Top 10 Personal Trainer Business Sins

Are you in the personal trainer business to excel, or just get by? Many fitness trainers simply sabotage their income by committing at least one of the top 10 fitness trainer sins.

When you enter the fitness training business, you are focused on helping people improve their health, fitness, and quality of life. In return, you expect a nice financial reward. If you would like to cash in on that, right away, then pay very close attention. You must not commit even one of these personal trainer business sins mentioned below.

Top 10 Personal Fitness Trainer Sins

1. Unprofessional behavior.

Acting in an unprofessional manner will kill your personal training business. You do want to command a large fee for your fitness business services, don’t you? Don’t you want to make $100 plus, per hour, for fitness training? If so, then be professional, and show you deserve those fees.

So what is being professional anyway?

It is the way you carry yourself. I always recommend a personal trainer carry themselves with sophistication, and dignity. That also means clean dress, hygiene, attitude, enthusiastic, prepared, and alert. Just remember, act as if people are paying you a personal trainer salary of $200.00 per hour. You are a highly paid expert that can change peoples lives. Now act like one.

2. Not paying 100% attention to clients during the training session.

When a personal trainer business client hires you they expect you to be 110% focused on them, and the specific challenges they are having. It is all about them, and not you. Therefore, during sessions, don’t answer phone calls, talk to other trainers, daydream, or lose focus on what the client really wants. Remember, a fitness training session is about the clients needs, not yours. Stay ultra focused on them; and the goal taking them from A to B.

3. No marketing or plan.

Selling personal training is a must for any fitness professional whether you  are a club personal trainer, or own a fitness training business. If you can’t sell yourself, and your services, you won’t build much of a personal trainer business. It just won’t happen.

Marketing personal training means not only having sales skills, but also an effective fitness business, and marketing plan as well. How many professional fitness trainers have a written down marketing plan? Not too many!

For a proven success blueprint on how to successfully market yourself, and your business go to personal training business.

If you are not proficient in this area brush up on your personal training education of sales, and marketing. The most successful, six figure, fitness pros’ really understand this concept.
4. Don’t gossip between fitness clients.

Be careful what you reveal from one client to the next. Just like attorney client privilege, we have client/trainer privilege. That means don’t spread information a clients shares with you, even if you think it is not big deal. When in doubt, don’t do it. It will come back to bite you, and your personal trainer business in the ass.

This, once again, goes back to being professional. Act as if you are a physician. You do want a large personal trainer income, don’t you?

5. Failure to chart client progress.

90% of personal fitness trainers don’t track their clients progress. That is a big mistake! How do you know what your fitness training clients need to do for the current workout, when you have not tracked the previous? How can you tell if they are improving? If you want to be a professional fitness trainer, then you must keep track of your clients progress.

6. Train according to your goals, not the clients

Please don’t fall into this personal trainer business trap. Ask your fitness training clients exactly what they want to accomplish, listen, and create a fitness plan according to their goals, not yours.

It is all about inspiring clients, and getting client results. Give them what they want, not what you want.

7. Don’t save money

Personal trainers are notorious for not saving money! For every session you perform, it is important to put away at least 10% of your personal training income for a rainy day.

In the fitness business, let’s face it, our personal training income can vary. Clients get sick, travel, and sometime dropout. This can have a negative consequence on our training income. Thus, having a reserve of cash on hand is always wise to preserve your personal training business during slower times.

8. Don’t take client medical history, and goals

Unprofessional, and unsuccessful fitness trainers fail to even discuss client medical history, and goals. These two variables are the backbone of your clients personal training program.

It is not only important for fitness programming, but also for networking with other health care providers. Networking equals more personal trainer business.

9. Fail to leverage time

Personal trainers that just go through the motions are constantly trading time for money. Time is limited; thus, their fitness trainer income is too.

The most successful personal trainers are masters at leveraging their time. They create different profit centers that bring income in even while they are not working. They understand that trading time for money is not the best fitness business model.

To discover how extremely smart trainers are leveraging themselves, and making money while they sleep go to personal trainer business, right away.

Learn how to incorporate additional profit centers in your fitness training business.

10. Failure to value continuing personal training education.

The fitness trainer business is always evolving. New research comes out almost monthly. Therefore, it is your responsibility to stay on top of what works, and what doesn’t.

Remember, your fitness training clients are paying you well. Therefore, you owe it to them to stay on top of the exercise physiology, and nutrition research.

I also highly recommend personal trainers continue on with their education on fitness sales, and marketing. It will certainly only help their personal trainer business.

** Go ahead, and add to this list! Talk back! I’m listening. Post any other personal training business mistakes that you think trainers need to avoid. This web page will become a resource for success minded fitness trainers. Let’s build a list of 100 mistakes to avoid as a personal trainer. Post yours below!**

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