Time and time again I hear consulting clients tell me that they can’t grow their personal training business. They’re stuck at a certain level of success with their bootcamps and can’t figure out why. Their service is of higher quality and they provide more personalized attention than the larger box companies. So what are they doing wrong?
The answer is usually little things that make a difference. On one hand, they are trying to create a brand out of a commodity. That’s impossible. The public now sees personal trainers, bootcamps, and challenges being offered around every corner. Every magazine cover and every Facebook timeline is filled with opportunities for free and paid access to these services. They are generic.
When that is true, the only thing left for the customer to do is compare based on their needs. If your location is better, your price is right, or you’re physically less intimidating, for example, you might get a break. Those are random results. You want predictable.
If someone finds you on the Internet through their Google search, will they find what they are looking for in you? Few people go to Google to find a nearby bootcamp. A frustrated woman doesn’t search for a personal trainer at night on her computer.
People are looking for solutions. they have problems. Those problems somehow become urgent. It may be a wedding, a meeting, or a summer season that makes you feel urgent all of a sudden. Use the questions someone types into Google to help you be the answer they find.
What would you write if you were a 47 year old woman who wanted to lose weight? What suggestions would you write about diets that work to lose fat fast? Using those specific words on your website, your business card, and in your email signature will help someone believe that you are their answer.
Instead of listing your alphabet soup, choose the most prestigious certification you have and write it down. If you want the full resume, you can find it on his website. List the website or blog URL instead of getting carried away. Let it be a live link. Have a way for the customer to find content that adds value when they get there.
Create more than one signature on your emails. For communication with personal trainers looking for a marketing coach, for example, I list the URL of my personal fitness professional’s blog and the web page where someone can learn about training. For communication with my female market after 50, I’m including my wellness webinar page and the URL of my book targeted to that market.
Being able to see that I provide information for people navigating fitness after 50, a potential client knows instantly that I have solutions for them. They don’t care until later what credentials or experience I have. Until my professional personal fitness clients know I have the answers to their fitness marketing mastery, they don’t care what degrees or certifications I have. Most of them have them too! They just don’t have the marketing, branding, and business background to get their business revenue where they want it to be.
Determine who you serve or want to serve. Determine what is important to them. Then look at your email signature. You will get a chance. By the time they contacted you via email, they are already interested. Tell them right away that this is about them and not about their own self-promotion. Your knowledge should show rather than have to tell them.
His formula for the brand:
1. Your name and two or three key credentials
2. Your contact information
3. A title that is not a commodity. Take personal trainer. What else do you have? Are you a change agent? A weight loss coach?
4. Something for the client. This is a URL where they can get a video, an article, learn more about you on your website, get a trial, or get tools to help solve their problem.
5. Make it easy to read. Include less, not more. Narrow your focus. Use color or two separate dots or lines.
6. Make live links. No one will love you enough to copy your URL into their browser and go looking for more.
This may seem small. Every little thing matters. The more educated, articulate, and business-savvy your target customer is, the more you can smell the lack of confidence that shows in the need to list credentials. The less educated your audience is, the easier and faster you need to be able to get your solutions. The bottom line in either case is that it has to be about them.