2018
Top 10 Traits of a Personal Trainer
Two more very important traits of a successful Personal Trainer…. The intangibles
7. The Ability to Read Your Customers – Being able to read your clients is one of the most important things. Listening to what your clients “don’t” say is a huge skill which not many people learn how to master. For example, if you tell your client they are doing a cardio session and they have a slightly disgruntled look on their face, even if they say they are happy to do it, means that they are not happy to do it. So a good trainer will act on what has not been said, but what they see with body language. So instead of carrying on and listening to their verbal agreement on whatever it might be, a good trainer will then ask another question like “or would you prefer to do a weight training session today?” The client will probably respond with “yes I would” and as their trainer, you will go up in their estimation and value by showing this ability to read what they actually want.
8. Customer Service Skills – This is the service industry. So, similar to hospitality, your customer service skills have to be excellent in order for you to be a real success. The best comparison would be going to a restaurant where the waiter gives you fantastic service which outweighs how good the food actually is. Whilst the food has to be good, you will remember the restaurant far more for it’s brilliant customer service than the actual food. The same applies in personal training, it is important to be a great technical trainer (that’s the food) but it’s also really important to give exceptional customer service, for example, your confirmation phone call the day before a session, a mid week phone call to see how the client is going with their programme and nutrition, or maybe something as simple as passing their water bottle, opening the door or helping them out of the leg press. There are many more things you can do, these are the things that will impress your clients and make them feel special