A good impression of a personal trainer!

One of the most important skills a personal trainer can have is the ability to leave impressions!

I make that statement based on my opinion and experience as a personal trainer, whether my fellow fitness professionals agree with me is a different matter. If you understand service and people, you know that first impressions last a lifetime. I once read that the critical time is about the first seven seconds of meeting someone for the first time. As a personal training business owner, we tend to come across some people that are very nervous and need reassurance from the start, based on this, first impressions count doubly important in the exercise and fitness game.

I am not however going to talk about first impressions today. I am going to assume that if you understand basic manners, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem for you. I am going to talk about last impressions.

Resentment, the bane of a personal training business

I read a lot about different types of personal training clients and how to market to them. It is very true that if you target the wrong market, your product won’t fit that person. That’s just the way things are, it isn’t an emotional thing it’s just common sense. This is not however, the clients fault. If you are fishing in the wrong pond then don’t be surprised if you catch the wrong fish.

This brings me on to my point about resentment. Resenting people really doesn’t help you or your business in my opinion. In a people business, people can do unpredictable things and unexpected things can happen. The most important thing is not to resent clients for leaving you or even worse leaving the client with a bad last impression. The truth is, you never know when the client may come back to you in the future. By leaving a great last impression as well, you always increase your chances of referrals from clients.

How do you know that you know?

Most people think they are wonderful. In the fitness industry, a LOT of trainers think they are wonderful. Here is the challenge you may encounter with this attitude, if you training clients, how do you know that you are doing a great job if you never ask? On the flip side, if clients are leaving you, what could you have done better? It can be a very scary question to ask clients but the answer you get could provide a valuable lesson for you and your personal training business.

I would recommend looking at your last impressions and asking whether the client left you with as good as impression as when they came to you in the first place. The other side of the coin is that carrying resentment around with you is not great for how you feel and the way you come across to clients.

People will do whatever they want in the end, all you can control is how you deal with the situation as a personal trainer. Every impression you give a client could be vital to your business.