Do you remember your last break-up with an ex?
Do you remember fighting the urge to call them to try to make things better?
Why is it that we aren’t as eager to make the first call to improve our fitness?
Some of you want help when it comes to losing weight and getting stronger.
Doing it on your own is challenging….
There is a lot of information, and tons of options. With so many options, is it easy to be “fearful of choosing the wrong one.” It is also easy to be paralyzed by thinking there is one correct decision that requires endless research to find.
Being nervous is normal. It is common to over-analyze the first call to a trainer. Here are some reasons you may be procrastinating, and hopefully some perspectives that change your mind.
1. Reluctance to Admit Your Shortcomings
Talking to a stranger about your struggles can feel weird. You don’t want to turn your first call with a fitness professional into a therapy session. However, a great phone call should feel exactly like that.
You are also under the impression that the person on the other side of the phone is a fitness guru that won’t understand your struggles. You possibly envision a man or woman with a 6 pack that is doing pull-ups while on the phone with you. You imagine this personal ready to yell at you at the first sign of weakness.
For me personally, I completely understand. I was about 100lbs. overweight in middle school. I remained overweight until graduating from college.
Although the person you are talking to over the phone might not be able to relate to our situation, they have had many similar conversations with others. They will understand where you are coming from. If they make you feel bad for your struggles, hang up on them instantly.
2. Resistance to Sales Tactics
If you decide to pick up the phone and share your story, you don’t want to feel like someone is trying to sell you. You want them to understand you and determine if this is the right fit for you without wasting your time or money. It’s not cool to feel like you’re just a number.
If I was to call a trainer, I doubt I would ever pay over the phone after one call. This is especially true if I were to be signing up for a membership requiring commitment.
You also don’t want to be guilted. You want to feel like the person you are talking to is working with you, not leverage your vulnerability by guilting you into purchasing. A business must collect money to succeed, but it should never come at the sacrifice of caring and being respectful for the customers.
In fact, the most successful businesses seem to be the ones that care the most, not the ones with the best sales scripts.
You also want to have a genuine conversation with a person. You don’t want someone to be fake nice and pretend to be your best friend after a sentence or two over the phone. We are all able to quickly decipher between real and fake when it comes to tone and genuine friendliness. You probably want to speak to a professional that cares primarily about you.
3. Uncertainty About Suitability
When you make the call, you know the person you are speaking with is going to tell you how great their program is. How do you find out if that’s true?
Maybe it is good for many, but maybe not good for you.
Maybe it’s not that good of a product for most while being perfect for you.
You should be offered some sort of free and low-cost starting phase. Trying before buying seems to be fair.
At Pratt Personal Training we have had hundreds of members tell us that they are not confident that we can solve their problems. After trying us out, they felt completely different.
If the place or person you called isn’t willing to set up some sort of trial phase, you should be skeptical of how good the product is. If you are being asked to enter a one-year contract without a trial then I’d be even more skeptical.
At our gym, we believe your best opportunity to find out if we are the right fit for you isn’t by convincing you over the phone, it is by having you come try out what we offer.
Telling you how great we are would be easy, showing you how great we are is what matters most.
4. Concerns About Cost
It is perfectly logical to be fearful of steep costs. We take this into consideration when we buy a house, a car, or even groceries.
To refer back to point number 3, you need to know how good of a program this is before deciding on if it is too expensive.
If you exclusively make a decision on price, you may be missing out on an amazing program. In general, amazing programs cost more.
Our example at Pratt is that we spend 30 staff hours per week customizing training programs. Because we do this, we are able to put together a completely individualized routine for every single member.
We also offer 10 sessions per day. Those sessions each have 3-4 trainers. In order to create a fitness program of that caliber, we would never try to compete with the price point of a $10-$20 per month gym membership like Planet Fitness or Retro Fitness.
We are also very different from large group models where everyone does the same routine.
With a free or low-cost trial, you get to determine how valuable the program truly is for you. If you think it is by far the best fitness experience you have ever had, you may be willing to pay more than you thought you would.
DON’T FEEL OBLIGATED TO BUY.
Many people we talk to have been resistant to a free trial because they don’t want to not sign up after. They feel like they are taking advantage of us.
Although we appreciate the selfless thought, we know the only way you can figure out if this is a good fit for you is by trying. We also know that by trying, you may not sign up after, and that is perfectly fine.
Of course, we believe we are the best fitness program for almost everyone, but you may feel differently for a variety of reasons.
At the very minimum, we feel good about getting you started with fitness and hopefully, you can keep that momentum going somewhere else. It is possible you have learned enough on your own to try working out without our personal training staff. If things don’t work out, we will still be here for you if and when you need us.
Try to make investing in your fitness a substitute expense instead of an additional one. For me, if I made my coffee from home and went out to dinner two fewer times per month, I would save $550 each month! If I was looking to join a personal training gym, this would not only be a worthy sacrifice, but I’d end up saving more money while at the same time prioritizing my health.
