Ok, I’m going to be upfront here from the get go. 

This blog post will go against most everything you were taught, and are currently being taught by your superiors at your health club pertaining to the selling of your service. 

The information in today’s post will probably upset the club owners I know. I’m sure it will piss off yours as well. Sorry.  

Nah, I’m not sorry. It’s my job to get you to think. To evolve. 

How can I put this??? Hmmm uhhhh ok, role playing meetings are a waste of time. Stop going to them. Well, unless you find it extremely difficult to carry on a conversation with another human.  

Hey I’m not trying to be sarcastic here by saying that, because there are plenty of people that are socially inept. 

Guess what? They tend to be science driven people. That’s us. 

So yes, if you need to work on being a better conversationalist, by all means go and talk at these meetings. 

One of the points that I’m trying to make today is if you are an outgoing person with loads of charisma and a hint of charm, (which can both be learned) then forget about role playing. 

I’ve never been to one of those meetings in my life. I’ve never needed to, because I never put myself into a tough sales situation. 

I choose the situation. I choose my clients.  

And I know what you’re going to say. 

“But Mark, how will I learn how to deal with the three objections people can have when buying personal training? You know, the objections of money, time, and support. I need to practice what I need to say, right?”  

Ummmm no. Follow me here…      

Why torture yourself going to these meetings? There are so many. There are too many. And the club owners wonder why personal trainers hate sales. ; ) 

I know that the meetings can build a little camaraderie in the gym, but it makes the young rookie trainers very nervous and overwhelmed. It makes them hate their job.  

That isn’t what they signed up for. If they only knew who their market was…  

So, maybe you have noticed that I have been bringing up this “who your market is” topic here and there in my blog and emails and videos. Well there’s a reason for that. 

Although, I have been taking some flack for it on the ol’ interweb lately by guess who? Yep, unsuccessful personal trainers. 

Cry babies that think I’m only in the personal training business for the money. Oh no I guess I better stop. ; )  

I can’t help it if the truth hurts. I’m not here to sugar coat anything.  

Just change your thought process.

Open your mind and market your service to successful people that can afford your service. Then all of your worries will be gone.  

It sounds so mean doesn’t it? ; )  

Tell that to almost every industry in the world outside of WalMart and McDonald’s. 

So yeah, go ahead and keep feeling guilty that you agree with me. Go ahead and be a nicer person than me by trying to train everyone. Keep losing clients, money, your freedom, your sanity.      

So when you finally become “different” and go against popular thinking, you will be pretty content to stop going to those role playing/sales meetings, because you will be too busy making money. Yea! 

Sales is easy when you don’t have to beg people for money. Duh! “No sir pay me, not your mortgage. It’ll be great, trust me! Don’t you want a 6-pack like mine?”  

I will not coax people, trick people, or beg people to hire me, and you shouldn’t either. 

I can hear it now. “Hey Mark I didn’t trick em! All I did was help this person realize the ‘value’ in hiring a personal trainer.”  

Whatever… they absolutely will not be a long term client. Stay away from them. 

Short term clients=no results, no relationship, no referrals, no business growth, no freedom, no happiness, time to find a new job.        

By going after wealthy/successful people from the start, getting them quick results, (which is easy since they can afford to train with you 4 days a week) and then asking for referrals, you’ll have no need to be a “great seller.”  

The referrer trusts you, so that alone will make the sale easy.  

Successful people trust other successful people’s opinion.  

More than not, when I get a referral I get two questions. When can we start and how much do I owe ya? 

Thank you so much for reading another blog post from me.  

I can’t begin to tell you how great it feels to be able to share information I’ve learned and am still learning from the 19 years and counting as a personal trainer.

Information that will help you become even more successful than you already are, so you can stay in business and not become part of the huge turnover rate in our industry. 

Information like who your market should be, and how to fix your horrible schedule to avoid burnout which will make you a happy and better personal trainer.  

Information that you can actually use to grow your business.

Thanks again, talk soon.

FOLLOW ME on INSTAGRAM personaltrainingbiz

FOLLOW ME on TWITTER @PTrainingBiz

LIKE ME on FACEBOOK  Personal Training Biz