say it and what we look like saying it, then it’s very clear why people do not see value in PTs. Until we’re as concerned with the human being as with the human body, we will not add much value to people’s lives. Helping others to crystallise a vision of who they are and who they want to be, where they are and where they want to go – and then directing all our resources and capacities toward that end – is no
more to do with the perfect execution of an exercise than it is to do with the perfect diet. These are just two tools at our disposal to help people towards their higher purpose. Our professionals must be developed in the mindset and skillsets to coach people – not merely train them.
BUSINESS SKILLS Yet we can see from the statistics that even those who may have such skills might not survive the financial realities of our industry. As much as personal trainers need to focus on and refine their programme design and delivery, so too must they develop their business design. There are five key pillars to creating
revenue for coaches (PTs) in a fitness club: client induction, client prospecting, client retention, referrals and group training. These are the basics, and essential to surviving and thriving in the industry. However, delivering on all five elements
requires coaches to apply communication skills that enhance both their training offering and the delivery of their business plan. Indeed, our coaches of the future must have the requisite skillsets in gaining, training and retaining clientele from a business perspective as much as from a training one. Yes, this means selling. Selling is no more than helping other people to make decisions, yet fitness
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professionals usually detest and reject all notion of being sales people. This is a failure of both systemic and cultural proportion: we do not systematically develop business skills in our PT courses, nor do we place critical importance on them on the rare occasion they are in the curriculae. Having a generic module or two pop up at the end of a long PT course is woefully inadequate. A move in the right direction would be to permeate every step of our exercise science qualifications with elements of business and behavioural sciences.
PT OF THE FUTURE As fascinating as the human body and training are, we’ll cease to be a profession until we become professional. We must also start selling goods that people perceive as having real value in their lives – and based on the stats today, this is not PT in its current guise. What people are willing to buy – from the PTs who know how to sell it to them – is a transformational experience they feel makes their life better.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Hopson is co-founder and VP for PTA Global, the global company for fitness professional development. Email:
scotth@ptaglobal.com Web:
www.ptaglobal.com (global) /
www.ptaglobal.co.uk (UK) Facebook: http://www.facebook. com/PTAGlobalCommunity Twitter: @PTCareerClinic
september 2012 © cybertrek 2012
MINERVA STUDIO /
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
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