Build Your Bottom Line With Online Training
By Kelli Calabrese
There is no escaping the information age; in fact, it’s progressing at light speed. We are stimulated by more information in a day through technology, than people were in a year just one century ago. But could a hands on service like personal training be done on the web? What’s next, hair cuts? You may be considering online training or maybe even signed up for a subscription based service to give it a try. If you have, you may be disappointed at the profit center you had hoped for.
The belief, “if you build it, they will come” is not necessarily true on the world wide web, however viewing your online training business as an extension of your in person business can be a much quicker road to success.
As the former lead fitness expert for eDiets (the internet’s leading diet and subscription destination) and eFitness, I can share that beyond the novelty factor, technology only takes us and our clients so far, no matter how sophisticated. So how can we successfully reach the masses, support out clients and help them see significant results online while improving our bottom line?
Exercisers and dieters will always need support from a team of professionals, which includes some combination of a personal trainer, coach, eating disorder specialist, psychologist, nutritionist and medical doctors. Downloading workouts and grocery shopping lists is not enough to change someone’s lifelong habits, much less their bodies. While online training provides a foot in the door with clients, it can also be a gateway to personal coaching opportunities, partnering with other health professionals and offering a host of other services and products.
Simply printing out a new workout every week or two may be appropriate for the few elite exercisers who are looking for a fresh routine. However a majority of others, especially those who are struggling to lose weight and who have failed at exercise in the past, will need much more support. Whether customized or from a proprietary program, a printed workout won’t help clients execute a fitness plan, handle eating triggers, control portion sizes, manage stress, curb binge eating, learn strategies for dining out, handle saboteurs and take the necessary steps to making health and fitness a permanent part of ones life.
This is where the future is headed for today’s fitness professionals. Whether you have already jumped on the bandwagon or are considering it, online training and its ancillary services have a huge potential to grow your business by allowing you to reach more customers. In the process, you’ll help clients change their lives while stretching your skills as a personal trainer.
You may be skeptical about online training, as was I. I had been a hands-on trainer for 14 years prior to my first experience with online training. That’s when I realized the power of technology to help people change their lives.
Many of the tools we use in person with our clients--like journaling, weighing in, calculating target heart rates, developing goals and varying workout routines--can all be done online. And today’s online systems can quickly format the client’s data, making record keeping easy and convenient. Month-to-month comparisons are available at the touch of a button to keep clients honest, and online sites can also offer access to personal support and unlimited information, including libraries of articles and a variety of other services. As a result of automation, we can offer more complete service to our clients while saving time and ultimately money.
So, how can you make money as an online personal trainer?
In my experience, it takes less resources to attract an online client. It’s not necessary to place ads or print brochures or even pay for a fancy web site. Instead, customers can find you using the tools available on the Worldwide Web, such as personal training locators. When I look at how I’ve attracted personal training clients both on and off-line over the past three years, it’s about a 50 /50 split between referrals and online locators.
Having links from locators into your site will is one way to optimize your web site. You can optimize your web presence by writing articles that incorporate key words your clients would be likely to use in their internet search. You can also list your services in appropriate directories. Tie online training into all of your marketing efforts both on and off the web.
When a potential customer is searching online with her credit card ready, the promptness of your reply, what you say and how it’s presented can make or break the sale. A personalized letter, endorsements from clients and a sample of what your online training programs look like will create a professional presentation that can set you apart from the competition. You are likely to get more clients when you make a great first impression.
You can reach a whole new market of individuals who want the convenience and affordability of online training. One opportunity for additional income is offering online training privileges for your in-person clients who want access to your customized workouts when they’re traveling. Online membership can also be appealing to club members who want the edge of a personalized workout to help keep their interest high and their workouts productive. It’s also an affordable solution for people who see you once or twice a month in person and want the support throughout the month.
Think about being able to reach hundreds of clients online whose lives you are effecting in a positive way compared to servicing up to an average client load of 20 people who you see repetitively for months on end? Compare spending 3 hours a week with one person to being able to service 50+ online clients in the same time. If your goal is to make a dent in the obesity epidemic, then seeing the same small (however important) group of people for months and years on end is going to be a long slow haul to leaving a legacy on the health of our nation.
The first session
During the initial contact with clients, inform them that the first session begins with a phone (or in person if possible) consultation, which includes a review of the client’s history, preferences, and food log as well as developing the plan and estabilishing and committing to goals. For those who are within driving distance (as a majority of my online clients are) you can also schedule a fitness assessment. Of course, these services should be billed accordingly.
- Be prepared to suggest affiliate programs and referrals that tie back into your business. Those recommendations can bring you additional income. Possibilities for affiliate programs include heart rate monitors, water filters, books, videos, exercise equipment, multi-vitamins and the like.
- Suggest a 30-minute phone consultation on a recurring basis. The contact and accountability is important especially in the beginning. As time goes on and new habits form, the frequency of phone consults and be reduced. to a monthly coaching session.
- Create support material for your online training programs. For example, have a monthly newsletter with a feature story, highlighting success stories and offering clients the ability to communicate with each other for additional support.
- You can produce simple exercise videos of yourself demonstrating exercises that would be appropriate for most beginners. Clients will buy your products as gifts or to enhance their own programs.
- Videotape yourself giving presentations in your community on topics ranging from the facts and myths about weight loss to mastering health-wise grocery shopping. Make these tapes available for purchase.
- Provide online clients with a monthly membership upgrade, which includes getting answers to up to four of their questions per month via e-mail.
- Develop an informative online newsletter featuring video clips of new exercises, a recipe of the month and highlights from your success stories.
- Allow clients to access your library of articles in a “members only” section.
- Offer online training as an upgrade to your health club membership, allowing members the ability to ask "x" number of e-mail questions monthly and receive one new customized workout a month. This is a great way for trainers to fill down time by supporting members online, and I believe that extra “touch” ultimately contributes to member retention.
What will it cost me?
It’s relatively inexpensive to get an online training business started. Your first client-of-the-month should cover the cost of your subscription to most online training programs like Fitness Generator or Hi Tech Trainer or Trainer Force (please check that this is correct). You won’t even need your own web site because most programs will provide your own home page. But if you prefer your own website, www.websitesfortrainers.com provides templates, a library of images and support to get you started.
To assure a steady income flow, set up all your on-line clients for recurring monthly memberships that can be cancelled at any time. Charge for your time in 30-minute increments, based on your typical personal training fees.
The next time you’re in a supermarket or restaurant and you see someone pounding away at her cell phone or PDA to calculate her Weight Watchers’ points or to count calories, it’s a sure sign that there’ll never be a shortage of prospects out there for your online business. Hand held devices are all the rage and here to stay. Clients can now download workouts to ipods or receive a customized workout for their hand held device through Lexabean.
Rest assured that in 2006 and beyond, dieters will continue to be confused, the number of gastric bypass surgeries will soar to new highs, the demand for over-the-counter appetite suppressants will continue to grow, and medical weight loss programs will be more aggressively marketed. It’s up to personal trainers to bail Americans out of the fat trap, and online training is one way for us to make the best use of our time and reach more people in our communities and around the world.
Kelli Calabrese MS, CSCS - 2004 Personal Trainer of the Year – online trainer. Kelli is the President of Calabrese Consulting LLC. She is the editor of Personal Fitness Professional and Wellness and Fitness Entrepreneur magazines and on the board of Advisors for the Personal Trainer Business Association. She is a former Expert Fellow for the National Board of Fitness Examiners and is the Lead Exercise Physiologist for NESTA. She is the co-author of Feminine, Firm and Fit and a contributor to The Power of Champions and The Women Doctors Guide to Health and Healing. Kelli is the former Lead Fitness Expert for eDiets and eFitness. For more information on Kelli’s consulting services for online training, go to www.CalabreseConsulting.com and for consumer products and services go to www.KelliCalabrese.com or call 908-879-1469.