The 9 Most Effective Strategies For Growing Your PT Business

You’ll hope that your personal trainer business goes from strength to strength. But if there’s one thing to know, it’s that there are always things you can do that’ll increase your client list and, ultimately, your revenue.

While enthusiasm and knowledge will be the ingredients you need to get underway, it’s always useful to throw in a few additional ingredients too!

In this blog, we’ll take a look at nine underrated tips that personal trainer business owners can use. It’s unlikely that you’ll use all the tips, but there’ll be at least a few that are applicable to your situation. 

1. Consider Finding a Niche

There are many personal trainers out there. What is it that you’re offering that no one else is? Aside from your brilliant personality, one option is to consider finding a niche.

If you can specialize, then you’ll become the go-to trainer of choice in your area for people looking for that type of specialist. Of course, there’s no limit to the type of niche you can choose. You might prefer to work with one type of client (specific age, gender, etc.) or with one particular goal in mind.

You shouldn’t force your specialization. Only choose something that you think you can genuinely offer. If you can, then you may find plenty of new work. It can be a little difficult to feel that you’re excluding some clients, but it can be an effective way to set yourself apart from the crowd.

LESSON: Choosing a Niche

2. Business Education

You’ll have gone through the process of becoming a PT when you first decided to become a personal trainer. However, most PT courses only teach you how to provide a service but don't teach you how to build a business.

You’ll know enough to get your business up and running. But it isn't likely that you'd get enough business knowledge to build a business that lasts a decade.

Always remember that personal training is the service your business provides and you are a business owner. If you think like a business owner, you can make decisions based on what's best for your business and not just for your service.

COURSE: Becoming a Fitness Business Owner

3. Invest In Your People Skills

We’ll talk about more traditional forms of marketing later, but don’t forget that your best marketing asset will be, well, you. Most personal trainers get the bulk of their clients through word of mouth and through the chance encounters they have on a day to day basis.

That means that the more you network, the more successful you’ll be -- well, providing you’re good at it. If you’re not getting the results you desire from the social side of your life, look at investing in your people skills. There’s nearly always something you can do to push this side of personality forward.

COURSE: NLP For Personal Trainers

4. Measure Your Results

You might have faith in your ability to train people well. But the proof is in the results. As a business owner, it’s always important to look at the outcome of your methods, not just the methods themselves, and see where you can make improvements. And, of course, there are always things you can do that’ll improve the outcome.

Feedback from your clients will be a useful starting point. But in truth, you’re the expert here, and as such, you’ll see things that they won’t. You may find a couple of things that you can tweak slightly that’ll help boost your results.

COURSE: Creating Business Systems

5. Mix In The Right Circles 

Your business isn’t something that you only do from 9 - 5. It should be an extension of your lifestyle. If you can immerse yourself in the world of business, health and fitness, then you’ll naturally improve. You’ll be exposed to new ideas and ways of operating, and even if you’re not consciously working to take things on board, you’ll naturally absorb them anyway.

You’ll find that there are fitness expositions, trade shows, small business events, and wellness fairs taking place throughout the year, and especially so if you live in a big city. Make yourself a presence at these events, and you never know what might come from them.

BLOG: 6 Networking Tips for Personal Trainers

6. Freshen Things Up 

You shouldn’t stand still in any area of your life, including your professional life. You should evolve. Just because you have a way of doing business right now, that shouldn’t necessarily be the way that you do things in the future.

You can probably only loosely plan this evolution. The best way to give yourself a chance of evolving is to have an open mindset. If you’re open to new ways of doing things, then they’ll come your way.

BLOG: 5 Career Progression Options for Successful Personal Trainers

7. Update Your Marketing

Word of mouth will be your most powerful marketing tool. But it won’t be your only one. If you can plan the strategy effectively, then digital marketing will give your business a nudge in the right direction.

Personal trainers have an advantage over other businesses because there are just so many marketing mediums at their disposal. You can make videos, write blogs, and use infographics to deliver high-quality fitness information.

COURSE: Fitness Marketing Basics

8. Ask for Reviews

People trust reviews from strangers almost as much as they trust reviews from friends and family. If you’ve done a good job for a client, ask for a testimonial and then publish it on your website. It’ll make people take notice. This can be in written, voice or even video format, whatever your clients are comfortable doing.

You would also benefit from encouraging your happy and amazing clients to write reviews on all platform where you have a presence, may that be your Google My Business page, Facebook or local directories.

BLOG: The Short Guide to Getting Testimonials for Your Fitness Business

9. Be You 

Finally, one of the more effective ways to improve your personal trainer business is to simply be yourself and let your personality shine through. Sometimes, new trainers think they need to act in a way that screams “personal trainer.” But that’s not the case.

While you should, of course, remain professional, there’s much to be said for bringing your personality to the fore. This is something that people will respond to in a positive way. And aside from everything else, it’ll make your work more enjoyable -- it’s more fun just to be yourself, rather than trying to be something that you’re not.

COURSE: Building a Brand

Conclusion 

There are more ways to grow your business than the ones we’ve outlined above, but these should help to push your business in the right direction.