Personal trainers are an incredible group of people, but even the best aren’t running a successful personal training business.
Personal trainers are passionate about helping others. They often absorb themselves in the science of the human body, proper human nutrition, and the intricacies of human behavior in order to truly help change the lives of others.
However, there is another component to helping clients live healthier lives–A personal trainer also needs to be able to make a living doing it. Regardless of the type of personal trainer you are, there is a sales, marketing, and business component to every personal training business. And, the skills associated with managing and growing the business do not come easy for every personal trainer.
If you’re looking for more guidance on how to run a successful personal training business, keep reading. We explore some valuable tips you need to know to help you grow.
Already running a fitness business? Learn more on how to GROW your personal training business.
Start With The Basics
Whether you currently own or would like to own a personal training business, there are several basic fundamentals you need to consider to ensure your success.
Certification And Continuing Education
You and every personal trainer on staff should be educated appropriately to work with your ideal client. This means they should have a credible personal trainer certification as well as supplemental education that aligns with their niche.
Personal training clients often have one or more medical conditions, movement limitations, or aches and pains that need to be carefully considered when a personal trainer designs an exercise program. So, having well-trained staff that can safely and effectively support clients is essential to your success.
Liability Insurance
Another critical component of your personal training business is liability insurance. Sometimes insurance is overlooked, but the realm of personal training does come with some inherent risk. Therefore, ensuring you and your business are protected is of the utmost importance.
Although you may not use it often (or ever), if you don’t have it when you need it, it may cost you everything.
Find Your Target Market
A key to your success as a personal trainer is defining and targeting your target market.
Do you want to work with weight loss clients, older adults, youth, or athletes? You can explore this topic by creating a client persona (i.e., a “fake” person that is a replication of your ideal client). You will ask yourself things like:
- Who are they?
- Where do they live?
- What do they like to do?
- What are their challenges?
Creating a client persona will help you narrow down who you’re targeting, where they are, and how to communicate with and reach them.
The Right Equipment And Space
The great thing about the fitness industry is that personal training has become much more versatile over the last few years. In addition to large and boutique-style gyms, online personal training, in-home training, and park boot camps are the norm nowadays. This means there is a lot of opportunity for different types of training and options regarding how you run your business.
You don’t necessarily need a bunch of expensive equipment and tons of square footage to make a difference in someone’s health. But, keep in mind that the niche for gyms and large or specialized training equipment is still there too.
And, even if you’re running a business in a completely live fitness studio setting, you cannot escape technology. The world loves technology, even if you don’t. And, the personal training industry has adapted to have 7 tech tools every fitness business needs. Make sure you have what you need to run efficiently and meet your target market in platforms where they want to be met.
Knowing what you want your business to look like, your target market, the type of space you need to execute, and the equipment you need to train are essential to your success. Having a clear understanding of this information can also help you manage your overhead costs.
Master Sales And Marketing
It’s common for personal trainers to be passionate about healthy living and helping others, but they sometimes forget there is a business side to personal training. You have to find and connect with your potential clients, show the value in your services, and get them signed up (aka sales and marketing).
The following list includes a few tips that can help you improve your small business sales and marketing components.
Automate
One of the best things you can do as a personal trainer and small business owner is learning how to automate as many tasks as possible. This can include marketing tasks associated with:
- Gaining new personal training clients: promo emails, email drips, follow-up emails, etc.
- Data tracking: client assessments, exercise programming, progress, etc.
- Supporting your current client base: educational content, personal training package renewals, client engagement, etc.
When you’re starting out and only have a client or two, these tasks aren’t as much of a concern. However, as you grow, those day-to-day tasks that help you stay organized, manage your clients, and grow your client base can become overwhelming. Without automation, those things can limit your ability to take on more personal training clients. You’ll put a cap on your time and financial growth if you don’t find a way to streamline many of your tasks.
Naamly’s personal training business software excels at automation.
Understand Your ROI
Your return on investment (ROI) is a crucial calculation you will need to be able to use so you understand which marketing tasks and investments are most valuable for your personal training company. Simply speaking, your ROI is a measure of the profitability of an investment. The calculation will help you determine what kind of financial return you gained from a particular investment.
To calculate ROI, you subtract your investment from the amount made and divide that number by the amount you invested. This total is then multiplied by 100.
ROI = [(Gains – Investment) / Investment] x 100%
Read all about ROI for gym trainers for more information.
Try New Things
It’s not ideal to “recreate the wheel” with marketing and sales tactics for your personal training business, and you don’t necessarily have to. However, as things shift and change in the fitness industry, it’s also critical to be open to new ways of trying to reach and support your clients.
Ultimately, you want to be open to taking calculated risks that you can track closely to determine their success.
Visibility And Client Management
Another vital component of your personal training business is your client management. So, in addition to finding new clients (sales and marketing) and training clients, there are many tasks associated with managing those clients outside of their training sessions.
Tracking Client Activity
As a personal training business owner, you and your staff will need to manage various client data. Client assessments, progress tracking, client communication, and personal training program renewals are all things that you will need to have processes in place for. This data is the core of what you use to customize your exercise programs and the structure for ensuring your clients stay on track with their fitness goals.
Observing Trainer Activity
If you have one or more personal trainers working for your personal training business, it’s also essential to have visibility and data associated with each trainer. It’s important to have tools in place that allow you to view a quick snapshot of the number of clients they have, their client renewals, etc. This data can help you coach and guide each personal trainer you take under your wing to support their success and the success of your personal training business.
Staying Organized
Ideally, you want to capture and store all of this data in a safe, organized, and efficient manner. Therefore, having a platform or application that helps you quickly and easily manage all of this info is the ideal scenario for any personal trainer or small business owner.
Want to keep your great fitness staff with you? Read the secrets to personal training staff retention.
Naamly’s personal trainer software helps you do all this and more. Easily track and manage your clients, your personal trainers, and your success all in one place.
In fact, XX% of gym owners who use Naamly’s free trial realize they could never go back to running a fitness business without it.
Don’t let another day slip away without skyrocketing to fitness business success!
Contact Naamly today for your demo.