Does this sound familiar? You get certified as a personal trainer then do everything the “experts” recommend for building a business:
- Get business cards
- Put up a website
- Get a special email address
- Start trying to “market” yourself
I see most trainers do these things. But do personal trainers need business cards?
For the most part it’s a waste of time. I’m going to explain why these conventional tools are unnecessary as a personal trainer.
Personal Trainers Don’t Do Conventional Business
These things make you feel like you’re doing something productive, but they’re really just distractions. Let me explain why…
I did all of these things. I spent days on my website. I made sure I had great looking cards. I put flyers everywhere. I even walked door-to-door and hand delivered 2,000 flyers…
…and you know what happened? NOTHING!
Even when I built my business to $80,000, I never gave anyone a business card (and if I did, I never heard back from them). Nobody ever went to my website. And I almost never emailed anyone.
Business Cards Are a Waste of Time… Never Give Out Your Business Card
Here’s the thing about business cards: they’re great if you’re in the corporate world, building a list of contacts and friends on your Rolodex. The serve very little in the world of personal training.
If you’re trying to get clients, and you give out your business card, you’ll be lucky if even 1% call you back. This is a very passive way to get clients, and trainers who do this rarely ever build a successful business.
You should be the one TAKING other people’s business cards so you can call them… so you are in control of the calls and the contact.
Today, I still don’t use business cards because it’s too passive of a way to get leads. If people want to connect with me, they find me on LinkedIn anyway.
Personal Training Business Is Face to Face
As far as other conventional business tools are concerned (websites, social media, Google), they shouldn’t be a priority to start building your personal training business.
Let me explain.
Let’s say you’re following along here and you’ve plugged yourself into a great gym… Your first priority should be to build YOUR presence in that gym and start getting clients FROM that gym.
You should be there every single day whether you have clients or not. You should be talking to every member and introducing yourself. You should be creating leads and following up…
…This is building your business.
Once you have a stable income, you can start thinking about a website and social media as tools to build your brand nationally or garner extra attention from people that aren’t members at the gym.
But listen to me…
Getting clients from existing members is way cheaper, faster, and easier than getting clients that aren’t members. Non-members have to sign up with you AND the gym. That’s two separate fees.
This is when trainers fall into the trap of working at multiple gyms (I will discuss this in the next article). It ends up being a time waster and it diffuses your energy and potential.
Next time, we’ll discuss why it’s better to work at one gym vs. multiple gyms… But for now, leave me a comment and let me know if you use business cards or if you have any questions.