Advice to Personal Trainers: Words that Will Convince Someone to Buy Training

Have you figured it out yet? You know, the fact that millions of Americans are in dire straights about their weight, are frustrated, bitter, maddened, infuriated, depressed and even in tears about their struggles with being "fat" or overweight, yet, yet, yet...

...dang it, why is it so hard to get people to buy personal training sessions? It isn't the money. You know it isn't the money, even though people often site money as the obstacle. These very same people will stretch their budget to buy other things they really don't need, that seem to be far less important than fitting into that size 8 outfit or acquiring that V-shaped body.

And just as many people, WITH lots of money, refuse to buy training, as those on a tight budget. The problem, then, may lie in just how you, the personal trainer, goes about trying to get people to sign up as your client.

I like to use the Ross Perot analogy. Ross Perot is a very brilliant man, yet was the laughing stock of presidential candidates (as evidenced by talk show fodder), when he was campaigning for president. Political cartoonists had a field day. People poked fun at him and laughed at his commercials. His commercials had very little appeal to the masses. His speeches weren't any more popular. But he's a brilliant person. So what did he do wrong?

He used a logical, analytical approach! This was his downfall. In Perot's commercials, he used a pointer, pie charts and graphs. This approach cannot be assimilated by the masses of people, because the masses of people do not make decisions based on logic, analysis and hardcore facts.

People make major decisions based on EMOTION. So when you're sitting in an office with a prospect, trying to get him or her to sign up for training, you must dissect their emotions, one layer at a time, rather than feeding them medical facts about the dangers of being overweight.