If You Want To Profit As a Trainer in a Club . . . 
Learn a New Language!

 By Phil Kaplan

I want you to be a true Professional.  I want you to understand that professionalism in this industry has yet to find an indisputable measure.  I can therefore, only lay out a path by which you can command professional fees by delivering more value than your customers and clients ever expect.  

In that, you can sleep well knowing you are a fitness leader with a professional career that knows no bounds.  In that, you’ll forgive me for my unconventional methods of delivering the message that is essential for your growth!  We have planted our feet firmly in an industry that changes like the tide, yet our ability to satisfy, to deliver results, is the power that allows us to profit and grow, despite the ongoing uncertainty of the next great fitness wave. 

So far, no great revelations here.  We all know we’re in the business of delivering results.  Well, at the very least most trainers know they’re supposed to focus on obtaining “results” for their clients.  When it comes to affiliating with health clubs, “results” can work both ways.  Sure, you want to deliver the results that your clients seek, but don’t only look across the front desk at potential clients.  Look behind the scenes at those health club owners who can open doors for you.  They have different desires.  I know them well.  If you can consistently take clients beyond satisfaction, you are professional.  If you can deliver thrilling results to clients, and also deliver extreme satisfaction to club owners, you go beyond professionalism into mastery.  That mastery must begin right here with trust, trust that I haven’t misled you so far, and that I speak only words of empowerment.  So . . . if Phil Kaplan, the author if this article, asks you to imagine a scene that apparently has little to do with fitness . . .  trust!  Play along.  Imagine you’re a winner.  Imagine your goals are reality.

Imagine . . . 

Imagine you’re sitting face to face with a Mongolian Warrior clad in animal skins and adorned with decorative bones.  (stay with me, I asked for your trust!)  He only speaks the language of Blabagon in its most ancient dialect.  He’s found his way into your office because he wants desperately to influence you to join the mission he has dedicated his life to.  He begins to speak.  “Blop rot segelet ooomph da-dah pah-ditty.”  You are anxious to get on with your day.  You just nod your head as he continues.  “Reek sorrap dal-wonny bo-rah-flucky.”

At this point you know he’s interested in communicating something, but you just don’t have the time or patience to understand.  You have more important things to do.  You have a business to run.  “Sure, my Warrior friend.  I’ll consider it and call you when I decide, OK?”

He stands up, believing he’s made an impact, grunts, stomps his feet and bows as is traditional in his native culture.  “Da-dah pah-ditty!”

“And the same to you.  Have a nice day.”  He leaves, never to cross your mind again.

Now let’s do something interesting.  Let’s replay the imagined scene with some small substitutions in the starring roles.  Rather than you behind the desk, let’s put the quintessential health club owner, and let’s replace the Mongolian Warrior with a highly credentialed personal fitness trainer.

“I’m a great trainer and I’d like to work at your club.  I want to help your members get results.  I’m certified by the NSCA and ACSM and have worked with over 75 clients.  I won my class at the Eastern USA bodybuilding championships and worked with a few of the NY Jets when I lived in NY.”  The health club owner is anxious to get on with his day.  He just nods his head as the trainer continues.  “I’m one of the best trainers out there and I’m very familiar with all of your equipment.”

At this point the owner knows the trainer is trying to find employment, but he has more important things to do.  He has a business to run.  “Sure, my Trainer friend.  I’ll consider it and call you when I decide, OK?”

The trainer stands up, thinking he made some sort of impression, shakes the owners hand, thanks him, and heads for the door, never to cross the owner’s mind again.

What do the two scenes have in common?  Give up?  OK, I’ll tell you.  The conversations are being carried on by two individuals who speak completely different languages!

“Hold on Phil…. the trainer and the owner were both speaking the same language, weren’t they?”

Nope.  The trainer was speaking the language of “features,” and the owner can only be influenced by a language rooted in “benefits.”

For seven years I published my Health & Wealth Newsletter and one of the most requested issues, one which has been given the most credit for increasing profits of individual trainers and club owners alike, was a 1994 issue in which I addressed the differences between “trainer” language and “owner” language.  Those differences, and the power of bridging that language gap, are more relevant today than ever, so I’ll bring the concept here for 1999 and allow you some powerful insight into dramatically increasing your profits moving into the next millennium.

Let’s take a close look at the motivation of the typical trainer.  He or she cares about people.  In fact, that caring is a prerequisite for success in such a result oriented endeavor as that of the pursuit of a career as a Personal Fitness Trainer.  In order to truly have impact in changing people’s lives for the better, you must be able to deal with their challenges, help them see through their misperceptions, motivate them, guide them, and share in their joys.  That only comes from caring.  The trainer, as any human being, enjoys feeling appreciated, however, that appreciation often finds its way to much greater emotional satisfaction when it is expressed as a “thank you.”  The trainer is of course driven by money, at some level, but, more importantly, wants to make money doing something he or she loves.  The typical trainer wouldn’t last a week in a commission based sales position where the product was inconsequential.  The trainer might lobby for a new Hammer Strength Seated Low Row because it safely and effectively works the upper back muscles.  The trainer would love to have an article written about his or her efforts in the local newspaper, would jump at the chance to be interviewed on TV or radio, and would be proud to hang letters of testimony all over the walls of the fitness office.  The trainer is proud of accomplishments that document knowledge and displays certifications and plaques as medals of honor.  The trainer loves being complimented and walking the talk of fitness.

The health club owner is more of a risk taker.  He or she took some money, in most cases went out and put that money on the line and then borrowed additional money, believing this would be an investment that multiplied itself.  Sure, there’s a caring about people involved, but the overwhelming thrust to invest that money, to take the risk, came more from material desires than from caring.  “Thank you” from members offers a sort term nice feeling, but the measure of achievement might be the Porsche or convertible Jaguar.  The owner often feels alone, although he or she may be surrounded by family and employees.  Nobody understands the risk.  Nobody understands the pressure.  Sure the members want new equipment, but are they willing to pay an increase in dues?  The owner will buy a Hammer Strength Seated Row if it can be used in a promotion to stimulate membership.  When a sales person asks for a raise, the owner is the only one who knows the absurdity of such a request.  The owner, after all, allows the sales person a job whereby that person’s income is limitless!  Why isn’t there appreciation?  The owner must constantly be cautious, as advertisers and solicitors are often looking to earn commissions of their own by simply taking money from the club.  The owner wants life to get easier.  He or she wants the club to become profitable and show a bright financial picture of the future.  If the owner is going to be influenced, the language that’s going to do the trick is, “I’m here to make your life easier.  I’m here to increase your cash flow without taking anything from you.  I’m here to lessen your risk.  I’m here to benefit, not your members . . . but you!!!  Oh, and in the process, your members will be happier and in that even more money will flow through your bank account.”

Unfortunately, trainers, proud of their achievements, fail to recognize that their language founded in “certification,” “past accomplishment,” and “medals of honor” sounds to the health club owner like, “Blop rot segelet ooomph da-dah pah-ditty.”  Feature, feature, feature.  If you were trying to sell a car, and you told someone it’s blue, it has a steering wheel, and it has four wheels, you’d be speaking the language of features.  If you told the 24-year-old male potential owner how great it would feel to drive it, how women would pay attention to him, and how his life would get better, can you see how much more compelled he’d feel to listen and to act?  No, I don’t want you to be a salesperson, but I do expect you to recognize the virtues of influence, the power of knowing the language that will get you where you want to go.

Let’s go back to the Mongolian Warrior for a moment.  Suppose his village is filled with tiny stones that his people keep stepping on.  They’re continually injuring their feet and the job of being a warrior isn’t easy with severely lacerated feet.  His lifetime mission has been to find someone who can initiate the removal of these stones.  In this country they are referred to as diamonds, but in his village they are nothing but dangerous rocks.  Suppose, the Warrior had learned how to speak your language, and instead of his native tongue, he communicated in your language and asked, “Please come to my land and take millions of dollars worth of diamonds home with you.”  Would your attention have been directed differently in the first imagined scenario?

When the trainer learns to speak the language of the health club owner, “I’m a great trainer,” can translate into, “I have diamonds for you!”  Let me show you what can happen when a synergistic relationship develops between a trainer, or a team of trainers, and a health club owner.

Before I turn this into numbers, into profits, into cash flow, there is a power the Professional Trainer has that can rarely be matched by any other health club staff member.  That is the power to establish rapport, and with rapport comes trust, and with trust comes influence.  If you doubt this for a moment, just look at the physical presence of a trainer communicating with a client.  The trainer can infiltrate “personal space.”  The trainer can mold, shape, and maneuver a client, and that physical manifestation is a representation of the same power on an emotional level.  If the trainer suggests a nutritional investment, the client will listen and act.  If the trainer suggests greater frequency of sessions, assuming it fits within the client’s budget, you can count on an affirmative response.  The trainer can be the single greatest source of generating additional non-membership revenue in the club simply by virtue of rapport!

With the recognition of the trainer’s rapport power, we’ll translate the relaying of that power into the language of “benefit,” from a dollars and “sense” perspective.

Let’s assume an annual health club membership is valued at $500.  I use that number only as a random example to illustrate this synergistic concept.  The concept might be called, “seeing the lifetime value” or “seeing the unmined diamonds in every single membership.”

I suggest setting up a forum in any health club where the trainer’s value is established during the initial tour.  The Personal Fitness Trainer should be presented as an expert who can ensure that workouts are fruitful and members are counseled in the areas of exercise and nutrition.  Training fees should be mentioned, however, upon enrollment, there should be an opportunity to meet with the “expert” trainer for a reduced fee.  I would discourage any health club owner from asking a trainer to work for free in that it immediately takes the perception of the trainer’s value down to a big fat nothing.

In that initial session, the trainer should educate.  He or she should teach the new member, not only the value of a commitment to exercise, but the value of learning to balance the vital synergy between aerobic exercise, resistance training, and supportive nutrition.  As the trainer performs a “paid audition,” gaining trust and establishing rapport, the new member can make a decision as to how often this trainer should be a part of the new program.

If the new $500 member signs up for only one training session per month (you’ll notice I’m being extremely conservative), and the club nets only $10 per training session, the value of that member has just gone up $120 per year.  If the trainer educates the new member in the value of investing in meal replacements sold by the club, and one such purchase per month nets the club only $10, the annual value of the member has now escalated to $740.  If, upon understanding the value of a post-workout drink, a product which nets the club $1.00 per sale, the member decides to conclude each workout with such a drink three times per week, we can now add another $156 to the annual value of the member.  And, if renewal is only $350, and the member renews for three consecutive years, and continues to invest in products as the first year, the three year value of that $500 member would now tally up at over $2500.  Suppose, in that three year period, that member refers two other members who develop the same habits.  We can now bring that $500 up to near $10,000 in found revenue . . . unmined diamonds . . . just because the trainer became an active contributor to the ongoing generation of revenue.   If you really want to impress the club owner, multiply the now $10,000 additional dollars the trainer can play a role in generating by the total number of members of the club.  With 100 members, that’s $1,000,000.  Extra!  With 200 members . . . 300 . . . you do the math!

Suppose the trainer who came in to ask for employment presented this scenario to the health club owner.  Suppose there wasn’t any mention of certification.*  Not a word about awards.  Just a language of dollars through greater member satisfaction.  Happier members contributing more money.  Life gets easier.  Isn’t this a language worth learning?  Isn’t it time you go beyond professionalism into mastery?

Practice the language.  Speak to some club owners.  Open some doors.  

* Note – Certification is extremely important.  It’s just doesn’t have the impact many trainers believe it should when it comes to speaking the “owner” language.  Make sure you understand.  In order to become a professional trainer, a credible Certification is essential!

For a copy of the back issue of Phil Kaplan’s Health & Wealth Newsletter dealing with trainer/owner communication, send a check or money order for $12 made payable to Personal Development to Phil Kaplan’s Fitness, 1304 SW 160^th Ave, #337, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33326.  Include a note with you name, address, phone, and the words “Trainer/Owner Back Issue.”  Phil Kaplan can be reached for consulting projects and seminars at (954) 389-0280.