Being an in person Personal Trainer

I’ve been a Personal Trainer since 2010 and have seen many changes over my career to date, not only in the industry itself, but in people’s perceptions of Personal Trainers. When I first started as a PT back in 2010, I was 26 year old and when people found out what I did for a living their reaction was generally positive, in some cases they were quite jealous. These days there seems to be more of a negative response. The stereotype of a PT can be very far away from the reality and can sometimes damage our credibility, putting people off using our services. But there is no smoke without fire, so what has happened?

Firstly, it has become a lot easier to become a Personal Trainer. You can get the qualification in 6-8 weeks. After graduating from university with a degree in Sports Conditioning and Coaching, the PT qualification I obtained had 10 individual qualifications in it and you had 3 years to complete them. This including a 12 week practical case study where you had to train a client and then after the 12 weeks assess and reflect on the process and results. In my opinion the quality has been diluted, with the increased numbers of PTs and reduced standards. In my time as a PT I have seen hundreds of people get qualified, have too much confidence with a lack of knowledge and they think it will be easy money, only to find that a few weeks later that it’s a very difficult industry to be successful in, so they quit because they have not enough clients to pay the rent at the gym, let alone live off their earnings. The reality is harsh; it’s a tough job, a results game and you are self-employed most of the time, and therefore, you get out what you put in.

Secondly, you have to realise and quickly that you are a business. You are in the wrong job if you think to yourself “I’m in good shape, I train at the gym, I can be a PT.” You have to be professional; you have to treat each client with the same rules, conditions, respect, prices, integrity and time. The more professional you are in how you conduct yourself and run your business, the more chance you have of success. You need to have Ts&Cs, have a cancellation policy, charge if clients cancel too close to the session without a justifiable reason, communicate with your clients in a language they understand, give them the time and effort that they deserve and are paying for and continuously develop and improve your skills.

Thirdly, don’t devalue yourself and others. I’ve seen it so many times, even been guilty of doing it in my early days. Set your prices to what you are worth and don’t undercut others around you. If you don’t have enough clients, it is a mistake to drop your prices, you need to change something else instead. I remember there was a new PT who started at the gym once, full of confidence, eager to learn and a nice guy too. A few of us more experienced PTs would offer him advice, leads etc to help him out. What we didn’t realise was he was too competitive and thought it was all about being the busiest PT in the gym to be the best. So, he dropped his prices to £10 an hour and got busy.

It was a few months after he had started and he was sat in the coffee area waiting with a big grin on his face to tell me that he was fully booked this week with 35 sessions and wanted to know how many sessions I was doing so he could see if he was busier than me. So instead of giving him my numbers, I just told him how much I was going to earn. I could see him doing the maths, he was going to earn £350 for 35 hours work, I was going to earn £1100 for 25 hours work. He soon went quiet, realising he would have to be doing 110-hour sessions a week to earn the same as me. This is my point, don’t devalue yourself or others, know what you are worth because you do, sure you may pick up a few more clients, you may look busy and feel better about yourself, that is until pay day.

Fourthly, you must put in the effort and hard graft. If you are working out of a gym you need to be there all the time, become part of the furniture, if you are mobile you need to be good at marketing yourself and grouping clients by location. The less clients you have, the harder you need to work and the more hours you must put in to grow. You are asking strangers to pay you with their hard earnt cash for your services, so why do they need you? Why should they hire you? What is different about you from all the other Personal Trainers out there?

This side of the job is rarely mentioned when you are taking your qualifications. You need to put the hours in, speak to strangers and gradually build a rapport with them, offer advice, taster sessions, spot them, offer minor corrections or alternative exercises, consult, be prepared to be knocked back, rejected, questioned, learn from your mistakes, continually develop your skills and knowledge and keep yourself in good shape. These are just a few of the factors of being a PT (there are many, many more). These are the less glamorous points, the ones you don’t come across until you start, the ones that will decide whether you sink or swim and whether you make it in this industry or leave to pursue a safer one. So, if you are thinking of becoming a Personal Trainer all I can say is be prepared for a tough but rewarding journey.

Finally for this blog, you need to get good at talking to and understanding people. As a PT your job is to help people achieve their goals, it’s not about you, it’s about the client. Everyone’s approach here is different, mine was simple. Get to know the person first and foremost. Find out what makes them tick, what their interests are away from the gym, their values, goals etc, get to know them and build a rapport firstly, don’t even try and sell your services yet. You may never get to that stage as you may realise it’s not what they need or want. However, all is not in vain, because you now have someone working for you indirectly, because if anyone was to ask them who they recommend, you will most likely be top of their list.

Once you’ve built a rapport with someone, it becomes a lot easier to talk about your services, in fact, most of the time they will be the ones asking you, as they now like and trust you. This process is not an easy one, it takes time but speaking from experience, my conversion rate was one of the highest, if not the highest in the gym, all because I put the effort in to get to know people first, rather than just going up to someone and seeing if they wanted a PT. And I cannot stress enough how important honesty and integrity are, because word of mouth will be your greatest lead generator, or your businesses worst enemy.

There are many other reality checks you get along the way. Your days are dictated by the hours of your clients, so generally you will either lose your mornings or evenings (or in some cases both). The hours you must put into your business away from training your clients is huge, learning, researching, planning, trying new exercises and making sure your sessions are tailored to your client’s needs. You must plan your meals, your own work outs, sometimes put yourself out of your comfort zone and talk to complete strangers. It’s vital you learn how to sell yourself, understand peoples use of language, body language, sense of humour and you take the time to get to know as many people as you can and almost become part of the furniture. You must also set boundaries with your clients, as they will offload their personal problems on you, and you are not a qualified counsellor.

The reality is that there are too many people who go into a career as a Personal Trainer without the work ethic, knowledge or a business plan and they look at it as easy money. Unfortunately, this leads to clients being let down, not getting results, losing money and Personal Trainers losing respect. Clients who have a bad experience start looking at all Personal Trainers in the same way, and who can blame them. It’s unfair to completely put the blame on Personal Trainers for this negative shift. In my opinion from a client perspective, you should ask your potential Personal Trainer what qualifications they have? What experience they have? What are their Ts&Cs? Try a few out as well, you wouldn’t generally buy the first house or car you looked at unless you were 100% sure it was right for you, so try before you buy. There are still good Personal Trainers out there with years of experience and many happy clients past and present, new Personal Trainers coming through the ranks of a high standard and making a difference to people’s lives whilst making a living, you just need to find us.