Learning the art of selling is an important step in growing your personal training business. Often, when people hear the word sales, a picture of a pushy car salesperson or telemarketer immediately comes to mind. And while there are pushy salespeople, the truth is sales gets a bad rap. Because, when it comes down to it, the art of learning how to sell your personal training  is really just the process of understanding what your potential clients want and showing them how your services fit their needs. It’s less about the sales process and more about helping people meet their goals. 

As fitness professionals, our sales job is to understand what each prospective client wants from an exercise program and to then help them see how our personal training packages can help them achieve their goals. This article breaks down how to sell in a ‘non-sales way’ in 5 easy steps. 

Step one: get leads and build a sales funnel

The first step in your sales cycle is having people to sell to, which starts with knowing your niche. This helps you identify what a potential client is looking for and how your personal training sessions can help. 

Once you know your niche, it all comes down to your fitness marketing efforts. Through your marketing channels, you’ll build a sales funnel (or pool of incoming leads) within your target market so that you always have potential clients in your back pocket at any given time.  

Step two: offer a free consultation 

Offering a free consultation is a great way to get people into your sales funnel and gather information about what they may be looking for in a personal training plan. If your business is strictly online, you can gather this information through an online survey or the consultation form in your Trainerize app.  

The consultation phase is an essential step because it allows you to understand your potential client’s fitness goals and what they want to achieve from fitness coaching. Knowing this helps you better match your services to their needs. 

Get inspired on how to write the perfect initial client questionnaire!

Step three: ask questions

Asking questions is arguably the most important step in the sales process because it allows you to gather information on what your potential client needs. Clients come to us for many reasons. For example, to lose weight, feel healthier etc. Your job is to uncover each client’s motivation so you can better help them visualize how your services will get them there.

Great initial questions to ask are: 

• How many times a week do you plan to train? 
• What do you hope to achieve from regular training sessions?

Based on their answers, together, you can start to explore which personal training package will help them get to where they want to be.

Becoming an expert at asking questions is important because if you do it well (and really listen to what your potential customer wants), it saves you time since you’ll already have covered every potential objection they might have. So it pays to practice getting really good and actively listening to potential clients’ answers. In no time, you’ll be an expert at matching what you offer to your prospective clients’ needs.

Step four: overcome objections

If you’ve done the first steps well, there shouldn’t be too many objections. However, it’s best to be prepared. When it comes to personal training, the most common objections are:

• Price
• time 
• And wanting to shop around.

At this stage in the sales process, many personal trainers often lose momentum for fear of being pushy. The good news is you don’t have to be pushy to help someone overcome their objections.

The best salespeople offer empathy and are creative in their answers. For example:

“Wow, that’s expensive” can be answered honestly with something like this: “ya, I hear you; it’s definitely an investment. So let me ask you if you weren’t spending the money on training, what would you spend it on? “

Take time to actively listen to their answers and go from there.

The objection, “I don’t have time,” is a great opportunity to talk about your online personal training packages.” You can meet this objection with something like:

“I can relate; it’s hard to schedule it in.” Realistically, how many times a week can you see yourself committing to a training program? Would you find it easier to workout at home?”  

The key to any objection is to ask and then listen, not to push or tell your potential clients what to do.

If you need extra support on this, we recommend Vanita Cashion’s book  Guide for Personal Trainers: System for Selling Personal Training. There’s a great section on overcoming objections.

Mike Bell’s The Art of Selling Personal Training is also a great resource. His book provides scripts and ideas for how to overcome objections. It’s a great resource for practicing overcoming objections.

Step five: ask for the sale

Finally, you can’t have a sale without asking for one😉. A great way to segway into this is to ask: “is there any other question I can answer?” Then pause and wait for their response.

They may immediately say yes, sign me up, or they may have more questions that you can answer. 

Keep in mind that you’re not going to get every sale, and that’s okay. You can keep their information and use it in future marketing.

How to upsell as a personal trainer?

Once your potential client agrees to sign up for your program, don’t miss an opportunity to upsell. For example if you offer meal plans ask if they have an interest in those too. You can always build packages that offer a discount when they buy both.

How can I sell personal training on the gym floor?

If you have a studio space, you can absolutely sell on the gym floor. It’s a great opportunity to have face-to-face contact and get feedback from clients. Take opportunities to ask what’s working and what could be improved upon. Start to recognize opportunities to add more value through other services you offer.

Finally, selling your personal training services is about confidence in your offerings, building value and helping match your potential clients’ needs with your fitness packages.

Looking to help your fitness business stand out? We can help! Trainerize lets you help clients track their progress, monitor weight loss and track meals. You can also track leads in your sales funnel for future marketing campaigns. Download Trainerize and get started growing your business today.