Fitness, Business, Fitness Business, & Achieving Life Goals

#6 Successful Personal Trainers Over-Deliver

Successful Personal Trainers understand that a big part of the perceived value of their training comes from what is expected of them and what it is they actually deliver.

An example of perceived value is when I took the family to see the movie Avatar in IMAX 3D, thinking, all the while, how expensive it was. I mean, it’s just a movie, right? However, once the movie started it far exceeded my expectations and I immediately wanted that experience again. And yes, I was happily willing to pay for it again.

What are the expectations of potential clients? The service industry is woefully lacking in people that actually understand good service. Grumpy cashiers, store employees that don’t seem to know you’re waiting for help, and those that literally roll their eyes or groan when you do ask for assistance are par for the course. So even the basics are a step up.

The basics include: Knowing how to create individualized programs, being punctual, having professional attire, warm and friendly greetings, leaving your personal problems at home, asking about them and really listening to their answers, making sure they know all policies from the start, guiding through and educating them about their workouts, talking with them not at them, ignoring other conversations in the room and keeping your full focus on your client, and asking the client how they feel about the workout.

How can we exceed the basics and create experiences that enrich your relationship with your client? The listed are some possibilities if they fit you and your scenario: be entertaining (a good sense of humor goes a long way), keep adapting/changing their program as they are capable, offer praise often, make sure they leave feeling good about what they just accomplished at the end of each workout, reach out to them at other times by email, phone, cards, social networking, to check in with them, wish them happy birthday/anniversary, other important events in their life, etc. Do something unexpected and nice for them.

Those are just some thoughts on what might make your clients really feel taken care of, over and above expectations. What do you do to over-deliver or create that experience for your clients? I’d love to hear your ideas.

Check out the full Successful Personal Trainers series.

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers (Series)

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers #1

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers #2

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers #3

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers #4

Top 10 Traits of Successful Personal Trainers #5

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I had an experience this week that was a perfect example of getting more than you expected and the loyalty that creates. So here’s my story:

I was given a small snow blower by a couple of clients last year. It was great. After all, this is Maine and you can practically use that through the spring. We stored it in the basement until the first snowstorm this winter. Couldn’t start it, couldn’t start it, couldn’t start it, yanking my shoulder out of it’s already arthritic joint. Set it aside and hit the shovel for the next 2 snowstorms.

So the prediction is 12-15 inches for Wed. It’s Tuesday. I finally loaded the blower up and took it to this little small engine shop. I had no hope of getting it back in time before the storm. I was just using it as a reason to get the blower into the shop.

The shop looked pretty much as you would expect, bare basics with small engine products they carried, snow blowers, lawn mowers, chain saws, etc. The man at the counter was very nice, took my information, my snow blower, asked what the problem was and said they would get to it as soon as possible but couldn’t promise it would be ready before the storm. (You could hear engines running in the back work area, so you knew they were busy.) I told him that I didn’t really expect it that quickly and I left.

I get a call about 5:30pm Tues., same day and they close at 5pm, to say that it’s all set and ready to go. I went in the next morning as soon as they opened, still before the storm hit, to pick it up. The same man, I assume the shop’s owner was at the counter, was busy with several other customers. When came my turn he remembered me, explained in detail what was wrong, what they had done, and what the work cost (far less than I expected). As he was charging my card, he asked if I needed any of the oil you mix with the fuel. I said yes to be on the safe side and could he throw that on the card as well. “I’m not going to charge you for that. It’s just a bottle of oil.” Yes, he’s right. It was just a bottle of oil and pennies to him, BUT… the gesture, on top of everything else, made this a very good experience. I felt like I trusted and liked this man and shop.

While I was waiting to have the snow blower rolled out, I was looking around at the products and thought to myself, “The next small engine piece of equipment I buy will be from here.” I even found myself thinking that I could use a chainsaw, which, if you know me, is pretty funny. 

The moral to my story is, good service and creating customer loyalty isn’t some elaborate thing. It’s about the simple stuff: trust, a sense that you matter, exceeding expectations. How can you do that in your business? (and yes, I am plugging the shop… Ray’s Small Engine Inc. 584 Alfred Rd, Biddeford, ME 207-282-6565)

Have you ever had anyone say to you, “You have to see this movie! It’s sooo good”. So you go and it’s awful. Your expectations had been raised so high by raves that you were dashed when it didn’t live up to it. You probably even thought it was worse than you would have had you not had such high expectations.

It’s important for us to set the appropriate expectations for consumers, high, but not too high. It’s always better to, as the saying goes, “under promise and over deliver”. Does that seem manipulative? Heck, yeah. But, that’s life. Have you ever told your significant other that you were taking them a little show or restaurant and then WOWed them by taking them to the best? Being surprised like that creates an emotional impact that will be remembered.

Define, for yourself and to your customers/clients, what they should expect from you and always be looking for ways to over deliver your services or products to create the WOW.