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Digg it UP - Personal Training Sales
What an oxymoron the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has turned out to be. This vegan organization has one colossal ax to grind with their archrival, Darth Atkins. This is an old score that they’ve unfairly flung in front of the public before, all in the effort to squash the low carb idea and its adherents.The first time was when Robert Atkins suffered his fatal accident, a cranial blow that caused edema – when water accumulates within the tissues. This tragic condition, obviously, caused his body to fill with fluid and thus, his overall weight to rise.The so-called “Responsible Physicians” seized on this dying man’s condition by calling Atkins obese – which he was not – and telling everyone who would listen that his diet killed him – which it did not.In the end, all they accomplished is to add bitterness and confusion to nutrition science by their shrill, unfair attacks on those who happen to disagree with them.So, after maligning a dead man, they’ve now put up Florida businessman Jody Gorran to sue the Atkins Corporation. Gorran – channeling those Responsible Physicians – made the following claims. First, Atkins was a doctor and Gorran was on his diet. Second, he had to have heart angioplasty to clear his arteries after 2 years on the diet. And third, he reasoned, of the 40,000 factors that affect weight and health … the Atkins approach must have been the very one to have done it to him.Of course, I’m no low carb acolyte, and do anxiously encourage the lemmings to rebound back from the intoxication with this high protein approach. But you still have to be fair, or you lose integrity, credibility, and confuse everyone in the process. That’s why the Responsible vegans need to go sit in time out, before heading off to their anger management therapy.But from our perspective, their messy food fight is about more than one grou
HERE'S WHY
I like the two program presentation. Do you want option A or option B? This is the easiest to present I’ve ever seen. I will explain, an “Education” program is one that starts the clients off at 3x a week, then 2x a week, and then once a week. 3x to ensure they’re doing it properly, twice a week so they can start doing it on their own, and once a week to hold them accountable until they are at goal. So 15 weeks of training on my education system would be a total of 30 sessions (5x3 + 5x2 + 5x1). Then I offer an accountability program which is 3x a week until goal is reached. People learn differently, in college some people go to lecture 3x a week and some people don’t, but it’s pretty much universal that you do have to go occasionally because you probably won’t absorb everything from the text book. I pitch training the same way I’d pitch a college course: you won’t be an expert at the end, but you’ll have the knowledge you need to make the next step. Doesn’t hurt that the two come out to similar costs. But at the end, the client should be armed with the education they need to either be successful on their own, or resign with you with greater goals in mind. So for this accountability course, that would be the number of weeks x 3. So for Mrs. Jones, I’d recommend she either do 30 sessions or 45 sessions.
The closing is over coming objections. I personally don’t like to do this, so I try to make sure I don’t get a lot of objections. By now the client should know what I’m all about. But you need to be able to do this. Back to our main 5- Time, money, spouse, I want to think about it, I want to do it on my own.
TIME
You should all ready have a quazi commitment to this. How many days did Mrs. Jones say she wanted to work out? What times? These questions can be used to “qualify” the client before you even start the tour, so they should be questions asked when you first sit down, so you
Heart disease is perhaps the nation’s most prevalent killer of men and women. Because of this, there is constant research being conducted to find a cure for heart disease. Although there is no official cure as of yet, a few procedures and treatments do show a great deal of promise.A Simple Potential Cure for Heart DiseaseRecent studies have indicated that the same methods used to prevent heart disease can possibly be a way to cure heart disease. These studies indicate that a drastic change in diet and exercise practices can in fact reverse or even cure heart disease.One such program is the one presented by Dean Ornish Program. Based on a whole food and plant based diet, this program provides a very regimented and regulated plan as a cure for heart disease. According to this program, there are a number of steps that are necessary to reverse the affect of this killer disease.The first is to lower the fat intake to 10% of your daily calorie intake. This action alone has been shown to lower cholesterol, and help with hypertension, both major contributing factors of heart disease. Also, this plan calls for lowering the intake of dietary cholesterol by a drastic amount. In addition, this program calls for a regular amount of soy protein, usually amounting to 15% of your daily calorie intake.In addition to some drastic dietary changes, this program also calls for at least 30 minutes of strenuous exercise per day to help maintain a healthy weight and body condition. All these factors, as well as quitting smoking and drinking, in small quantities appear to be very promising techniques for a cure for heart disease.Of course, the body is not the only part of you involved with finding a cure for heart disease. Many studies indicate that joining a support group and having the encouragement of family and friends is a fantastic way to help b
First of all, let’s nail down why someone wouldn’t want to do personal training. There are several reasons, but the biggest ones are that it’s not really necessary to become successful and that it’s expensive. If you could hire a trainer for $5 an hour I’m sure a lot more people would hire trainers. Also, consider that there are several healthy and fit people out there who got healthy and fit without the use of a personal trainer. So when you consider that it’s not mandatory, and the cost, it takes a lot of skill to be able to market it successfully as a useful service. Transportation, food, housing, etc are all essential. But PT is a luxury service to the consumer, not much different than tanning or getting a massage at the spa. However, we trainers attempt to collect money up front, unlike a masseuse or guitar lessons that use the pay as you go method. It’s critical to get as much of your money upfront unless you are dealing with a DAMN loyal client. People will flake on you, trust me on this. So the challenge is to collect a large sum of money up front (number of recommended sessions x rate) for an on going service. This can be very tricky.
So to narrow things down as to why someone doesn’t want to train with you, all the collective reasons can be summed up into 5 categories:
-Time
-Money
-Spouse
-I want to think about it
-I want to do it on my own
Every excuse you will hear is a variation of one of those 5 things. And if you’re good, you should be able to narrow it down to just money. Because, would anybody in their right mind turn down a free personal trainer? The other excuses are quite valid and need to be addressed individually, but at the end of the day the cost is what matters. If you don’t believe me, have a sale and watch how many more people are suddenly interested in your services. “Closeout” methods where a gym may reduce the price for a short period of time are notorious desperation tactics that gyms use to improve revenue at the end of the month. I have long stated that I am against “closeout” because $100 is not more valuable on the 30th of the month than it was on the 1st. If you do your job every day, you will never need to “closeout”.
But if you simply master overcoming objections than you will stay a salesperson and never become a trainer. The difference being the person that people want to BUY from and not the guy who has to SELL. Which means that the best trainers with the best sales skills never actually get objections, people will want to train with them anyway. You will be able to tell if you are growing in your sales and presentation abilities by noticing a decline in how many objections you get before people either say yes or no.
For every ten people you talk to, 2 of them will not train with you no matter what, and one or two of them will want to sign up even if you are a moron who couldn’t sell Carmen Elektra on Sunset Blvd. So that’s 6-7 people in between who will make or break your business. The industry standard for “closing percentage” is either 30% or 33% depending on who’s explaining it to you. If you sign up 3 out of ten people you talk to, you’re doing ok. If you sign up 4 out of ten people, you’re doing great. If you sign up 5 out of ten people, you may consider fitness management. My typical closing percentage tends to be around 45% depending on what facility I’m in to present (in case anybody is wondering “why should I listen to this guy?”). More experienced or “independent” trainers will have higher closing percentages because they represent themselves and their clients go to them specifically for their service. In other words, you wouldn’t go to a certain masseuse and then debate if you wanted to sign up for a massage, it’s a decision you had all ready made. In health clubs (where a large percentage of us get our PT start) you will be in front of a very wide range of people who may or may not be interested. This is presented as your “free consultation” when they sign up for a membership. So let’s start there.
STEP 1: RAPPORT
Would want to go out with a girl who looks like a total witch? Would you want to date a guy who looks like he’s a total jerk? Think about that the next time you are approaching a potential client. People like other people who make them feel good about themselves, this is not a challenging concept. I am nicer and notice people who compliment me and treat me like I matter. Marginalizing someone will get you nowhere, so since you can’t visually tell who is interested and who isn’t treat everyone like they matter. This is how you build a list of clients who will want to continue to give you money (side note: this is also how you build a staff of workers who will want to improve your paycheck, it is baffling how many managers in today’s work force haven’t grasped this concept).
What this means is do the things you all ready know you’re supposed to do. Smile, look them in the eye, shake their hand, ask them personal questions. Get to know them, blah blah blah, almost like if you were trying to pick up a girl/guy but without the flirtatious overtones. Seems, obvious, right? But you wouldn’t believe how many people don’t get this. Some examples:
Bad trainers: they will hand over the assessment card and have the client fill out their info.
Good trainers: will keep the card and fill out the information to get a conversation going.
Bad trainers: will treat this like a nuisance because they are not getting paid a training commission for free consultations.
Good trainers: will treat the person like they are getting paid. If you do not treat someone like a client, they will never become a client.
Anyway, everything I’m typing here should be obvious. You know what you’re supposed to do, it’s just a matter of doing it.
STEP 2: THE TOUR
Whether you’re a trainer or a commission paid counselor, you do a tour. Counselors all ready know about this, trainers will kind of do a mini session which is really just a tour of their training style and knowledge. This is where you can apply the benefits of training. If you show someone a machine and a treadmill, they will equate training to being shown machines and treadmills. This is necessary, but not at the expense of actually using your knowledge. If you don’t know much about fitness (counselors) then pick up a book or don’t plan on hitting better numbers. Foam rolling, corrective stretching, application of core training, catering to the client’s goals etc. are what will make the difference. Pretty much, I’m not going to buy guitar lessons from someone who can’t play the guitar better than me…if you get what I’m saying.
STEP 3: CLOSING
A lot of people like to jump to step three without excelling at steps one and two. If this is you, this is why your numbers aren’t what you want them to be. Again, the goal is to get people to want to buy, not selling them. There is a BIG difference. This is a two part process in itself, your presentation and your closing. Let’s start with presentation:
For you APEX folks, this would be your 5 component speech. For others this is where you outline the program you are trying to sell. Either way, it needs to include two things: diet and resistance training. If you are not an RD, then whatever “diet” your selling is probably self explanatory. So let’s focus on the training. What are you going to teach that the client will retain? You should have a kind of syllabus committed to memory that you can now put down on paper. If the person wants to lean up, don’t talk about deadlift maxes, and of course the opposite is true. What can you offer this person? If you do not have an answer for that, you won’t be good at selling.
You can use the client’s goals to make a good recommendation. People can lose fat at the rate of 1-2 lbs a week and can gain muscle at the rate of about a lb a month (of course total mass gained can easily be more than this). If Mrs. Jones wants to lose 20 lbs, then she should work with a trainer for about 15 weeks if she’s average. Skinny people lose weight slower, big people lose weight faster. I also intentionally always choose a number of weeks divisible by 3.
HERE'S WHY
I like the two program presentation. Do you want option A or option B? This is the easiest to present I’ve ever seen. I will explain, an “Education” program is one that starts the clients off at 3x a week, then 2x a week, and then once a week. 3x to ensure they’re doing it properly, twice a week so they can start doing it on their own, and once a week to hold them accountable until they are at goal. So 15 weeks of training on my education system would be a total of 30 sessions (5x3 + 5x2 + 5x1). Then I offer an accountability program which is 3x a week until goal is reached. People learn differently, in college some people go to lecture 3x a week and some people don’t, but it’s pretty much universal that you do have to go occasionally because you probably won’t absorb everything from the text book. I pitch training the same way I’d pitch a college course: you won’t be an expert at the end, but you’ll have the knowledge you need to make the next step. Doesn’t hurt that the two come out to similar costs. But at the end, the client should be armed with the education they need to either be successful on their own, or resign with you with greater goals in mind. So for this accountability course, that would be the number of weeks x 3. So for Mrs. Jones, I’d recommend she either do 30 sessions or 45 sessions.
The closing is over coming objections. I personally don’t like to do this, so I try to make sure I don’t get a lot of objections. By now the client should know what I’m all about. But you need to be able to do this. Back to our main 5- Time, money, spouse, I want to think about it, I want to do it on my own.
TIME
You should all ready have a quazi commitment to this. How many days did Mrs. Jones say she wanted to work out? What times? These questions can be used to “qualify” the client before you even start the tour, so they should be questions asked when you first sit down, so you
Those who have suffered back and neck injuries know that sleeping comfortably can be difficult after an injury. Even sitting in front of a computer too long can cause such injuries, which typically take a long time to heal. Today's specially designed body pillows can help you get a comfortable night's sleep while you are recovering. For some, they provide the right support over a lifetime.There are many types of Body Pillows and this article is a brief overview of various body pillow designs to help you determine what might be most beneficial for you.Shoulder and Neck Support Pillows come in many different designs. Some are standard pillow sizes with extra support along the long sides, with a hollow in the middle for your head. They are available in Memory Foam or standard foam configurations. Others are simple, straight rolls positioned under your neck, close to the base of the skull, where they serve as acupressure, relieving strain on your neck. Still others are U-shaped so you can position the base of the U under your neck and rest your head against either side. The straight and U-shaped rolls are both versatile for other affected areas and easy to carry when you travel.Water pillows are standard pillow-size casings filled with water and covered with standard pillowcases. Like their counterpart waterbeds, they provide exactly the firm support needed by your head and shoulders, no matter what size and shape you are. The water pillow conforms to you! Support is distributed properly between your head and neck. Experiment in filling them to achieve the firmness that you desire.Buckwheat Hull Pillows provide similar support for neck, head, and shoulders, but with tiny buckwheat hulls rather than water. They come in standard sizes so you can use your own pillowcases to cover them. They have hidden zippers so you can add or remove hulls to achieve exact
But if you simply master overcoming objections than you will stay a salesperson and never become a trainer. The difference being the person that people want to BUY from and not the guy who has to SELL. Which means that the best trainers with the best sales skills never actually get objections, people will want to train with them anyway. You will be able to tell if you are growing in your sales and presentation abilities by noticing a decline in how many objections you get before people either say yes or no.
For every ten people you talk to, 2 of them will not train with you no matter what, and one or two of them will want to sign up even if you are a moron who couldn’t sell Carmen Elektra on Sunset Blvd. So that’s 6-7 people in between who will make or break your business. The industry standard for “closing percentage” is either 30% or 33% depending on who’s explaining it to you. If you sign up 3 out of ten people you talk to, you’re doing ok. If you sign up 4 out of ten people, you’re doing great. If you sign up 5 out of ten people, you may consider fitness management. My typical closing percentage tends to be around 45% depending on what facility I’m in to present (in case anybody is wondering “why should I listen to this guy?”). More experienced or “independent” trainers will have higher closing percentages because they represent themselves and their clients go to them specifically for their service. In other words, you wouldn’t go to a certain masseuse and then debate if you wanted to sign up for a massage, it’s a decision you had all ready made. In health clubs (where a large percentage of us get our PT start) you will be in front of a very wide range of people who may or may not be interested. This is presented as your “free consultation” when they sign up for a membership. So let’s start there.
STEP 1: RAPPORT
Would want to go out with a girl who looks like a total witch? Would you want to date a guy who looks like he’s a total jerk? Think about that the next time you are approaching a potential client. People like other people who make them feel good about themselves, this is not a challenging concept. I am nicer and notice people who compliment me and treat me like I matter. Marginalizing someone will get you nowhere, so since you can’t visually tell who is interested and who isn’t treat everyone like they matter. This is how you build a list of clients who will want to continue to give you money (side note: this is also how you build a staff of workers who will want to improve your paycheck, it is baffling how many managers in today’s work force haven’t grasped this concept).
What this means is do the things you all ready know you’re supposed to do. Smile, look them in the eye, shake their hand, ask them personal questions. Get to know them, blah blah blah, almost like if you were trying to pick up a girl/guy but without the flirtatious overtones. Seems, obvious, right? But you wouldn’t believe how many people don’t get this. Some examples:
Bad trainers: they will hand over the assessment card and have the client fill out their info.
Good trainers: will keep the card and fill out the information to get a conversation going.
Bad trainers: will treat this like a nuisance because they are not getting paid a training commission for free consultations.
Good trainers: will treat the person like they are getting paid. If you do not treat someone like a client, they will never become a client.
Anyway, everything I’m typing here should be obvious. You know what you’re supposed to do, it’s just a matter of doing it.
STEP 2: THE TOUR
Whether you’re a trainer or a commission paid counselor, you do a tour. Counselors all ready know about this, trainers will kind of do a mini session which is really just a tour of their training style and knowledge. This is where you can apply the benefits of training. If you show someone a machine and a treadmill, they will equate training to being shown machines and treadmills. This is necessary, but not at the expense of actually using your knowledge. If you don’t know much about fitness (counselors) then pick up a book or don’t plan on hitting better numbers. Foam rolling, corrective stretching, application of core training, catering to the client’s goals etc. are what will make the difference. Pretty much, I’m not going to buy guitar lessons from someone who can’t play the guitar better than me…if you get what I’m saying.
STEP 3: CLOSING
A lot of people like to jump to step three without excelling at steps one and two. If this is you, this is why your numbers aren’t what you want them to be. Again, the goal is to get people to want to buy, not selling them. There is a BIG difference. This is a two part process in itself, your presentation and your closing. Let’s start with presentation:
For you APEX folks, this would be your 5 component speech. For others this is where you outline the program you are trying to sell. Either way, it needs to include two things: diet and resistance training. If you are not an RD, then whatever “diet” your selling is probably self explanatory. So let’s focus on the training. What are you going to teach that the client will retain? You should have a kind of syllabus committed to memory that you can now put down on paper. If the person wants to lean up, don’t talk about deadlift maxes, and of course the opposite is true. What can you offer this person? If you do not have an answer for that, you won’t be good at selling.
You can use the client’s goals to make a good recommendation. People can lose fat at the rate of 1-2 lbs a week and can gain muscle at the rate of about a lb a month (of course total mass gained can easily be more than this). If Mrs. Jones wants to lose 20 lbs, then she should work with a trainer for about 15 weeks if she’s average. Skinny people lose weight slower, big people lose weight faster. I also intentionally always choose a number of weeks divisible by 3.
HERE'S WHY
I like the two program presentation. Do you want option A or option B? This is the easiest to present I’ve ever seen. I will explain, an “Education” program is one that starts the clients off at 3x a week, then 2x a week, and then once a week. 3x to ensure they’re doing it properly, twice a week so they can start doing it on their own, and once a week to hold them accountable until they are at goal. So 15 weeks of training on my education system would be a total of 30 sessions (5x3 + 5x2 + 5x1). Then I offer an accountability program which is 3x a week until goal is reached. People learn differently, in college some people go to lecture 3x a week and some people don’t, but it’s pretty much universal that you do have to go occasionally because you probably won’t absorb everything from the text book. I pitch training the same way I’d pitch a college course: you won’t be an expert at the end, but you’ll have the knowledge you need to make the next step. Doesn’t hurt that the two come out to similar costs. But at the end, the client should be armed with the education they need to either be successful on their own, or resign with you with greater goals in mind. So for this accountability course, that would be the number of weeks x 3. So for Mrs. Jones, I’d recommend she either do 30 sessions or 45 sessions.
The closing is over coming objections. I personally don’t like to do this, so I try to make sure I don’t get a lot of objections. By now the client should know what I’m all about. But you need to be able to do this. Back to our main 5- Time, money, spouse, I want to think about it, I want to do it on my own.
TIME
You should all ready have a quazi commitment to this. How many days did Mrs. Jones say she wanted to work out? What times? These questions can be used to “qualify” the client before you even start the tour, so they should be questions asked when you first sit down, so you
Fitness and nutrition go hand in hand. You can't go out and expect to work out or “get fit” if you are not providing your body with the proper nutrition; you won't get the results that you want. You will wonder why you still look the same or weigh the same even though you are swimming, biking, or jogging an hour everyday. (Well, I think it is safe to say you won't get through an hour of any of these exercises if you aren't getting at least some of the essential nutrients your body needs.)Fitness is your ability to perform a physical activity. Everyone has limits to their fitness, like being on a certain “fitness level”. Fitness is easy once you get the health part down. You can train fitness and once you feel good, you can improve your body and make it as fit as you want it to be. Fitness levels range from people who get winded upon rising to people who can run a marathon in 2 hours and 15 minutes ( and that is a woman's time!).Health is how balanced all of your systems are. The nervous, muscular, skeletal, circulatory, digestive, lymphatic, and hormonal are your body's systems. Mental and emotional well-being are a part of this also (Just nutrition alone can help do wonders for all of these systems.)If you are healthy and fit your performance as a human increases. Human performances like creating and maintaining relationships with other people, increasing productivity and creativity are just some examples of human performance. You may be thinking of “winning a gold medal” as an example of human performance and while that is an example of course, even more important is the example of having the energy to spend time with your family or friends. Human performance to you should mean being happy and alive and feeling good enough to do the things you want to do everyday. This should be important to everyone! This is the most essential part of a good life!
STEP 1: RAPPORT
Would want to go out with a girl who looks like a total witch? Would you want to date a guy who looks like he’s a total jerk? Think about that the next time you are approaching a potential client. People like other people who make them feel good about themselves, this is not a challenging concept. I am nicer and notice people who compliment me and treat me like I matter. Marginalizing someone will get you nowhere, so since you can’t visually tell who is interested and who isn’t treat everyone like they matter. This is how you build a list of clients who will want to continue to give you money (side note: this is also how you build a staff of workers who will want to improve your paycheck, it is baffling how many managers in today’s work force haven’t grasped this concept).
What this means is do the things you all ready know you’re supposed to do. Smile, look them in the eye, shake their hand, ask them personal questions. Get to know them, blah blah blah, almost like if you were trying to pick up a girl/guy but without the flirtatious overtones. Seems, obvious, right? But you wouldn’t believe how many people don’t get this. Some examples:
Bad trainers: they will hand over the assessment card and have the client fill out their info.
Good trainers: will keep the card and fill out the information to get a conversation going.
Bad trainers: will treat this like a nuisance because they are not getting paid a training commission for free consultations.
Good trainers: will treat the person like they are getting paid. If you do not treat someone like a client, they will never become a client.
Anyway, everything I’m typing here should be obvious. You know what you’re supposed to do, it’s just a matter of doing it.
STEP 2: THE TOUR
Whether you’re a trainer or a commission paid counselor, you do a tour. Counselors all ready know about this, trainers will kind of do a mini session which is really just a tour of their training style and knowledge. This is where you can apply the benefits of training. If you show someone a machine and a treadmill, they will equate training to being shown machines and treadmills. This is necessary, but not at the expense of actually using your knowledge. If you don’t know much about fitness (counselors) then pick up a book or don’t plan on hitting better numbers. Foam rolling, corrective stretching, application of core training, catering to the client’s goals etc. are what will make the difference. Pretty much, I’m not going to buy guitar lessons from someone who can’t play the guitar better than me…if you get what I’m saying.
STEP 3: CLOSING
A lot of people like to jump to step three without excelling at steps one and two. If this is you, this is why your numbers aren’t what you want them to be. Again, the goal is to get people to want to buy, not selling them. There is a BIG difference. This is a two part process in itself, your presentation and your closing. Let’s start with presentation:
For you APEX folks, this would be your 5 component speech. For others this is where you outline the program you are trying to sell. Either way, it needs to include two things: diet and resistance training. If you are not an RD, then whatever “diet” your selling is probably self explanatory. So let’s focus on the training. What are you going to teach that the client will retain? You should have a kind of syllabus committed to memory that you can now put down on paper. If the person wants to lean up, don’t talk about deadlift maxes, and of course the opposite is true. What can you offer this person? If you do not have an answer for that, you won’t be good at selling.
You can use the client’s goals to make a good recommendation. People can lose fat at the rate of 1-2 lbs a week and can gain muscle at the rate of about a lb a month (of course total mass gained can easily be more than this). If Mrs. Jones wants to lose 20 lbs, then she should work with a trainer for about 15 weeks if she’s average. Skinny people lose weight slower, big people lose weight faster. I also intentionally always choose a number of weeks divisible by 3.
HERE'S WHY
I like the two program presentation. Do you want option A or option B? This is the easiest to present I’ve ever seen. I will explain, an “Education” program is one that starts the clients off at 3x a week, then 2x a week, and then once a week. 3x to ensure they’re doing it properly, twice a week so they can start doing it on their own, and once a week to hold them accountable until they are at goal. So 15 weeks of training on my education system would be a total of 30 sessions (5x3 + 5x2 + 5x1). Then I offer an accountability program which is 3x a week until goal is reached. People learn differently, in college some people go to lecture 3x a week and some people don’t, but it’s pretty much universal that you do have to go occasionally because you probably won’t absorb everything from the text book. I pitch training the same way I’d pitch a college course: you won’t be an expert at the end, but you’ll have the knowledge you need to make the next step. Doesn’t hurt that the two come out to similar costs. But at the end, the client should be armed with the education they need to either be successful on their own, or resign with you with greater goals in mind. So for this accountability course, that would be the number of weeks x 3. So for Mrs. Jones, I’d recommend she either do 30 sessions or 45 sessions.
The closing is over coming objections. I personally don’t like to do this, so I try to make sure I don’t get a lot of objections. By now the client should know what I’m all about. But you need to be able to do this. Back to our main 5- Time, money, spouse, I want to think about it, I want to do it on my own.
TIME
You should all ready have a quazi commitment to this. How many days did Mrs. Jones say she wanted to work out? What times? These questions can be used to “qualify” the client before you even start the tour, so they should be questions asked when you first sit down, so you
A friend emails you a file and it will not open. Or perhaps you downloaded a file from a website and can not gain access to it. Instead you got an error message stating 'windows cannot open this file'. What is that strange file extension and why won't windows open it?If you cannot open a file it may be because you don't have a program that is capable of opening that type of file. Often it is the software type that is needed rather than a particular software program. For example a .txt extension is a text file. This means that you need a text editor in order to open the file, but it does not have to be notepad.A .doc extension is a document file and can be opened by most word processors. A .jpg or a .gif extension is a graphic file which can be opened by a graphic viewers. As a general rule it does not matter which program as long as you are attempting to open a .doc with a word processor and a .jpg with a graphic viewer.Some programs are interchangeable, but these are few. You can open a .txt file in a word processor, but you cannot open a .doc extension in a text editor. Until you have a very clear understanding of file extensions, it is best to use the most common programs to avoid confusion and error messages telling you that the file cannot be opened.Finding and Changing File AssociationsIn Windows if you want to find out what opens a specific file type, go to Windows Explorer (windows key and 'E' on your keyboard is a quick way) choose 'Tools' on the top menu bar and click on 'Folder Options' from the drop down menu. From there select 'File Types' and it will open to show all the file types on your computer.Click on one of the file extensions which is the three letters that follows the dot at the end of a file name. Under file details it will show the file with its own icon, the file extension, and will explain what program will op
Whether you’re a trainer or a commission paid counselor, you do a tour. Counselors all ready know about this, trainers will kind of do a mini session which is really just a tour of their training style and knowledge. This is where you can apply the benefits of training. If you show someone a machine and a treadmill, they will equate training to being shown machines and treadmills. This is necessary, but not at the expense of actually using your knowledge. If you don’t know much about fitness (counselors) then pick up a book or don’t plan on hitting better numbers. Foam rolling, corrective stretching, application of core training, catering to the client’s goals etc. are what will make the difference. Pretty much, I’m not going to buy guitar lessons from someone who can’t play the guitar better than me…if you get what I’m saying.
STEP 3: CLOSING
A lot of people like to jump to step three without excelling at steps one and two. If this is you, this is why your numbers aren’t what you want them to be. Again, the goal is to get people to want to buy, not selling them. There is a BIG difference. This is a two part process in itself, your presentation and your closing. Let’s start with presentation:
For you APEX folks, this would be your 5 component speech. For others this is where you outline the program you are trying to sell. Either way, it needs to include two things: diet and resistance training. If you are not an RD, then whatever “diet” your selling is probably self explanatory. So let’s focus on the training. What are you going to teach that the client will retain? You should have a kind of syllabus committed to memory that you can now put down on paper. If the person wants to lean up, don’t talk about deadlift maxes, and of course the opposite is true. What can you offer this person? If you do not have an answer for that, you won’t be good at selling.
You can use the client’s goals to make a good recommendation. People can lose fat at the rate of 1-2 lbs a week and can gain muscle at the rate of about a lb a month (of course total mass gained can easily be more than this). If Mrs. Jones wants to lose 20 lbs, then she should work with a trainer for about 15 weeks if she’s average. Skinny people lose weight slower, big people lose weight faster. I also intentionally always choose a number of weeks divisible by 3.
HERE'S WHY
I like the two program presentation. Do you want option A or option B? This is the easiest to present I’ve ever seen. I will explain, an “Education” program is one that starts the clients off at 3x a week, then 2x a week, and then once a week. 3x to ensure they’re doing it properly, twice a week so they can start doing it on their own, and once a week to hold them accountable until they are at goal. So 15 weeks of training on my education system would be a total of 30 sessions (5x3 + 5x2 + 5x1). Then I offer an accountability program which is 3x a week until goal is reached. People learn differently, in college some people go to lecture 3x a week and some people don’t, but it’s pretty much universal that you do have to go occasionally because you probably won’t absorb everything from the text book. I pitch training the same way I’d pitch a college course: you won’t be an expert at the end, but you’ll have the knowledge you need to make the next step. Doesn’t hurt that the two come out to similar costs. But at the end, the client should be armed with the education they need to either be successful on their own, or resign with you with greater goals in mind. So for this accountability course, that would be the number of weeks x 3. So for Mrs. Jones, I’d recommend she either do 30 sessions or 45 sessions.
The closing is over coming objections. I personally don’t like to do this, so I try to make sure I don’t get a lot of objections. By now the client should know what I’m all about. But you need to be able to do this. Back to our main 5- Time, money, spouse, I want to think about it, I want to do it on my own.
TIME
You should all ready have a quazi commitment to this. How many days did Mrs. Jones say she wanted to work out? What times? These questions can be used to “qualify” the client before you even start the tour, so they should be questions asked when you first sit down, so you
So, you have decided to venture into a home business --- where you work for yourself and greatly reap the fruits of your labor. However, there are some bad news and good news that you should be aware of.BAD NEWS: Studies show that 80-90% of home businesses fail.GOOD NEWS: Your business can be among the 10-20% that actually succeed!How? By following the "12 Steps To Home Business Success." And you can do that with PEP!*P - PREPARING/PLANNING EXTENSIVELYWhen you do decide to venture into a home business, the very next thing to do is prepare for it. Prepare a business plan. This will be the very foundation of your business. You can do this by following these steps:1) Start with the basics.What type of business would you like to get into? Would you be selling products, would you be offering services, or would you like to try both? In any case, you must decide on which particular product and/or service you would want to focus.Have difficulty deciding? Here's a simple but sure-fire tip: Focus on what you know and enjoy.If you have a talent in writing and editing, you can venture into an editorial services business. Are you into graphic arts? Can you design/layout brochures, business cards, newsletters, etc. using your computer? Then you can get into desktop publishing.Do you know how Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, reached the pinnacle of success? He decided to venture into the one thing that he loved --- computers.So, whatever type of business and whatever product or service you decide to start with, always make sure that you are familiar with it and that you have passion for it. The first will save you time, the second will keep you motivated.When you are already decided about the type of venture you want, think of a name for your business. Make sure that it is unique, easy to remember, an
HERE'S WHY
I like the two program presentation. Do you want option A or option B? This is the easiest to present I’ve ever seen. I will explain, an “Education” program is one that starts the clients off at 3x a week, then 2x a week, and then once a week. 3x to ensure they’re doing it properly, twice a week so they can start doing it on their own, and once a week to hold them accountable until they are at goal. So 15 weeks of training on my education system would be a total of 30 sessions (5x3 + 5x2 + 5x1). Then I offer an accountability program which is 3x a week until goal is reached. People learn differently, in college some people go to lecture 3x a week and some people don’t, but it’s pretty much universal that you do have to go occasionally because you probably won’t absorb everything from the text book. I pitch training the same way I’d pitch a college course: you won’t be an expert at the end, but you’ll have the knowledge you need to make the next step. Doesn’t hurt that the two come out to similar costs. But at the end, the client should be armed with the education they need to either be successful on their own, or resign with you with greater goals in mind. So for this accountability course, that would be the number of weeks x 3. So for Mrs. Jones, I’d recommend she either do 30 sessions or 45 sessions.
The closing is over coming objections. I personally don’t like to do this, so I try to make sure I don’t get a lot of objections. By now the client should know what I’m all about. But you need to be able to do this. Back to our main 5- Time, money, spouse, I want to think about it, I want to do it on my own.
TIME
You should all ready have a quazi commitment to this. How many days did Mrs. Jones say she wanted to work out? What times? These questions can be used to “qualify” the client before you even start the tour, so they should be questions asked when you first sit down, so you can tie her down to what she told you 45 minutes ago.
MONEY
This is the only true objection because nobody would turn down free training. So I’ll get back to this.
SPOUSE
The hardest objection is when the client has to speak with their significant other. You have to respect this or look like a jerk, but when you were “qualifying” you should ask if there is an SO’s input that needs to be considered. If Mrs. Jones didn’t have to ask her husband 45 minutes ago, then why does she now? (I’ll answer this for you: money)
“I WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT?”
WHAT IS IT THEY WANT TO THINK ABOUT? (I’ll answer this for you: money). Nobody is going to consider whether or not fitness is for them, of course it is. They are only thinking about if they want to pay you, that is the only logical consideration.
“I WANT TO DO IT ON MY OWN”
Most people aren’t going anywhere in their training. We have the most trainers, gyms, diet books, supplements, machines, and video tapes by far of any society on earth and yet we have the most fat people. Most people WILL NOT go ANYWHERE on their own program beyond a one way ticket to mediocrity. I did not achieve fitness on my own, but it took me years of research, asking questions, and applying what I learned (often times I was wrong) to get where I’m at. Remember, time IS money….so if you can explain how Mrs. Jones will be at her goal in 15 weeks with you or 12 months without you, it gives a very powerful idea of what the real value of your service is worth.
Again, money is the only true concern. If it was free, they’d sign up right now. But you have to use their own words to explain it this way. Here are some explanations that work for me.
THE TIME MACHINE CLOSE
Fitness gurus, if you could pay a thousand bucks to go back in time and train yourself 5 years ago, would you do it? Because I’d do that right now without even thinking about it. Get Mrs. Jones to realize that without you she will look back on this day in the future and regret not choosing professional help. Every fat person I have ever met would gladly pay a thousand bucks to go back in time when they were 50 lbs lighter and re-educate themselves. Since this is not an option without a time machine, personal training is the second best thing. That way, in 2010 they will be better off because of it than they are today.
THE GUITAR LESSONS CLOSE
Even when I was an advanced guitar player, I still took lessons. Lessons are better than the book they sell at Guitar Center ten out of ten times. Everything requires instruction.
THE DRIVER’S ED CLOSE
Would you drop your kid off at driver’s ed and ask the instructor, “We don’t want to put Timmy through drivers ed, but can you just quickly show him how to operate a car and he can do it on his own?” Because no sane parent in their right minds would ask this. Thinking a free orientation at the gym will get you to where you want to be is equally ridiculous.
THE COLLEGE CLOSE
Like I mentioned earlier, PT is like taking a college class, and it comes at a similar cost for a similar length of time. You will “get” the subject upon completion and be ready for bigger and better things. Want to learn Spanish, take a Spanish class. Want to learn math, take a math class. Want to learn fitness, take a fitness class, which is what personal training is.
There are several other “closes” that work, but you should have a few that you feel comfortable explaining to someone making a large purchasing decision. Now finally, back to money. By now you should have built value in what you’re selling, but if they still aren’t biting you gotta find a cost that will work for them. I always default to 12 sessions because in an “education” program it takes 6 weeks, which is about how long it takes to learn and retain most things anyway. Maybe they can only afford once a week, so you can get them started with 6 sessions. But find out what a reasonable cost is for them, and find out what you can provide at this cost. It just takes a little math and a lot of patience. Good luck to you guys, and I hope this helps.
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