The Show Up Fitness Podcast
Join Chris Hitchko, author of 'How to Become A Successful Personal Trainer' VOL 2 and CEO of Show Up Fitness as he guides personal trainers towards success.
90% of personal trainers quit within 12-months in the USA, 18-months in the UK, Show Up Fitness is helping change those statistics. The Show Up Fitness CPT is one of the fastest growing PT certifications in the world with partnerships with over 500-gyms including Life Time Fitness, Equinox, Genesis, EoS, and numerous other elite partnerships.
This podcast focuses on refining trade, business, and people skills to help trainers excel in the fitness industry. Discover effective client programming, revenue generation, medical professional networking, and elite assessment strategies.
Learn how to become a successful Show Up Fitness CPT at www.showupfitness.com. Send your questions to Chris on Instagram @showupfitness or via email at info@showupfitness.com."
The Show Up Fitness Podcast
Why Trainers Struggle With Sales — And How to Fix It
Send us a text if you want to be on the Podcast & explain why!
The hidden truth behind successful personal training isn't just exercise knowledge—it's mastering the art of sales. After surveying countless fitness professionals about why trainers quit the industry, one answer stood out: the inability to sell their services effectively.
Most trainers make critical mistakes during the sales process. They talk excessively when they should be listening, make conversations self-centered rather than client-focused, and struggle to convey their true value. The result? Potential clients walking away with "I'll think about it" instead of signing up for transformative training packages.
The core issue is a confidence problem rooted in competence gaps. Trainers who struggle with sales often lack depth in their professional knowledge and network. They can't fluently discuss anatomy, haven't attended hands-on continuing education, and don't have relationships with allied health professionals like physical therapists and registered dietitians. These deficiencies create subtle insecurity that clients can sense during consultations.
Through real-world examples—including the story of an executive client who paid $8,400 for a month of training and brought a $400 whiskey bottle as a thank-you gift—this episode reveals the psychology behind successful fitness sales. You'll learn practical techniques for assessment processes that convert, setting clear expectations, handling objections confidently, and building genuine relationships with clients.
The most transformative action you can take today? Record yourself delivering a sales presentation, analyze your performance objectively, and challenge yourself to approach potential clients with confidence-building exercises. Sales isn't something you can avoid as a trainer—it's a fundamental skill that, when mastered, allows you to help more people transform their lives while building the career you deserve.
Want to ask us a question? Email email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!
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Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/
Become a Personal Trainer Book (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Personal-Trainer-Successful/dp/B08WS992F8
Show Up Fitness Internship & CPT: https://online.showupfitness.com/pages/online-show-up?utm_term=show%20up%20fitness
NASM study guide: ...
After two weeks of training he's like dude, he's a big tool and I love tools because I'm a tool. He took his shirt off in the morning. It's like 5.15. He's like man, look at my abs are coming. This is the best I've ever looked. Look at my chest and he's doing a little chest dance. I'm like, yeah, but look at my calves and I flexed my calves. He paid me $8,400 for that first month. Two weeks in he brought me a $400 bottle of whiskey. He said you like this stuff, so I thought you might want to try this one. I was like, oh, thanks, man, that's awesome man. That's what it's like to be a professional trainer.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry one qualified trainer at a time with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitnesscom. Also, make sure to check out my book how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Quote net all the time. It comes from my book.
Speaker 1:I did one of the largest surveys ever in the fitness industry, talking to managers, owners of gyms, trainers why do so many trainers quit? And I feel a huge portion of it is contributed to the fact that we have to sell our services. When it comes to sales, we talk too much. We make it all about me, me, me, me, me. We make it very transactional. We don't believe in the product. We're asking for money $100, $150 per session but we're thinking about our bank account and our struggles with our own debts that we have, how much our rent is? We're not thinking about why we got into this, which is to help people. You can make people live better lives, improve their sex lives. All this fun stuff that comes with exercising regularly yeah, the physiological stuff, bone strength, mental health, all that yes, it comes as well, but we can literally change a human being's trajectory for the rest of their life because we're great at what we do, but we're not great at sales. We overcomplicate it. We talk too much. Yes, I talk a lot because I'm on the mic. I'm not doing this. When I'm in an assessment process, it's usually 80% of the client talking. Maybe at the most, I'll talk 30% of it. We don't handle objections very well. We rely too much on discounts, and then what we don't do is follow up afterwards. So what I'm going to take you through today are some sales tips and techniques that you can implement now to level up your sales closing. You just have to realize sales is part of the game.
Speaker 1:Let's use a football analogy. We're getting into college football, if you like, the NFL. We got about 60 days until the NFL starts. College football is the best sport in the world. I love it. I'm a big horns fan. We're going to beat the shit out of Ohio State on week one. We're number one in the country.
Speaker 1:Could you imagine the conversation that would happen with an athletic director and a head coach? I don't like to run the ball. We're not going to run anymore. It's just too hard. But it's part of the game. I don't care, we're not going to do it. The game is based off of offense, passing and running, defense, special teams that's what goes into it. Collectively, the coaches strategize on how they can optimize the team that they're given the weaknesses of the other team and play into their strengths. They may not be great at running, they're pass heavy, but you still run the ball.
Speaker 1:So, with trainers, we look at our industry and we go I'm going to quit because sales, I didn't sign up for that. I don't want to sell this stuff. It's hard because we're thinking of a sleazy salesman, andy Elliott, telling you to take your shirt off and do weird shit. We're not that person. You can be if you do the assessment at a tank top and you talk the entire time, but that's not what we do. We are professionals and the confidence from sales comes from being competent as the professional. So when I ask trainers who are struggling, let's take a step to the side. Talk to me about anatomy real quick. Can you tell me the 17 muscles of the shoulder, 20 of the lower body? Clients don't care about anatomy, they want results 100% body Clients don't care about anatomy, they want results a hundred percent. But your confidence in the discussion around the problems that they may be having showcases confidence in your product. And if your client says something about a rotator cuff and you're like, oh, what is that? Oh, I don't, um, uh, and you're using word fillers, you don't have great eye contact. Those are the people skills. You don't get that in a textbook. You need to surround yourself with confident trainers and also be in the environment where your potential clients will be. So what type of clients are you training? Is it a CrossFit style? Is it athletes? Is it high-end clients? It depends on what your market looks like.
Speaker 1:For us at Show Up Fitness, all of our trainers have gone through our internship, in person or online. They're working towards their level two certs, the soft tissue nutrition. They're building their team registered dietitians, physical therapists, doctors and when you begin to develop the best team ever, your confidence shoots to the roof. So I'll ask trainers who are struggling anatomy questions. But then I'll also ask them what continued education have you been doing? When was the last hands-on seminar you went to? Nope, they don't have it. They've never been to one. Okay, who's on your team? I did a survey. In the last 18 seminars we've been to 200 plus trainers. How many of you have a physical therapist and already on your team? Zero Interesting. So the industry settles on roughly 20%. It's like 18% is the average when it comes to closing sales, but yet we suck at anatomy. We don't have the people skills and we don't have a team.
Speaker 1:I understand the frustration when it comes to asking for a hundred plus dollars. When I first started out 20 years ago training, I was asking for 16. I thought that was a lot, but what I did was level myself up by going to expensive therapists did was level myself up by going to expensive therapists, going to massage therapists who charge $152 per session, to really get into the trenches and understand the service that the clients are experiencing and the product which that professional is providing. What were they doing? That was high level. That made me think oh, I understand why they keep showing up. They're asking great questions. Their techniques are definitely different than other massage therapists or physical therapists or chiropractors or whoever it is that you're networking with.
Speaker 1:I love the story from Sam Walton, one of the great entrepreneurs of our day, and what he would do when he would open up new Walmart. He would prospect new locations by flying around in his little puddle jumper planes and when he found an area that was good, he would then look at the competition, go into the stores and he would bring his C-suite team, director of operations, director of sales, and they would walk around and then afterwards they'd have a conversation. You'd say what did you guys notice? And it was always negative things. Oh, this was all messy over here and this all sucks. It's the same mindset that a lot of trainers have Everything is negative. But then what Sam would do is he'd flip the script and say did you notice what they did on aisle three, that jewelry stand that they had? We need to start implementing that in all of our stores. He would take one, two, three positive things and bring it back to his empire and look what he built. It's because he had that growth mindset.
Speaker 1:So what trainers need to do, what you need to do to level yourself up, is to put yourself in situations that make you uncomfortable. What I have found trainers rarely have people observe their presentation process. What you need to do is send someone a voice memo. Even better, video yourself going through your presentation. What do you look like? How's your body language? What are your eyes doing? Are we using word fillers? Maybe, like I don't know.
Speaker 1:It's kind of expensive, but maybe you want to train for three times. It's going to be $1,200. Or is it? How was that workout, susie? You were doing those hip thrusts and I pushed your knees in for five seconds and then we pulsated for another 15. What did you say afterwards? Oh, my God, chris, my ass is still on fire. That was amazing. Awesome, susie. Imagine what it's going to look like six months from now, girl, you're going to walk by a mirror and go holy moly. Who is that? Let's sit down and talk about training. How many times a week would you like to train with me? And you smile and you look at her eyes. You don't make it uncomfortable. Breathe into her face. How many times you want to train with me? Susie Smells like dog shit. She's going to be like let me think about it, or I'm going to go try out another trainer. Oh, it's too expensive, but you can show her the pricing.
Speaker 1:It all comes back to setting clear expectations from the beginning. With that handshake, what are we going to be doing today? And it is difficult as a new trainer at a big box gym because their systems are greatly flawed. But that's what they're doing, Because their mindset is if it's not broken, why are we going to fix it? We're bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars off of level one trainers, level two trainers, coach, coach plus whatever it is. We are making so much money off of this margin. Why should we change it? But they don't realize 20%. If the whole entire staff goes up to 40%, great trainers are doing 50 plus percent. Your revenue can double and triple.
Speaker 1:So when it comes to the assessment process, you have to be confident but also set clear expectations. This isn't a free assessment. This is a demo of what training is like. That's why I'm a big proponent of charging for your assessment, because then at least they have clear expectations of what it's going to cost up. I know that they're at least aware of a ballpark figure. But if you have to give away one or two free sessions because that's what the jam or big brother's telling you, set the clear expectations from the get-go. Normally sessions are 175, but I'm going to give you a demo what training is like. I would say that right from the get-go, because now they understand it's not free, there's a value behind it. Go higher than what you normally say just to get the confidence of pitching higher numbers and then show the value.
Speaker 1:I've seen trainers that will have a client will come in and you can tell they want to work out from the get-go, but they tell them they have to sit down for 30 or 40 minutes to review all this stuff. That's the people skills that you need to understand and observe. This client wants to work out. I'm not saying, skip the sit down portion, but if you notice a client really wants to get after it. They're chugging their pre-workout their prime, whatever the hell it is today, and they tell you and I was really hoping for a good workout today. I totally understand, bill.
Speaker 1:How's your body hold up? Anything I should be aware of Heart issues, family issues, knee joint stuff Tell me real quickly. Sign this waiver and then we'll get into it. Most of the time I will sit down, but I set the clear expectations. We're going to talk about your goals, review your medical history. It's going to take about 15, 20 minutes. I like to do blood pressure and some grip strength stuff. Then we'll warm up and get into the workout. How does that sound, bill? You're confident in your delivery. Your personality needs to show through your tone. You're constantly using positive words, great handshakes, being professional, providing that service, give, give, give, give another 100 times that Constantly do better. We need to do better more often instead of settling for the lowest bar.
Speaker 1:I'm going to tell you about one of my most recent assessments, and this is going to be different. You're going to hear this oh my God, that's way too much, or you may. I want to charge that much, but this is from someone who's been doing it for 20 years. I've earned my stripes. I will do a 10 to 15 minute call prior to our first session, which is paid for in entirety. My full rate that I charge is 350. So I was given a referral from one of my medical professionals one of the best therapists arguably in the world and he said Chris, this guy's too cheap for me, I'm not going to work with him. You can take him Cheap. In your mind you may be thinking $25, $50, but my medical professionals who I surround myself charge $700 plus per hour. They are working with the 1%ers, the 0.1%ers. That first off, this is the qualified lead.
Speaker 1:When I reach out to him, I text before and I said hey, ben, how's it going? This is Chris. I always say howdy. That's just my personality. Don't say howdy if that's not you. I got a belt buckle so I can pull it off. No-transcript driving. I was parked. I made sure it wasn't loud and obnoxious in the background.
Speaker 1:When I called I said hello, ben, how's it going? This is Chris from show up fitness, wanted to talk to you more about some of your goals. I got a referral from Dr Whoever. Let's talk about what's going on, how can I help you? And that's exactly what I said. What's going on? How can I help you? And then he talked and talked and talked and I would ask questions about his heart health, his physical health, his mental health, anything. I should be aware of contraindications.
Speaker 1:Dr Blank said that this is what we're working with. You have some injuries with your ankle. Do you also have a therapist that you're working with outside of this doctor? I'd love to go to one of those PT sessions that you're going to, because I like to work closely with my medical team. I don't know who that therapist is, so I'd love to shadow one of those sessions. He's like oh, I mean, yeah, it's fine. I've actually never had a trainer do that before. I said, yeah, well, most trainers they get a textbook certification have no idea what the hell they're doing. They're screening with some overhead squat assessment, doing weird things on BOSU balls and ladder drills. I say that verbatim. They have a textbook certification. Nasa, mace, isa you got to be aware of those trainers. Now I'm educating him on my background degree in kinesiology. We teach personal trainers. We have one of the best internships in the world. Trainers gain hands-on experience and I'm the teacher of that. I'm the owner of this company. Yes, that's my braggart sheet. I let them know you're working with the best.
Speaker 1:So after he talked about what his goals were to improve his upper body strength and also work on his ankle stuff that's going on he used some vocabulary that was kind of sketchy because of his therapist another therapist he's working with. So he had glute amnesia and that his he literally said his gastroc was overactive. I said great, I can definitely help you with that. I didn't say upper cross syndrome is fake and that therapist is an idiot. No, I let him talk and talk and talk. Then I return the serve. I use the tennis analogy. I hit the ball to him However long he has on his side of the court. When he hits it back, I hit it back to him. I do it as a detective almost. I'm dissecting him little by little. I'm very confident. I know exactly how he trains. I know why he's not getting results. But I don't say that to him to make him feel bad. I'm very positive.
Speaker 1:So take me through, ben, what your typical chest day looks like. And he went through. I do bench press three sets. What are we hitting, ben? What's your PR? You know, I used to be on the bench three15 10 years ago and I wish I could get back up there. But you know, right now I'm doing 185 for five, six reps. That's what most dudes will say and that's exactly what he said In the past. He was benching a lot more, so I use that. Oh, ben, we'll get you back up there. That's going to feel good in your 40s getting that 315. I don't know, man, I thought that's not attainable anymore. Oh, absolutely, dude. When you work with the best, I will get you there. I guarantee it. I say that confidently.
Speaker 1:So he took me through his chest workout. Guess what? He paired it up with triceps. I knew exactly what his program was. So, after he told me, he benched and inclined dumbbells and did three variations of chest flies and then he ended off crushing his triceps with supinated push downs and all this other BS. I didn't make fun of him, but I just listened and I'm smiling on the phone because I know he can feel my energy. I'm not rolling my eyes putting it on me. This guy's a fucking idiot. What's he talking about? No, I'm super positive. I put on a show for the podcast and YouTube. That's my Gemini in me multi-personality. But when I'm on stage I shine.
Speaker 1:And then I said after he went through his whole chest day Ben, you're probably doing this for back and bys, this is what your leg workout looks like, and probably shoulders, and you probably have an arm day. He's like, yeah, that's exactly what I do. Awesome, when would be a good time for you to schedule to come into the gym so I can take you through a full hour workout? Tuesday at 5 am, that's when I like to work out. Great. I just want to let you know every session is $350. If you want to pay for each one or if you want to do in groups of 10, that's fine. What is easiest for you. That's my sales proposition.
Speaker 1:I don't give discounts for getting more New trainers probably should just because it gives you the confidence You're charging 100. If they get 30, it's going to be 90. And that will help build your confidence. I don't do that anymore and I don't necessarily recommend that for newer trainers because it takes cojones. I'm not going to negotiate with him because I've learned from my mentors it's not worth it.
Speaker 1:I know a therapist who had a client offer to pay him $50,000 if he were to discount his train 15%. He'd cut him a check right there, 50 grand. And he looked at him and said, no, unfortunately I don't do that. This is my rate, this is what it is. And I was like damn man, I would have taken that check he's like. But think about it like this, chris If I would have given him that discount, he's then going to go tell all of his billionaire friends that you can just swindle this guy and get cheaper sessions. So the next person that comes in, they're going to drop another 15, 20% and the next person another 10, 15%. Now you're training at half your rate.
Speaker 1:You need to know your value. That comes back to the beginning. You need to believe in your product and if your product isn't sharp, your clients will sense it. You're doing the FMS. You're doing overhead squat assessments. They don't do that regularly.
Speaker 1:That's fear-based. When you have someone do something that they've never done before or they really suck at, they're not going to perform well. Could you imagine going back to that football analogy? All right, we're going to change it up for fun. Hey, offensive lineman, you're going to be the quarterback for the next set of downs. They'll be like what? That's fucking stupid coach. Why the hell would we do that? We have to give our clients the benefit of the doubt. Wellness is a billion dollar industry. Your clients, who can afford you, are more competent than you think. They're reading articles, they're on TikTok, they're on Facebook, they're reading up and they're aware of this stuff so they can catch this bullshit that you're throwing at them.
Speaker 1:It's fear-based when you tell someone that this is overactive and I'm going to foam roll and stretch for five minutes and then we're going to walk and then we're going to do a stability ball press and a stability ball row. That's actually programming from NASM. I feel for the textbook trainers today because they're not set up for success. You take a client through a bullshit workout and they're going to be like oh yeah, let me think about it. That was good. Thanks, man, I'll talk to you later. And then, rightfully so, they ghost you.
Speaker 1:If I would have put Ben on a stability ball and done a single arm press, I mean, oh, that was really hard. We're really stabilizing right man. He'd be like normally when I do incline presses I'm doing 90 pounds, but with you I was doing 20. I guess that's like cool and all he's thinking like oh yeah, man, that was cool, but he's not bought into it. Inside he's thinking this is stupid. And you may be thinking, no, no, no, no, they need to be stable, blah, blah, blah. But you have to listen to what your client wants. In this case he's an executive. He's a bro. He's been lifting since he was in school at Pepperdine.
Speaker 1:Pepperdine's not a cheap school 50 plus thousand annually which his parents paid for, 50 plus thousand annually which his parents paid for. I learned about what his dad did. His mom did the family business. I ask questions. So I'll always ask new trainers when they take someone through an assessment who didn't sign up with them. Tell me about the profession, tell me about their family. Oh, actually, I don't know, I didn't get that. What do you mean? You didn't get that. That's part of the assessment process. You learn about them, you relate to them, you build that rapport, you find the low hanging fruit. So you can have that conversation.
Speaker 1:We talked about Pepperdine and Gonzaga. I'm a big Gonzaga fan. When it comes to college basketball. Oh yeah, we beat the hell out of you last year. You guys going to level up your program or what. I ought to go to games. You got to take me to one sometime. I'd love to. I can also take you to Lakers game if you want. We have box seats, the family does. Yeah, I hate the Lakers, I don't like them. I don't like NBA games, but I would go because it's an opportunity to network with other people. I'm a chameleon, but it's not fake. I'm not just saying stuff to make them feel good. I try to relate to him and when it comes to sports, that's low hanging fruit, boom, easy. We're going to connect, we're going to bro out on that, because then he's now thinking this guy's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:After I told him my rates 350 per session. I typically would do 10 or 20. How many times a week do you want to train with me? He said let's start with six. I said great, it's going to be. I took out my calculator. Hold on a second 350 times 24 sessions, it's going to be $8,400. You want me to just send you over an invoice or do you want to pay on day one? He said you can just send the invoice to my secretary, she'll take care of it. I said great, looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday.
Speaker 1:This was on a Saturday, so on Monday I reached out to him via text. Yeah, that'd be great, man, it's a black coffee. I go to Starbucks. Is that okay? It's really the only place that's open at 4.30, because I get to the gym before my clients do. It's 4.30 in Santa Monica. It's creepy out there. There's a bunch of homeless people wandering around. We're lucky that we have a door that's locked with a special code. So I actually waited in my truck. I got there at 4.30. I'm drinking my coffee, I'm reading and I texted him at 4.45. When you're near, let me know, I will walk you in. And guess what? He came at 5.10. He's not a punctual individual. I stayed out in my car, but I went into the gym prior, got everything fixed up, made sure the bathroom looked and smelled good, made sure everything was put away, the AC was on. Then I walked him in this is the first time that he saw the gym and I said hey, welcome to Show Up Fitness. Here's the code for the future. You can put your stuff over here. Let's talk a little bit more about what she says.
Speaker 1:Going on with your ankle Screened, his ankle did a little warmup. Guess what we did? First, cca baby, we got into a bench press, did some chin-ups and then we did some planks and I worked on his calf mobility. So technically it'd be like a CCAA. I pivot, based on the individual, did that for four rounds because he's been lifting for a while and we got up to 185 and I pushed him. Normally he does five reps. I pushed him to eight. I did extra reps to let him know the value in working with me. The second CCA we did incline presses, we did rows and then we did some more ab work. The last one we got into some legs he likes to trap bar deadlift and then we did some chest flies, which technically would be an A, an accessory, and then we did some biceps and triceps. So we did a C-A-A-A.
Speaker 1:But, chris, you taught us the C-C-A, that's it. That's all I have to do. You are a smart, competent, critically thinking trainer. You have to adjust. I'm not just doing all single isolation stuff. The first core movement pattern focuses on your client's goals and you get after it. I make sure that he's going to volitional fatigue because that's what stimulates his muscles to grow. And after training him for two weeks, it was hilarious because I went to his physical therapy session the next day, got there early, met the therapist. They were doing some weird shit. I let him know that our therapists that we work with in-house are significantly superior. If he wants to try them out, I'll pay for the first session. So he scheduled that session with him After two weeks of training.
Speaker 1:He's like dude, he's a big tool and I love tools because I'm a tool. He took his shirt off in the morning. It's like 5.15. He's like man, look at, my abs are coming. This is the best I've ever looked. Look at my chest and he's doing a little chest dance. I'm like, yeah, but look at my calves and I flexed my calves. He's like, damn man, I need to get those calves. I'm like, don't worry, we'll start getting after them more. We had fun. We're bro-ing out. It's a relationship. He enjoyed being with me. He paid me $8,400 for that first month. Two weeks in he brought me a $400 bottle of whiskey.
Speaker 1:You said you liked this stuff, so I thought you might want to try this one. I was like, oh, thanks, man. That's awesome. Man, that's what it's like to be a professional trainer. You get to pick and choose the type of clientele you work with, but as a new trainer, you have to establish yourself. So what can you do today?
Speaker 1:This challenge that I'm going to give you is going to scare the living shit out of you. I'm going to give you an easier one. First, which I mentioned earlier Record yourself, do a sales presentation, watch it, print out the transcript, read it. How are your word fillers? Are you talking yourself out of the sale? And it's going to be a difficult challenge because there's not going to be feedback from that actual conversation. It's a hypothetical, but you can still learn a lot from this exercise. And then we can hop on a call and then I want you to pitch me. But the best thing that you can do if you're at a big box gym or even if you're an independent trainer in the area, go to your type of clientele. So if you are at an Equinox for Lifetime, here's my challenge for you Go up to 10 clients.
Speaker 1:This is a 100% fail exercise. You're not going to win. Go up to some random person. Hey, how's it going? My name's Chris. I'm a trainer here. You know what I'm really working on. I really want to improve my sales skills. So I want to give you one free session and then we're going to go into the lobby and then I'm going to try to sell you my sessions. But I want you to decline everything. I want you to object every single thing that I'm doing, be negative, be pessimistic, push back, push back, push back. I am not going to sell you, but then afterwards, I want you to give me some feedback on how I could improve. I'm going to give you a checklist prior where you can observe where I want to improve, because I'm so passionate about helping people. So this is an area. This is a weakness In the internship I went through.
Speaker 1:It's called the SWIFT analysis. You've got your strengths, your weaknesses, your action items, the things that you can improve, implement, innovate, your fears and your threats. And right now, a huge fear of mine is sales. So if you want a free session, which is normally 150 bucks, if you could give me that feedback afterwards, I would really appreciate it. They could say, no, I don't want to do that. Fine, go to someone else, take a don't give a flying fuck mentality and get after it. There needs to be urgency. You could do this in one day. Get those 10 people set up, listen to their goals, text them back and forth what do you want to train? Whatever they want to train, take them through one hell of a workout and then pitch them. Ask them. If you can record it, that's going to be the best feedback you will ever get. Those 10 sessions, those 10 hours maybe 15 hours will be the most valuable that you will ever receive in your entire profession, but that's going to set up your success.
Speaker 1:If I would have done that when I was a new trainer, my life would be significantly different from where I'm at now and I think I'm doing pretty damn well with our certifications, with our brand. Our team, our team is the best that's out there. Now, if you want me to do this with you, I'm going to charge you my hourly rate. But our team we have live calls Tyson, tori, adam, josh, the Magans. They're the best that's out there. They charge over a hundred bucks per session. They're confident. You could work with one of them and in one hour you can go out there and be significantly more confident. You could work with one of them and in one hour you can go out there and be significantly more confident. But that's why we offer this within our certification, whether if you're getting certified for life the soft tissue, the nutrition cert, whichever one it is you get access to fitness professionals.
Speaker 1:You can ask questions. The Qualified Personal Trainers Community on Facebook. It's an awesome community to be a part of because you're surrounded by like-minded trainers. I want you to go to a gym and ask 10 trainers if they've done anything that I've told you today. Start with anatomy. Then ask them about their team and ask them if they've ever done this sales exercise. I guarantee you it's going to be a no not great with anatomy, or they're going to say they are. Then quiz them. Oh, you're great with that. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:What are the hamstring muscles On this outside? There's a guitar string On the posterior side. What hamstring muscle is that? Do you know? And you're not doing it in a demeaning way like what is this one dipshit? No, you're just having a conversation. You're filling them out. Are you pretty good at the 17 muscle shoulder? Could you tell me them right now? Oh, man, that stuff's not important. Man, your clients don't care about that. What's your closing rate? Who's on your team? Do you have a physical therapist that you refer your clients to, or an RD? Do you network with any doctors in the area? No, no and no, because if they were to have that conversation, it's show up in their dental tea floss, gold gym shirt or alpha elite, whatever it is Yo, bro, what's up? Man, you got any clients for me? Take, take and take more. We don't give, give, give. If you take a giving mentality, focus on the person in front of you, let them talk.
Speaker 1:You believe in your product because you're competent. You're building your team. You do not overcomplicate the process. You give them one, two, at the very most three options. I'm not against three options in the beginning, because it really builds trainer's confidence. You have your sticker price a hundred. You have your price that you want them to go to, say 10, 16, 24 sessions, and then you have your home run for 50 sessions. So then they see sticker price 100, and they see a price that's like 3,000, and they see one that's like 12,000. So the 12,000 is too much, so they're just going to be zoomed in on that middle session. That's the package that they're going to get. That makes it easier for a newer trainer.
Speaker 1:I look at the pricing structures of some of these big box gyms and I feel for the trainers because they're not setting them up for success. They have six options and they have 30 minute options and they have partner options and they have stuff over here and other stuff and it's just too confusing. It's like going to an elephant bar or a restaurant that has so many different food options. You over-complicated it and if you're hungry, you don't know what you want. I do this all the time with our instructors.
Speaker 1:We were here this weekend Josh was here, both Megans and we had a little team building event, had some good workouts, and I asked him. I said where do you guys want to go for lunch? I don't know, I don't know and I gave him shit and I was like make a decision. Put your big boy and big girl pants on, tell me what you want. We are not the best at making decisions, so you need to make decisions for people and that's what the assessment process is. I know that they're frustrated and they're scared and their mind's been filled with shit. They're not confident in the way they look or they feel, and they probably feel like shit because they're not sleeping. They're really stressed out and they're really just scared. They want to feel good in their genes. So I take them through the assessment process knowing that I am their savior. I'm going to provide an amazing service. I'm super professional. I mirror them.
Speaker 1:When I was taking Ben through the assessment, he started cussing. I started cussing. I can cuss at my gym because no one else is in here. Don't start cussing at Equinox, because if someone overhears you, if you say fuck and then they say fuck and they say it again, because someone else said fuck and someone hears you saying fuck, they're going to tell your manager. You said fuck and now you're fucked. You don't want that. You don't want a bad review on Google for the company you work for. So you have to mirror your client, but also be aware of your surroundings.
Speaker 1:This is an amazing field and if you take this approach, that sales isn't negative. It isn't a bad part of our job. It's like a team that is pass heavy, that needs to get better at running. And how do you get better at running? You run more. You run more. You run more. If you want a basketball analogy, how do you get better at free throws? You shoot more. You shoot more.
Speaker 1:Soccer you run the drills, you run the drills, and it's the same drills that you keep on running to become confident. You don't do 50 random drills. I saw CrossFit doing this drill, so we're going to do it in soccer. That's stupid, it's not going to work. And again, that's what a lot of trainers do because they're not confident in the process. One workout's 15 exercises. The next workout's 15 different exercises. The client had the money, so they signed up with you for 1,500 bucks, but at the end they go. I'm gonna be out of town for a couple of weeks. I'll sign up when I come back. They're not gonna sign back up because they didn't get the results, because you didn't set those clear expectations from the get-go.
Speaker 1:Listen to this podcast again. I'm doing a lot more YouTubes. I'm challenging myself to do a sub stack article per day, a YouTube post per day and at least one to two Instagram or TikTok posts per day. I need to hold myself accountable because we need trainers to know that there are options for success and textbooks. Don't set you up for them. If you're struggling with sales, check out our live calls.
Speaker 1:We have a certification for life. That's the SUFCPT. You never have to renew that. You don't have to get recertified and pay Big Brother a bunch of additional money when you could be investing it into going out there and networking with people, getting a trainer yourself, hiring a physical therapist. We have a soft tissue course which will change the game. You will learn how to assess people in pain general population and athletes and there's a proven system that works. You don't just show people random exercises when you implement the soft tissue and your client goes, holy shit, I feel so much better. Instagram showcasing SUF STMs that's soft tissue mobilization certification and they're crushing it and they're like wow, I've literally been able to double my pricing because of this certification. And you get a physical therapist on your team and you shadow them. And then we have our nutrition cert, which you get to work with RDs to start developing more streams of revenue.
Speaker 1:We just had a great call the other day with one of our SUFNCs nutrition coaches. Marcus just sold a $1,400 package. That's $1,400 he's now made, whereas before he was not generating revenue from nutrition. Trainers should absolutely be making money from talking about nutrition. Don't be that trainer who talks about it within the session. If you want to level up your career, you need to have conversations with fitness professionals who are confident and competent in the material and it's not some sales script that we're going to give you, like fucking Andy Elliott or Grant Cardone, a bunch of smoking bullshit that's not going to actually work. These are proven systems that help you become confident because we help you with the competence of our trade. Remember big biceps are better than small ones and keep showing up.