Personal Trainer Biz

Unlike Halloween candy in January, personal fitness training is always in season. Yet it's often how you package your services that can make the difference between a new client and and a no sale.

Looking ahead to 2010, here are some marketing suggestions that coincide with many clients' lifestyles.

• New Year's Resolutions - An obvious choice for beginning any new resolution is the start of a new calendar year. It's a also a great time to incentivize by offering themed personal training packages.
• Mid January through early February - This is typically the first pay day in the New Year for most people. As the backlash from all the holiday shopping settles in, some consumers are still reluctant to spend any cash. Fortunately, that crowd is often balanced by people who have made New Year's to shape up with the help of personal training. Offering New Year's Resolution incentive deals is one way to get their attention.
• February 14th - Valentine's Day - Ride the wave along with other gifts like as spa sessions and romantic getaways: Marketing personal training as the gift that keeps on giving is a great way to attract attention to your services.
• March through September - Spring and summer are the traditional seasons for weddings -- are your marketing efforts in place? Couples packages make great gifts.
• April to late July - The start of the 6 weeks summer holiday season is a great time to consider offering 6- and 12-week "boot camps" and intensive sessions.
• September through March - Cooler weather often means people are heading back indoors for their workouts. It's also a good time to offer back to school packages. It's also a good time to advertise sport-specific training for activities such as skiing and skating.
• December - Personal training gift certificates -- they make the perfect stocking stuffers! Some people also start to experience the wintertime blues in December, so it's a great time to market the benefits of physical activity and goals setting.

A parting thought: Start when some future clients are young -- very young. Since babies stubbornly insist on being born throughout the year, offering "get back in shape" packages to post-partum mothers is always in season.

With a new year comes the prospect of setting and carrying out new goals. Many of your clients will have New Year's resolutions (which likely include fitness). So should you.

Successful personal trainers recognize that part of working with a client is to formulate a plan in order to achieve goals that are realistic.Such plans are flexible enough to allow for changes, such as work schedules, that have a direct impact on how much and how often a client can train. Yet, successful fitness plans are rigid enough to keep the client on course.

Read more: New Year's Resolutions -- Plan on Them

You say tomah-to, I say tomay-to—what's the difference? Does it really matter if you refer to your personal training rates as fees or an investment? In my opinion it matters a lot! It can be the difference between making a sale and seeing the prospect walk away. How you view your services has a tremendous impact on how you build a customer relationship. If you think you are quoting a fee when talking about your training you may feel awkward quoting your prices. When you aren't confident in your approach to sales you make it difficult for the prospect to have confidence in you. Most likely they will "have to think about it" and you've just lost the sale.

Read more: Fees Versus Investment

I’m going to start off with a very simple contention with regards to the majority of personal trainers: You aren’t charging nearly enough for your personal training services! How do I know this? It’s simple: The reason lies in the “wisdom” of crowds. 

Read more: Wisdom of the Crowds