How to manage personal training services more efficiently

Personal training is one of the most expensive and popular services a gym can offer. Unfortunately, this department is also the most overlooked when it comes to efficient management. To have the expected yield, PT services should rise to your members' standards. Otherwise, these services will not have the anticipated profit and might even contribute to a lower retention rate.

You don't have to invest a lot of money and time in this department, to ensure its success. With a few right strategies, your trainers can expand your business almost immediately, and the PT department will run on its own.

Free assessments for each new member

Though this might be a significant investment, each new member must have a free assessment session with one of your trainers. This will increase the chances for those members to remain with your gym and not give up during their first month. It is also an excellent opportunity to convince members to purchase extra PT sessions.

An assessment session should not take more than half an hour. This is not a training session, but a tour of the facilities, and it gives the trainer a chance to show new members the gym's services and equipment. The trainer should help the new member set out a concrete fitness goal and provide advice on what material they should use, the type of workouts or classes most useful for them, and a few nutrition tips that will help them reach that goal.

The assessment session should highlight how great the gym is and, if your trainer is also a good salesperson, by the end of it, they should convince the new member to train with them.

Draw up an organizational plan for your trainers

Structure is essential for any department, including Personal Training. Pt sessions should have a fixed rate, and all PT packages should be purchased at the reception desk or online.

Then trainers should have their own schedule to set the periods when they are available for PT sessions in a particular location. This is very useful, mainly if a trainer works in more than one location or coordinates group classes too. That way, the team at the front desk or the PT coordinator will not schedule by mistake a session when the trainer is not available.

Of course, each PT session must be scheduled in the calendar, so that at the end of the month, you can quickly check how many sessions each trainer had, particularly if their wages are dependent on their activity.

Suppose you have access in real-time to all this information. In that case, it will be a lot easier to oversee the entire department, without having to ask every trainer about their activity. This way, you can easily identify which of your trainers are the most hard-working and who is not rising to the challenge.

Hire qualified trainers

To encourage members to invest in sessions with personal trainers, it's essential to provide quality services. That is why you should make sure your trainers are true professionals and have the right knowledge and experience to train members. Hire qualified people and help them extend their qualifications. Encourage them to attend different programs and support them in acquiring as many new qualifications as possible. That way, your PT packages will have greater value, and you can set higher rates because you provide top-notch services.

It is also important to set out a procedure for all your trainers, regarding how they communicate with members and the services they provide. It is not sufficient for a PT to simply explain an exercise and leave the member to perform that routine on their own, while the trainer is on their phone. A good PT needs to motivate their clients, encourage them, and help them overcome their limits. Indeed, a trainer cannot train alongside their clients every day, especially if they have back-t-back sessions. But the client must be encouraged throughout the session, and the trainer must give them all their attention.

It is also very important that trainers maintain a connection with their clients outside sessions to create a relationship with them, which will translate into loyal members, renewals, and multiple PT packages purchases.

Differentiate rates according to your trainers' experience

Surely not all your trainers have the same experience and qualifications. Why would you have your members pay the same rates for PT sessions, no matter the trainer they are working with? That doesn't mean you should not hire entry-level trainers, but their services should not have the same rates as those of a seasoned trainer with dozens do qualifications and years of experience. It's very important to give new trainers a chance because you also get to mold them according to your services and procedures.

Moreover, if you provide PT packages at different rates, members will appreciate the variety and will be more inclined to invest in these services. This will also help make experienced trainers feel more valued.

Provide trainers incentives to recruit new clients

Trainers should be in a continuous search for new clients, amongst your gym members, but outside as well. Unfortunately, not everyone has this drive. Therefore, you should give them reasons to make this effort. And what better reason than money? Therefore, don't give them a fixed wage, but a percentage of the PT packages sold and allocated to them, or a fixed sum for each PT session they attend. That way, it is in their best interest to persuade their clients to purchase more PT packages.

Provide them all the tools they need for making these sales, including access to the gym management software so they can personally sell new packages to their clients, and not depend on the people at the reception desk.

This way, they can figure out in real-time their earnings on that month, after each PT package sold or finalized session. Moreover, the trainer and client relationship is closer, and trainers have more chances of persuading members to purchase these packages than a salesperson, the marketing team, or the people at the front desk.

Offer PT sessions as benefits to the most expensive memberships

This is a good strategy, particularly if your PT sales are down. Provide one or more free PT sessions to members how are in 12-month or 24-month long contracts. This way, those memberships will have a higher value, and your trainers will have the perfect opportunity to persuade those members to purchase PT packages.

Often, members are intimidated by these services, and they are not willing to purchase them, because they think they can train on their own. But a free PT session will be convincing enough, and members will understand the purpose and the benefits of a personal trainer.

Invest in digital solutions for your trainers

Give your trainers control over their own schedule. If they can set their availability periods in the gym and program their PT sessions, that means less work for you or your PT coordinator. And it's a lot easier for your trainers as well because they don't have to ask someone every time they need to change their schedule.
Most gym management software has features for personal trainers. But that means that trainers need access to a computer for every task, which can prove difficult when scheduling new sessions with a client while training with them in the gym.

The most useful tools for personal trainers are mobile apps synced with the gym management system. Just like everyone else, trainers always carry their phones with them. With a trainer app, they can schedule their availability periods and PT sessions on their phone, and change them as they please. They won't need a computer for that, and the management system saves all operations performed by trainers in the app, soo you can easily keep track of their activity.

Another feature essential for a trainer app is the possibility to sell PT packages straight from the app. The conversion of a client is easier if the trainer can convince them to purchase the package on the spot, and he can set up the service using his phone, and then simply email his client the details of the package and a link where they can pay for the PT sessions online. This way, the entire transaction can be done on the spot, and the trainer doesn't have to accompany the client to the reception desk or just trust that the client will di this on their way out.

Since the client pays online, the trainer is not exchanging money and doesn't have to issue a fiscal receipt. All operations are online, and they can be tracked in the management system. 

A quick catch up...

Personal training is a valuable resource for any gym or fitness center, as long as they are properly managed. Therefore, pay close attention to this department, and you'll see how your retention rate will quickly increase, s well as your revenue. Set out an organizational plan so that your trainers' activity is easy to oversee. Provide free assessment sessions to every new member or free PT sessions for long-term contracts, to give your members a chance to see the value of these services.

Make sure your trainers are professionals who know how to act with clients. Invest in entry-level trainers, but the rate for their sessions should be lower than those with trainers with more experience. Pay your trainers by the sessions sold or attended, to motivate them to get more clients. Provide a dedicated mobile app that will help them manage their own schedule and sell PT packages directly from their phones.

If you correctly manage your personal training department, your trainers will help your members reach their fitness goals easier, and they, in turn, will be more loyal to your gym. If your trainers are always on the gym floor with their clients, the rest will see how they help their clients and be interested in sharing their experience and results.