PhilKaplan.com

You've taken on "fifteen already. Now recite the number "fourteen" with just as much authority and conviction as you did the first number. Drop down one more. Take it to "thirteen," and then (here's the test), ask your client to continue! Go ahead. Try it with every client you come across. My educated guess is, almost all of your clients, given this test, will proceed to handle the countdown from twelve to zero without your help! The astounding outcome will no doubt lead to the realization that your clients can count backwards from fifteen on their own!!

OK. Forgive me. I'm being just the least bit sarcastic here to open up an issue that I feel gets right to the heart of the true role of the Personal Trainer. It seems that most trainers believe their roles are to "take people through workouts." Watching such trainers in action creates the illusion that their clients can't count! C'mon now. You know what I'm talking about. If you're not guilty of this, you've certainly witnessed it.

"OK. Here we go (hand clap). That's it. Fifteen more. Fourteen more. Good. Thirteen more....." and then, the climactic conclusion, "Good Job. Take a break and we'll do another set." Soon after money changes hands, the client leaves, and a new client begins to perform to the familiar countdown.

If people are willing to pay you to count their reps, I guess there's nothing wrong with accepting that donation, but if you want to be a true professional, your focus needs to go far beyond rep counting. In order to rise to the top of this noble field, it's important to identify the challenges inherent among aspiring trainers. I've identified five primary such challenges.

3. Clients often see the trainer relationship as "friendly" and feel cancellation is acceptable

4. A standard of a reasonable "rate" has not been established for the consumer considering Personal Training

5. Most people fail to get what they pay for and failure is accepted allowing fraud and deceit to thrive in the fitness field

While initially these appear to be challenges, I've learned to see each and every one as an opportunity. Let me share a bit of this insight so you are instantly ready to begin climbing the ladder of the Personal Training Elite. It all revolves around a very simple concept, the concept of value. There is a distinctive difference between cost and value. When shopping for fitness options, people want to get what they pay for. That doesn't necessarily mean they want to pay less money than anyone else, it simply means they want to make each investment fruitful. When consumers invest in fitness options, they're not investing in treadmills, weight sets or trainers. They're in fact investing in the hope of bringing about change.

Did you ever have braces on your teeth? If so, you didn't invest in braces. You invested in the hope of straight teeth. Get it? You, therefore, won't be offended if I tell you "People Don't Want A Trainer! They Want A Change." Be the vehicle for that change, do it consistently and massively, and the sky is truly the limit for your business growth potential!

In looking at the first challenge, the fact that the industry lacks a clear cut career path, it at first glance appears as if we're in a sea of lost sheep, each one wondering what the next move is. Should we work in a health club? Go to people's homes? Open our own facilities? How do we get our first client? How do we increase our rates? There isn't any career counselor or definitive manual with widespread acceptance. In starting out, this challenge left me frustrated. I made plenty of mistakes, but as I learned to do a few things right, I reached an awakening. "I don't want everybody to know how to do this!" In other words, while the bulk of aspiring trainers flounder in indecision, if I have a mission, a vision, and a plan, I can jump right out in front of the pack. So can you! You can become the model for "what works." We're in a great place in time. Personal Training is now accepted as a viable option for fitness, yet the masses of trainers don't know how to grow. That leaves every door wide open for you.

I'll give you a very simple and powerful piece of advice. Find one client. I know you want more, or already have many more, but your next move should be to find "the one." Decide in advance who you want that client to be. Affluent? Athletic? Deconditioned? Female? It's up to you. Decide first, and then target your marketing toward finding that single client. This client should be the precise demographic, fitness level, and profile of your perception of your "ideal client." Once you find that client, deliver far more value than that person could ever expect! Read that last sentence again. It may very well be the most beneficial sentence you'll ever read. That very simple piece of advice will open every door for you in growing a lucrative personal training career.

The second challenge is just as opportune as the first. No standardized certification. Most trainers put some letters representing a certifying agency on their business card along with the word, "Certified." Sure, you know the difference between N.S.C.A. and Joe Musclehead's Fitness Certification, but the general public doesn't! That means anyone who has taken any one of over 250 certification tests available in the U.S. can call themselves certified and the average person on the supermarket line will not know the difference between him and you. Get the most credible certification available, but don't use it to market yourself! It won't give you any advantage at all! Let all the others promote those little letters with periods between them.

I often draw the line, in marketing between "features" and "benefits." Nobody wants the "features." In order to compel people to invest in your services, marketing must revolve around "benefits." You'll recognize the concept of "certification" as a "feature."

The braces are the features. Remember, nobody wants braces. They want straight teeth. Nobody wants a certified trainer. Your prospects and clients want to change. Rather than selling yourself based on your certifications, stand out by marketing the results you bring! Make your success stories your credentials! Remember, your arsenal of success stories starts with one! Make the first one a big one!

In looking at the third challenge, I find a common mistake from a business standpoint. Since the client:trainer relationship is so informal, friendships often develop. I'll encourage you to remain friendly, but avoid becoming friends. You would expect a friend to understand if you just didn't feel like keeping an appointment. The same expectation wouldn't apply to an important business associate. I have every one of my trainers establish relationships with clients where they are paid for their time and they leave when that time is up. Since you are in a service business, you should be paid for your service time, and in order to keep that line clearly drawn, be aware of it at all times. During your time with clients, deliver more than they expect in a friendly manner, but avoid making your clients "pals." Your pals get to hang out with you for free! In fact, I've gone a step further by requiring every client to pay a retainer in advance, and in the event that the client doesn't provide adequate notice for a cancellation, the retainer, equivalent to one session's fee, is forfeited. We don't have cancellations!

Let's move on to the fourth challenge. A reasonable "rate" has not been established for the personal training buying public, so go to the top! Why should someone pay you $75 per hour or more when they can get a trainer for $15? Simple. People don't want a trainer. They want to change. Remember I mentioned that you should be paid for your time? The "value" of that time is vital! In order to bring about a change in anyone, from a health, fitness, and aesthetic standpoint, there are three synergistic components you must concern yourself with. The right nutrition, moderate aerobic exercise, and a concern for muscle. Once your clients know how to perform a seated alternate dumbbell curl, do they really need you to stand over them during each session? I've learned it's far more valuable to take a position of educating and empowering people, and in that your value is far enhanced. Sure, someone might pay $15 for a rep counter, but that rep counter shows up every workout, three or four times per week, and over the course of a year, the investment might exceed $2500. If all annual reps have been counted, but the client has not learned to match a nutrition program with the exercise routine, it's certain results will be limited. In fact, it's quite possible results will be non-existent! What, then, is the value of the time spent?

If you were to charge $100 per session, meet with that same client one day per month, and in that monthly session educate and update your client's synergistic program, is that client more likely to get results than if you simply went through the "five more, four more" routine? Of course! There's more value! In the course of a 12-month period, a client can pay you $100 per monthly session, get far greater results than they might with a $15 rep counter, and wind up with an investment of less than half as much as they would have paid Mr. Three-More!

Moving on to the final challenge, I must mention that I used to be so frustrated by the insanity of the idea that this fitness industry is the only industry in the world where people fail to get what they pay for, and they blame themselves. People invest in diets. Six months down the road, without any concept of how calorie deprivation shifted them into a catabolic state and damaged their metabolism they're fatter! Here's the criminal part. They blame themselves! "I shouldn't have eaten those cookies."

Now, with a few modifications in my approach toward the Personal Training business, that frustration has turned to elation! You see, if we are to excel in an industry where failure is the standard, we become true heroes if we simply deliver results! Give somebody what they paid for, and their investment is not only justified, but you have a thrilled customer, one who will remain committed to you until the end of time. Lots of things can happen between now and the end of time. Thrilled clients come back again, and again, and again. They refer people to "the trainer who gets results for people," and each of those people come back again, and again, and again. Before you know it you have a virtual army of living, breathing, testimonial advertisements for the "value" you deliver, regardless of your price.

Once you know and accept the fact that people don't want a trainer, and you learn to tap into and deliver what they really do want, your training career knows no bounds! There's plenty of room at the top. Claim your position at the pinnacle of Personal Training Success!

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