Painting the Picture
December 17th, 2008
·
by Mark Nutting · Filed Under: Personal Training Business
I was talking with a Personal Trainer the other day about selling training. He was experiencing an inability to close sales after new members went through their introductory session. What I realized in talking with him was that, while he was doing a great job getting them set to start on their health/fitness journey, he was failing to paint the picture of what to expect in the future and how training with you is the natural next step.
You should have just finished covering a medical health history, discoved their goals, past successes and obstacles. Now, paint the picture. Describe the importance of needing to start simple, how the body will soon adapt, and that greater challenges will need to be placed on it for it to continue to make progress. Illustrate specifically how working with you will help them to overcome the obstacles they’ve faced in the past and how it allows you to make adjustments in the program as needed to keep them on the fastest, safest path to reaching their goals. Point out the importance of keeping them accountable and how you can be that voice for them.
The better you paint the picture, the better they can see themselves succeeding by working with you.
Comments RSS
Different clients have different needs. This should be reflected in how one address the issue of personal training to a prospective client. In my experience, an important aspect of ‘painting the picture’ and closing the sale has been to precisely point out how often the client will commit to personal training sessions. This also extends to the commitment required outside of sessions with a trainer and the financial commitment of long term personal training. Too often, I have seen trainers who expect to sign up each and every client for two or 3 sessions each week, which for many clients is unachievable, both in time as well as financial commitment, and to sign up these clients for an undisclosed time. I have to admit, when they’ve come along I’ve jumped at clients who hand over a ‘blank cheque’ and say ‘train me, no matter how many sessions it takes or how long it will take. I’ve had clients who paid me for 3 sessions a week while they were of travelling the World for 3 or 4 months. BUt not everyone can make this commitment, nor those everyone need that kind of service; an athlete may only need to see you once a month for a program and an update.
As a trainer closing a sale it is improtant to be as specific as possible with this information. A client may not be able to commit to 3 sessions a week at xx dollars till the day they drop dead, but may be able to commit to 1 session a month for a year while they build up a routine they can handle by themselves. When I sit down with clients I explain the system I use which involves an intensive 2-3 session/week introduction for 12 weeks followed by progressively less frequent sessions over the course of the following 2 years until they reach a point where a session is scheduled every 4-6 weeks (depending on the type of periodisation they’re on) and they train independantly between those sessions. This system suits me because I don’t like holding on to people’s hand (once they are capable of the basics and then some) and it suits the client because their dependance on my is minimised and they save money from the regular 3x/wk type of trainer. Note that in my initial sale I have set the client up for over 2 years of regular training, and they known exactly what this will mean to them in terms of commitment (training, time and financial).
W
We may actually have discussed this in the past, Wayne. I think the point we both agree on is that our recommendation to the client is one that takes into account all of their issues: financial, time, level committment, etc. and is what we truly believe is best for the client. We then “paint that picture” so the client sees how that fits into their lives and what to expect in the future.
Best wishes, Mark