WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE TRAINING OF FITNESS COACHES?
I am 67 and far from being an athlete. Physically, I’m rather chubby and my body was not set up to provide great performances at all. As a youngster, sports were not my favorite hobbies and I never imagined myself as a famous soccer player or a popular successful sprinter.
I had a passion for sports car but I was not rich enough to practice and train for it.
Despite these “obstacles”, I was and still am an active person. Wandering in the mountains has been my passion for a long time. Later on, I discovered tennis, scuba diving, swimming, and downhill skiing and I practice these regularly.
Getting older, I realized how working out was good for my health and got receptive to all these messages inviting me to exercise. Hence, I have been a member of a fitness center for more than five years.
JOINING A FITNESS CENTER AS A NON-SPORTING INDIVIDUAL
My place for fitness is well equipped with a variety of machines to train on your own…, providing you know how to use them and this was not my case when I joined. Therefore, I gave my preference to collective classes such as spinning (indoor cycling), cardio training, (light) weightlifting/body-pump, yoga, and so on. When practicing, I discovered the audience attending these classes and the various types of coaches/instructors.
Regarding the audience, I would say that I am not a representative of the most common profiles. They would qualify me as rather layback and they feel I should put more effort in my practice. As for me, I consider they often push their body too far and damage it stupidly. I even find it ridiculous when they glorify themselves for the injuries they are suffering as a consequence of a reckless attitude for a miserable trophy.
The group made of the coaches is an interesting one as well. I destabilize them because I am a regular member, fully engaged in any exercise, and always prompt to follow their recommendations and/or correct my position according to their advice. But I do not try to take any pride from my “performances.” I am just enjoying the moment and having fun. Sometimes, they consider me as an alien in this sports environment made of competitive spirit. Fortunately, I am not the only exception and have enough company to socialize while at the center.
THE TRIBE OF THE COACHES
Apart from our yoga instructor, all the coaches are not even 40 years old. The majority of them are even younger than 30. It means I am 40 years older than them. I’m sure I remind them of their grandfather.
They have chosen a career in sport because they have some talents and perform well in their specialty. Of course, at their age performance is the motto. Consequently, they feel more comfortable with those members competing with each other and being performance-oriented. As mentioned, this is not my case and I had to adapt and compromise with them in order to establish a good relationship. My approach to sport is unknown to them, except for the yoga and pilate instructors.
WHAT ARE THEY MISSING?
I am experienced in marketing and selling. “Profile and Know Your Customers” was my bread and butter. I was trained and skilled to capture any details to find out my customers’ needs. That was even the beauty of the job because this was made through an interaction with your prospect and it was a nice socializing experience.
Some of my clients were very different from me. But I managed to adapt my communication style and my commercial offer to generate trust from their side and close the deal.
It seems that the fitness instructors are hooked on one single type of customers: the ones like them. Others are not considered.
WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE?
In a general population, the customers enjoyed by the fitness instructors are a minority. Therefore, they miss a huge potential for business.
There is a significant market to capture among:
- women feeling insecure with their body and reluctant to go to the gym,
- those who never performed well during the sports class at school and are now discouraged to start any workout,
- the aged population who consider it is too late,
- the ones, like me, who simply wants to maintain their physical and cognitive ability and enjoy the moment while practicing,
- etc.
Simply, those are the ones for whom the word “performance” has no meaning. They are not lazy because they are happy to be dragged out of their comfort zone, but not more than this.
In fact, the question is: are the fitness instructors realizing that the members of the fitness centers are their CUSTOMERS? Not fellow members being there because they share the same view on the goals to be attained while exercising.
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It seems to me that they are not aware and do not know what having customers imply.
WHAT DOES HAVING CUSTOMERS IMPLY?
To understand that you deal with customers, you have to realize that your job as a coach is not to practice sport with members of the fitness centers and get paid. It is to generate a business along with profit by satisfying customers’ needs. Your daily challenge is to attract new customers and keep the current ones.
Customers are so important that colleges and universities offer consumer behavior courses dedicated to the study of customer behavioral patterns, choices, etc. These courses focus on why people buy and use goods and services and how those decisions impact companies and economies. It seems that understanding customers is NOT part of the curriculum of a fitness coach in training.
The fitness market is saturated with businesses offering similar offers and programs because coaches do not know how to distinguish from the others. When a coach is interacting with a customer, he/she should know how to profile that person, and not according to sports performance only. There are simple Sales Questioning Techniques to find out the motivations of your current or potential customers.
To assist you to get the information you desire, just question according to the following methodology:
- A question that encourages the prospect to start talking. How did you find the session today?
- Open questions to encourage more detail and direction. What exercises did you enjoy the most during the class?
- Specific open questions to narrow down the information. May I know what makes you reluctant to cardio training?
- Alternative questions for specifics. Would a session with less weightlift be something better for you or do you prefer to join another class?
- Closed questions to confirm needs. Shall I register you for an indoor cycling class?
As mentioned earlier, this easily accessible technique creates an interaction with your customer that is, normally, a nice socializing experience and establish a positive emotional link which generates trust.
If coaches knew how to understand customers, they would enable the business of their fitness center, help to create effective marketing and advertising campaigns, design and deliver workout programs that address needs and wants of the various members, and retain them for long-term repeat business. They would support customers’ satisfaction, whatever the customer profiles.
I recommend this article of Peter McKeon entitled “Sales Questioning Techniques to Ensure You Get the Sale” to learn more.
WHAT IS THE COACHES’ REWARD FOR HAVING AND DELIVERING OFFERS ADAPTED TO VARIOUS CUSTOMERS?
A satisfied customer is someone who enjoyed the time spent with a coach and he/she will come back because he/she trusts the fitness center and its staff.
The importance of the establishment of an emotional link between coaches and customers is critical.This link is the necessary fuel to generate loyalty from your customers. This link is PERSONAL & UNIQUE and unlike the fares, programs, ads, etc., cannot be copied by other centers.
Loyal customers are the best because they come regularly over the long-term (sometimes decades) and they are likely to recommend you to friends, social media connections, or business associates.
FITNESS COACHES NEED TO BE REFORMATED
The problem with the fitness coaches is that before, during and after their training, they are in an environment where the practice of sport is associated with performance. Since they have shown some talents in that area, they enjoyed the practice, were awarded, socially recognized, and finally decided to turn professional. Along their progression, when they faced some for whom performance was neither possible nor interested nor both, they showed no interest and ignored them.
As professional instructors, to earn good money, they cannot restrict their prospects to the high performers. This is a minority and there is a plethora of options for them. The market is saturated.
The opportunity to be seized is among the low performers. The challenges for the coaches are:
- Coaches are not told low performers are their future,
- Coaches do not know them.
This is a serious change of mindset to consider someone as a key business target when you first rated him/her as negligible. To add to the complication, he/she is unknown to you. Hence, for a professional fitness coach selling skills are more important than physical performance to discover those new customers and provide an adapted offer.
One trait of becoming a successful coach is the establishment of an emotional link with the members of the center. Indeed, because the types of customers have been enlarged, it is necessary to work with a wide variety of people who all have different personalities, goals and insecurities. Showing up to classes with compassion, understanding and patience, is a must to promote a positive atmosphere. The latter leads to trust and serves the business.
It means professional coaches have to become sensitive to others and develop a high level of emotional intelligence. Another topic that should be included into their training.
To conclude, I say that sports performance is a must for a fitness coach but only customers’ understanding through selling skills and emotional intelligence turn them into successful professionals. I hope to see these skills taught to them for the benefit of both trainers and trainees.
