Continued from page 1
Education. Although education is certainly no substitute for experience, in a health profession such as personal training, you won't get far without
knowledge to get your job done properly. This can include your basic certification, your Continuing Education Credits, and any applicable college or trade school classes you take during your career.
Niche. Having a niche market is probably most effective way to stand out from crowd! If you are a trainer who "trains everyone", how can you possibly be very good at training a particular group of people? How can you claim to be best trainer in town for athletes if you only train one athlete, and your other clients include a housewife, a corporate CEO, a teenager, a police officer, a kindergarten teacher, an elderly couple, and a swimsuit model? Specialize in ONE group of people, and not only will it build your credibility, but you can charge more for your sessions, since you are specialized in training that particular niche.
Value. Another basic tenet of business success, yet one that trainers often overlook. When all is said and done, what does your client get for signing on with you? Just training sessions? All trainers are doing that! What ELSE are they getting for their money? If you have to think about it, then you might need to build some more value into your business model!
Facility. If you work at or own a fitness facility or training studio, what makes your facility stand out from other facilities in town? Do you have more equipment? Do you offer more unique training programs? Does your facility have child care? A locker room? Private training areas? Think about why someone would walk into your door instead of gym across street.
Hours. Whether you work in a facility or do home training, what are your hours? Are you willing to train someone at 5:00am? What about 9:00pm? Today's world is full of incredibly busy people! If you try to stick to "banker's hours", you will have a hard time succeeding as a personal trainer.
As you can see, there are many ways that you can make your service or your facility a better option for your potential clients rather than them hiring one of your competitors. You should take time to brainstorm even more ideas than those covered above, as that is a short list at best. There are many other ways that you can make your business best option for your target market!
Once you have a few ideas in mind, choose one thing that you feel truly makes your business "unique". What is that one single product, service, or business practice that has power to yank your potential customers away from your competition?
Once you have answer to that, promote that idea in everything that you do! Don't promote fact that you are a trainer. Promote fact that you are best trainer for your target market because of your Unique Selling Proposition.
Make your business unique in some special way, promote that idea, and your business will grow in leaps and bounds. As you get more successful, you will come up with even more ways that your business is best option for your target audience.
You will get more and more clients and those clients will be happy, healthy, and spreading word about your great services. That, ladies and gentleman, is what we call a Win/Win situation!
Aaron Potts is the author and creator of The Ultimate Complete Personal Training Business Kit, a quick-start kit and business guide for new as well as seasoned fitness professionals. Find out more about Aaron's programs at http://www.completepersonaltrainingbusiness.com or his personal training site at http://www.aaronspersonaltraining.com
