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How to Recession-Proof Your Approach to Selling Personal Training
There is still money out there. With the right message that caters to the right emotion, you can still be profitable, even during these difficult times.
By: Jim Labadie |
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During any recession people are still spending money. They just may not be spending it in the same places they were when the economy is surging ahead. When you combine the fact that most of North America is overweight and these people are desperate to lose weight, well, selling personal training still isn't very hard if the correct approach is taken.
The following tips will help any personal trainer or personal training department stay profitable during a recession.
Sell Them What They Want
Again, people want to lose weight. Billions are spent each year by overweight people buying everything from diet pills to magic potions to personal training. And this is a fatal flaw with most personal training businesses. They fail to market the one true benefit people really, really want: weight loss.
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Tap into potential customers' emotional reasons for buying.
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For the most part, health doesn't sell. In fact, some trainers might not like it, but most people couldn't care less about their health until they lose it. So by selling people on personal training for weight loss, fitness businesses will have a much easier time enrolling new members.
Also, trainers can "hide their medicine in their apple sauce" so to speak. People who hire a trainer and lose weight, build lean tissue and increase endurance see health benefits as a matter of course.
People Have Money
If a personal trainer has trouble asking for money it's usually because the trainer themselves would never pay for the service. Plus, there's also a good chance the trainer couldn't even afford the service they are offering.
During a sales presentation there can be no lack of confidence whatsoever. Prospects see right through "experts" whose voices crack when the subject of money comes up. Or if their body language changes the prospect will notice. Many unconscious things are happening when closing a sale. And if the personal trainer's negative beliefs about money or the service they offer manifest in any way, there is a very good chance the sale will be blown.
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People have and will spend money on the services they value. Personal trainers need to be sure they truly understand the value they provide and have no problem asking for the money that they are worth. Just because the business owner may be nervous about a recession doesn't mean the prospect is.
Find the Right Emotions
People buy for emotional reason much more often than they do for logical ones. Actually, it's not even close. For example, what logical reason on Earth is there for a person to own a car like a Ferrari or Lamborghini? None. There is no logical or practical reason to own a six-figure car. But there sure are a lot of emotional ones!
The same goes for selling personal training. The key, regardless of whether there is a recession or not, is to find the emotional reasons that the prospect wants to hire a trainer. It will take some digging, but once those reasons are found - and they always exist - the trainer need only focus on those throughout the presentation and the sale practically closes itself.
About Jim Labadie
Jim Labadie has helped thousands of personal trainers become more successful with easy-to-follow business strategies. Readers can instantly download a FREE copy of his e-book "63 Must-Have Sales Tips for Personal Trainers" by visiting PTSalesTips.com.
More Columns by Jim Labadie
Go to about Jim Labadie.
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