If you don’t become crystal clear on who your niche market is then you’re really going to struggle to earn a good living in the Personal Training industry.
Very few actually ‘make it’ if they just stick to being a generalist. The crazy thing is that the majority of trainers fall into this category.
Trainers that work in a gym often say that they have to train everyone as that is the gyms market and it’s out of their control. This is rubbish. You can still carve out a specialism within the gym as the being the ‘go to trainer’ for a certain niche. You might just want to specialise in training women for fat loss and toning or men in their 20s trying to build muscle, or guys in their 30’s and 40’s trying to get rid of their beer bellies.
There will be a certain group that you will feel most comfortable with and will be able to build rapport with easier. Focus on them. Then start promoting yourself as the specialist for that group. As soon as you do this, you will start to stand out and will no longer be competing with others on price alone.
This applies to anyone that has their own studio or bootcamp business as well. I know that when I type ‘personal trainers in Northampton’ which is my local area into google around 50 names will appear – this is without those that work in gyms!
When someone is searching for a PT like this they have very little compare from one to another. The obvious thing is price (which is why you should never have your price on your webiste – but I’ll save that for another post). The thing is they all look the same –
“Hi my name is ………,
I’ve always had a passion for fitness…………
I love helping people………..
I used to play football/netball for the county……..
Here are my qualifications……….”
The BIG problem with this is that it everything looks the same and therefore price is the only differentiator.
The main reason that I get a lot of high converting enquiries each week from my website alone is that it stands out to my specific market.
Picture this for a second. A local Northampton lady has a holiday coming up in 3 months time and wants to get in shape, so she decides to search for a local PT. She does a google search on her phone and comes across a couple of trainers as described above, so keeps looking. Then……..
..she arrives on my site where she is greeted by a massive moving image of a fit looking woman and in massive writing the text “TRANSFORM YOUR BODY IN 6 WEEKS”
She then scrolls down the page and is greeted by “Northampton’s Fastest Growing Ladies Only Training Company” and then a load of before and after photos and video testimonials of women talking about their results.
There is nothing about me on that homepage!! Nothing about my qualifications and nothing about me playing football part time for Manchester United when I was younger. It’s all about them and the result they could achieve by joining us.
There is then also a FREE FAT LOSS REPORT that they can receive straight away by leaving their email address and then also a separate contact us form should they want any further info.
I Am A Specialist
My company is not a generalist company. We turn people away that do not fit our niche. Don’t get me wrong when I was just starting out 22 months ago with no clients this was a really tough thing for me to do, but I was certain it was right. Word soon got around that my company was where ‘Northampton women go to if they want results”.
Now this bit is important. Due to this decision I was then able to charge more. I charge more for our bootcamp sessions and more for our PT sessions than any of the other local PTs or gyms. But the market is surprisingly willing to pay a bit more money if they can be sure that you will help them to achieve the result that they want.
There is a higher chance of this happening with a specialist than there is with a generalist.
When referring to the balance of power diagram, once you move into that specialist tier, not only will you start to earn more money but you will become like a client attraction magnet. Your potential clients will start seeking you out.
When you reach celebrity status within your niche that’s when you start earning even bigger money. This involves further strategies such as getting on the radio, in magazines and TV as the expert within your niche, but that’s for another day.
For now though, focus on becoming a specialist, get your website to scream at your market and stand out when they land on it and start moving your way up that pyramid.
Ricky
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