Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 032: Bonus Episode: How to Succeed as a Personal Trainer

Episode Date: February 24, 2015

Attention personal trainers... Do you want attract more clients than you can handle and command top dollar for your services? Then you need to listen to this episode. There are plenty of good (and even great) trainers that struggle to make it in the business. In this episode Sal, Adam and Justin break down exactly what you must do to translate your knowledge and skill into cash.

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind, hop, mind, hop with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. Welcome back to Mind Pump, the sexiest show on iTunes. Alright, let's talk about, we want to answer a question here. Are we the sexiest show on iTunes? I think so. Well, who's sexier?

Let's name him off. You're nobody. Not a single person. Joe Rogan's pretty sexy. He's a sexy. And he has like four point two million more fault. Are you? That's definitely a lot of sex.

Do you have a man crush on him? Well, you know, I really like him. I do. I like a lot of stuff. So we talked about this. I'm gonna put it out there, because I think we put it out there it might happen. Okay, Joe. Listen, we said-

We wrote barbells and shrugs. We- Not that sexy. Yeah. We said when we first started, we know we made it if we end up on the Joe Rogan show. Yeah. So if we end up on the Joe Rogan, bro,

just put us on the show. Dude, I was just making him a listener, bro, because I want- I like listening, man. Listen, man, I used to do Jitsu, bro. I live with AIDS. We smoke pot. We're like, like, all, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we might as well be brothers.

Yeah. That, that, we, we need to have him on as a kid. That'd be the ultimate is to have him on a gas or, or go into a show. We'd go on his show. I don't think he'd be on our show. Yeah. For good. It's like, fuck, that I can't fly.

For good. All right. All right. So let's answer a question here. So this is a really good question. It was on our mind pump Instagram page. If you haven't gone on there yet or subscribed or what's the follow it? Excuse me. Right. Do it as soon as possible. Hit pause. Go on there. Follow us. Come back. All right. Thank you for coming back. Here we go.

I would love to hear a show on how to become successful in the fitness industry. In other words, owning a gym and how to better yourself as a personal friend like that question This was asked by a underscore Brady 91 okay, thanks for that question. That's a great. I think this is a we are the right people to ask because the three of us have all Achieved well, we are because we've all achieved great Cuz we're awesome. Yeah, we're pretty much the perfect people to ask that question So let us go ahead and tell you yeah Yeah, no, because we've all been successful in fit and effort. No, I'm just, I'm just messing with you. So along that topic, I'm gonna go into how to become a successful, let's say personal trainer.

Okay. Now, here's what I found and you guys training, if you guys agree or disagree, most trainers, and I mean most trainers that I've ever met, had a deep passion for fitness and training. That was never, that's almost never an issue. People who become trainers really like to train people or really want to train people,

something that they enjoy. Is this where I tell you I was one of those people? Well, or do I wait? Well actually, that makes sense. That's gonna be perfect. Right, what I'm about to say here. Okay, so you're saying and then I'll explain why I'm not one of those people.

Right, so most trainers love training and most trainers hate sales. They hate sales. They hate sales. They're not good at selling themselves or selling their products. And so they're not good at it. Yeah, exactly. So I would say you want to be a successful trainer, learn how to sell. Learn how to be a good sales person because that will make you successful far better than

just being a good trainer. I know I'm known too many good trainers who were horrible at sales that never became successful. Yeah, it's about selling yourself. Right, and I think, now Adam, you wouldn't want a training but you like to sell. Yeah, so you had a lot of clients. I was, yeah, I was actually, and I think Justin, because I know Justin,

I actually hired Justin, so I know how he was and what he was like. I would say him and I are the complete opposite here where he, I believe he was and what he was like. I would say him and I are the complete opposite here where I believe he was a really good trainer very early on in his career and as he continued to only get better, I don't think he liked sale. I'll let him talk about himself and some of that. I don't have a bitch.

Yeah, I don't have a bitch. I'll tell you why, I don't believe I was a very good trainer at all for the first few years. And I say not at all, I'm not that bad. I believe that was a very good trainer at all for the first few years. And I say not at all, I'm not, I'm not that bad. I just, I think I'm a far better trainer now than what I was then. And it's not because so much that I wasn't good at it, it's because I had more of a passion for sales.

I love sales. Sales is in my blood. My mother did it, my uncle's dead it, my father did it, my grandparents did it. Like my whole family has been in sales my entire life. I didn't realize my- My very charismatic, you know, that's an easy way to sell people.

And it came very natural. So it came very natural for me. And then I got some good advice at an early age as far as learning to focus on things that I was already good at and become great at it versus really dwelling on the things that wasn't great at. And I wasn't the greatest trainer. When it came down to breaking down someone's nutrition and their diet and understanding

why they're not gaining or losing weight, I wasn't the best at program design. I was decent. Yeah, but you learn from everybody that was good at it. That's where you're strong. I'm the Henry Ford of fitness. I was notorious for surrounding myself with other fitness professionals and leaders around me that were far greater than myself. And I've been a sponge my whole life.

I've learned to, I've never had it as much as we joke and stuff like that about our egos and cell and I tease each other about who's cockier and who's more confident. First place. Yeah. I, I, there, there is, there is actually a lot of humility to it. And you have to be humble because if you're going to continue to grow, you've got to be open minded, you've got to be able to, the, the, the trainers that only go so far are the ones that learn, the learn a certain certification or finish straight out of school. And they, they get in doctrine

with this way of doing things. And then that's, they just get great, that one way versus being open-minded to growing and learning. And by far, the sales aspect, from a financial standpoint, nothing's going to take you further. You can be an average trainer, but if you've got some mad sales skills, you're going to be very, I mean, I have bought my house at 21 years old. And it all came from 24-arphiveness

and it all came from being a personal trainer. And being a good sales person. Being a very good sales person. Very good. Yeah, if I were to break it down into, you know, giving you guys, the listeners right now, giving you guys something to hold on to, just to kind of put together

in terms of your own sales skills, I would say number one, have a good assessment, right? You gotta have a good assessment. And what does an assessment do? Well, I think as trainers, we automatically assume an assessment helps you identify muscle imbalances and look at muscle recruitment patterns and kind of figure out what the client's gonna do

with the workout. And yes, that is a part of what an assessment is. But an assessment also serves as the way you build value and the way you start to sell yourself as a trainer. So if you're assessing a client and you're not communicating to them, what you see and how you're going to fix it, you've wasted that assessment.

So when you do your assessment, you make sure when you identify things, you bring them back to the client or to the potential client in terms of how to apply to them. So, for example, if I notice the client has a really common posture deviation notice forward shoulder, that's where the shoulders come forward. I might say something like, you know,

is your neck tight? You probably have a tight neck, and they'll be like, yes, it is. You are at desk job? Yeah, and this is exactly, and this is because I know that forward shoulder usually results in overactive upper trapezius, which gives you a tight neck. Now to the potential client, I sound like a fucking wizard, right?

How did he know that? Yeah. But it's just building value now in what I know. And so I do this throughout the whole assessment. Absolutely. I have them do a squat. Oh, it looks like your hips aren't firing. I bet your knees kind of grind a little bit

when you do rotating. Yeah, and I bet your knees kind of bother you sometimes. Well, the as they do. Boom, wizard. You know, and so I go through the assessment, and these are the things that you do. This is what you're supposed to do with the assessment. The assessment is a tool to build value to make you look credible. You've got exactly because they have no idea. They don't know what a trainer they're coming to you to provide this sort of knowledge and be comfortable. Like, let's say you're going into by a car. Like, you wanna go in and be so comfortable

that this person knows so much about this car that it's undeniable that you have to get. And you just trust one of these trucks. You trust them immediately once they start breaking it down. But, you know, if you wanna take it to the next level of what Sall saying. So I just like Sall, exact same thing.

My, my, my money maker was a lot of people have had some sort of injury by the time you're in your mid 30s, 40s plus, you've had some sort of knee, ankle, hip, or some condition that's have or back, you know, that's happened to you. So I was, I was broke down the asymmetrical shift, you know, when someone was squatting, you know, you typically, you're gonna see the asymmetrical shift, you know, when someone was squatting, you know, you typically, you're gonna see the shift in their hips to the left or the right,

and more often than not, they're gonna shift over to the dominant side that's stronger, that's gonna help them get it back up from that 90 degrees. And normally it's resulted because some point in their life, they had an injury on their right side, whether it be their ankle, their knee, or something that's happened. On the left side, yeah. No, shifting to your left. Oh yeah, you're shifting to the left and you're shifting away from the previous injury

or what are that. So, somewhere on the right side of the conversation. Exactly. And just like Sal, you tell us about that, like, oh my God, how did you know I had knee surgery that you know what that's? Well, this is why I knew explain. But then when I explain, I also break down

how we're going to address that in our program and actually time frame. And this is where it's so powerful because you're painting that entire picture. And so you can actually get to the point where you get so descriptive, where you can actually say X amount of days, you can write into like two, three month programs. Like, this is where you really start learning about sales where the longer your program, the more accurate, actually, your projection is of that,

the more they actually buy into you. Because if you're trying to sell them on some quick fix solution, they're gonna read right through that. And so if you're real with them and you break it down, like look, I know a lot of trainers are saying that they can help you and get you results, quick results in X amount of time

and be really efficient, that's great. However, I'm considering XYZ, I'm considering all these health issues along the way. I'm also considering the longevity, I'm longevity. I'm considering, you know, things that I see, you know, in your posture, I'm going to want to correct this. And this is when you write your prescription, basically, in your prescription, you're writing it all down. And and this person is just completely encapsulated with what you have to say. Like they want to trust you. Once you have them trusting you, like you can basically formulate, okay,

this is the plan. And so I'm sorry about him. I'm not even gonna be the problem. I get passionate. I'm hitting this. Yeah, this is a good topic for me because I'm very like, well you've watched you,

I got a chance to watch you literally teach yourself this. I saw you, I saw Justin. Well, Justin and shitty salesperson when he first started? Yeah, he was pretty shitty. Get out of here. I mean, when you first started. I shouldn't say shitty as far as like, he did great sales pretty much out the gates. But he was compared to how much better you got.

Well, let me explain before something I attacked him. You could tell it was work for him. It wasn't something he was natural. It was something that he, I mean, I can always tell, in fact, I taught him and another trainer at the same time. And to be honest with you, when I first met them both, I thought the other guy, Nick at the time, was gonna end up surpassing Justin,

just because of his natural charisma and Justin is more quiet and held and reserved. But this just goes to show that you can be somebody that isn't super charismatic, like maybe yourself or I, and become a very, very good trainer because that was just something that Justin had to work on. It was different for him to do that. I think I got a chance to watch.

I think to give him credit, Justin broke some records. Well, the guy was one of the top salespeople. He was among tens of thousands of trainers in the very large fitness organizations. When we, I mean, him and I together, when we were at a cuddle for a very long time, he did many, many great things.

And for shit over a year, straight the guy averaged more money than most, most trainers ever made in a single month. The guy was averaging per month, you know? So, yeah, absolutely. Skills, skills, skills, sales skills were definitely honed in. I got a chance to actually watch that grow. It was pretty cool because it was early on.

I thought Nick was going to be this better trainer, but it wasn't long after Justin had been there for all that I see the title. And I thought, oh, no way. He watched. I love that. He's a lot of watching. Well, I think, you know, even getting now to the more pure sales, right? You do your prescription. You you paint the picture like Justin was saying, you know, even getting now to the more pure sales, right? You do your prescription, you paint the picture like Justin was saying, you know, we're gonna work out two days a week For the next six weeks, and this is what we're gonna do and then after that we you know after six weeks We're gonna do this so they can see what the plan looks like after you do that now comes the hard part And it's not hard because it's hard to do it's hard because most trainers. This is where they fuck up

This is where they start to stumble. The transition, the transition. Now it's getting their money. Getting the money. So now at this point what you do is number one, you give your recommendation, but you always give the client more than one option. You never say you need to get 20 sessions here it is. Because now the next question is,

do you wanna hire me for these many sessions? And the answer the client can give you is yes or no. So you've given them an option to say no. And I know this sounds stupid, but it's 100% proven. This is one of the most fundamental things to sales. Is you always want to ask a question where the answer is always favorable. Okay, you never want to ask a question

where there can be a no. So what you do is you have your prescription, you come out, you write out this program, you say, okay, so 20 sessions is what I think we should do. However, if you want to work out with me less frequently, then this is what the 10 session program looks like between these two programs, which one do you think works better for you? And then here's the key now, okay, everybody ready? You shut up. Yeah, you shut your mouth. Thank you. You ask the two talks first loses. You ask the closing question, which option do you prefer, and then you don't say anything. I cannot tell you how many times I would want, I want it to body slam one of my trainers, or even sales guys, because they would ask that closing question. They'd wait 30 seconds, it's silent, they couldn't handle anymore. Maybe you could do this today. And just fuck up the whole

moment of everything. Because the reason why that person is quiet is because they're deciding. fuck up the whole thing. Because the reason why that person is quiet is because they're deciding. Now that transition becomes a lot easier to when you also do all this with confidence. There is a very important. Maybe you're not the best at pressure. Some people are now listening going like, well, I'm not sure exactly how many I should recommend this out. I used to do. If you think you won't buy your sub training from yourself, then you ain't going to be able to sell it. So you better have confidence. I better think you're worth every cent that you're charging.

And you are, because a personal trainer is, I mean, what do you do? You make people healthy, you make people feel good, you make people fit. Like, who does anything better than that? One of the things that I used to teach and Justin might remember stuff like this, but I used to role play with a lot of my trainers,

and I used to... You were the maid outfit? I was... I... Not that got a role play. Oh, my bad. Yeah, it was awkward. But we would...

Well, probably, I mean, look how good you are now, though. Come on, to be honest. I practiced a lot. So, you know, but I wanted to see how you handle just off the cuff, and more importantly, how I said, when you prescribed it, you were confident in what you had to say. That was more important than it being so precise on, you know, is that actually, is that going to make sense?

Does that work? Can he build that much muscle, burn that much fat and X amount of months or whatever, is that a realistic time frame, or is that really close to what it should be? What What matters is you believe in your program, you come off that way and when you deliver it, it's not quite so I actually used to teach that when you're when you're prescribing you're talking about what the client needs is you're already assuming They're purchasing so what I when you're when you're gonna train with me over the next six months You know what we're gonna do in your first month is we're gonna do this you're the assumptumptive. You're being Asumptive. Yeah, we're either doing this or we're either doing that. And so like Sal says, you give them an option. Yeah, I give you an option, but we're doing one of these options. It's just a matter which one suits you better. Right. You know,

and and and typically I, you know, I got to the point where, and this isn't for everybody, but, you know, I would give options, but I would also the way I describe those options, I would direct you right where I wanted you to go. Of course, but there was always that, the question was always which to you prefer. Absolutely. It was never used or neither one. Either way, I support you 100%. And don't be afraid to ask for the money.

I mean, I work in a gym now. I used to own it, I sold it, but I still train there. And the average, I mean, our single session rate is 150 bucks. For one session, that's a lot if you compare to what other trainers charge. Even though we're an expensive area, we're still above the upper level. And so we'll get new trainers that'll come in who are good, they've got the certifications, they got the knowledge.

And they're nervous about the fact that they're afraid. Well, can I just charge less? Yeah, you don't believe you're that valuable. But I'm like, terrible. But I'm like, why ask for it and watch what happens? Listen, sure enough, sure enough, they get it. Yeah. They get it when they ask for it. So don't be afraid to ask for it and watch what happens? Listen, sure enough, sure enough, they get it. They get it when they ask for it.

So don't be afraid to ask for the money. If you're afraid to ask for the money, ain't nobody gonna, look, I'm not gonna give money to somebody who doesn't want it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, do you remember? Do you remember? Yeah, don't ask for it if you're unsure about it.

Ever. Right. Just frame from even asking about it. Here's the biggest thing that I thought. And I'm actually turned towards expensive. There was a shift that I actually ended up talking to this guy who charged a outrageous amount of money. And I was like, what the fuck?

Are you kidding me? Like you're charging that much. And then it just like, this click went off in my head. Like this guy, like what is he actually providing? What are the services he's doing? That's worth it, right? Yeah. And you start like going down the list, like there is nothing there that he's providing

that I can't provide and then some. And so why can't I own that personally in my business and go into the meeting with that mentality. So if I'm going to go in with that mentality like, Hey, like here's the amount of years I've been training, here's the amount of education I've experienced and like, you know, paid for, like I'm still paying student loans to pay off, you have to start doing the math personally. Listen, it costs a lot to get to the point where, you know, experience is going to speak for itself. And now when you present yourself with that sort of confidence, people will buy into that. Well, let's also talk about why the three of us have that kind

of confidence to versus maybe somebody who's listening to this and they're just getting started. Yeah. Once you, once you change somebody's life, and I mean change somebody's life, and you, and you will, if you're a good friend or you will, yeah. Once you once you change somebody's life and I mean change somebody's life and you and you will. If you're a good friend or you will. Yeah. And you hopefully will do many many. You know, I'm sure between all three of us there's been hundreds maybe even thousands between all three of us that we have once you do that and you truly change someone's life to where they're like in tears and they're like, I've never been this way. I've never felt like this before. You do that and you see like how valuable that is.

That place plays a number on that. Yeah, you can't. You can't place a number on that. You can't. And in fact, no matter what number I sell or say like in my head, it's still under. Well, look, still under what it's worth. That's where so much more. I know women that will go to the salon, get hair extensions or do their hair and it'll

cost them like 200, 300 bucks or more. Yeah. Right. And they had how much time, right? And it is to feel better, right? Yeah. What feels better than fit? So it's totally worth it. And I'll say this with 100% confidence right now.

If you're a good trainer and you have good sales, you will make far more than the average person will make in your area. I don't care where you live. You will make a good amount of money. If you're in the Bay Area where we are, good trainers will make six figures. That's a fact.

And I'll say it's 100% confidence. You put me, Adam, or Justin, and you are in the country and any gym or anywhere, and we will outperform most trainers and make a good amount of money. Most, come on, you could say it, bro. Oh, yeah. Thank you.

Hey, man, just give it up. Try to be all fucking. I'm sorry, bro. I'll dominate. Yeah, just say it, bro. I will come in your club. Put me in any across the country, not knowing anybody, and I will smash you.

Just nothing. But that's just it. Well, that's the mentality you have to have going into. Yeah, and it is. It's more the attitude. And it is time under, if you look at like apprenticeships and some other service industries and things, obviously that is something that you need to learn your craft.

You need to be confident in your craft. That provides that. The more clients you have, you build up to that, right? You know what I would love? I would love to go toe to toe with you guys. Oh, good job. I would eat your lunch. Please.

Oh, listen, listen. Please. Listen. It's okay, second. Second. That's it. So one last thing, don't be drawn to by your charisma and then I'll come over to me.

What did I used to do as a as a as a boss right how many you've trained multiple clients of mine Okay, so I used to allow all of my trainers to train my clients and people you saw always ask me like are you crazy What are you doing? Why would you let these other? Channel hell yeah, okay, I did the same thing and you know Here's my attitude. What it wasn't like oh, I'm so good. Don Don't never leave I used to look at it like hey if my client leaves to go train their trainer I need to step my fucking game of course I need it and so for me it was a way to check myself It was like hey train my clients if you off and if and the attitude I had was hey

It's someone who works for me can give a better service than the service that I provide then hey I need a fucking level to fuck up you know what one one one thing that I forgot to say, when you ask the question which package do you prefer and then they pick one, you need to immediately change gears, collect payment and schedule the session. Don't sit around. This is important. Oh yeah. So that they say, I'll do the 20 sessions.

No problem. Did you want to do that with checker credit card? Take the credit card. Boom boom. When would you like to do your first workout? Right. And get it going. Don't be afraid to just leave the conversation. Leave it. Change gears. You know what? I've got up and left.

And I'm like, listen, that's one of my prices. That's where I stand. I'm a professional. Yeah. You know, I appreciate coming in and, you know, that's where I'm at. And I'm out. Boom. And now as far as as far as being a trainer, um, or it's because yeah, I think you also about also asked about owning a gym. If you own a gym, uh, even more so sales, you need he also asked about owning a gym. If you own a gym, even more so sales, you need, you need to be a closer. I need to have, you need to have sales guys working for you that can make that shit happen. I think you need to live there,

right? Here's something that we often were you there. Oh, shit. Here's something we might all agree on right here that I think that because we all came from an hour away from, I just had a friend of mine that actually takes one of my classes at OTF, right? She comes in and she just got her in ASM and she asked me if I recommended anywhere to work or this or that. And she actually mentioned that she didn't really

wanna work at like a chain place. You know, she wrote that, but she was very interested in compressing. I said, you know, to be honest with you. You should probably do that. Going to a large company, I, you know, 24-hour fitness or a crunch or somewhere that's been around for quite some time that's that has hundreds of facilities already is going to have a very good structure and to teach you. Yes. You have C. Jim's. Yes. We actually visited a UFC Jim's. Yes. And I was very impressed with. This is a great Jim's. I like it. Yes, we actually visited a UFC gym. Yes, and I was very impressed with great gyms

I like great great gyms and some of the the the closers that we knew that we worked with originally now work there Yes, and they've got excellent sales. They've got excellent the team look was fantastic there and the gyms are freaking awesome And that that to me I think is Really important so even if you have this idea, you know that I have one at my own gym And I want to be private do this stuff this idea, you know that I have one at my own gym and I want to be private Do this up. Hey, you know what? Why try and go and read that the will Why don't you go and learn from somebody who's already become billionaires doing it already and and learn from some of the things I did but that's not to say that and you could leave eventually a paper word

Well, all of us that everybody has to fill out like you have to understand that it's a business and you have to see all the processes that promote this business and the way that they structure everything, right? So if you're looking at, you know, branching off and doing this on your own, you know, that's a whole other ball. Here's one that I know Justin's heard me say before and this is, I've got it. This one gets me because I don't know how many times and you said this earlier about how much money you can make as a personal trainer. Well, let's couple things. Let's get this straight. One, the trainer, the 80-20 rule applies in the trainer business. 80% of the people are making 20% of the money,

20% of the people are making 80% of the money. Okay, so two out of 10 guys are kicking ass, making those six figures plus. The rest of these knuckleheads are just above poverty, probably why they're working. And what happens and what used to happen to me a lot as a manager is I'd have these trainers underneath me that they would give a crack at it at a big large facility and then after they struggled for three to six months and couldn't really build their business, they would come to me and tell me like,

you know, I think I'm gonna go private and do my own thing, I get more per hour. Oh, hilarious. And I used to just, at first I used to laugh. And then I realized I got to stop laughing and I need to take this serious and actually really sit these trainers down the top. If you can't make it in a big gym chain,

you are not gonna make it in a private gym. You will never make it. You're not getting walk-ins. You're not getting all these people. I keep confidently say that. Oh man, listen, I'll tell you something right now. Any one of us could walk into a big busy gym and I could get three clients within three hours.

There's tons of people working out. Everybody's all walking around. Go to a private studio where you're gonna get your client, you better be a bad ass in a private studio. And if you are, then yeah, you do make a killing. Or you gotta be a bad ass marketer online, which you can talk to me about that. Yes, you're right.

You gotta be bad ass at that for sure. If you're gonna build it without having the background of proving yourself in a place like that, because like Sal said, a lot of people don't realize, but big companies like that, they spend millions of dollars per year on marketing and advertising. And unless you've got a million dollar budget

to market and advertise yourself, you're not going to see nowhere near a fraction of the leads that they get you get to see in a big facility like that And if you have a hard time closing them on the the cheap programs that they sell at those gyms If you think you're gonna leave by yourself and charge the same rate or more and generate that many leads you're smoking crack Well, I'll tell you what apps I can speak from this because I own the private studio for 12 years and Trainers would come in and the way it worked is I would charge them rent and then they would build

their business, right? That's how a lot of private studios do. Some charge processions, some charge of flat rate. But nonetheless, you go in and your contractor. Well, many of my trainers got busy because I sold training and gave it to them. And this is just how it worked. And the reason why this happened so often was because,

A, I knew how to sell training. You're a good guy. I was, no. Well, number one, it was also my best interest, right? If they build, A, I knew how to sell train. You're a good guy. I was, no. Well, number one, it was also my best interest, right? If they build their business, they're gonna stick around and pay me rent. Yeah, but you're an anomaly. I'm just gonna jump in.

Because I'm actually one of the, you know, independent trainers that are hopping from gym to gym. And that is not normal. Yeah. When you're hopping from gym to gym, you are completely alone. All by yourself. All by yourself. 100% online marketing is the only way

I've been doing this. Yeah, you're not going to find a guy like Sal or myself. Dude, feeding you, following you clients. You don't know what he is. In fact, you're going to have more fighting and jealousy and you know, sharky. You're a closer, like, continue your story. Yeah, no, so people would come in. I would sign them up. I would take a commission, and then I'd give it to the trainers, and then trainers who are good are going to keep the client for a long period of time. And as far as people getting jealous of each other, you know, my facility offered different services.

We had massage and acupuncture and nutrition also. And what was, and all of them were contractors. And sometimes you'd get this attitude like, oh shit, if they get acupuncture, they're not going to have, they're not going to want to spend on personal training or bullshit, absolute bullshit. The more the person is in your facility, the more likely they are to get more of the services.

And so, and not only that, but let's take a step back. You know, I always, yes, I'm a good salesman, I'll say that all day long, I can close people, but at the end of the day, the reason why I can do that, the fundamental driver behind that is because it's the client's best interest that I have in mind and I have a deep passion and belief in what I do.

And I know if that client comes in and gets acupuncture or massage, plus personal training, they're gonna be better off than if they just did one of the services. So at the end of the day, you also gotta do what's best for the client. And I will say this,

clients see through your bullshit. If you're a shy-steed fucker, you ain't gonna last very long. Yeah, right. And, you know, they don't want the jack of all trades. They want the specialist. And, be a specialist. And don't be afraid to not know.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen trainers. You can't tell you very good point. I can't tell you how many times I've seen trainers get themselves in trouble because a client will ask them a question, the trainer feels like they need to know everything. And they'll answer, oh well, I think it's, and it's bullshit. And then clients, you know, most people who are actually now with Google, you know what

gets you respect? If you sit there and you say, I don't know, but I'll let me find out or I don't know, but I had no someone who does know. And you put them into your inner circle. Let me call Sal. That's right. So let's recap this real quick. So number one, we all agree on sales. If you're a new trainer, harness

your sales skills. You got to whether you go buy books, whether you roll books, Zigg Ziggler. Oh, yeah, I've got a lot of Tom Hopkins. Yes. Tom Hopkins would be good. Even sales closing for dummies, even a book like that. I mean, you said something that was fucking pretty. The emis. No, I was read that book. What is it? The emis. Yeah.

Yeah, so you're in Gerber, Michael Gerber. Okay, that's a good one. And you said something that is critical role play. Yes. Take your friends, take your family, sell them personal training. I don't mean for reals, but pretend. Yes. Do it over and over and over and over and over again.

And I swore to God, you'll get so much better in sales if you practice one time. And do it like, practice and do it like so I this is have your friends The applications. Yeah, have your friends be honest what I used to do So here's something you guys can do and this will really challenge your skills is Walk up to your friends or family and don't even tell them what you're doing Just start selling them personal training. Right. Just start telling them what they need and explaining what why they need it And how long is gonna take make them do things too and then pitch them everything they need to explaining what why they need it and how long it's gonna take make them do things too and then Pitch them everything they need to do and let them be like what are you talking about and and see if you can handle

Them throwing this this blank look at you and these questions that they don't understand and you continuing not to fall off What's your where you're trying to go with it? It'll sharpen your skill I used to do that with trainers when I was a trainer and I was around all my other peers I the one would be sitting down, breaking into lunch, and I come sit up right next to him and just interrupt their lunch and just start selling them personal training. They'd be laughing, I think I'm joking, and I would just keep doing it. Until finally they would be like, I'll get so many sessions for you. I was just for me to sharpen my skills.

Well, here's a good game. Do you guys remember the porcupine game? No, it's a good game. Do you guys remember the porcupine game? No, it's that. Porcupine. So this is a great sales game. So you and a friend, you ask each other questions and you have to answer the question with the question. Why is this important? Because whoever and ask the questions controls the conversation. So let me give you an example. Adam, what's your favorite color? What's your favorite color? Right. So right now, he just porcupined it. But however, the conversation went from what we were just talking about to what your favorite color is.

I direct the conversation with a question. And, start asking each other questions, do you like swimming? Is that a good thing if I like swimming? Or whatever, and you just go back and forth and see who gets flustered first. But questions are great ways, actually, the best ways to direct conversation.. So if you want your client to go a certain way with a conversation, start asking them questions. So number one, sales skills, sharpen, sharpen, sharpen, get good at books, role-playing, get in front of people. Yes, that is practice, practice, right? In front of real people practicing as much as you

possibly can. Nothing's gonna take you further business-wise. That's number one. Number two, what do we say? Number two, what? What did you say go you can work in a large gym if you don't know? Number two number two what you both what you both said and I think is true This is two and three right here is a thorough assessment. Yes, okay with a fall-up with Your program or your recommendation your program recommendation So you sharpen those three in that order. Your prescription. Say sales number one, then you get a badass assessment where you can really look at somebody, break them down with all their posh.

And tell them what you see. Yeah, tell them what you see. Break them down and then they be able to then be able to prescribe them how long and what it's gonna take to fix and help all these issues that they have and then get them to whatever their goals are. Those three in that order, you're gonna become a pretty badass trainer. And guess what? Four or fifth down the road,

that's where you get better educated. Yeah, we're awesome at that. Then you can start thinking about, oh, I should probably do my own gym. Yeah. You know, when you've done X amount of sales and it's like, you know, you just show up and people buy. And by the way, just an interesting little tidbit. If someone purchases something from you regardless of the cost, they are far more likely to purchase something else from you later on down the road. Definitely. So if I were to come up with, if I'm a new trainer and I came up with a promotion just to get people in the door and let's say my normal session rates $100 an hour. So I sell two sessions for $100 or $2 for $99 because that sounds like a good number. And I get people that come in and pay two for 99. My chance of reenrolling them after that two sessions is very high if I do a good job.

So these will always be thinking about that. Yeah, so these little promos, they actually work. And you will, you will reenroll a good chunk, if not half or more than half of the people, just by getting them in the door. So don't be afraid to do one or two session kind of promos to get people in, because then it's so much easier to re-enroll someone than it is to sell them right off the right

in the beginning. What did you guys agree on? Oh, absolutely. I used to take myself to such a level that I used to track, even as a trainer. I used to track my leads, my fitness appointments, so like you guys are talking about you two for 99 or the first time I meet somebody,

and then I would track my conversion. How many of those people, so if I saw X amount of people, how many people that I have to see in order to convert that into money, this becomes, if you're really gonna run a business, if you're really gonna run a business, and this is something you're gonna do, then at one point, if you're gonna be really successful,

you have to do this, you need to figure out how many phone calls or people you have to put in front of you in order for you to close X amount of people for X amount of dollars so you can mathematically figure out how you're going to pay your bills. Right. So if you know that you talk to 10 people and out of 10 people, you're going to sign up five of them at your closing rate. And the average dollar amount is whatever, then you know how many people you need to talk to

to get to your goal. And that's how long that is for you. Yeah, as far as retention goes, you wanna always make sure you over-service. Yeah. Oversur, especially if you only have X, Y, Y, your over-surfacing, you know, because that's what's gonna bring you more referrals.

You know, it's the snowball. You're creating a snowball that you're thrown down a hill. And before, you know what, before we finish off, this is something I've been asked by trainers all the time. Like, how do I approach people out in the streets or whatever about personal training? Cause it's different than any other profession. Like, I can't just go up to someone and be like,

hey, do you want to work out? Because some people can be like, why do I look fat? Like, what's wrong? Hey, you're fat, you need some training. Yeah, so you don't do that. Like you can't just know some trainers that have done that. You can't just hand out a part.

I'm not comfortable. So here's what I like to do. I like to ask people, this is a great question to ask people. It's like, what gym do you work out at? Because it sounds like a compliment. Someone who doesn't work out, it's like, wow, I look like a workout. But it doesn't work out.

Hey, what gym do you work out at? Oh, actually, I don't. Let me tell you this. Actually, let me take the psychological part of the sound playing right now, too. It's feeding right into that ego right out the gate. Yeah. What gym do you work out at?

Wait, great. I look like I work out, huh? Yeah, exactly. Or, you know, what exercises do you do for biceps? Or, you know, questions like that or great openers while you're talking to someone. And then they'll say, well, actually, I don't where I used to work out.

I used to play basketball. Oh, you're kidding. Well, I'm a trainer in the area. How would you like if I took you through like an ab workout or, you know, be a little specific? You've got used to be an athlete. Yeah. Yeah. I see. Absolutely. Hey, you're hot. There. No, that doesn't work. I think a very important question, I think, to ask at some point in your assessment, wherever for me was always a money. I get when I get into my sales presentation, I get my people pretty emotional and I'm a very energetic person. You're going to die if you don't hire me. Well, I don't get that at a moment. I'm sure I've said

that before actually. We're not those exact words, but I tend to get into it. I want I want to know about your commitment level and how important this is to you. Oh, how serious are you? Yeah. How bad do you want this? Because most people you'll find out and it's important. You ask your job clothes. Well, you need to get them to say this to you. You need to get them to tell you they're coming in. When I used to just say on a scale of one to 10, you know, 10 being I'm a 100% committed. I'll do whatever it takes to get wherever I need to be and one being I don't really give a shit. I'm 100% committed, I'll do whatever it takes to get wherever I need to be, and one being, I don't really give a shit, I'm here because I'm bored. So wherever you fall in that scale, and nine times at a 10, people are gonna tell you 10 at a 10,

which to me is just like, you're serving it up on a tee for me, because you're almost more than me where you're gonna close them on. Yes, because if you're planning your commitment level is there, I'm gonna revisit that and call you. Call you on your bullshit if you started to get him and Ha when I go over my program that you're gonna need to do it. And then I was, well, this and that, think about, okay,

well then let's revisit the commitment level. So you're probably more like a seven you're saying. You're not really a 10. There you go. So make sure you ask that question. That's a very powerful question to get into someone's. Well, I think just to end it then, as trainers, learn how to be a good trainer, obviously, but focus on your sales skills.

Learn how to be a good sales person. Because you become way more confident in yourself. And you're going to be successful. Yes. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. For more information about this show and to get valuable free resources from Sal, Adam, and Justin, visit us at www.minepompradio.com. Until next time, this is Mind Pump.