Personal Training Business Myth Exposed

I was surfing Facebook today - the Personal Training pages - and I came across this comment above on a Facebook page.

Personal Training Business Myth

This is one of the most terrible myths of Personal Training that I come across and it's been around for over two decades.

It's based on the 'knowing more stuff makes you more valuable' philosophy which is total codswallop. If you agreed with this view then the smartest person in the world would be the most valuable and would therefore earn the most.  They would charge more per session because they had more stuff to share. 

You find this non-sense in academic circles quite regularly.  Whoever has the biggest "alphabet soup" after their name should get the biggest pay cheque.  Thankfully, you'll find in the real world this doesn't hold true - otherwise everyone would be getting their second PHD as we speak.

What's missing here is that you have to be able to use what you know to make a difference.  Anything you learn that can't create extra value for your customers is an exercise in brain function not business returns.  Simply knowing more isn't enough.

There is also a business model that is quite popular right now which functions entirely the opposite way - it's the "just good enough" model.  The premise is you deliver only exactly what the customer wants, no more or less, and you charge them as little as possible for it - making sure you still maintain your margins but not gouging the customers pockets to pay for fanciful development of your burgeoning ideas and experiments.  In other words - you keep it simple, deliver on an exact promise, and price accordingly. 

You can see this model in retail, airlines, computers, software and so on.  The fact is not all customers need all the functionality of microsoft word or the speed of a concord.  Customers' wants and needs are finite at any particular point in time - they do develop over time - but on any given day they are pretty static. 

So, this brings me back to the myth that more knowledge is more value.  It's not in the majority of cases and here's the specific issue for us fitness junkies - acquiring more knowledge is like cocaine to the purist in all of us.  We don't need to do it, but most of us (I'm included as I love exercise science and much more) are easily addicted to it and would love to rationalise it as a 'wise investment'.  We are easily hooked on the cocaine of knowing more but with it we then suffer two things. 

Firstly, when we dip into a new trough of knowledge we try to justify the investment in the new insights by applying them to anyone we can get our hands on who will let us - whether they really want / need it or not.  After all, when you get new knowledge you want to test drive it just like you want to drive a new car to the shops every 5 minutes when you've just bought it .  This means we are actually going backward with our clients because we're entertaining our own interests rather than focusing whole-heartedly on theirs.  In this state we often become protective of the new knowledge we've invested in, that we want to use, that we are convinced will make our world a better place.  We scoff at how we were before and anyone who can't show the same insight or use the new jargon get's the rollie-pollie eyes of disbelief.

Secondly, by investing in the stuff we are personally interested in exploring we often miss out on the stuff that our customers would benefit from immensely and that our businesses would therefore grow from.  This is the opportunity cost of investing any resource.  If you spend your time and money in one place learning one thing, you by default have to miss out on learning about something else, somewhere else.  This is a head ache as although we are trying to better ourselves we actually miss out on the important stuff our customers need us to learn more about.

Two experiences have taught me this.  One from attending fitness conferences and the other from providing support services to groups of Personal Trainers.

Firstly conferences.  Take everyone at a fitness conference who is attending the 'technical' stream and swap them with everyone attending the 'business' stream and you'd probably balance out the skills of each group more effectively.  Why?  Because when I go to conferences like this the 'technical' stream is often choc-a-block with the already rather technically capable.  What they are doing there is putting the turbo on the V8 which if you've ever been in a Porsche Cayenne is completely unnecessary (even dangerous!). 

In the 'business' stream you will generally find business-minded individuals polishing up their margins.  I've often thought conference organisers should lock the doors when a presentation is due to start, switch technical and business presenters over, then see what happens!

The other experience that I've been through is surveying Personal Training clients on behalf of Personal Trainers.  In this situation we ran surveys as independent third parties on behalf of PTs so that clients could anonymously report on their Personal Trainers performance and skills. 

Interestingly, not one client thought their Personal Trainer needed to know more - rather they were more interested in better support, goal setting and motivation.  By the way, this was 30 clients per Personal Trainer and across four Personal Trainers - with the results very consistent each time.

So, what does this all mean?  It means I should give you some tips if you are looking to invest in your development:

1. Have a business plan that defines your niche customers, their exact wants and needs, and how you want to serve them.  What should drive the development of your business is what your core customers want more of.  If you plan to change your business to be focusing only on your passions - then sign up to anything you like but be ready for a blip in your current business performance.
2. Have a professional development plan that addresses the barriers within your business plan so that you can, as quickly as possible, improve the direct value you deliver to your core customers
3. Before embarking on a new development plan ask your customers using a survey (ptdirect.com premium membership will have ready made surveys for you)
4. If you find yourself giving in to development that simply indulges your own interests - go ahead as long as you can afford the losses in time, money and the opportunity cost involved.  At least if you do this knowingly you'll enjoy the education more and won't need to kid yourself at all.
5. If things are tight in your business then focus heavily on the value your customers are getting and deliver exactly what they want, the way they want it and charge them fairly for it.

This myth of 'more knowledge is more value' should not be entertained in an industry where all value is defined by the customer who is paying.  I definitely don't want to rain on anyone's parade but I do think there is a time and place for developing your interests versus developing your business.  Most development I see is interest based and all too often it's being done when the business is under pressure and the Personal Trainer is looking for solutions.  I hope this blog encourages you to look a little more carefully whenever you decide to push forward.