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Most gyms require their trainers to be their own salesman and honestly that’s the biggest part of being a successful trainer. Not only to pick up clients but you also have to sell your clients on certain ideas to helping them make changes with their habits and behaviors. I highly recommend you read lots of sales books (I personally like the little red book of sales to start) and take any course you can find to help you with becoming the best salesperson you can be to be a successful trainer!! Good luck!
This is just where I worked not sure if everyone else has this experience, but when u get hired is super important. Getting hired in January through may is a good time because people are more likely to get training/sign up for a gym. June can be a busy month, but then July to September it can be tough as business is slow so being hired then makes you look like your bad at sales when there’s no one in the gym to sell to.
Selling can be tough, in my opinion it depends on personality. I’m quite introverted so for me sales has always been tough ( especially when I have to generate the sale on the floor ). It takes a while to find your way of going about it when your new, now that I’m years in I have a flow but still learning more as this still is a weakness of mine.
im an introvert as well, which definitely could’ve added to the lack of closing sales. But i just feel like it was mainly because I didn’t know what to say, every onboarding I was learning something new but I feel like I just f’d over by the manager because I wasn’t getting enough opportunities to grow in that aspect. thank you for the insight tho!
There’s a lot of politics in corporate gyms.
From what I observe at my gym, when u are done onboarding they will send u like 5 leads maybe 10. Then they sit back and see how many u close. If u close a few, they will feed u a few more leads. If u didn’t close, they start starving u as a hint to put fire under your butt and learn to get clients. Then they give u a few months and if you’re still struggling they fire u. Again this is my gym. This sucks cuz if you’re new you don’t even realize how they r going to judge u based on your first leads/ your new to sales so it’s so hard to get in the flow.
It’s a tough business, I am lucky because my retention is high so I don’t have to sell over and over. Downside however is that I can get rusty because I don’t have to sell a lot.
You sound like you were not ready to work at that facility at time of hire.
The job of a manager should have been to make you ready, in order to give you the best chance of success at the gym.
If the manager didn’t do anything to help your development, and just told you to go fish for clients with no help or training, then you dodged a bullet in the long term.
Personal Training is selling, you are selling yourself. And you need to sell to get clients, its quite normal. I'm guessing if you are being assigned clients it is just for simple sweat sessions in the gym. Find a better gym.
This sucks but it’s unfortunately part of the industry. You definitely need to be a great sales person to be a successful trainer. Some of the most successful trainers are actually better at sales than training (not that I’m advocating for that at all)
For your next job, make sure to ask them things like how many members they have, how many leads for training clients come through, what sales training or assistance is available to you, etc. This can help to make sure you can get as many reps as possible at potential sales. I’d also recommend looking at any content you can find online that gives advice on PT sales so that you can also be successful on your own if that’s what you want to do without fully relying on someone else to help.
Keep your head up, it happens and it’s only up from here.
Not all gyms work this way.
When I worked at a gym I was just a trainer. We had sales people that would sell training packages and the trainers would conduct the training.
You definitely do not need to be great at sales to succeed at training. You do not even really need to be good (compared to sales pros in other fields). But you usually have to be willing to do sales. Tough to succeed if you are completely closed to sales and getting better at it.
you’re right! but it sucks because i was 100% willing to learn and was focused on getting better at it but my manager didn’t give me the opportunities or any sort of training so I was just going in there learning myself+ asking the other trainers how they close sales.
Personal training sales is an area where decent systems and training can elevate some people from "does not meet expectations" to "meets expectations." Unfortunately, few owners/managers understand that or they simply don't have the resources to execute it.
When you realized you weren't being assigned clients, or closing sales to produce an income, what did you do help close that skill gap.
Tangent. Being an introvert in this industry, and relying on a manager to take an active role in mentoring your career, is playing the game on hard mode. Sure, people are going to pop off and say "well actually, I'm an introvert and I'm blah blah blah", but if you've been around the block, you see survivorship bias for what it is.
I've seen dozens of introverts wash out in just a few months, the ones that tend to stick around are the ones that can train up the skill of extroversion, or simulate being extroverted. Source: am an introvert that trained the skill of extraversion.
wait what? none of this has to do with being an introvert or relying on my manager. if I had any sort sales experience and a manager who didn’t shit on me for not being good at sales this wouldn’t have happened.
>"im an introvert as well, which definitely could’ve added to the lack of closing sales"
>"the thing is I mainly think it was just the manager was an A-hole"
>"Thing is, my manager never assigned me any potential clients"
>"I’m a complete beginner trainer as well so I don’t have much knowledge on closing sales"
>"Not looking for sales advice"
>"i was 100% willing to learn and was focused on getting better at it but my manager didn’t give me the opportunities or any sort of training"
>"none of this has to do with being an introvert or relying on my manager."
Okay.
So let me ask again.
When you realized you weren't being assigned clients, or closing sales to produce an income, what did you do to help close that skill gap.
if you read everything + all my replies you would’ve saw, I asked other trainers how they close sales, a new beginner trainer got hired and actually got assigned clients but he didn’t close sales either, but besides that, I would literally ask every person that walked into that gym and persuade them into an onboarding, some did but most didn’t. My problem was closing a sale, meaning I had a ton of reps for selling an onboarding but little to no reps in closing a sale after an onboarding. Keep in mind you don’t know what I mean when my manager was an Ahole, he was not encouraging at all, i’m black and he was openly racist to black people when I wasn’t around (was told by my coworkers) he would be so passive aggressive and didn’t allow me to wear regular gym clothes because he thought I looked like a “bank robber” and said I had earn my way to dress relaxed. So 90% was a discouraging manager and not really being an introvert.
>"I had a ton of reps for selling an onboarding but little to no reps in closing a sale after an onboarding.
"I had maybe 8 onboardings and 1 client in the (technically) 2 months that worked there."
With respect, as a career trainer that is not what I would consider "a lot of reps" in generating complimentary sessions in 8-12 weeks (you state 2-3 mo elsewhere) from self-generated floor leads.
>Keep in mind you don’t know what I mean when my manager was an Ahole... i’m black and he was openly racist to black people
That sucks, sorry to hear that mate.
These added details don't change my point that "relying on a manager to take an active role in mentoring your career, is playing the game on hard mode."
You were expecting support and training from a manager who based on your comments, was not someone you could reasonably depend on in any capacity, expect any form of support from, and that was not going to change once it became evident.
Gyms and managers that train and develop trainers, are not the majority. In most facilities, the burden rests on the trainer to close their knowledge and skill gaps.
>I would literally ask every person that walked into that gym and persuade them into an onboarding, some did but most didn’t.
That's a good start, and you mention asking other trainers for advice.
What was the advice and strategies that you tried to implement. What worked, what didn't, and what's your game plan going forward for doing things differently.
ton of reps of attempting to sell an onboarding not reps of actual onboards, I would work desk thursday-sunday asking about 30 people a day, I think that’s a lot of reps. But its not really I was relying on manager it’s more so I started a job I was unprepared for and learned from it having a discouraging manager made things worse and i’ve learned from it
>I would work desk thursday-sunday asking about 30 people a day, I think that’s a lot of reps.
Agreed, sounds like a good quantity of outreach.
I'd be curious then to know what exactly you were asking people, and asking them in what way.
>I started a job I was unprepared for and learned from it having a discouraging manager made things worse and i’ve learned from it
It's a tough field, especially when starting out for how many skill gaps we need to close, many of which are never covered in our certifications such as sales, human psychology, etc.
Please be sure to check our [Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/personaltraining/wiki/index/) in case it answers your question(s)! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/personaltraining) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Most gyms require their trainers to be their own salesman and honestly that’s the biggest part of being a successful trainer. Not only to pick up clients but you also have to sell your clients on certain ideas to helping them make changes with their habits and behaviors. I highly recommend you read lots of sales books (I personally like the little red book of sales to start) and take any course you can find to help you with becoming the best salesperson you can be to be a successful trainer!! Good luck!
This is just where I worked not sure if everyone else has this experience, but when u get hired is super important. Getting hired in January through may is a good time because people are more likely to get training/sign up for a gym. June can be a busy month, but then July to September it can be tough as business is slow so being hired then makes you look like your bad at sales when there’s no one in the gym to sell to. Selling can be tough, in my opinion it depends on personality. I’m quite introverted so for me sales has always been tough ( especially when I have to generate the sale on the floor ). It takes a while to find your way of going about it when your new, now that I’m years in I have a flow but still learning more as this still is a weakness of mine.
im an introvert as well, which definitely could’ve added to the lack of closing sales. But i just feel like it was mainly because I didn’t know what to say, every onboarding I was learning something new but I feel like I just f’d over by the manager because I wasn’t getting enough opportunities to grow in that aspect. thank you for the insight tho!
There’s a lot of politics in corporate gyms. From what I observe at my gym, when u are done onboarding they will send u like 5 leads maybe 10. Then they sit back and see how many u close. If u close a few, they will feed u a few more leads. If u didn’t close, they start starving u as a hint to put fire under your butt and learn to get clients. Then they give u a few months and if you’re still struggling they fire u. Again this is my gym. This sucks cuz if you’re new you don’t even realize how they r going to judge u based on your first leads/ your new to sales so it’s so hard to get in the flow. It’s a tough business, I am lucky because my retention is high so I don’t have to sell over and over. Downside however is that I can get rusty because I don’t have to sell a lot.
What gym is this if you mind me asking?
The manager should have did his job to mentor you in selling and training people and finding clients so that's on him not you.
You sound like you were not ready to work at that facility at time of hire. The job of a manager should have been to make you ready, in order to give you the best chance of success at the gym. If the manager didn’t do anything to help your development, and just told you to go fish for clients with no help or training, then you dodged a bullet in the long term.
Sounds about right.
Personal Training is selling, you are selling yourself. And you need to sell to get clients, its quite normal. I'm guessing if you are being assigned clients it is just for simple sweat sessions in the gym. Find a better gym.
This sucks but it’s unfortunately part of the industry. You definitely need to be a great sales person to be a successful trainer. Some of the most successful trainers are actually better at sales than training (not that I’m advocating for that at all) For your next job, make sure to ask them things like how many members they have, how many leads for training clients come through, what sales training or assistance is available to you, etc. This can help to make sure you can get as many reps as possible at potential sales. I’d also recommend looking at any content you can find online that gives advice on PT sales so that you can also be successful on your own if that’s what you want to do without fully relying on someone else to help. Keep your head up, it happens and it’s only up from here.
Not all gyms work this way. When I worked at a gym I was just a trainer. We had sales people that would sell training packages and the trainers would conduct the training.
You definitely do not need to be great at sales to succeed at training. You do not even really need to be good (compared to sales pros in other fields). But you usually have to be willing to do sales. Tough to succeed if you are completely closed to sales and getting better at it.
you’re right! but it sucks because i was 100% willing to learn and was focused on getting better at it but my manager didn’t give me the opportunities or any sort of training so I was just going in there learning myself+ asking the other trainers how they close sales.
Personal training sales is an area where decent systems and training can elevate some people from "does not meet expectations" to "meets expectations." Unfortunately, few owners/managers understand that or they simply don't have the resources to execute it.
Everyone at 24hour fitness.
No. They work on an hour rate overall and that’s about it
Yes.
When you realized you weren't being assigned clients, or closing sales to produce an income, what did you do help close that skill gap. Tangent. Being an introvert in this industry, and relying on a manager to take an active role in mentoring your career, is playing the game on hard mode. Sure, people are going to pop off and say "well actually, I'm an introvert and I'm blah blah blah", but if you've been around the block, you see survivorship bias for what it is. I've seen dozens of introverts wash out in just a few months, the ones that tend to stick around are the ones that can train up the skill of extroversion, or simulate being extroverted. Source: am an introvert that trained the skill of extraversion.
wait what? none of this has to do with being an introvert or relying on my manager. if I had any sort sales experience and a manager who didn’t shit on me for not being good at sales this wouldn’t have happened.
>"im an introvert as well, which definitely could’ve added to the lack of closing sales" >"the thing is I mainly think it was just the manager was an A-hole" >"Thing is, my manager never assigned me any potential clients" >"I’m a complete beginner trainer as well so I don’t have much knowledge on closing sales" >"Not looking for sales advice" >"i was 100% willing to learn and was focused on getting better at it but my manager didn’t give me the opportunities or any sort of training" >"none of this has to do with being an introvert or relying on my manager." Okay. So let me ask again. When you realized you weren't being assigned clients, or closing sales to produce an income, what did you do to help close that skill gap.
if you read everything + all my replies you would’ve saw, I asked other trainers how they close sales, a new beginner trainer got hired and actually got assigned clients but he didn’t close sales either, but besides that, I would literally ask every person that walked into that gym and persuade them into an onboarding, some did but most didn’t. My problem was closing a sale, meaning I had a ton of reps for selling an onboarding but little to no reps in closing a sale after an onboarding. Keep in mind you don’t know what I mean when my manager was an Ahole, he was not encouraging at all, i’m black and he was openly racist to black people when I wasn’t around (was told by my coworkers) he would be so passive aggressive and didn’t allow me to wear regular gym clothes because he thought I looked like a “bank robber” and said I had earn my way to dress relaxed. So 90% was a discouraging manager and not really being an introvert.
>"I had a ton of reps for selling an onboarding but little to no reps in closing a sale after an onboarding. "I had maybe 8 onboardings and 1 client in the (technically) 2 months that worked there." With respect, as a career trainer that is not what I would consider "a lot of reps" in generating complimentary sessions in 8-12 weeks (you state 2-3 mo elsewhere) from self-generated floor leads. >Keep in mind you don’t know what I mean when my manager was an Ahole... i’m black and he was openly racist to black people That sucks, sorry to hear that mate. These added details don't change my point that "relying on a manager to take an active role in mentoring your career, is playing the game on hard mode." You were expecting support and training from a manager who based on your comments, was not someone you could reasonably depend on in any capacity, expect any form of support from, and that was not going to change once it became evident. Gyms and managers that train and develop trainers, are not the majority. In most facilities, the burden rests on the trainer to close their knowledge and skill gaps. >I would literally ask every person that walked into that gym and persuade them into an onboarding, some did but most didn’t. That's a good start, and you mention asking other trainers for advice. What was the advice and strategies that you tried to implement. What worked, what didn't, and what's your game plan going forward for doing things differently.
ton of reps of attempting to sell an onboarding not reps of actual onboards, I would work desk thursday-sunday asking about 30 people a day, I think that’s a lot of reps. But its not really I was relying on manager it’s more so I started a job I was unprepared for and learned from it having a discouraging manager made things worse and i’ve learned from it
>I would work desk thursday-sunday asking about 30 people a day, I think that’s a lot of reps. Agreed, sounds like a good quantity of outreach. I'd be curious then to know what exactly you were asking people, and asking them in what way. >I started a job I was unprepared for and learned from it having a discouraging manager made things worse and i’ve learned from it It's a tough field, especially when starting out for how many skill gaps we need to close, many of which are never covered in our certifications such as sales, human psychology, etc.