The PT Roadmap

The weekly newsletter from an 11-year PT vet on how to build and run a great Personal Training business.

Hey!

I went to see the new Despicable Me at the cinema last weekend. Was it good? Not really. But I did laugh a few times, and my son laughed a lot, so I suppose that’s enough. However, I watched War Dogs for the first time, which was far more enjoyable. Supposedly, the book is even more wild than the movie. I might have to check it out.

Let's get into it!

But first… are you a regular PT Roadmap reader? I send (almost) daily emails to a list of 200+ PTs you might be interested in being added to.

Since stopping posting on Instagram, it’s where I post all of my best stuff.

At a minimum, I promise not to bore you. Each email usually involves a story (like how I wrote off my first car on the last day of school or how I made one of my clients cry after she stepped on the scales) and is designed to give you at least one ‘aha’ moment in your PT business each day.

Click here to get added automatically.

Business Thing I’ve Been Thinking About

Ever felt overwhelmed with trying to market your Personal Training services?

I know I have.

When you boil it down, there are really only three things you need to focus on to market your business successfully:

1. Lead generation

2. Lead nurture

3. Lead conversion

Having a simple framework like this makes thinking about the complicated matter of getting clients much more straightforward.

On any given day, you can and should be working on activities that are related to those three things.

Let’s talk about some of those activities:

— Lead Generation —

Broadly speaking, online and offline are two main ways to generate leads.

Online is your social media work, email marketing, website, Google my Business page, Meta or Google adverts, posts into local Facebook groups etc.

Anything you’re doing on your phone or computer to market to new potential clients.

Offline is where you get into gym floor conversations, referrals, partnerships with local businesses, attending networking events, running educational seminars, delivering flyers, standing on street corners talking to members of your community etc

If you need to generate more leads, spending time on tasks like the ones listed above should be where lots of your time goes.

— Lead Nurture —

Once you’ve generated leads, you must start to nurture them.

The main ways you’ll do this is by:

• investing time and value into the relationships you build

• creating helpful content (for platforms like Facebook, Instagram and email) that educates, entertains, informs and proves you are good at what you

This stage can take hours (rare), months (common) or years (also common).

The key is to show up regularly and provide offers that make moving into the next stage a natural step.

— Lead Conversion —

In this stage, you’ll try to take leads from knowing, liking, and trusting you to reach out for paid help.

You can increase the success of your lead conversion by providing appealing offers (such as a free session, a reduced-price trial, short-term challenges and programmes and competitions.)

Two examples here of this framework in action:

1. A lead finds you on Facebook after you post on a local group (lead generation). They follow you on Facebook, and after a month of relating to your content (lead nurture), they see you post something about your 30-day fitness kickstart trial. They DM you, come in for a free session, and sign up for your trial (lead conversion).

2. You give one of your current clients a 14-day free PT referral voucher they can gift to one of their family members or friends (lead generation.) They give it to their friend, who they know has been thinking about bettering their fitness. They speak highly of you (lead nurture) and this friend books in for their 14-day trial (lead conversion.) Once the trial finishes, they sign up for ongoing monthly PT.

One Instagram Post Worth Your Time

I’m happy to be honest that I have not been using AI to help me as much as I could.

This post from Alex Cattoni was a helpful reminder of its power.

If you have some idea about who you serve (your niche) but would love more information on them, the prompts in this post are worth using.

Podcast Episode I Enjoyed

I’m a regular podcast listener. It is probably my primary form of education nowadays, alongside books.

I wish I could get to more in-person events, but living in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina and having a family has made this more challenging than it used to be.

This podcast with Jerome Bolze from the impressive Madison’s gym in South England was excellent. I’ve always enjoyed Jerome’s perspective on running a gym — he’s been doing it successfully for the best part of 10 years. I particularly liked his thoughts on team meetings, making your sessions as good as you possibly can and investing in your education.

Future Adventure I’m Excited About

I’m heading to Belfast at the start of August for one of my best mates weddings.

I’ve been once before, but it was a 24-hour trip, and I didn’t see anything other than my hotel and a gym I was at for a seminar.

I’ll have a few days of time to explore after the wedding.

Do you have any suggestions for what I should do?

Must-do restaurants, bars, sights — anything really. Hit me up with your best recommendations.

Do you have a question or a topic you’d like to see covered in a future issue? Hit reply!

Thanks so much for reading.

— Stuart.