Fitness, Business, Fitness Business, & Achieving Life Goals

#3 Successful Personal Trainers Love to Sell.

It’s interesting how many Personal Trainers hate to “sell”. When talking about sales, what typically comes to mind is the sleazy car salesman who will say anything to get a sale. I, myself, as a club manager in the early ’80s, went through a sales training program that emphasized selling multi- year membership contracts and hoping that they wouldn’t show up. There were club salespeople that would sell memberships for classes that we didn’t even offer. Needless to say, I resigned shortly thereafter with a stong dislike for anything to do with sales. It wasn’t until years later when a friend pointed out to me that I was the biggest salesperson around, that I was able to re-define my ideas of what “selling” really was. My “selling”, that my friend pointed out, was my enthusiasm for fitness and my belief that I could help make others’ lives better. In essence, that’s what selling is for us.

When we sit down with a potential client, we use our motivational interviewing techniques to uncover what their needs, wants, and what obstacles they have. Then, not unlike a doctor or physical therapist, we make an honest recommendation as to what we believe is the best course of action for them to reach their goals safely and effectively. The financial aspect, at this point, shouldn’t come into play. This recommendation is our best case scenario for them. It may sound something like this, “Based on what you’ve told me, that you’ve had difficulty sticking with a program, become easily bored, and tend to get injured when working out on your own, I recommend that we work together ___ times per week. That way we can build your initial program, gradually ramp up the intensity while constantly monitoring your form for safety, and change it up before you get bored. It’ll keep you accountable and help you stick with the program, not to mention get you the results you want faster. Does that sound like something you’d be interested in?”

That’s the idea. Specifically address their situation, make an honest recommendation, relate specifically how your recommendation will address their issues and get them to their goal, and ask if they’d like to have your help in changing their health/fitness.

Successful Personal Trainers love “selling” because it is offering the potential client their best chance at success. Wouldn’t you love giving everyone that chance? Embrace that moment and make them the offer that can change their lives.

Check out the full 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

P.S. Also, follow my Business of Personal Training page on Facebook.

For many Personal Trainers and Health Club Membership staff, the act of “selling” is not a pleasant thing. It brings to mind used car salesmen and telemarketers and aren’t we above that? Even the business phrase that is so commonly used of “closing the sale” sounds like once you get “the sale” you close a door or slam a lid on the person that just purchased. Why should we have to degrade ourselves to beg for business? We’re good, and if someone wants us, they know we’re here, right? AAANNNGH! (loud buzzer noise) Wrong-o.

Now, some will approach us about our services, but that takes courage on their part. So many people are intimidated by health clubs, exercise classes, and Personal Trainers and will never be the one to initiate joining or taking part.

We need to shift our thinking about sales.

First, let’s forget about “closing the sale”. Instead we should be thinking about “opening a relationship”. Because, that’s what we’re doing. We are creating ongoing trust, understanding, and a joint effort to help them reach their goals.

Second, when you ask for a “sale”, what you’re really doing is, after having listened to their goals and issues, making a recommendation to the best course of action to reach their goals. “Based on what you said, this, this, and this, I recommend that you sign up for yada, yada package, because it will allow us to handle those issues and get you to your goal safer and faster. how does that sound to you?” Wait for them to reply. You have just offered them something wonderful, and if you didn’t ask would they be as likely to reach their goals. They would miss out on a chance to better the quality of their lives. Why would we not want to offer that?

Third, (back to the first) once they agree to the course of action that you recommended, you can begin a relationship that will help them through this journey.

That just makes me feel all warm inside.

“Selling is the second oldest profession, often confused with the first”. from Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play by Mahan Khalsa.

That quote makes me laugh and yet there is so much truth in it as to how people feel about “SELLING”. Visions of shadey car salesmen, TV pitchmen, and telemarketers come to mind. All sales people care about is getting your credit card in their greedy, sweaty, little hands and then…. “See ya!” As a matter of fact, I went through a “sales training” program for health club managers back in the early ’80’s that was exactly that. I was told that the goal was to get people to join and then hope they wouldn’t come. Sell, sell, oversell, sell them services we don’t even have. I quit shortly thereafter and hated anything to do with sales for almost two decades. But that was then and this is now. I came from that vile, hard sell experience to what I now feel as the joy of selling. It has become one of my missions, to teach others a natural, caring way to sell.

I think to understand my view we need to discuss what selling really is.

My epiphany came in a realization that selling is really about helping other people get what they want and/or need and not about “getting their money”. Do we make money from selling? Yes, but making sales/money does not mean that you are not enhancing the lives of your clients. In fact, the more you:

1) Really listen to their wants/needs

2) Clarify history, details, situations as needed so that you really understand where they’re coming from

3) Make an honest recommendation to them as to a course of action that will best solve their problem and why

the more sales/money you will make. The difference is that we do what we do because we want to help people. We are their advocates. We ARE the good guys. Making sales/money is simply a reflection of how much opportunity we have to help them.

So enjoy the sales process. It’s how you help others.

(Now, if we can leave them with a “Wow”, we will feel even better about our experience together, but that’s another post.)

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.