Building Your Personal Training Business: The Critical First Step

By Joleen Bingham, Certified Two-Brain Fitness Business Mentor

You know you need to add a personal training revenue stream to your business, but you have no idea where to start. Or maybe you want to acquire more PT clients but don’t know how to do it.

In this series, I’ll share strategies for starting or growing a personal training program that will deliver amazing results for clients.

The Critical First Step

The first step in developing your personal training program is determining whom you will serve.

You’re probably thinking, “Isn’t it more important to hire someone to do the personal training or figure out what to charge?” 

Absolutely not. 

Your clients are your guiding light. If you don’t understand who your ideal clients are, you won’t be able to make the best decisions about how to help them. You won’t understand their problems, and you won’t be able to create the solutions they need. 

Do you have a gym of mainly working professionals who have to train outside business hours? Do you have competitive athletes who want to get to higher levels and require more advanced programming? Do people have nagging aches and pains and require more rehab or prehab work? 

You can develop a personal training program for anyone. But the language you use and your exact approach will be different depending on the type of clients you have and want to serve. 

If you don’t have any PT clients, figure out the characteristics of your perfect client. Once you’ve created the ideal client avatar and identified the key problems this person is trying to solve, you can create solutions in a personal training program that will instantly appeal to your perfect prospective clients.

Rather than spinning your wheels trying to sell muscle-up skill sessions to a group of middle-aged people who are interested in general fitness, ask yourself what problems your current clients are trying to solve. Even better: Ask them! Then determine how you can help most. You’ll find current clients are much more receptive to PT when you provide what they want instead of guess about their desires. Listen, then act.

This client-focused approach will guide every action and help you make good decisions. For example, you might avoid buying expensive sport-specific training gear if your ideal clients are interested in weight loss, and you won’t waste money on ads targeting college-aged men if your ideal market is made up of retirees. Similarly, your social media accounts and website won’t be full of huge powerlifters if your ideal client is a busy parent who wants to improve her time in a local 5-km run.

Remember: You can’t help anyone properly if you try to help everyone. Develop your client avatar and create the perfect solutions to his or her problems. Then deliver amazing service to clients who get the results they want and would be more than happy to introduce you to friends.

If you’re not sure how to develop your client avatar, our certified mentors will guide you through the process in our RampUp program.

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