The PT Roadmap

The weekly newsletter for personal trainers who want to build a business they feel proud of.

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I started rewatching Clarkson’s Farm this past week. There’s something comforting and relaxing about it—the animals, the Britishness of it, Jeremy’s idiotic tendencies, Caleb.

I’d recommend it if you’re looking for something easy to watch as your evening closes off.

Let's get into today’s issue.

Business

Do I need to use FB, IG, etc, as an in-person PT?

No.

I don’t believe you need social media to build and grow your in-person PT business.

The simplest form proof here is the thousands of PTs who have come before you who have built client bases without using social media.

And I say in-person because that is an important differentiator. If you have an online side to your business, you’re selling yourself short if you don’t. Because so many of your potential clients for online PT will be found online.

Does this mean you shouldn’t use it as an in-person trainer? No, I’d recommend every PT use it, but not to the extent you might be trying to just now.

It is a great place to build relationships with potential clients because so many people spend hours of their days on those platforms.

However, lots of PTs are reporting a real dislike of social media.

It negatively impacts their mental health.

They waste hours on it every day.

And the investment in creating content barely feels worth it because they receive crickets for engagement.

Could this time be better spent elsewhere?

I’d argue yes.

If an hour of that time went into creating an effective referral campaign for their current clients…

or into learning how to use Facebook ads…

or local area marketing strategies…

or into approaching complimentary local businesses about a partnership.

Would the results be better?

It’s hard to say for sure, as marketing is one big experiment.

But based on what I’m seeing within my mentoring clients, the answer is yes.

But it feels like I need to use social media?

I get this…

Afterall, it’s the noisiest marketing space, it’s where all of your colleagues spend their time and it’s where every other PT seems to be making a killing.

But it’s worth questioning whether it’s actually true.

Are there examples of PTs who don’t or barely use it and have built great training businesses?

If I look at my current mentoring clients, here’s where they’ve gotten their clients from in the past 3 months in order of most effective to least:

• Word of mouth or client referrals

• Facebook ads

• The gym floor

• Facebook groups

• Referrals from other businesses (e.g. physios)

• Ex-client reactivations

• Google

• Networking events

And close to the bottom of the list is organic social media.

I understand this could be heavily biased based on the PTs I’ve attracted (ones who don’t love social media and are usually in-person). Still, I’ve spoken to 73 PTs since going self-employed in August 2023, and it’s been a recurring theme that many of those trainers have mentioned.

If you’re using social media but hate it and consistently question whether you need to use it, let me close this section by reassuring you that you do not.

You can use other methods (like the ones listed above) to build relationships and get clients.

But I will end by saying this: you’ll open up more doors and opportunities for yourself if you do it at least somewhat consistently. Maybe trying to post every day isn’t for you, but showing up once or twice per week is doable. So that becomes your goal.

Get Clients Corner

This Week’s Tip: Share Client Success on Your Stories

IG stories are the most used feature on the platform.

They contain your most engaged followers - basically… the people most likely to buy from you.

Here’s how to use a client success story on your stories to get more leads.

Using either:

• 3-5 written slides (plain colour background with text)

• 3-5 slides with a photo you can easily overlay text on

• 3-5 spoken slides

My preference is a simple background with contrasting text. Easy to read and gets the message across clearly. Like this ⬇️

Then, you want to tell a story about one of your clients who has achieved or overcome something meaningful. Something that other people are likely to want or struggle with.

For example:

• Losing weight and keeping it off

• Maintaining an exercise habit for a prolonged period

• Hitting a strength goal (e.g. a pull up or push up)

• Running their 1st 5K

In the first slide, you’ll introduce the client and talk about their challenge.

For example, “At the end of last year, Julie started personal training because she’d noticed her body was starting to feel achy and out of shape.”

“It’d been years since I’d done any regular exercise, and I knew I needed help”, was what she told me.

In the second slide, you’ll discuss where Julie is now and how she did it.

“Fast forward to today, and Julie has just attended her 50th session. She’s stronger than she’s ever been, regularly hits sets 10 full push ups and has more energy than she knows what to do with. She attends PT twice weekly and does a home workout I program for her at home.”

In the third slide, you give a clear call to action.

“Are you interested in making exercise a consistent part of your life? So you feel at your best and know your health is being prioritised?

Hit the 😀 sticker below, and we can book in a time for you to come in and try a free taster session.”

Give this a test and see how it goes for you. I’d recommend doing this a max of once per week.

Social Post

Nice post from the people over at Active Life

Take a real interest in your clients. Get to know them as people, their favourite things, their dreams, their most important people, the stories in their past that have made them who they are.

The better you know this stuff, the better the relationship, which will impact their results and how long they stick with you.

People crave connection more so nowadays than ever before.

Make sure you’re giving them a strong dose of it in your sessions.

Thanks so much for reading.

Until next Friday, Stuart.

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