I just got off a radio interview with one of our newest coaches, Neil Anderson, a trainer and radio host of The Health and Fitness Zone in Salt Lake City. During the conversation, we came up with the concept of how trainers can actually expand their business and better serve their clients by becoming MDB coaches.
First the premise: I think personal trainers deliver a valuable service helping people learn about fitness and learn good form. But I think part of their job is to get people on a personal program that they can execute on their own, without the trainer’s help counting reps.
And for anyone who is a trainer, you know how fixed the income potential is – you’re locked into the hours you work. Let’s say you can effectively serve 5 clients a day, 6 days a week. That’s a total of 30 client hours a week, and you ONLY get paid if there is no cancellation. Here’s the problem — the only way to expand is either work longer hours, or increase your rate.
Instead, trainers should do is (1) work toward signing up ten new clients a month to train, to be members in the Million Dollar Body Club, and Coaches so their sessions with you can eventually pay for themselves.
(2) You will put them on a 90 day program like Power 90, Turbo Jam, P90X, or Slim in 6, depending on their preferences, but you only train them for the first few weeks of it to make sure their form is accurate and they stay consistent.
(3) You take their before photos and measurements, and get them to set-up their online profile in the club.
(4) You make sure they log every workout, so you can check up on their progress, and they are eligible to win the daily WOWY prize up to $1,000.
(5) You make sure they use the diet tool to track their food.
(6) In exchange for your helping them become independently healthy, part of that client’s job is to refer you two more people (some will, some won’t. Some will refer a ton of people – when they get results and brag about how they did it on their own, with YOUR help!)
(7) You set the appointment for you to get together to take their 30 day progress photos and measurements. That locks them into accountability.
(8) You make sure they enter their results in t the Million Dollar Body Game – since they could win $1,000 to $10,000 bucks every month if they make progress – and you as a coach will get rewarded too!
(9) You sign-up their referrals (either under them as a coach, or under you if they’re not a coach) and do the same thing with these referrals. The tree grows!
Here’s how the math works (without getting into the income of it, which would be substantial):
Instead of serving ten to fifteen clients in all the time you have, your new goal is to sign up ten new people a month, with the help of client referrals. You’re still always training ten or so people a month, but once they have learned the program with your help, they are on your maintenance program (including supplements if you feel it appropriate) and your earnings from your clients becomes passive, rather than direct trainer-earnings.
So at the end of the year, you have at least 120 clients, calling you from time to time for refreshers and to take progress photos/measurements. After two years you have over 240 clients, plus all the coaches your clients have now signed up on their own. THAT’S A BUSINESS! You’ve created your own network of peer support; People who are thanking YOU for getting them started on the right path, and for helping them achieve it under their own power for the long term.
You make more money. They are rewarded for getting healthy and referring people into the program. And EVERYONE is a more independent healthy human being. if I were a trainer, that’s the way I would approach it. And if I were a coach, I would call every trainer in the phone book and pitch this concept. people don’t need help counting reps, they need to be empowered to succeed on their own once they know what they’re doing!
By the way, this same formula works for doctors who see patients that need help losing weight, gyms, chiropractors, and nutritionists. The point here is to empower people to be independently healthy, and you reap the rewards in every way!
Thanks to Neil for helping inspire this concept!
Posted by Carl Daikeler
2 thoughts on “A Win Win Idea for Personal Trainers and You – from Carl Daikeler”
I have noticed from articles about you that you hold exercise and fitness in high reqard. I am a high school teacher who is giving up her prep period to teach students who are overweight about diet and exercise. Since this is not a course per say, we do not have a budget. You must know about teenage obesity and it’s alarming rise in numbers. I would like to know if you could donate your great videos to our students. I started using your tape with the exercise ball, and have since them used many of your products including Turbo Jam and Hip Hop Abs. I never found anything as much fun. I continually purchase and use your tapes and find them to be fun and effective. They are great motivators. If these students could have tapes to take home with them it would help them establish a life long habit of exercising. If they could get their weight down it would not only help their health, but would give them confidence and self-assurance. Anything that you could do to help us would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Deborah, I am an Independent Beachbody Coach and, yes, I do promote health and fitness for all age groups passionately and unceasingly. If I could donate videos to you, I would in a heart beat. I do have a website called Healthy-Fundraising-Ideas.com (http://www.healthy-fundraising-ideas.com/) and there is a very good idea for you to consider to raise money for your class and get all the videos that you need. You can either do it on your own or you could do it through the PTA. You can email me at howtobefit@aol.com or call me toll free at 866 797-7336 and I can give you more details.