Dropped in new city... - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[KSanford33]

Hey Everyone,
I want to pose a scenario to everyone and see if I can get any ideas. I'm a new PT, passed my cert about 2 weeks ago and want to start out on my own. I was a professional athlete for a few years, so I have a good background in fitness. So here is my scenario:
You're dropped into a new city, with very little money to market yourself, and no prospective clients yet. What d'you do to get yourself off the ground as a personal trainer? Ideally, I'd like to here ideas skewed towards bootcamps, but right now any ideas will help.


Thanks everyone, I look forward to hearing your responses!


-KS

[angela.olah]

I started networking with fitness studio's that will allow me to train for service exchange or for a small fee.

I also created flyers and posted them up. I have adjusted my budget to what's really important - out socializing with friends or could I use that money on marketing ideas? It takes dedication and a strong will to succeed. Don't expect it to happen over nite but it will start.

Good luck!

When I was new to training I worked in a large gym to get my feet wet and find out about different types of clients etc. Was a great way to get started.

[Christina]

Craig's List.

[kit1811]

If you're on Facebook, see if your friends have friends in the new town. I'm fixing to relocate, myself and every time I visit my new city, I find a new contact through people I already know. My latest is the owner of a fitness equipment supply store - totally random friend of a friend. And since my business is mobile training, his customers might want a trainer to come to their house and get them WORKING that equipment and that trainer might be me.

Get a starter website at sites.google.com - it's free and you can jazz it up more as your income grows. Make sure your grammar and spelling are correct and put all about who you are, what you offer, and how much you charge for it. (I was an English major, and I hosed something up on my site when it launched - a potential client pointed it out to me. D'oh!)

Get a professional business card. They can be had for not that much money, and if you're solo you can deduct all of that stuff. Hand that card out everywhere. I seriously meet people on the street (I'm a chatty person) just talking about the weather, or the Giants, and end up giving my card away. If you're pleasant, people will remember you. The wider you get your name out there, the deeper the pool of potential clients.

I love training, and I talk about it a lot - about my approach, my target client base, why I love doing it. I had someone get in touch with me 4 weeks after we met because he remembered how enthusiastic I was.

See if there is an informal professional networking group where you're going. There's a formal (expensive) one out here that meets for breakfast once a week - it's for small business owners and no profession is allowed to be represented twice. So if you're a trainer and you have breakfast with a realtor maybe you'll train that realtor, and said realtor will recommend you to his/her clients and so on. Also nice to get doctors and chiropractors in your network. I'm not a member of that one, but I get invited to networking events through a friend who is. If there isn't an informal/free/cheap one, start one - using craigslist or the online classifieds in the local paper, or even going to realtor's offices, hair salons, delis, dentists, and saying "hey, let's do this," and leaving your card. Then you've pitched yourself not only as a trainer, but as a fellow business owner.

Craigslist is good - consider offering to barter on Craigslist, too - it'll help get your name out there if you can trade, say, an hour of boot camp training for an hour of voice or guitar lessons, or help with your website, or a tune up for your bike.

Sign up LinkedIn if you're not already on it.

Flyers in natural food stores, especially. Independent coffee shops. What kind of client are you looking for? Can you target that audience by posting flyers in a certain part of town (near the playground at the park for moms, a lightpost by the after-work-watering hole for repressed corporate types, e.g.). A "hey, I'm new in town!" discount?

And, once you're doing bootcamps, do them outdoors in a pretty high-foot traffic area, if possible. Potential clients will be walking by all the time. Wear a T-shirt with your business website when you're training.

I've been doing some of this with pretty good success, but I'm in the awkward position of being a short timer here, so I'm not spending a tremendous amount of effort to promote myself . . . I really can't wait until I'm fully relocated and can start seeing what I can really do.

[Alicia Streger]

Here are a couple ideas:
1. Body Composition testing outside in a public area- make sure email addresses!
2. Start a newsletter list
3. offer grocery tours
4. offer to train people for FREE and and ask them to refer you clients in return
5. post flyers or posters in public locations
6. try Groupon! They will EXPLODE a business. Just make sure you are ready for the traffic. You may want to team up with someone on that.
7. Visit local business and leave your cards there
8. Don't forget to tell EVERYONE you know that you are a trainer :-)

Hope that helps!
Alicia Streger, CSCS, RKC
http://FreeBootCampWorkout.com