How to sell as a PT (part 1)
Want to be busy in your space?
We've created a guide based on our hands-on experience, so that you don't have to wait for leads to come to you.
Learn how to get people excited about what you offer.
If you want to be a standout PT and stay amongst the top few per cent who make more than a basic living wage, you need to streamline your path to achieving your goals.
The best way to do this is to be really, really good at selling your service.
Being effective at sales means:
You close at a higher % = Less presentations needed = Less time
You build greater value = High price point = Less sales effort needed
You create great buy in = Your clients follow the plan = Better client results
Ultimately, you make more money in less time and you get your clients better outcomes.
Investing in your sales skills is 100% worth it, so take a look at the following steps to make this easy for yourself.
Booking a consultation
The Initial Contact
Recently published articles have taught you how to have clients knocking your door down, asking for coaching. Jump over to the rest of our articles if you haven’t already read through the essentials for promoting your business and growing your audience.
Hopefully, you’ve already been putting together better content and smashing it on IG. When you do this, you’ll find the leads start to trickle in as you build momentum.
However, you can’t sit around for a few months while you wait for your reputation to build and the clients to come to you.
In the online space, the DMs is a great way to book weekly appointments.
If you’re in the gym, you can go even faster.
Without a doubt, the most tried and trusted method of building your business is the phone (or video) call.
We have developed a script that has seen STCFit trainers go from zero to 42 sessions in just 12 weeks. You can use it on a call or on the floor.
Before we jump into it, it’s important to remember that when talking to a prospect, you still need to be yourself. 90% of sales come from simply ensuring the prospect likes and trusts you.
With this in mind, we use ‘guided questions’ rather than a standard line-by-line script.
Call structure:
“Hey, it’s [your name] from [your gym]. Just touching base to see how your training is going.”
“Ok cool, so how often are you getting in?”
“What time do you come in, when you’re able to make it?”
“Nice, what do you normally do when you are here?”
“Alright and what was your goal?”
“Right, and why did you set that goal?”
“Ok, so why specifically do you train?”
“And how have you found your results?”
“Great, I’m doing training and nutrition consultations at the moment, would Tuesday or Thursday at [time they mentioned before] be better?”
“Awesome! If anything changes before then, just contact me on this number rather than the gym.”
There are no accidental questions here. Every single one has a purpose.
New client strategies
1. Phone Lists
We have found the most effective way to booking appointments is on the phone calling members.
Below is a number of call lists you could ask your gym for, to shortcut the process of finding new clients and save yourself from waiting for them to come to you:
People who have not been to the gym in the last 4 weeks
People who joined last month and did not purchase a PT pack
People who train during the time you’re looking to fill
People who have trained 1-4 times in the last 4 weeks
People who have a birthday, last month, this month, next month
People who bought a PT pack 8 weeks ago but didn’t convert
You can see why these people may be easier to sell to.
2. Walking the Floor
In most large scale gyms, over 1000 people walk through the doors every week.
How many names do you know? How many of them know yours?
Walking the floor, putting stuff away and starting conversations is a great way to make initial contact with people, and allows you an opportunity to leverage your booking script.
How to book calls
There are dozens of scheduling apps available that allow for professional bookings to be made, including reminders etc. We’ve had success with both Setmore and Calendly. Both are reasonably priced.
We recommend actually doing this step yourself. Take your prospect’s details and book their preferred time, triggering an email to be sent out to you both.
Speak to 10 leads face to face, on the phone, or on social media using the guided questions/scripts provided. Keep track of which questions land well and try to always be thinking about how you can do better next time.
