Does anyone have any advice for those of us just starting out in the Personal Training industry?
Welcome aboard!
Check out www.QPersonalTrainer.com . You could apply to join. They hand everything on a silver platter to qualified trainers who are just starting off.
Good Luck!
First of all, I’d get this book, but I’m biased. http://amzn.to/2ddYRRC. I have a sample marketing plan worksheet in there already started with a bunch of low or no cost things you can do when starting out.
As far as building trust to get more leads and clients goes, you may not have many or any clients to start out with. In that case, have a few people you train for free or are bartering for something else. Preferably people who are trying to lose a significant amount of fat. Work for the best results you can in them and their friends will notice and ask and they can refer you. That’s a little longer term though.
Business wise, the most powerful thing I think you can do for trust is networking in person. Check your chamber of commerce, BNI, Meetup, etc. for local networking groups and attend them. I have a process in the book for how to go about it, but basically, it boils down to making friends in business, getting them in to try a free consult or to view a demo of what you do, and signing up those leads. They may be leads themselves, but really, the value is having a bunch of business associates out there in the community acting as your referral partner. These groups also allow a member to do an elevator speech introduction each meeting and 1 or 2 members to do a longer 10 min presentation or so. If you can get to do one of these as soon as possible, it will reduce the curve in obtaining their trust. Of course, be really trustworthy!
There are other ideas, but that is one of the more effective things you can do. Good luck!
Chris Lutz
S.P.A.R.T.A.
Business Tools and Resources for Personal Trainers
www.spartatraining.com
Education, community involvement, and networking with other fitness professionals. Check out my website if you want to know more about how to do these things. www.hawaiifitnessacademy.com
Jennifer,
what stood out to me from you question was that:
a) nobody is hiring in your area
b) how to get someone to trust me?
I think everyone gave you fantastic answers and joining interest groups, i.e. church groups, school groups etc, in your area maybe a very good way to go.
Offer some free sessions to establish trust in your expertise.
See what the clubs around you do to find clients.
Network with everyone and anyone has helped me to be where I am right now. AND most importantly list your service with IDEA.
Good luck, keep us posted on how things go.
Heike Yates
www.heylifetraining.com
Good Luck and welcome to a great profession.
Join networking groups!!! I am a member of many women and business groups. Each group serves me in different way. I join them all to get potential clients, but more importantly, I learn valuable business and marketing ideas and insight from people in different industries. It is amazing how much people want to share their knowledge with you. I’m sure you have a lot to share also!