The PT Roadmap

The weekly newsletter for personal trainers who want a great business filled with clients you love, that runs efficiently and provides a level of income to live comfortably.

Hey!

Thanks for opening up today's newsletter. I appreciate you being here.

My wife and son leave tomorrow to go on their first trip together. They are going to DC. I haven’t stayed in my own home alone for 2 days since I lived by myself 7 years ago. I’m very excited. I like my own company. If you have a movie recommendation for me, please reply. Thrillers and comedy are especially welcome.

Let's get into it!

Business

How to Run Taster Sessions That Convert

Picture this…

I’m in my local commercial gym. It’s a gym with about 10-15 PTs.

I’m sitting on the leg press

There’s a new PT who’s just started.

Young, fresh out of uni looking.

He’s walking around the reception, holding a clipboard, looking anxious.

A lady walks in; he shakes her hand.

They jump straight onto a treadmill.

They have some awkward conversation about her goals.

I hear all this because the leg press is close to the treadmill.

Then they do a circuit of machines - chest press, leg extension and ab crunch.

They finish.

He asks her if she’d like weekly personal training.

I can’t hear what she says, but I’m 99% sure it’s a no because she hasn’t looked impressed or smiled once since their initial handshake.

She leaves.

He retreats to the safety of the staffroom.

The taster session…

It’s a massive opportunity. One that should not be taken lightly.

Do it right, and you’ll drastically enhance your chances of signing up a client or getting a referral.

Do it wrong, and you’ll lose the potential business.

Here are five tips to ensure your next taster or free session does not go like the one in my story:

1. Learn about them pre-meeting

If possible, send the lead a pre-consultation form. This form aims to give you some information to help you prepare a better session for them.

You can use Typeform or Google Forms to create this.

I’d recommend asking about the following:

• Their goals

• What they’ve tried in the past to hit these goals

• What they do for work

• Injuries or ailments

• And something random, like their favourite movie, book or musician

For example, you could use what they tell you about an injury to study it before you meet them. If they tell you they’ve got elbow tendonitis that occasionally flares up, you can learn what that injury is and how you’ll adapt your session.

If you’re interested, here’s a 14,000 word blog post on tennis elbow from the always reliable Pain Science site.

The point of this is to get more of an understanding of who you will be helping.

The more you know, the better you can prepare.

And the better you can prepare, the more they’ll get out of the session.

2. Connect

Spend at least the first 2-5 minutes connecting with the person. Don’t just jump straight into the session. Take a moment to show them you’re a PT who cares and wants to take the time to get to know them.

Ask why they chose The Shawshank Redemption as their favourite movie.

Ask how their day is going and what they’ve been doing up to this point in their day.

The key here is listening intently, asking good follow-up questions and making the environment feel warm and friendly.

2. No negative assessments

“Your glutes aren’t firing.”

“Your shoulders are in bad shape.”

“Your ankles are so tight.”

Cut this kind of stuff out of your assessment. There isn’t any need to make someone feel worse about themselves at this stage, even if what you’re thinking is true.

You can work on this stuff if it matters in time.

But during a free session is not the time to make the person feel like there’s something wrong with their body.

3. Use their words & goals

If they tell you they want to tone up their arms and stomach, use this language in your session. Show them exercises you’ll do to help tone up these areas.

We all know toning is a myth.

But guess what?

You’re doing nothing by dispelling this at this stage. I think of beliefs like this as being like ice sculptures. You don’t take a chainsaw and chop it down; you gently chip away at it and, over time, end up with something incredible.

Treat their false beliefs like this.

Same thing if they tell you they want to feel more jacked in their upper body. Give them some exercises that pump up their chest and show the power of controlled eccentrics and pauses at the stretch position. Give them an arm finisher that fills up their sleeves.

Basically, give them the workout they want.

4. How would you like to feel?

Following on from my last point, there’s a great question I always ask before we start the workout stage of a free session.

“How would you like to feel when you leave today?”

This allows you to tailor the session exactly to how they want to feel.

5. Summarise

Once you’ve finished the workout, and assuming you’re confident you’re a good fit for helping this person, it’s time to move on to the sale stage.

I always start this with a few compliments about how they move and their foundation.

Then, I summarise their goals and how I’d go about helping them.

“So, here’s what I heard you say you’d like to achieve. You want to drop a bit of weight because you’re heavier than you’ve been in 10 years, and you’d love to grow your arms and hit a 2x bodyweight deadlift. Is that right?”

They’ll likely say yes or add in 1 or 2 more pieces.

Then, I tell them I’m confident I can help them and ask if they are interested in personal training.

6. Ask for the sale

Leading from the summarise stage, we hit the most anxiety-provoking stage of a free session.

The bit that’s easy to skip over.

The ask.

You have to ask. It is the next natural step.

It does not need to be complicated.

Just ask.

“Are you interested in personal training?”

“Have you had any thoughts about personal training?”

“Would you like to start personal training?”

Get Clients Corner

This Week’s Tip: The Just Ask Task

My in-laws live next to a lady called Margaret.

I’ve gotten to know Margaret well since moving here in 2020.

Now and then, Margaret will talk to me about her sore knee. She knows I’m “in fitness”, so she’ll update me on how it’s feeling.

It had never crossed my mind to ask Margaret if she’d like PT, until I told a mentoring client to do the same thing with someone he’d gotten to know.

So, in February of last year, I asked Margaret if she’d like to try a PT session for free to run over some stuff that might help her knee.

She’s been training with me once per week since then.

You probably have a person you talk to occasionally who would be perfect for PT.

But they haven’t asked, and you’ve not brought it up.

Ask them.

The worst thing that’ll happen is they’ll say no.

Or maybe you’ll end up with a client like Margaret.

Social Post

This recommended post is less about the content of the post, and more about the style.

It’s a type of content I’m seeing pop-up often just now. The personal image carousel. Here’s a version from Sean Casey

Which means it’s worth trying out.

I think it’s created in your stories.

Set up your Ig settings so it saves your stories, upload an image to your stories, write the text, post it, delete it and upload from your photos as a post.

I’ll try it out at one point over the next week and report back.

Thanks so much for reading.

Until next Friday, Stuart.

Want to score your personal training business and receive customised recommendations for improving it?

Take the PT Biz Quiz.

It’s free, takes just 2 minutes and will tell you where to dedicate your time so you can:

• sign up more clients

• improve your marketing message

• and run a more systemised business.