#JTInTheRaw Show 21: Why Celebrity Personal Trainers Piss Me Off
Show 21 today, where if you hang there with me I have:
- A rant on celebrity trainers and how they piss me off for not being ‘part’ of our broader industry. That is to come!
- Some very exciting news for my business;
- Plus the regular #AskJT question.
First I want to share with you an interesting opportunity I want you to know and then capitalize on in your business: in every business around 20% of our customers would pay 30-50% more if we had a product to offer.
A the Industry Leaders PT Roundtable we discussed premium packages and some of the ideas that were floated were amazing! So cool for the consumer. A huge opportunity for business.
The reason people won’t pay more for what you do, is because you don’t think they will pay more. You have the limiting belief not the consumer!
Get to work on your premium products:
- Have a limited number.
- Sell them for a restricted time.
And make 2017 a ripper year for you!
#AskJT
Each week you can ask me any questions on work, life and anything in between.
This week I was chatting with someone and they asked me a question I have never been asked, “JT why are you not telling people you are an expert? You’re a fitness industry veteran, you’re on the Fitness Australia Roll of Honour as a leader, you’ve owned clubs, you have bought and sold them, and you know your shit. Do you feel embarrassed to self promote?”
WOW! They hit me right between the eyes! It said I need to seriously look at my brand, my message that’s going out and I need to better position myself as an industry expert.
For whatever reason in business, many of us try to remain humble. Yet the consumer wants to know that they can:
- Trust us;
- Know what we are doing through proof.
You shouldn’t be ashamed of what you have achieved! There are two fitness businesses that have done that:
- Vision Personal Training have a video for their weight loss challenge & Andrew Simmons nails it – we’ve been doing this since 1999; we’ve helped thousands of people lose 134 tonnes or 84 RAV 4s!
- Jumpstart Personal Training say on their website: Since 1997, Jumpstart has trained over 2,000 locals and run over 50,000 sessions. We’re that good, our clients stay with us, on average, for 5 years.
You have a story to tell that positions you differently from your competitors. Don’t be shy, humble, bashful or any other verb to indicate not telling people you are good at what you do!
If you can see what I mean, then I want to know. I want you to write the word ‘story’ in the comments below. This will show me you are going to work on your story to show:
- Credibility
- Trust
Thanks for questioning me Kayley. You challenged my comfort zone and I have some work to do!
OK here comes my rant . . .
#JTRant
Would you go to a surgeon to have an operation who doesn’t have any qualifications or isn’t registered with the Medical Board? Would you go to an accountant who has no formal qualifications or not registered CPA?
Then why the heck do people go to ‘personal trainers’ who have no qualifications or are not registered? Can someone please answer me that?
Can someone tell me, that if I have a good enough body to take selfies with my shirt off how that makes me a personal trainer?
It doesn’t sit well with me and it shits me that people who are doing the right thing, getting qualified and then registering with Fitness Australia, or the peak body in any country, and then getting no support from that same body to educate the consumer.
I Googled a few ‘famous’ celebrity trainers and many appear to have at least completed Cert IV in Personal Training – although less than half actually say they have a PT qualification. But none of them said if they are registered.
I Googled several trainers the next level below ‘famous’ who have thousands of Instagram followers and many of them have no qualifications other than rock hard abs and a soft porn instagram account.
Now as Geoff said on my Facebook feed yesterday, “There’s plenty of very qualified people that are still muppets.”
Geoff is 100% right.
So I am not saying qualifications are the be all and end all but we need some qualification process.
I think what angers me more is what are our peak fitness bodies in each country doing? If they want to build their own brand, support the people who are playing by the rules and help build trust between the fitness industry and the consumer then call out the charlatans!
I’m quite serious, take a scalp! Get on every media outlet and call out a celebrity trainer or an Instagram trainer who may not be qualified or not have the Industry registration.
There are some great trainers who are playing by the rules and they are getting no support from the industry bodies. If the industry body wants credibility then go hard on the charlatan trainers!
And if you’re a celebrity trainer or qualified Instagram rockstar then for goodness sake start telling people you are registered with the peak body and you follow the CEC rules, that will help educate our consumers! And make our industry stronger!
Tell me below do you agree? Or disagree? I’m putting out there so join me with your opinion.
Now for Active Management news
As many of you know we have an online membership program. Members receive unbelievable value for just 300 bucks a year. I mean there are at least 17 marketing templates which is worth 3400 bucks minimum. There are over 400 social media tiles ready to load on your social accounts that are guaranteed to get you likes, comments and shares. Another couple of thousand worth of value.
We currently have over 500 members and my goal is to have 2000 members by the end of 2018! This means sales and retention of our members. So to ensure our current members are gaining maximum value in 2017 there will be 3 opportunities to join. Our focus will be on serving our members with quality resources and content. So only 3 months in 2017 will you be able to join.
Every minute you spend designing a marketing piece, writing a staff form or something else, is a wasted minute as there is probably a resource on the Member hub you could use.
If you want to join, click here.
Next Week
Show 22 will prove very challenging next week. You see I am booked in for a colonoscopy. As guys get closer to 50 we need to check down and in there! So that’s on for me next week. I’m not sure of my procedure time, so I’ll keep you posted on when #JTInTheRaw show 22 will be!
Quote of the Week . . .
“We choose to help someone, thank someone and take care of those around us. No leader of the country can stop that choice. The choice to lead is in all of us.”
Check out all previous shows here: https://www.activemgmt.com.au/category/jt-in-the-raw/
Justin is the Managing Director of Active Management, which he began January 2004. He offers coaching to businesses worldwide in everything from start up and design to marketing and sales systems. Justin also facilitates four Australian and New Zealand ‘fitness industry roundtables’ events, which allows him to see a huge cross section of business models.