How To Become The Best Personal Trainer In Your Area

Introduction

Being a personal trainer can be the best job in the world. You get to help your clients transform their body shape and get fit. You play a pivotal role in boosting their health, fitness, and happiness – it’s incredibly fulfilling.

But with that said, the personal training industry is hugely competitive, and it can be easy to blend in with the crowd and not reap the rewards you’re fully capable of achieving with your business.

Do you want to be a run of the mill trainer?

Or do you…

Want to stand out from the crowd and be the go-to trainer in your town/city?

If you said the latter, then this post has been written for you. This week we asked Nicholas Screetoni, who created ‘Lep fitness‘ and the ‘Personal Trainer Academy’ for his advice on becoming the best personal trainer in your area.

Experience

A bit like learning to drive…

The real learning starts after passing your test.

As soon as you get your personal training qualifications, it’s time to gain hands-on experience. It’s one thing reading from a textbook and studying scientific journals, but it’s another thing putting it all into action.

The best way to become a stand out personal trainer is to get as much experience as possible. Malcolm Gladwell, the author of ‘Outliers,’ says that becoming an expert in any field requires 10,000 hours worth of practice. The best way to gain experience is to get on the gym floor and training as many people as possible.

Especially in the early days, try and work with various people, from all shapes and sizes, fitness levels, different backgrounds, ages, etc. The lessons learned from this experience will be precious, and it will help your progress to the next step of your career.

If you were to do 25 x 1-hour coaching sessions per week x 48 weeks of the year…

It would take you just over eight years to become a master.

If you can do more sessions, then you’ll reach 10,000 hours sooner. One thing is for sure you can’t cut corners on this. Becoming a master takes time, so get going and gain as much hands-on experience as possible.

Testimonials

One of the best ways to stand out from the crowd is with 5-star reviews from your client base. Social proof is vital when it comes to attracting new customers. Think about it…

When buying something on Amazon, what are you more likely to choose…

      A) the product with 50 x 5-star reviews

or

      B) the product with zero ratings

?

All things being equal, you’ll buy the product with a higher rating?

The same can be said for personal training — reviews matter.

Reviews on Google are especially useful. If you haven’t already then, it’s crucial to set up a Google My Business page. This page will help you come up in local searches so that when your potential customers search ‘personal trainer *insert city*…

You will appear on the maps.

The more reviews you can get on Google, the more likely you will be to rank highly on the maps, ultimately leading to more customers.

Alongside Google reviews, you can also get Facebook reviews and add testimonials to your personal training website.

Results

The next way to stand out and become the best personal trainer in your area is to have the most impressive portfolio of results.

If you’re a body transformation coach, then it’s essential to have a portfolio of ‘before and after photos’ to show off your work.

When somebody clicks on your website and sees all of your impressive head-turning transformations, they will be far more likely to enquire about your personal training services.

Results build trust and visually demonstrate that you are an expert and know what you are doing.

BONUS TIP: If you combine results with testimonials, you are onto a real winner, and your enquiries will go through the roof.

Success Stories

Having a bunch of success stories is an excellent way to stand out in your local area. Many coaches post ‘before and after photos,’ but fewer coaches share their client’s stories.

In Seth Godin’s book ‘All Marketers Are Liars‘ – he talks about the power of stories and their ability to resonate emotionally and therefore draw new customers into your business. For example, sharing a story of one of your clients who lost three stone while balancing a hectic work life and raising two children will attract a lot of interest.

Remember that a good story moves people emotionally. It can inspire, motivate, and give hope to a potential new client. When you do this, everybody wins.

Do More Than Your Competitors

How do you become the best personal trainer in your area? Well, one thing you can do… do more than any other trainer in your area.

Find out what your competitors are doing and go one step further.

This could be:

• Providing bottled water
• A fresh towel before each session
• Recipe books
• A t-shirt or hoodie with your logo on it
• Webinars
• E-books
• A protein shaker with your logo on it
• Daily/Weekly check-ins

Work On Your Personal Development

“Your business grows as you grow.”

If you want to be the best in your town or city, then you’ve got to invest time in your personal development.

Personal development is about working on yourself and on your business (rather than always in your business).

There are lots of ways to do this, such as:

• Reading books and blogs (book recommendations below)
• Listening to audiobooks and podcasts
• Hiring a coach
• Attending personal training courses and seminars

12 Personal Development Book Recommendations:

1. Level Up – Mark Coles
2. Unbeatable Mind – Mark Divine
3. Atomic Habits – James Clear
4. Principles – Ray Dalio
5. Alter Ego – Todd Herman
6. F*cking Unstoppable – Paul Mort
7. Sell It Like Serhant – Ryan Serhant
8. Think & Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
9. Mindset – Carol Dweck
10. Chimp Paradox – Dr. Steve Peters
11. Values Factor – Dr. John Martini
12. Time Warrior – Steve Chandler

Remember that ‘knowledge is power,’ and the more you know, the more clients you can serve, the more likely you will become the best PT in your area.

About Theresa Duncan

Originally from Detroit, MI, Theresa has been offering health and fitness advice for the last 30 years while working as an engineer. She decided to turn her passion into a profession, and finds nothing more satisfying than helping others reach their health and fitness goals.