I always knew that, to be successful as a self-employed trainer, you need to understand how to sell personal training programs. So, I studied marketing, sales, and a whole lot of other fitness business subjects too. But the problem was the sales content just didn't feel right.
It didn't resonate with me. It was all uncomfortable and overly complicated. There was too much thinking about body language and 'hypnotic speech patterns'.
Do these things sound like they're necessary to sell a client a service that is going to benefit them in life-changing ways? Of course not! People want to train with you when you are authentic and trustworthy and build a connection with them. No tricks are needed.
But, often, a personal training certification won't teach you how to do this.
I’ve developed this guide for how to sell personal training services from my own experience and knowledge. It’s a tried-and-tested approach to sales that will help you not only get standard customers but build your high-end client base.
Note: Selling high-end personal training is a completely different ball game to selling $50-$70 per hour PT sessions. It requires a different client qualification process and a pro-sales mindset.
9 Steps for Personal Trainers to Sell In-Person & Online Training Programs
Use this nine-step process to elevate how you approach personal training sales whether you want online clients or work on the gym floor.
1. Generate Good Leads
You can’t just dive into selling personal training programs with no one to sell them to. You need leads. The 'sales conversation' is actually the last part of the sales process.
Before someone ever meets you for a consultation or gets on the phone with you, you must target your lead generation. Improving your access to potential customers sets your sales efforts up well.
Know Your Customers
Start by focusing your marketing efforts, whether online or in-person. Identify the ideal client you want by demographic and other markers.
Before someone ever meets you for a consultation or gets on the phone with you, you must target your lead generation. Improving your access to potential customers sets your sales efforts up well.
Know Your Customers
Start by focusing your marketing efforts, whether online or in-person. Identify the ideal client you want by demographic and other markers.
Ask yourself: who do you want to target in the fitness industry?
- Where do they live or journey online?
- What do they enjoy and dislike?
- How old are they?
- How far are they on their fitness journey? What are their fitness levels?
Answering these questions will help you create ideal customer profiles. And they will help you create targeted strategies to reach good leads.
Understand Your Niche
Your marketing efforts should focus on finding the people who are a good fit for your fitness business.
With your customer characteristics in hand, you should also define your personal training business niche.
What unique aspects of your workout programs or personal training methods can you highlight to clients in your marketing? How are your workout programs unique and distinct from other fitness professionals?
Doing this will clarify your target audience further. The people who do not need your specialized offerings will choose to move on. Those who buy into your niche and fitness programs will enthusiastically follow you and want to do business with you.
If you try to cater to too wide a range of clients, you'll end up catering to nobody because it will weaken your messaging. Choose your target audience and then speak to them directly.
Find the Right Marketing Channels
The last aspect of a simple three-step sales-directed marketing initialization is to choose suitable marketing channels to connect to your audience. Prospective clients may spend more time on particular websites. In person, they might gravitate toward specific fitness classes or gym equipment areas.
You might also provide incentives to current clients for word-of-mouth referrals.
Choose methods to reach them by leveraging your knowledge of their preferences, age, and more. Use social media platforms, digital content like blogs, paid ads, and other marketing hacks and techniques to reach them. In addition to bringing you clients, optimizing them can help you grow your online business and presence.
2. Have a Lead Qualification Process
So, now someone is interested in your personal training plans. They've responded to your marketing messages and figuratively put their hand up, indicating that they are interested in working together.
You’re thinking, "Great! Let's set up a meeting straight away, this will be a new client for sure!". Not quite so fast.
First, you should have a qualification process. This is to weed out people who are only at the beginning of the sales funnel. They may just be browsing but aren’t ready to commit to a membership just yet.
To gauge whether you can move into the active sales process with potential clients, try:
You can use Jotform, Wufoo, or Google Forms to collect this information and share your availability. If you have a website, you can direct people to an embedded form on your contact page.
You’re thinking, "Great! Let's set up a meeting straight away, this will be a new client for sure!". Not quite so fast.
First, you should have a qualification process. This is to weed out people who are only at the beginning of the sales funnel. They may just be browsing but aren’t ready to commit to a membership just yet.
To gauge whether you can move into the active sales process with potential clients, try:
- Have them invest some time and thought into explaining why they need help. This is delivered via a questionnaire. A customer who spends their time filling out the form shows dedication to their fitness goals and working with you.
- Stay in control of your interaction. Don't be too available. Give them specific times when you can engage them. If they’re keen, they will make sure to organize their schedule so they can find out more.
You can use Jotform, Wufoo, or Google Forms to collect this information and share your availability. If you have a website, you can direct people to an embedded form on your contact page.
The purpose of the questionnaire is to have them invest time and thought and grow an emotional attachment with you. If they're not willing to spend 10 minutes answering a few basic questions, do you think they’ll really sign on?
The questionnaire is also for you to find out a little more information about them and if they will be a fit for your business. Questions should start off easy – yes/no, multiple choice, or basic demographic information like age and gender that doesn't require thought.
As the questionnaire progresses, the questions will become more open-ended, deeper, and more emotional. Here is an actual form I used when I was selling high-end virtual personal training:
Note: The questions you ask are going to depend on your niche, personal training services, the problem that you solve, and the person you are speaking to.
3. Book a Consultation
After they have completed the questionnaire, and you’ve qualified them as a concrete lead, arrange a consultation. Take this consultation as a further opportunity to nurture a human relationship rather than as just taking a sales interview approach. You want to learn more about the client and share more about your in-person and online workout plans and other business details.
You need to take care of what narrative you create about your brand and not oversell. You should also avoid leaving too much time between receiving the qualification questionnaire and the consultation.
Consider that they've probably been putting off making a start on their fitness for weeks or months already. This lets the motivation go cold and other things in their life take priority.
In the same breath, don’t be too available. Even if you don’t yet have a large clientele, you want to create the sense that you’re in demand. If you're too available, they will assume you have nothing better to do and can't be very good because you're not jam-packed with other clients.
Offer three or four schedule options for them to pick from.
You need to take care of what narrative you create about your brand and not oversell. You should also avoid leaving too much time between receiving the qualification questionnaire and the consultation.
Consider that they've probably been putting off making a start on their fitness for weeks or months already. This lets the motivation go cold and other things in their life take priority.
In the same breath, don’t be too available. Even if you don’t yet have a large clientele, you want to create the sense that you’re in demand. If you're too available, they will assume you have nothing better to do and can't be very good because you're not jam-packed with other clients.
Offer three or four schedule options for them to pick from.
Thanks for completing the form.
Shall we get a meeting booked in to further discuss your needs and if I can help you.
I'm available:
Monday after 5pm
Tuesday lunchtime
Wednesday after 5pm
Which works best for you?
Let me know the suitable time and I will send you some more information over beforehand.
4. Understand Their Goals & Obstacles
During your consultation, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Use the meet up to find out why the client needs personal training sessions. Your role at this point is to simply ask questions and listen.
Where do they want to be? Learn their biggest fitness goal during your consultation. Do they want to tone up, lose weight, train for professional competitions, live a healthy life, or something else?
Knowing this guides you on how you could help them. It also helps you zone in on their more subtle needs. For example, someone wanting to train for a marathon may want support with discipline.
Potential personal training clients looking to lose weight might want to enhance their confidence. This will help highlight suitable personal training services as well as guide you on the nuances of how you can help them and keep them motivated.
You want to guide them by imagining with them how you two can collaborate on reaching their goals. If they can literally feel the experience, they can believe in how you can help them.
Where do they want to be? Learn their biggest fitness goal during your consultation. Do they want to tone up, lose weight, train for professional competitions, live a healthy life, or something else?
Knowing this guides you on how you could help them. It also helps you zone in on their more subtle needs. For example, someone wanting to train for a marathon may want support with discipline.
Potential personal training clients looking to lose weight might want to enhance their confidence. This will help highlight suitable personal training services as well as guide you on the nuances of how you can help them and keep them motivated.
You want to guide them by imagining with them how you two can collaborate on reaching their goals. If they can literally feel the experience, they can believe in how you can help them.
The Obstacles
Part of this goal-setting and evaluation process is learning why they’ve turned to you. What challenges or obstacles have they faced? What do they need to overcome to go from where they are now, to where they want to be?
This is the most important part of the conversation for purely practical application. It is where they (and you) are going to understand all of the things that will stop them from achieving their goals. They know the answers, deep down, but I guarantee they probably not have thought about it.
Take motivation, for example. People gain some motivation from somewhere or something. Maybe it's January, or they have a holiday coming up so they start 'doing'.
This is great; but then slowly that motivation wears off and what were small obstacles now become huge roadblocks. They don’t feel like they can overcome them. They keep getting stuck in the cycle of making progress: ‘falling off the wagon', regressing, getting down on themselves, and losing confidence.
Asking them about these moments and what causes them will help you define a better experience and sell your service as the solution.
5. Sell Solutions & Results, Not Packages
What was the problem? What will cause problems in the future? Now that you know this, it is time to show how you can tackle these obstacles and help them reach their goals.
Again, in this step, do not focus on landing the sale. Instead, link your services and solutions to their needs. Rather than trying to push them on a package, payment methods, and pricing plans, highlight the results they can get and what the process would look like.
Again, in this step, do not focus on landing the sale. Instead, link your services and solutions to their needs. Rather than trying to push them on a package, payment methods, and pricing plans, highlight the results they can get and what the process would look like.
This is an integral part of making the sale and turning personal training prospects into current clients. It shows them the value you can bring and makes it clear why they should work with you. When clients can envision what they benefit from, they’re also more likely to buy into premium packages.
Speaking about your passion for fitness and value also takes the pressure and combativeness out of selling. It’s less about them having the specifics of your workout plan offerings or you pushing personal training packages. You make it a collaborative process and conversation where the client feels they’re benefiting.
Remember, you will get better at the process with lots of practice and as your confidence grows. You're going to see more success in personal training sales if you make yourself valuable to the client. Practice highlighting your strong points concisely and remember to include examples from past personal training clients.
6. Get Them to Buy-In
At this point, you’ve set the foundation for a good relationship with the client. It is not just a detached and transactional relationship. Instead, it is founded on the humanity of the individual, what they need support in, and how you can work together to achieve their goals.
This is a good place to be! However, the time has come to chat about logistics.
Before clinching the deal, find out if they have any objections or questions to the solutions you’ve offered. Often, at the end of the first consultation, customers may have concerns. Try to anticipate these by taking notes throughout the session. Address any sore points they have touched on during your chat.
This is a good place to be! However, the time has come to chat about logistics.
Before clinching the deal, find out if they have any objections or questions to the solutions you’ve offered. Often, at the end of the first consultation, customers may have concerns. Try to anticipate these by taking notes throughout the session. Address any sore points they have touched on during your chat.
While this can work, the best way to eliminate concerns is to ask about and address them directly. A classic objection that may come up may be worry over incorporating a consistent schedule for training into their personal life. Other common objections you can plan for beforehand include past experiences with personal trainers and high-pricing plans.
Once they’ve shared their concerns with you, it’s time to address them and close the sale. Answer honestly and authentically. You can then make sure they’re satisfied with your response and reiterate that you are open to feedback throughout your interaction.
7. Finalize the Sale
Finally, you can close the consultation by getting direct. Again, focus on their goals by asking, “Ready to start training together towards your goal?” This is a way better closing question than asking which package they want but it still gauges whether they’re ready to commit.
Introduce them to a package that could best suit their goals. Try to have them sign on to and schedule a first session before they leave. Having a specific time will help avoid them going AWOL. You can also offer them a limited-time free session, exercise routine, or a discount to nudge them along.
Introduce them to a package that could best suit their goals. Try to have them sign on to and schedule a first session before they leave. Having a specific time will help avoid them going AWOL. You can also offer them a limited-time free session, exercise routine, or a discount to nudge them along.
Bonus Tip: Use comprehensive personal training software to manage bookings, centralize payment methods, build a customer client exercise plan, and more. Show it to the client as a visual demonstration during your initial consultation. Plus, it can elevate how you run your physical or online fitness business.
8. Follow Up
Sometimes, clients don’t invest in a fitness membership during a consultation. However, it doesn’t mean they’re not keen. They may just need more time for careful consideration or to adapt to their busy schedule.
For potential clients who don’t make an immediate booking, have a follow-up step. Call them, drop them a message, or leave an email. Schedule another sales interview. Clients may say no a few times before jumping the gun.
Try and follow up after one day and within a few days of the consultation to keep the sense of urgency. If you don’t get a response, you can reduce contact to a weekly or bi-weekly basis. You never know when a customer may change their mind and feel ready.
For clients who have signed on and made a booking, send a reminder of the session. Include details like the workout routines' duration and location in the follow-up message. Also, add unique details like ‘bring a towel’, ‘we won’t start with squats’, etc. based on your conversation with them.
Proper fitness training is a personal service and you want to show them you provide a thoughtful, custom experience.
For potential clients who don’t make an immediate booking, have a follow-up step. Call them, drop them a message, or leave an email. Schedule another sales interview. Clients may say no a few times before jumping the gun.
Try and follow up after one day and within a few days of the consultation to keep the sense of urgency. If you don’t get a response, you can reduce contact to a weekly or bi-weekly basis. You never know when a customer may change their mind and feel ready.
For clients who have signed on and made a booking, send a reminder of the session. Include details like the workout routines' duration and location in the follow-up message. Also, add unique details like ‘bring a towel’, ‘we won’t start with squats’, etc. based on your conversation with them.
Proper fitness training is a personal service and you want to show them you provide a thoughtful, custom experience.
9. Incorporate Unsuccessful Leads into Marketing Strategies
Now, even if a lead doesn’t result in a conversion, it doesn’t mean it’s a complete loss. They can form an important part of your personal training business network. Plus, you never know when they may be ready to use your service in the future.
You now have their information and other details. Use them to include people in your business and sell your brand to them. Add them to your email list for newsletters, for example.
Invite them to fitness events or digital fitness challenges. Advertise health classes, products, courses, and workout plan offerings. They may not have been a right fit right now but that doesn’t disqualify them as potential customers forever.
You now have their information and other details. Use them to include people in your business and sell your brand to them. Add them to your email list for newsletters, for example.
Invite them to fitness events or digital fitness challenges. Advertise health classes, products, courses, and workout plan offerings. They may not have been a right fit right now but that doesn’t disqualify them as potential customers forever.
Why Try This Approach to Selling Personal Training
The first and most important thing to understand is that the selling journey I describe above is all about connection. It helps you gain the commitment of the client and understand them so you can help them. It also ensures you pursue viable leads and don’t waste valuable time and money on people who may not sign on.
That's a very different perspective to most 'sales pitch training' where it's all about the numbers. Hard-selling people and bullying people into buying can alienate the people you want to reach. When you’re focused on conversion rates and profit maximization, it can translate to clients.
This can make them feel like just another number and disconnected from you.
Experienced trainers understand that fitness services and personal training are a collaborative effort. You're not selling a product and then forgetting that person exists. The sales conversation is the start of a long and mutually beneficial relationship.
Of course, the way it is sold is going to differ. Use your sales funnel process to add value to the individual from the beginning. Whether they become a client or not, you will leave them in a significantly better place at the end of this conversation.
When you know this, the entire process is much more relaxed and you can become a wonderful fitness salesperson. It is just another instance of you helping someone and if they happen to become a client, great! If they don't, no problem, you have both benefited from this interaction.
That's a very different perspective to most 'sales pitch training' where it's all about the numbers. Hard-selling people and bullying people into buying can alienate the people you want to reach. When you’re focused on conversion rates and profit maximization, it can translate to clients.
This can make them feel like just another number and disconnected from you.
Experienced trainers understand that fitness services and personal training are a collaborative effort. You're not selling a product and then forgetting that person exists. The sales conversation is the start of a long and mutually beneficial relationship.
Of course, the way it is sold is going to differ. Use your sales funnel process to add value to the individual from the beginning. Whether they become a client or not, you will leave them in a significantly better place at the end of this conversation.
When you know this, the entire process is much more relaxed and you can become a wonderful fitness salesperson. It is just another instance of you helping someone and if they happen to become a client, great! If they don't, no problem, you have both benefited from this interaction.
Conclusion
Making sales (online or on the gym floor) can feel intimidating and difficult if you’re not used to it. It doesn’t have to be! Try a more authentic approach to sales. You're going to enjoy it more, and so is the client. It feels good to help someone and they will feel that you genuinely care and want to help them.
To aid your sales process, we can help you build a fantastic personal training website on our all-in-one fitness marketing platform to improve your sales system. You can use it to collect and store qualification forms, develop your sales funnel, improve digital visibility, manage bookings, and tell prospective clients more about you.
Your website is a great sales tool and we can help you optimize it and turn it into a home for your customers. Contact us today to learn more about our advanced personal training software.
To aid your sales process, we can help you build a fantastic personal training website on our all-in-one fitness marketing platform to improve your sales system. You can use it to collect and store qualification forms, develop your sales funnel, improve digital visibility, manage bookings, and tell prospective clients more about you.
Your website is a great sales tool and we can help you optimize it and turn it into a home for your customers. Contact us today to learn more about our advanced personal training software.
