great trainer, poor trainer - what's the difference?

What makes a great trainer so great, and others not so good? This was the discussion at our recent Million Dollar Mentoring Day event in Melbourne. The response below is from a room full of great trainers, putting together a guideline designed to lift the professionalism of the industry.

Great Personal Trainers do the following:
1. Client focus - as opposed to making it all about them (I eat only organic food and train 4 hours per day, can bench press 140kgs blah blah blah) great trainers make it relevant to the client. The great trainer genuinely wants to help their clients and displays a service ethic dedicated to the clients lifestyle and outcomes.

2. Consistency of service is high on importance to great trainers. One of the best techniques for building a strong business is referrals. By being consistent you get results and by getting results you get referrals. Clients want a consistent quality of service, this may include session start and finish on time, receive follow up calls to new clients etc.

3. Great trainers practice what they preach. They schedule time for workouts and set a good example for their clients in all parts of their life. They walk their talk and clients respect them for it.

4. Training sessions are result based, ie/ the trainer has taken the time to work out exactly what the clients goals are and have formulated a plan of action to get them there within an appropriate agreed time frame.

5. They offer a professional level of service, they are uniformed and they look after their own hygiene even when taking multiple sessions throughout the day! In addition they have adequate insurance, they screen clients for potential health issues, and they refer to other allied health professionals where appropriate. They keep appropriate records like old exercise programs and fitness evaluation and health screening data in an organised file easy to locate.

6. They ask lots of questions and actively listen for the response their clients give them and they then use that information to help refine the clients exercise program, nutrition and/or lifestyle choices.

7. Tough love is required to help people to better health. Great trainers keep clients accountable and sometimes need to hold the mirror up to their clients if they go off the rails or have 'that' conversation.

8. They are specialists rather than generalists. This means they choose to become an expoert in 1 to 3 target markets. They realise they cannot be everything to everybody and a jack of all trades but master of none.

9. Recognition of client achievement is high on their list. A great strategy many implement is to reinvest a percentage of what the client has paid them back into some sort of client appreciation event or activity.

10. They allocated exercise and nutrition homework to do between sessions and they educate the client to help them make healthier lifestyle decisions which leads to better results.

Poor trainers do the following:
1. Text or talk on mobile phones during sessions, indicating that the session is all about the trainer and their ego and not about the client and their needs.

2. They are often late to sessions and/or allow their sessions to run over time which results in inconvenience to clients.

3. They are poor communicators ie/ they often talk a lot about their favourite subject...themselves! They are tellers not askers and this is not a good recipe for adherence as the client must have their own goals as opposed to having a trainers one dimensional philosophy forced into their life.

4. They profess to be an expert in every single area of training possible - a strong giveaway is that their advertising material says they specialise in 'Weight Loss, Hypertrophy, Re-Hab, Sports Specific, Stretching, Pilates, Yoga, Pre & Post Natal, Children and the list goes on and on'. The relevant point being that a specialist refers to a small number of areas, ie/ between 1 and 3 NOT 33!

5. Often the poor trainers do not have a uniform, they are not well groomed and hygiene for some is sadly not a priority.

6. The summary being that for all of the reasons listed above they are unprofessional in many ways.

Here is a quick user guide to what makes a trainer great and what makes the others not so great. Great trainers value themselves and their clients, are consistent, professional, follow up clients outside of sessions, and walk their talk, while poor trainers do not. The only question that remains is where you will position yourself both in your own eyes as well as those of your client?

Aaron Whear

freedom or fugitive

which one are you planning for?

The statement is 'failing to plan is planning to fail' and I have heard it so much I initially struggled to use it here due to its extensive usage. However its relevance to today's fitness professional is high as the need to plan your business dealings is becoming more and more important.

Unfortunately you probably don't know any better as the traditional PT model is one of swapping time for money. It is only because I have been through the process and also didn't plan properly that I can confidently tell you that the traditional way isn't suitable, especially if lifestyle, freedom and fulfillment are high on your agenda.

Getting caught up in the, 'what am I going to do' and 'how am I going to achieve it' is great but there needs to be some order to your business. Prioritizing your duties is a great way to ensure you get the most important and valuable jobs done in the right order. You can't do it all so don't waste valuable time and energy trying. Initially planning to fill your diary with a certain number of sessions at a set rate will ensure a certain level of income. Once this has been achieved you can definitely start looking at outsourcing and handing off the tasks that aren't high on your favourites list.

Sticking with the failing to plan planning to fail theme; is part one of the process. To get your business to the stage where you have a solid foundation. Here are three simple steps to allow you to start this very important process. This is especially relevant to you now if you aren't currently earning $60,000 per annum.

1. Construct a very basic business plan that defines how you are are going to make your money. Be realistic here and set challenging yet achievable targets.
2. Put some tactics or strategies around how you are going to make this business plan work and generate that amount of money. These are your priority tasks and must be done before anything else.
3. Be accountable and check you have achieved these tactics every week. All the best laid plans are worthless unless action follows. If you want to increase your chances of achieving the revenue you want get a specialized coach to keep you accountable, limit your mistakes, minimize your risk and has an interest in your success.

It isn't rocket science but here is the catch. If you won't take these steps or get someone to help you take these steps you will struggle to find freedom, sustainability, fulfillment and long term business success. Remember the words 'failing to plan is planning to fail'. Fitnesspreneurs plan to succeed so if you want to join the fitnesspreneurs club it's time to start making plans.

David Virgo