Would You Say that How You Look Is Your Best Sales Tool?

[salatheel]

As a personal trainer. Would you say that how you look is your best sales tool?

Do you show off the shape your in any way possible?

Would you say being ripped is the most important aspect of looking in shape?

[ChrisTurk]

No to all of them as all my training packages are sold over the phone or email.

[jules_d1]

Not at all.

You personaility and proof of results is much more important

[hintontopher]

Well in reality, first impressions mean alot and yes people do judge a book by its cover, i think it is a greater asset for one to be fit and healthy rather than be an overweight slob. After all it makes no sense if an overweight person is teaching a course on food disipline? Or a pregnant teenager preaching abstinence?

[MVP]

As a personal trainer. Would you say that how you look is your best sales tool?

Do you show off the shape your in any way possible?

Would you say being ripped is the most important aspect of looking in shape?

Depending on how you look is what gets them to ask you questions. A trainer who is ripped will get more q's, than an obese trainer
Your personality and profile closes the deal

[Ilener]

I think that a super ripped person may intimidate the average joe... It's more important IMO that you be healthy and fitter than your client and have a great personality...

[Nclark44]

A personal trainer is supposed to be an authority on fitness, so nothing looks worse than an out of shape trainer. That’s my opinion at least. I don’t understand how trainers can be out of shape and still expect to have clients, while calling themselves "professionals." It doesn’t seem to matter where you go either, there will always be trainers that don’t practice what they preach.

[Lasharm]

I would have to say it's a combination of Strength, Form, and Confidence that are the best selling tools. If you are lacking one (Being Obese but confident, being strong but looking like crud...) you will not do as good as the trainer who has all these qualities.

Yes, you also have to be careful not to overcompensate with these (being too strong may intimidate potential clients, being too confident makes you seem boisterous...)

And above all, you need to have the required knowledge of a personal trainer. If you don't, when you get the client you won't be able to get them the results they want and you will lose them.

[Mr_Kinney]

My best selling tool is one question.

"What are you looking to accomplish?"

[love2liftntrain]

Your body is your business card! Through experience my gym had an overweight trainer when it first opened. My thought? "who would seriously train with someone who can't practice what he preaches?" He didnt get much business. Now we have a young 21yr old who is in great shape and comes from a bodybuilding family. He knows his stuff and is very personable. The guy can't keep up with clients. So yes personailty is key, but remember your body is your business card. this doesn't mean look like Flex Wheeler or Arnold. Being fit has more components than being ripped!

[BC02]

ha ha.half the trainers at the gym i go to are around 25%bf with hardly any muscle.Thwe others look like hs kids. besides the managers(they look like bodybuilders) ive only seen one that even looks athletic

[theapexxxx]

First impression.

Be it how they percieve you (they would probably get turned off of an obese person calling themselves a trainer) or how you communicate with them when they first meet you. (they probably wont want someone shy and timid and probably wouldnt want anybody who is obnoxious and rude either.

Make your first impression a good one.

[EMISGOD]

As a personal trainer. Would you say that how you look is your best sales tool?

It is valuable, yes, but word of mouth is what separates the elite from everyone else. Word of mouth is based on a lot of variables, prestige, results, connections, psychology, knowledge and so on, but if you don't look the part, you won't get the part. Take a look at all the trainers getting the big money choice gigs. NONE of them is, in any way, out of shape even slightly.

Do you show off the shape your in any way possible?

What does this mean? Doing nude scenes in cheap second-rate pornos at sleazy motels that will be sold on DVD later in bundles of 5 for $3.99? It has to be professional. If you expect to be treated as a professional, you have to look and act like one, at all times in public, but especially at or near a gym. If you can show off assets, great, but if you make a production of it, you look like a conceited, self-centered clown and most clients will not feel they can connect with that.

Would you say being ripped is the most important aspect of looking in shape?

Not the way you have worded this..."being ripped"/totally cut/shredded and so on speaks to me of peaking for a bodybuilding contest, which is usually not especially maintainable over time. Also, even if you are, most will not see it. Why? Because you are not generally going to be training people while you yourself are nude, in bikini trunks or in see-through/semi-transparent gear. You will be in clothes. Most of the people you will be training will want to look good in clothes, ergo, you should look good in clothing.