Why the Worst Personal Trainers Are Making Way More Money than You

I’ll bet  you’re a kick-ass trainer.FBBC4

You have the ability to take anyone old, young, fat, skinny, big or small and transform them into the person they have always wanted to be. When you get in the gym or the studio you’re energy blasts through that place like a freight train.

You’re unstoppable, you’re powerful, and you’re the best at what you do.

But you can’t afford to make your car payment on time. Your credit card bills keep piling higher and higher, your mortgage payment is murdering you and your business expenses are devouring your life.

You’re amazing at what you do but you hardly make enough money to fill your kids’ hungry bellies.

So what have you done to try and fix this? You know you’re great at what you do so all you need are more clients, right? And how do you get new clients to choose you over your competitors? Well, it’s obvious, you offer more than them and charge less for it.

So you use up what little is left on your credit cards to get the latest and greatest equipment, you stay up all night long every night coming up with new workouts to keep up with all the latest trends, and you keep cutting your prices while adding more features so that you can appear to be the most valuable personal training package around.

And after all this work, all this money and all these client-getting strategies, what happens?

You go bankrupt.

But here’s the worst part. During those five short minutes throughout your entire day when you are able to take a load off from work and flip on the television or sit in front of the computer all you see are ads, television Calendar marked to show rent dueshows and programs featuring some of the world’s worst, most ridiculous trainers who make millions and millions of dollars every year.

But it’s even worse than that.

Just around the corner from your studio there is your biggest competitor: an absolute fool of a trainer who is nothing compared to you but is CRUSHING YOU! Every day he drives by in his Mercedes, pokes his head out the window, and says hello just to rub his success in your face.

How is this moron obliterating your business? Why do the dummies on T.V. make more than anyone else in the world? Well, to find out, let’s first take a look at what you’ve been doing wrong.

Instead of cutting costs, you needed to increase them. Not only because you obviously need more money to survive but because it’s the best way to become the most popular, most valuable, and most used personal trainer in town: having the highest prices.

You shouldn’t add to your programs you should simplify and streamline them. And you should never take part in price wars. No, you should rise above that nonsense by raising your prices higher than everyone else.

But wait, hang on, you can’t just go out right now, call up all your clients, and let them know that your sessions now cost ten times as much as they used to. No, you have to set yourself up just right and do all the preliminary work before you can start raising your prices and operating as the most premium service in your area.

You need authority.

authorityIt’s what all those other trainers have and it’s why they are able to charge more than you.

So how do you get it?

Well, you must learn how to position yourself within your community as an individual of great authority. This isn’t easy but it is certainly possible (if those people much worse than you can do it, then you can definitely do it). And, lucky for you, you don’t need to do what the biggest names in fitness have done. They’re trying to reach tens of thousands, even millions of people. But all you need to do is establish your authority within your local market and town; still not easy, but very doable.

Now, what’s your first step? How do you begin creating an image of yourself as the most accomplished, senior, and knowledgeable personal trainer around?

First, start with your story. You need to start spreading a compelling and authority generating hero story that establishing you as a master of your craft and a charismatic teacher who offers premium service. Use your email list, use your employees if you have them, and use your training sessions to start spreading a story that builds your authority.

Speaking of your email list, it’s pretty much the most important resource for you to generate and spread your authority. Find as many ways as you possibly can to create that authoritative image of yourself.

Start writing reviews of products that relate to health and fitness. Go to your local health foods store or down to the nearest sports equipment stores, and start looking for popular items you could sample and review. Reviewing and suggesting popular items that relate to your field is a great way for people to begin seeing you as an expert who is worth an extra premium.

Whenever something happens in your community that relates to fitness, write about it, blog about it, and talk about it with your clients. The key is to make it relate to those within your community. Remember, we said you are only trying to make a name for yourself within your immediate area (for now, at least; you can branch out after you have mastered your hometown). So that means, whatever story you discuss, whatever product you review or whatever shopping recommendation you make, you need to relate it to the people living in your community and you need to make sure they understand that you are the local expert on all things relating to personal training and fitness.

The best way to make a name for yourself in your community is, obviously, to reach out to your community! There are some great marketing strategies, like Cross Promotion, Cross Marketing, and even Lunch and Learns, that allow you to generate a presence in your community while marketing your authority and your fitness business.

Whenever there is major event in your community, be there. Having a county fair? Set up a booth. Is the chamber of commerce holding an event? Make sure you are there, in person, acting as the local fitness expert. Do everything you can to get your name out there and create the image you want: premium, high quality, and expensive local fitness icon.

Finally, after all this work to establish yourself, you can begin to raise your prices. When all these elements combine, your community outreach and marketing, your emails, your hero story, your reviews and your success, you will start to look like the best trainer in town.

When your prices go up and people agree to pay them, you become the best trainer in town. And everyone will know it.

Committed to your success,

Bedros