Why You Are Undervalued And Over Worked Trainer

I want to talk to you about one of the biggest traps, the biggest issues that come about for trainers and force fantastic trainers who are doing great things, helping people, changing lives, force them to resent and quickly exit the industry we all love. Look, we got into this industry because we love the gym, we love training, we love feeling healthy, feeling like we're moving forward in life and I guess the active lifestyle. And unfortunately after a long day at the gym working with clients and if you don't have the right things sorted, it can kind of grind you down.

And the sort of issues that come up time and time again is a case of being undervalued and being undervalued can cause you to be overworked and underpaid and get frustrated. And the common symptoms, we've all experienced this, this has all happened and if you're to these things saying, "No, Chris that's never happened to me," then you're probably lying to yourself. Seeing another trainer that potentially knows less than you, has less experience than you, whatever it might be, and potentially charging less than them.

Or alternatively having a client who after charging prices or saying a price that's not really what you're worth, they still try and haggle and get a discount. Or the type of client who regularly, you turn up to the gym on time, you're ready, you're prepped, and regularly doesn't turn up. Whether they say, "Oh sorry, I forgot," or, "I fell asleep," or whatever it might be. And you're there, you've taken the time to turn up and you're prepped and ready and they don't understand the impact on that and they don't turn up. They don't really apologise and they don't pay a cent for it. There's no impact to them, but there's an impact to you. Alternatively, giving out free sessions in hope that after training the person a couple of times free, they'll see the value and they'll want to move forward with you and become a paying client and so on and so forth.

So these are the common symptoms, but the true cause of all these things is being undervalued. Now the funny thing is with value, value is in the eye of the beholder and I learnt this the hard way. Now it's going to sound kind of backwards, but value, it doesn't matter how many degrees you have, it doesn't matter how awesome you are at your job, how much knowledge you have, how much better you are than the other trainer. Value is in the eye of the beholder. Like I said, it doesn't matter how awesome of a trainer you are, all that matters is what value do you have in the eye of your prospect? What value does your client have of you? And I'll repeat that now. It doesn't matter how smart you are, how many degrees you have. I went down that path, I got so many degrees and each time, came out, realised that still wasn't fixing the problem. It doesn't matter your actual true value, all that really matters is what your value is in the eye of your prospect or your client.

And there's a couple of key things that trainers do that devalue themselves. Obviously it's not something any of us want to do, but there's a common couple of traps or mistakes that people make and this devaluing yourself with a prospect or devaluing yourself with a client is what causes people to think they can walk all over you. You don't have a high value, they're not going to pay you what you're worth and they're not going to respect your time, your knowledge and so on and so forth.

And these are the sorts of things that kind of grind you down in this space. As soon as you can up your value, you can charge what you're worth. People are going to listen more and respect more what you say. Your clients are going to get better results, they're going to turn up, respect your time, respect your calendar and you're going to have a better time. You're going to earn more money, but at the same time your clients are actually going to get better results because they're listening and they're implementing and they're motivated.

Now what it comes down to these key issues is generally three areas. First and foremost, and this is for prospects or also for clients, first and foremost, how you market. What are you doing to market yourself, to put yourself out there so that you have a high value or high perceived value from a prospect that comes through? Are you doing things that potentially communicate that, "Hey, I don't have many clients, I don't have many leads. I need to do everything I can to chase people to want to pay me and as a result I'm not of high value, I'm not in high demand." Do you do things that potentially when it comes to trying to close a client, this is the second one. Marketing and how you bring people in and putting yourself in the best light possible.

Secondly, once they're coming in, how are you closing them and turning into a client. Now there's a couple of key trips and traps that people go through or fall over and things like, for example, how do you convert? What's your communication of your prices? How are you closing? Are you quickly down selling too fast? Are you charging what you're worth? Are you doing it with confidence? And so on and so forth. And these things are triggers that allow someone that potentially had a high value of you will make them in their mind go, "Hm, this person's a bit desperate," or whatever it might be. "Obviously they're not in high demand. Obviously they're not a great trainer." And even though you may be and, "I can kind of walk all over this person and demand what I want, no matter what they say."

And thirdly is how you deliver to a client, an existing client. And the way you deliver to an existing client, do you have high expectations? Is there a, "You need to be paying me up front. Direct debits costs more if you're paying weekly. Direct debits cost more than paying up front in packs. If you don't turn up in time and you don't give me 24 hours of notice, you pay for the session anyway." All of these little things, all these high expectations are things that keep the bar high and keep your value high throughout your whole lifetime of having a client. Now we've all had those types of clients that it starts out good and after six months or whatever it might be, they start getting cheaper prices, getting longer sessions, getting a free session here and there or whatever it might be because your value is decreasing in their eyes and you're having to do what you can to try and keep them. It is because you're making these key fundamental flaws.

So remember, if you are having any of these issues and they're kind of grinding you down, whether you're a face to face trainer, whether you're an online trainer, there are key mistakes that you're making on a daily basis. And the symptoms are all the things I've gone through but the true cause is being undervalued. The true cause is being undervalued. You need to know how to market, you need to know how to convert. You need to know how to deliver a phenomenal service that keeps your value extremely high. And as a result, you'll be able to charge more, earn more, be able to easily get more clients whenever you need. But at the same time your clients will actually get better results. You get more testimonials and then the wheel goes around. So it's actually win-win.

So some food for thought for you today, if you are running into those issues, those challenges, look, everybody runs into them whether you're face to face, whether you're an online, whether you're a gym owner or whatever it might be. Certain formats are easier, for example online, because you don't have to turn up on time. There's no cancellations, whatever it might be. So that gets rid of some of the symptoms. But the true cause is how you market, how you convert and how you deliver. You need to get those things nailed, keep your value and your perceived value as high as possible, and you'll have a much better time, you'll love the industry. You will never think twice about staying in here for life and your clients will absolutely love you as well.

So that's it from me today guys. Some food for thought. Any questions? Reach out. We'll speak soon. Bye for now.