As a personal trainer, you have the same end goals as fitness facilities as gyms. You want to help people get healthier and more fit through your personal training business. It makes sense that you partner with a gym to offer your services. But how do you make the most of this arrangement?
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Grow Your Personal Training Business
Follow our 5 tips to grow your personal training business with gym partnerships, and you’ll be on the path to a healthy business relationship.
1. Finding the Right Gym Partnerships
Find the best facility to partner with. This decision should be based on more than just the aesthetics of the gym or its reputation, although the latter may be relevant to your decision.
Do they have the facilities and the space that make it easy for you to offer your personal training services? What about their clientele? Do they fit into a demographic that aligns with what you’re offering? If you don’t specialize in a particular niche market, this may not be a problem.
But if you do, ensure that you’re hitting the right target.
A gym with mostly senior clients won’t be a good fit if you specialize in fitness for expectant mothers. Likewise, if you want to focus on senior fitness, a roomful of young people is not your target audience.
2. Understanding Gym Policies
Your potential gym partner will have policies and procedures for gym staff in place. These will govern everything from the use of the facilities to how to deal with clients. Ensure you understand these policies because they’ll affect how you work on their premises.
Their policies on safety precautions and liability in case of client injury will be especially relevant.
Accidents happen, even in top gyms with safety protocols in place. Does the gym have insurance or legal representation in the advent of injury claims? Will you benefit from this, or would you be on your own?
If you have any rules about fitness training participation, make the gym aware of them before agreeing on a partnership. Your rules as a personal trainer may conflict with theirs and cause unnecessary conflict.
Ironing out any misunderstandings and addressing concerns at the start will prevent issues later.
3. Offering Unique Services
What makes you different from all the other fitness instructors out there? That’s what the management of that gym will be asking. Be prepared with a good answer.
When you offer unique services, you stand out from the crowd and can charge higher fees for your personal training business.
Think about what you offer that makes you a better prospect than other personal trainers. This can be a unique approach to traditional exercises or a nutrition-based fitness program. You may even devise a whole new exercise regime tailor-made for the gym of choice.
Do your research about the gym before you approach them about a partnership.
Consider their clientele when addressing the type of services you’ll be offering. It will help you decide if they’re the right partner for you to grow personal training business and help their clientele. And it’ll show them you’re the right fitness trainer for their clients.
4. Effective Communication
Effective communication is vital when entering into any partnership. It will further pave the way for an enriching partnership for all. Be clear about your personal training business and overall goals. Discuss how to attain them alongside the gym’s broader goals.
Keep the lines of communication open between yourself, the management, and the other gym staff. Meet regularly to discuss new ideas for collaboration. Offering discounts to other gym staff is a great way to facilitate a sense of camaraderie.
You’re not only relying on gym goers to approach you for personal training sessions. You’re also counting on gym staff to recognize their clients’ fitness needs and recommend one-on-one sessions with you.
By keeping the communication channels open, you will all benefit.
5. Creating a Strong Online Personal Trainer Presence
We live in an increasingly digital world, and anyone serious about their business needs to create a strong online presence.
Don’t rely solely on the gym you intend to partner with to market for you. Do your marketing and use your gym partnership as a selling point.
An engaging website and social media presence will garner interest in your services. But remember to keep them hooked with regular posts. Make them as entertaining and informative as you can. That’ll keep viewers returning for more and sharing them with their friends.
You don’t need to be an IT whizkid to do this.
Use free website-building software and social media planning tools to get started. But once you’ve established an online presence, you may want to invest in the type of software that’ll enhance the experience for users.
A professional website and active social media platforms are your calling cards, so make the most of them. Any gym that you identify as a potential partner is sure to check your online presence, too. So make the most of them. And they’ll see you as a viable partner focused on growth and success.
Sample Personal Trainer Business Plan
Did you know MoreBusiness.com has a free sample business plan that you can download to help grow your personal training business? You can get it here:
