High Quality Knowledge Bombs for Personal Trainers…

Welcome to part 3! This 5 part series (containing 50 knowledge bombs in total!) has been designed to help personal trainers and personal trainer business owners! The aim? to help you get kick ass results with clients and run a prosperous personal training business. Without further ado here’s another 10 tips…

1) Social media hype!

74% of online adults are active on social media! You’ll find a large amount of your potential customers residing across these channels. Social media is a great way to improve your brand recognition and make you more familiar and recognisable to your customers. It also creates loyalty over your brand. The likes of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Snap Chat, and Google + can be used to reach hundreds, thousands, and potentially millions of people!

WARNING: Don’t juggle more balls than you can handle! Rather than trying to be the “Jack of all trades, master of none” – Pick 1-2 social media platforms, and learn about how to best use them to your advantage. For those wanting that extra social media edge, I couldn’t recommend this book highly enough – Jab Jab Jab Right Hook 

2) Plan! Plan! Plan!

“Failure to Plan = Planning to Fail”. Aimlessly working hard, without a plan of action is like throwing a bunch of crap at the wall and hoping something sticks! You’ve got to be able to plan every aspect;  from your business, to your 1-1 personal training sessions, online coaching systems, etcetera… in fact… literally plan for everything!

I find it helps to draw out mind maps, writing down what I want and figuring out a way to get there. For example I’ll do a 12 month business plan, what I want to achieve, who I need to work with, how much I can afford to spend, what I need to read/study, etcetera! It massively helps to jot down ideas and solidify a plan of action so you know exactly what your working towards.

3) Go the extra mile

This is something that is going to dramatically separate you from the herd! My entire business philosophy is based on providing as much value as possible… “Going the Extra Mile”. As well as providing the highest quality 1-1 private coaching I strive to add ‘massive frickin’ value by: answering all e-mails (never a question too ‘big’ or ‘small’!), I always get back to everyone (clients, new enquiries, businesses), and I always do whats promised + more! I also continuously strive to create and share valuable content.

Every week I commit to creating a new blog, and 3-5 new posts for the LEP Facebook Page. I also add 1 new video to the LEP Youtube Channel every month. As well as this I have an exclusive mailing group (LEP Members only) sharing bonus content to help members further. I believe (in fact I 100% know!) that this philosophy has allowed my business to flourish. Make-sure your Going the extra mile for all your clients and customers. Remember… OVER DELIVER and then… OVER DELIVER SOME MORE!

4) Email Marketing 

I can’t remember the last day I didn’t check my inbox, can you? Although most of the time it’s junk mail! we also see stuff that entices us, offers, deals, and valuable content. E-mail marketing is a great way to reach out to your audience. I recommend using MailChimp – it’s free (up to 2,000 subscribers) and it allows you to create e-mail lists, collect data and create scheduled e-mail marketing campaigns to help current clients and attract new customers.

How to grow an e-mail list? I recommend giving away something of value in exchange for an e-mail address. For example I offer a ‘Free 7 Day Detox Nutritional Plan’ across my site (see image below). Once the user has typed in their e-mail address and downloaded the plan their e-mail address is automatically added to my mail chimp list. The Free 7 Day Detox Plan brings me on average 25 new e-mail addresses every month….that’s 25 more people that I can help or 25 potential customers!

5) Do the small stuff well…

Manors don’t cost a thing! Greet people by their name, smile, make eye contact, listen, and give out positive energy. Your in a service based industry! One of my favourite books of all time is How To Win Friends An Influence People – talks all about this stuff. If there’s one thing you’ve got to do today it’s buy this book.

6) Multitask with podcasts

Podcasts are awesome for when your on the move, I like to tune into them on my walk down to the gym (20 minutes each way! that’s 40 minutes everyday of learning). If you don’t walk to the gym get into the habit of listening to them on your commute – in the car, on the train, or bus. After a couple of weeks you’ll be in the swing of them and you’ll have a load of extra knowledge! My favourite podcasts are: London Real, Ben Coomber, Phil Learney, Phil Graham, Jamie Alderton. Download a handful and work your way through them one by one.

7) Maximise your time

Time is our most valuable asset and one we should all use wisely. It can be easy to get wrapped up in the day to day activities and fail to see the bigger picture. Our time can be used up very easily if were not careful, so therefore it’s wise to think about how you can free up time in order to lead a balanced life, and build a successful business that works for you.

Put your sessions in clusters – try not to have sessions spread out all over the place. Allocate times in the day for coaching and times in the day for other work activities (writing, videos, session plans, etc). If possible dictate what times you can train your client as opposed to them picking. Most clients will work with you on this, especially if you explain your reasons why – that you want to provide the highest level of service for them and work effectively/efficiently with your time.

8) Gain some Leverage

Create Templates – this goes for your workout and nutritional plans. I use the same template for every member. What changes is the content within the framework. It’s a bit like going to buy a suit, you pick a style and then the suit can be optimised – tailored towards your shape, height, width, and also with a level of customisation needed for each client.

Outsource – What activities can you get someone else to do? Can you hire a content writer? Can you hire a web developer? A marketing specialist? But Nick, I can’t afford it! You may be surprised to know that there are many services – 99 Designs and Upwork which allow you to  specifically pitch a job to experts, who will then bid to do your job (how cool is that?). The rates can be as low as $5 per hr (£3.40!). Now let’s say your a Personal trainer charging £30 an hr, for every hr you work you can afford to pay someone who would do 8.5 hrs work!

9) Play to your strengths 

What are you good at? if you said NOTHING! then you need to check out the Motivation Section of my site! Are you a good writer? good on video? good with people? What do you know the most about: fat loss, muscle building, sports specific? Maybe it’s a combination, understand what your good at and work on these aspects to make them stand out like a sore thumb!

10) Be The honest authentic you 

I see too many coaches preaching to clients about how perfect their diet is, and that they train 7 days per week all year round! I smell bull crap (sorry for the foul language!). What most coaches like this think they are doing is motivating clients, when in actual fact quite the opposite happens, you make them feel inferior! Be honest with your clients, empathise with them, when they slip up or miss the gym, let them know you do it too. Be honest, share your stories and then help them move forward by providing solutions. You can be humble, professional and authentic all at the same time.

I hope you enjoyed part 3 amigo’s! Thanks so much for reading! If you missed the first two posts don’t forget to check them out also – Part 1, Part 2. If you have any questions or want to get in touch give me a holla!

Next Week… 

Make-sure to check in next Friday for part 4 and 10 more knowledge bombs!

👱💪 Nick