3 mistakes personal trainers make when it comes to selling

Selling may not the biggest thrill you get in your day but it’s what pays the bills and keeps you in business. Learning how to avoid some common mistakes will help you build your clientele and feel more comfortable in a sales role. Here are just three mistakes you should avoid when offering your services to prospective clients.

Not building trust

Before you leap into the benefits, values and price for your service establish trust. People buy from people they know and trust. They don’t want to be misled. They want fair value and results. Build trust between and you will have an easier time when it comes time to talk about your services.

Tip: Build trust by actively listening to your prospect and only recommend the training package you think they need instead of trying to sell them what they don’t need.

Not establishing fit before fee

Not qualifying the prospect first is a big mistake I see most trainers make. Not everyone is your client. You must be clear who your target audience is and then spend time speaking and attracting those people. If you train seniors then don’t waste your time marketing or trying to sell to the youth market. Once you understand that the whole world is not your customer it makes it easier to sell your services.

Tip: Create a profile of your perfect client and use it as a blueprint to quality if a new prospect fits that profile. You can develop specific questions that you ask each prospect to qualify them first.

Being afraid of rejection

People are going to say no to you, I guarantee it.  But if you build trust, establish the right fit and understand that no just means no not now then you won’t take it personally. Just because someone isn’t ready to begin working with you now doesn’t mean they won’t think about it in the future. The no you receive is not about you personally. There may be many reasons why a prospect doesn’t want to start training. But for every no there is a yes. Move on, learn from the no and how you can improve your skills and just keep going.

Tip: Role play past scenarios where people have told you no and what they said. Then try and turn those no’s around and see if there was a way you could have gotten to yes.

There’s only one way to improve your sales technique and start feeling more comfortable about doing it and that’s to practice. Any good athlete knows, you don’t win medals by sitting on the bench, watching others or reading books. You have to get in the game and do the work. So know it’s your turn to get in the game. Assess whether you fell victim to these common pitfalls and if you have then turn it around and start working to improve your skills. Perhaps a little business coaching and role playing is all you need to start feel competent in this area.