Personal Trainer Marketing Accountability Log

[AndrewKFM]

Hey Andrew... any updates?

Oh snap! Thanks for checking.

Let me explain my excuses, lol:

My wife is pregnant and we had a Christmas party on the 19th. Well, she got the flu that day, so all her cooking plans were up to me. I woke up, hit the gym, trained some folks, got home, cooked until company was over, then entertained late, cleaned up and fell into bed. Totally forgot about this.

Between the 20th and today my excuse is forgetfulness/new habit/Christmas.

So, on that note, I'm about to drive a few hundred miles to second Christmas and will make a point of updating this tonight haha

EDIT:

Okay, so it's after midnight, but I'm still calling it "tonight"

New Clients Needed – 1/12
--------------------

Thumbtack –

Week: 12/19–12/25
Quotes sent: 8
Responses: 1
Meetings: 1
Intro Packages: 1
Regular Packages: 0

The meeting was from a week prior and she was happy and quick to purchase some intro sessions. We'll see if she retains, but I'm counting her as 1 of the 12 more I need for now. Still have another meeting scheduled with someone else from Thumbtack, but it's been pushed back several times, so we'll see if it happens. The response was someone interested and asking for my phone number (which is already on my profile), but never responded when I sent it or called. We shall see.
--------------------

******** –

Week: 12/19–12/25
Clicks: 21 ($63.94)
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

******** has a lot more options than I thought. Not sure what to do, I made an "offer" to claim based around New's Year's resolutions. But when people click through to my offer page on my website, FB counts it as an "offer claim" and charges it—unaware of if they actually contact me. I think I need to try something else here.
--------------------

Craigslist –

Week: 12/19–12/25
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Haven't checked it in a while. May not even have an active ad at the moment.
--------------------

LinkedIn –

Week: 12/19–12/25
Messages sent: 0
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Didn't take time to start a strategy on this one yet.
--------------------

Referrals –

Whether from clients or fellow trainers...
Week: 12/19–12/25
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Didn't make a big push or anything yet, but a lot of clients are out or missing for holidays.
--------------------

Already taking better notes and forming new habits for Jan 2 update.

[AndrewKFM]

With my wife off of work and lots of family in town, I haven't been able to get through my other priorities and get to figuring out what to try on LinkedIn or craiglist. Not much to report, just building this habit.

Also, pretty nervous at the moment. I have three newish clients that I haven't been able to get in touch with for a few days. Some of them have paid for sessions, so I don't think they're dipping out, but I'm worried about their interest/commitment if they aren't reachable or concerned about training. Hopefully this number doesn't go the wrong way...

New Clients Needed – 1/12

--------------------

Thumbtack –

Week: 12/26–1/1
Quotes sent: 5
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Someone said they wanted to call me last week, but never did. And a few weeks ago I scheduled a meeting, but it keeps moving, so we'll see if it ever happens. I'm being fairly picky on Thumbtack, and I've been busy with family so I've probably missed some chances with job requests expiring or being quoted before I get to it.
--------------------

******** –

Week: 12/26–1/1
Clicks: 0 ($0)
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

I know this is a big hot lead generator, I just have to figure out who to learn from and what to try. Don't wanna sink more into it until I have a better idea of what I'm doing.
--------------------

Craigslist –

Week: 12/26–1/1
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Haven't gotten to it.
--------------------

LinkedIn –

Week: 12/26–1/1
Messages sent: 0
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Might be next week before I can start rolling with this, after wife and family get busy.
--------------------

Referrals –

Whether from clients or fellow trainers...
Week: 12/26–1/1
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Nothing.
--------------------

[AndrewKFM]

Wife is back to work. Hopefully that I can start trying some other things this week. One client has officially fallen off and started group classes at the facility, all without ever mentioning to me that she decided to quit. So that puts me back to needing 12 more. Wonderful.

Trying to keep my head up and try some things besides Thumbtack this week.

New Clients Needed – 0/12

--------------------

Thumbtack –

Week: 1/2–1/8
Quotes sent: 10
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

I might try to rewrite my quote content or a least test a new one. It's a little long now.
--------------------

******** –

Week: 1/2–1/8
Clicks: 0 ($0)
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

I know this is a big hot lead generator, I just have to figure out who to learn from and what to try. Don't wanna sink more into it until I have a better idea of what I'm doing.
--------------------

Craigslist –

Week: 1/2–1/8
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Haven't gotten to it.
--------------------

LinkedIn –

Week: Week: 1/2–1/8
Messages sent: 0
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

I have time this week to figure out a a reasonable approach for this.
--------------------

Referrals –

Whether from clients or fellow trainers...
Week: Week: 1/2–1/8
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Asking some clients more directly this week.
--------------------

Also had a good chat with the owner of my gym (who I'm good friends with since before he opened up), and he had a few other suggestions of methods to try, so I'll incorporate them and report as well.

[AndrewKFM]

It does seem that I've had a few folks drop over the new year (aka kept over-eating in Nov and Dec, didn't reach their end of the year goals, and vanished), but I reassessed the math on what I need and it's a little better—looks like I only need 9.

New Clients – 0/9 Needed

--------------------

Thumbtack –

Week: 1/9–1/15
Quotes sent: 15
Responses: 1
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Set up a new quote, polished up my profile a bit, and got a bite. I actually had the meeting with her today, and she should be coming back in tomorrow. Didn't include it though, since it didn't happen on or before the 15th.
--------------------

******** –

soon...
--------------------

Craigslist –

soon...
--------------------

LinkedIn –

soon...
--------------------

Referrals –

Whether from clients or fellow trainers...
Week: 1/9–1/15
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Nothing on or before the 15th, but just before I'm posting this, I had a young golfer referred to me from another trainer. We'll see if how that goes, too.
--------------------

It's funny, my excuses for being busy (home buying and pregnant wife) are also the main reasons I have to make time for this all to work!

[AndrewKFM]

New Clients – 1/9 Needed

--------------------

Thumbtack –

Week: 1/16–1/22
Quotes sent: 15
Responses: 0
Meetings: 1
Intro Packages: 1
Regular Packages: 1

Met with a lady on the 16th. She paid for her consult/assessment/intro session, then returned on Tuesday to purchase a full-price 10 session package.
--------------------

******** –

soon...
--------------------

Craigslist –

soon...
--------------------

LinkedIn –

I started a Mastermind group of sorts with a fellow coach who's mindset on things. I set a goal to send 120 LinkedIn messages over the month between our meetings, so it will be interesting to see what comes of it.
--------------------

Referrals –

Whether from clients or fellow trainers...
Week: 1/16–1/22
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

My meeting with this golfer is still supposed to happen, but had a delay or two. It should be this week.
--------------------

[TXJ]

Guys sorry I have been out, some great news though. Since starting this thread my business blew up, I actually opened my own studio on January 2, 2017 and hired on another trainer. All of this was made possible from the things I was doing when I started this thread, I am going to try to get back into a habit of updating this thread but to this day the majority of my business is generated off of ********, Thumbtack, Craigslist and good old handshakes.

Running my studio, and an 8 month pregnant wife at the house has made for some busy, busy months behind me but trust me guys it pays off! I will go more into depth about what I have changed in my prospecting process to get a little more streamlined.

Keep it up guys!

[KimValentin]

Guys sorry I have been out, some great news though. Since starting this thread my business blew up, I actually opened my own studio on January 2, 2017 and hired on another trainer. All of this was made possible from the things I was doing when I started this thread, I am going to try to get back into a habit of updating this thread but to this day the majority of my business is generated off of ********, Thumbtack, Craigslist and good old handshakes.

Running my studio, and an 8 month pregnant wife at the house has made for some busy, busy months behind me but trust me guys it pays off! I will go more into depth about what I have changed in my prospecting process to get a little more streamlined.

Keep it up guys!

Wow, congratulations! This is such a wonderful thread, thank you so much for sharing your hard work and success with everyone!

[AndrewKFM]

Guys sorry I have been out, some great news though. Since starting this thread my business blew up, I actually opened my own studio on January 2, 2017 and hired on another trainer. All of this was made possible from the things I was doing when I started this thread, I am going to try to get back into a habit of updating this thread but to this day the majority of my business is generated off of ********, Thumbtack, Craigslist and good old handshakes.

Running my studio, and an 8 month pregnant wife at the house has made for some busy, busy months behind me but trust me guys it pays off! I will go more into depth about what I have changed in my prospecting process to get a little more streamlined.

Keep it up guys!

That's amazing, man! My wife is due in May, so I hear you!

My buddy owns the gym I'm training at. I manage most of the operations and finances there . . . I think I should start sending some quotes on Thumbtack for the adult groups there, too . . . the more that grows, the better things get for me, indirectly!

What's your ******** strategy exactly? And any advice on lessons learned from LinkedIn messages?

[AndrewKFM]

Minimum Projected Gross* / Needed : $366 / $850

*If clients purchase sessions at maximum discount, and miss one of their sessions every week.
--------------------

Thumbtack –

Week: 1/23–1/29
Quotes sent: 13
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

No bites this week. I may have been a little slow.
--------------------

******** –

soon...
--------------------

Craigslist –

soon...
--------------------

LinkedIn –

Week: 1/23–1/29
Messages: 42
Responses: 4
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Most responses were not interested, but one wants to bring me their son for training. We'll see what happens.
--------------------

Referrals –

Whether from clients or fellow trainers...
Week: 1/23–1/29
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

--------------------

[TXJ]

That's amazing, man! My wife is due in May, so I hear you!

My buddy owns the gym I'm training at. I manage most of the operations and finances there . . . I think I should start sending some quotes on Thumbtack for the adult groups there, too . . . the more that grows, the better things get for me, indirectly!

What's your ******** strategy exactly? And any advice on lessons learned from LinkedIn messages?

On ******** I run specific marketing campaigns, same with Craigslist...one week I will offer a 1 Month Weight Loss Program with a guarantee I am sure I can fulfill. Next week I will target Sports Performance athletes, then maybe the week after I will do a Women's Only Class promotion. I have been getting much more interest with this "specific" marketing rather than saying I do weight loss, sports performance, women's only classes, and anything else they may want me to do.

LinkedIn has not done much for me except get me into contact with old clients I had lost contact with. I am working on this and will let you know when I can make it work for me.

[FitnessMN]

Such a good thread idea! I will be posting on here. My goal is to grow my in-home training business to $5k per month. Hovering right now at $2.5k per month.

Extra motivated because I've signed on a great new apartment (moving out of parent's house - woo!) which will add $900 of expense per month. The upside is that my new neighborhood is much closer to where all my business is at. Marketing will be less hassle-filled now, but still just as challenging as it's supposed to be.

Also extra motivated after listening to Bedros while on the Bike today - "If you're not growing your business, you're dying in business".

Many props to you, TJX.

[FitnessMN]

TJX and everyone in this thread:
-do you find better success posting on CL with "lessons and tutoring", or "beauty services"?
-ever used "therapeutic services"?

May be a negligible point, but maybe not!

[Phoenix9369]

Checking in after a long time of no posting!

Glad for all the responses ITT

I've been at the big box gym since December 12th,
And while I love it and I definitely see myself working there in the long term,

I am struggling with one thing: the closing.

We offer an initial consultation and a training session, and I connect with most of the people but at the end they end up not buying training.
It's either "I'll think about it" or "I just can't afford it now"

My question is, how do I make them want to train with me

I know I'll get better as I get more experience but one or two pointers I could definitely use.

If anyone's familiar with these terms, my biggest challenge is peeling away the onion so that I can hit emotional triggers when trying to close

So far I have 5 clients, 1 3x a week and 4 2x a week

[FitnessMN]

Checking in after a long time of no posting!

Glad for all the responses ITT

I've been at the big box gym since December 12th,
And while I love it and I definitely see myself working there in the long term,

I am struggling with one thing: the closing.

We offer an initial consultation and a training session, and I connect with most of the people but at the end they end up not buying training.
It's either "I'll think about it" or "I just can't afford it now"

My question is, how do I make them want to train with me

I know I'll get better as I get more experience but one or two pointers I could definitely use.

If anyone's familiar with these terms, my biggest challenge is peeling away the onion so that I can hit emotional triggers when trying to close

So far I have 5 clients, 1 3x a week and 4 2x a week

Yo! Good to see you. I can tell you have a positive attitude about what you do - that's awesome.

I'm in a similar boat as you - have struggled with the close in the past - but have gotten better. A huge point is to make people think of your as a friend with tons of expertise. Not just a fitness trainer. Being a little goofy, conversational, and fun-loving, but ALWAYS focused and business growth-minded, has been a tough transition for me (used to be more awkward) but has been the biggest difference! It's a skill we we work on just like strength, cardio, flexibility. Also a meaningful quote; "desperation is the worst scent you can wear" - never act needy toward the sale.

A great technique is the "assumed" close. A huge part of this is simply the mentality that you know you can offer someone the best service around. The key phrase at the end of the conversation is "so which program can I get you started on today?". Slide the sheet in front of them, THEN LET THEM TAKE OVER the convo! Picked that up from an episode of Gym Rescue, and have confirmed it watching Bedros, and by doing it in real life.

Excited for the progress you will soon be making - let's fill up our schedules! I plan to post a little bit about my work situation later.

[AndrewKFM]

Checking in after a long time of no posting!

Glad for all the responses ITT

I've been at the big box gym since December 12th,
And while I love it and I definitely see myself working there in the long term,

I am struggling with one thing: the closing.

We offer an initial consultation and a training session, and I connect with most of the people but at the end they end up not buying training.
It's either "I'll think about it" or "I just can't afford it now"

My question is, how do I make them want to train with me

I know I'll get better as I get more experience but one or two pointers I could definitely use.

If anyone's familiar with these terms, my biggest challenge is peeling away the onion so that I can hit emotional triggers when trying to close

So far I have 5 clients, 1 3x a week and 4 2x a week

You can study how to respond to objections and sales techniques, but the bottom line is that they have to think you're worth the money and time. You also want to retain them, not just convince them to start.

Besides being personable, looking for emotion is great, just like you mentioned.

Maybe they have some tight pants? Maybe they don't like taking their shirt off? Maybe they don't like being hugged because they feel fat? If you can find something like this, you've got the right thing to start talking about goals and vision with. Set 8–12 week milestones regarding this goal to get them excited for it.

Otherwise, if you can assess and fix a movement inhibition or pain in that first session, you have a very strong hook. If elevating the heels of someone that says they can't squat deep lets them go ATG, they'll think you're a genius and you can explain an ankle mobility protocol to them. If someone has struggled with hip pain for years and you can trigger the right muscle and stretch them out to where they're temporarily pain-free, then explain the long-term plan for correcting their tissue and movement, that's a pretty secure value proposition.


My update this week:

Minimum Projected Gross* / Needed : $366 / $850

*If clients purchase sessions at maximum discount, and miss one of their sessions every week.
--------------------

Thumbtack –

Week: 1/30–2/5
Quotes sent: 21
Responses: 0
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

No bites this week.
--------------------

******** –

soon...
--------------------

Craigslist –

soon...
--------------------

LinkedIn –

Week: 1/31–2/5
Messages: 11
Responses: 4
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

Slowing down because I have to wait for accepted connections to send messages. Following up with the aforementioned father.
--------------------

Referrals –

Whether from clients or fellow trainers...
Week: 1/30–2/5
Meetings: 0
Intro Packages: 0
Regular Packages: 0

--------------------

[italianplaya30]

Thumbtack has given me zero return...has anyone actually gotten anything out of it?

[FitnessMN]

Thumbtack has given me zero return...has anyone actually gotten anything out of it?

I got one great customer from about 15 quotes sent. Still worth it. Being meticulous with your info/pic/overall image is key. I wish I had gotten reviews for me written before I started though. Because my response quality went up dramatically after just 1 five-star review.

[Richy222]

Hey guys, here's a few things I've seen working with ******** marketing lately.

I originally started using ******** to market my own personal training business and now I work with some other gyms and PT's to help them get more clients from ********.

Video

Video is the number one way of reaching people and marketing your business on ********. They don't need to be high quality videos, even a video shot on an iphone can work well. I suggest posting those photos to your ******** page then taking the most popular videos and turning them into paid ads.

Testimonial videos can work extremely well. Also videos of your clients training, or informative videos both work well.

If you're a PT and you have the right type of personality, I'd suggest creating short videos documenting your day. Create a short video when you're about to start your first session of the day, a short video when you're doing your own workout, a quick video when you're leaving the gym..... You can use these videos on Instagram and Snapchat too. And it takes very little planning.

When you run your most popular videos as an ad on ******** you can get video views for less than $0.01.

******** Live Video

******** shows live video to more people than any other type of content! Live Q&A sessions can work really well.

Ask your clients for questions they would like you to answer during your live Q&A. And also ask your ******** fans for questions. Let everyone know when you will be running the live Q&A so they can watch it.

There's plenty of other ways you could also use ******** live, besides a Q&A. You could use it to announce an upcoming promotion or do a quick live exercise tip each day.

When you do live video on ********, the replay automatically saves to your page so people can watch it after. You can also turn these live videos into paid ads later and get very cheap views!

Contests

One of the best ways to attract leads on ******** is with contests. You need to offer a good prize for the contest to work well. It could be free PT sessions for 6 months or free nutrition consulting for 12 months... The prize should be fitness related...not a free iphone or anything.

Unless you have a huge fanbase already on ********, you will need to run this contest as a paid ad. I would suggest budgeting $5 - $10 a day for 3-5 days.

To enter the contest, people must provide their email address and like the post.

You can then follow up with all the people who entered the contest via email. I like to send out an email to all the people who entered the contest offering a special. Something like "Thanks for entering, unfortunately there could only be one winner, but for everyone else I am offering this special..."

You can also run contests for your current clients. I once ran a very successful contest where I asked clients if I could video them performing their favourite exercise. I asked them if we could post the video on ********. The client who gets the most views on their video would receive a month of free sessions. The clients did all the work by sharing their video with their friends.

Woobox is a good tool for setting up contests.

Advertising Offers

A few years ago you could promote a special offer on ******** to a cold audience (people who aren't familiar with you or your brand) and get good results from it. An offer like "1 week free trial" or "free consultation" could generate several leads.

That can still work if you have the right offer and create a good ad. But it's not as effective as it was a few years ago.

If you want people to claim your special offer now, you need to make yourself known to them first. Someone who has seen your content before or viewed your website or subscribed to your email list is far more likely to accept your special offer.

The best way to do this is by firstly promoting your free content with ******** ads. Especially video content. Then showing your offer to those same people who viewed your content.

To do this, you need to do something called 'retargeting.'

When you post a video on ********, you can create a special audience made up of people who have viewed that video. Then you can tell ******** to show your ads to those people who viewed your video.

They have already seen your video, so they are familiar with you already. And therefore, they are much more likely to be interested in a special offer you advertise to them.

You can do the same thing with people who visit your website or subscribe to your email list.

These are the four methods I've been seeing best results from. If you guys have any questions about them or anything to do with ******** marketing, let me know.