Personal training?

Question

I am trying to expand my personal training business. It is at a decent size just from word of mouth, but I would like to grow more. I have a website, am on yahoo local, on yahoo search, have a yahoo 360 page, have a yahoo group, and pass out flyers. People dont seem to see it. Any advice?

Answer 1

Have you thought about pay per click programs? The two biggest, I think, are Yahoo! and Google

A few free resources – check out the sources box for links:

1) Create a blog pertaining to your field

2) Write articles pertaining to your field and/or expertise.

3) Advertise on Craiglist

Also, consider signing up for an affiliate program. These programs enable you to advertise on other's sites (your affiliates) and once a sale is made to you, your affiliates & the program are paid a commission.

I listed a few handy sites & articles relating to marketing, promotion & advertising. Here are some book titles that are relevant:

* 301 Do-It-Yourself Marketing Ideas: From America's Most Innovative Small Companies by Sam Decker
* Off The Wall Marketing Ideas: Jumpstart Your Sales without Busting Your Budget by Nancy Michaels, Debbi J. Karpowicz
* Guerrilla Marketing for Free: Dozens of No-Cost Tactics to Promote Your Business and Energize Your Profits by Jay Conrad Levinson
* Entrepreneur Magazine's Ultimate Small Business Marketing Guide: Over 1500 Great Marketing Tricks That Will Drive Your Business Through the Roof by James Stephenson

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 2

There are many different techniques used. It has little to do with the fact they are Schutzhund or PPD dogs, it is simply that these types of dogs require a lot of basic training first. Anyone can have a dog that behaves like that without the actual protection training. Many use a combination of postive reinforcement to teach behaviors and add in corrections once the behavior is learned. Here, the Police dogs are trained that way. Their reward for everything from a good obedience session, to a good track to a good "out" is a tug toy. The toy is a reward as is the interaction with the handler. But it is also important that the dog learn consequences, and there is a place for corrections as well. I am sure there are others with better explainations. @ the first person, Schutzhund is a protection sport, not a mixed breed. Add - the other key is the consistant training these types of dogs go through. They are always doing training sessions. ------------- Schutzhund is not even close to the same a personal protection. The protection phase of Schutzhund is very structured. A sleeve is always used, the bite is only the sleeve. In PPD training, getting the dog used to as many possible scenerios is very important. It is also important they don't become fixated on the sleeve. Training that is important. Many dogs will not bite someone without a sleeve if not properly trained. Corrections depend on the dog, they can be anything from verbal, to an e-collar stim to a hard leash correction. Hard dogs may require a harsher correction than an average dog.

Answer 3

You need to take an active role in marketing your services, and what you have done up to this point, for the most part is passive.

Here are some ideas.
1. Offer a one time discount, or a charitable donation in your clients name to your existing clients for referrals. This is simple taking passive word of mouth to the next level.
2. Pubic speaking and seminars can be useful. Your chamber of commerce probably has monthly meetings, see if you can talk at one of them. Just do not make it a commercial, but a call to action to get in shape, ideally without your services. The people that want more, can pick up flyers, or cards advertising your business, or even talk to you after the event.
3. What about contacting the local high school coaches to assist with off season training of their atheletes. They may have some leads for you.
4. Do you stay in contact with past clients. People drop out for a number of reasons, they get busy, they get injured, or whatever. Sometimes all it takes is a phone call to get them interested again. If nothing else, maybe they can give you some names of other people that might be interested, even if they are not.
5. What about employee health programs and insurance plans. More and more benefit programs are either sponsoring, or subsidizing gym/training programs. If you get in good with a local business, you could add a number of clients for very little work. This is also an area of potential for public speaking. Again, a free get healthy seminar, with no commerical content is a possibility.

Answer 4

This may be the wrong time to get more clients cause of the economy.