As a personal trainer, do you have a USP? Do you even think it’s important to have a USP?
I remember, back in the day, when I first started working as a personal trainer, I thought it was better to be a ‘jack of all trades’ personal trainer – surely it was better to appeal to a much wider audience by studying as many CPD courses as possible? Surely more people would want to train with me if I could cater for everyone’s goals, fitness levels, abilities, etc? But I soon learned that this isn’t case……
Whilst I do believe that a personal trainer should be able to work with, and appeal, to a decent cross-section of individuals, especially as the industry becomes more and more competitive, I am a firm believer that it is more and more important to have your own USP and use these strengths to create your client base.
When I first qualified as a personal trainer, I worked for a large health club chain. At that time I hadn’t studied many further CPD courses other than my Level 3 personal trainers course but despite this I did have a USP – I was the only female personal trainer in the health club! This meant those people who didn’t want to train with a male trainer trained with me! I also like to think the actual reason clients trained with me was because I was a good personal trainer who got results too!
When I left the health club I set up my own mobile personal training company – there you go – another USP. At that time there weren’t many personal trainers who offered a mobile service so I travelled far and wide! However, over time, more personal trainers appeared on the scene and I soon realised I needed to do something to make me stand out from the crowd – I needed a USP and I needed to ‘market’ my USP, and market it well!
When I had studied my personal trainers qualification I also gained my pre and post natal qualification; this was something which many other trainers didn’t offer so I used this to my advantage and made it one of my USP’s to gain more clients. And it worked! I ran pre and post natal training groups in addition to 1:1 sessions…..and, as we know, us ladies love to gossip, so the word spread and I was getting referrals left, right and centre from my clients to train their friends, or their friends to join the group sessions I was running.
The key to all this is that taking some time out to look at what my USP was, turned my business around. I ended up turning business away because I was that busy…something I didn’t want to do – not because of the money, but because I hate to say no to helping people! So I decided to open my own studio so I could employ other personal trainers and then I didn’t have to turn clients away!
In addition to being a Director of M8 CPD, I also now have two personal training studios in Leeds and currently employ 4 other personal trainers – all of whom have their own USP’s.
Working in the fitness industry as a personal trainer is hugely competitive, so I would strongly recommend that you take some time out to think about what your USP is, and market this like mad…it will make you stand out from the ever-growing crowd of other personal trainers out there.
My top tips to creating your USP:
- Chose an area you love and are really interested in (I love training pregnant women and seeing how their bodies change throughout their pregnancy)
- Invest some time and money into the topic – attend seminars, CPD courses in the topic and stay up to date with any new research
- Spend time reading journals about the topic
- Look at other personal trainers working in your area – what are they doing, what can you do different?
- Don’t be afraid to SHOUT about it…..clients want to know WHY they should train with you – make sure they know about your experience and expertise in the area
- Take some time to offer free seminars, workshops in your area of expertise – you will be surprised at how many new clients/referrals. you will gain from this