Sell Them What They Want and Give Them What They Need

What do fitness enthusiasts want from a personal trainer and group fitness instructor? They want to (1) have fun and (2) get results.

Some enthusiasts will also say they want to learn new training methods and understand how to perform an exercise correctly. When you think about it, learning new methods is to prevent boredom and keep them interested and motivated (i.e. have fun). Understanding proper technique will help them achieve their goals (i.e. get results).

What fitness enthusiasts need in order to get what they want is where you most likely find resistance. How many of your clients jump at the chance to test their fitness levels each month? How many of them are eager to log their training, nutrition and overall feelings each day? When your participants have completed the instructed 15 repetitions, how many of them choose to push their boundaries and perform an extra two to five repetitions?

The best way to give fitness enthusiasts what they need in order to get what they want is to follow these three tips:

1). Be as informal as you can be. There is no need for formal testing sessions. If you are doing one-on-one training with a client, once a month, incorporate a few exercises that are part of fitness testing and keep track of the progress made. Do not tell him/her that you’re recording the performance. At the end of month, show him/her how much they have improved.

If you are teaching a class, it will be more difficult to keep testing informal, but very easy to frame the testing as fun, exciting and a great way to learn more about your personal fitness state. Have your club create a lot of ‘hype’ around your testing class. When you advertise and when you teach the class, focus on what your participants want: to have fun and get results.

2) Treat the required tools (e.g. journaling, goal achieving, pushing boundaries) as a natural part of the training process. In other words, create a system for all of your clients that is guaranteed to work. For best results, check out http://www.TheUltimateAchievementJournal.com.

3) Whatever you do and whatever you say during your sessions, always come back to what your client wants: to have fun and get results. Tell them that writing things down will significantly improve their chances of losing the weight they want. Advise them that pushing the boundaries by performing one more repetition will get them closer to the ‘finish line’.

Find out, early, what type of training your participants enjoy and incorporate them in the programs you create.

Believe and Achieve,
Dr. Haley

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