In a world where staying connected online is a given within any training and coaching business, we can easily bypass actually connecting with our team and our clients on a real level.
In regards to communication, the combination of social networks, smartphones, and instant messaging has made the ability to connect personally with your clients and your team easier than ever. However, it is just as easy to seem like you’re working and connecting, meanwhile avoiding the important tasks to improve communication within your club, spa, gym, or office.
The top trainers and coaches today recognize that their job in improving the health and fitness of their clients first starts with a connection. You need to make sure that as someone who builds someone’s body up for a living, you need to first build a relationship (and keep the relationship strong). You can have the perfect, results-driven training program and have mastered all the top skills in regards to taking someone’s physique and transforming it to the next level, but if you don’t have clear lines of communication with your client and your team, your business will struggle.
Here are 3 ways you can improve team member communications as a trainer and coach to best serve your clients:
1) Have a shared vision & Set Goals
Without a plan, everything will fall apart, including your team.
In order to have solid communication with your clients, you have to make sure your team is on the same page. What is the vision for your company? Do you have a clear end goal? Is your plan to grow local clientele as fast as possible? Or is it to gain a smaller, highly dedicated following? Looking at your sales funnel and the overall vision for the company is the best place to start as it is the foundation upon which the business is built. Where do you want the company to be in five years? How about ten years? Knowing where you are going and sharing that vision with your team will set you up for success. Your team wants to know the vision. They want to have a clear understanding of what the master plan is. When everyone knows the macro vision of the company, and clear long goals are set and understood, the team will continue to operate in those goals on a micro level every day.
2) Keep open levels of communication with your team
Communicating the grand vision of the company and long term goals with your team is crucial.
What’s just as important is the ongoing communication of this vision through one on one meetings as well as group meetings. Having an open door policy when it comes to meeting with your team is huge. People need to know that they can talk about anything. It helps them feel more comfortable personally which will directly impact how comfortable they will make their clients feel. It’s only when people aren’t given a voice to speak up that they begin to grumble and get stressed out.
There need to be team meetings. The vision and plan of attack can be communicated through an email or an update or by posting a policy update in the lunchroom, but this isn’t enough. Beyond the head knowledge of changes the company makes is the need for team members to actually feel like they’re part of a team. This is only possible by actually spending time as a team doing something. It’s really straightforward. This can be formal meetings in person at the business or more informal like going for lunch somewhere else. Don’t worry. Hour-meetings every day isn’t necessary. (There is such a thing as having too many meetings.) But a quick, 10-minute meeting every week, bi-week, or month is optimal.
Your team also needs to have access to one on one conversations to get more motivated, get ongoing support, share ideas, feedback, and for accountability. To know that there is freedom to have more private conversations on things that they wouldn’t necessarily want to talk about in front of a group is huge.
It’s on these micro level of communication that the grand vision of the company thrives and your clientele becomes dedicated members.
3) Be quick to show appreciation, and slow to criticize
Clear and honest communication starts with showing respect to your team.
The best way to do this? With the power of your words. It’s amazing at how a work environment can shift from moment to moment depending on the interactions each team member has with one another. Every interaction is an opportunity to spread positivity or negativity. Will this be another gossip-inspired conversation? Or will it be an uplifting, encouraging one?
Using your words effectively and positively is a deal breaker when it comes to communication with your team. Starting with a simple acknowledgment which is as easy as saying “Hello!” when your team member walks in for the day goes a long way. When someone messes up or something goes wrong, it’s easy to spew out negativity and criticism on other team members. But… I offer up this piece of advice from one of the most well respected human relations books that the top business people in the world constantly reference.
“Be hearty in your approbation and hearty in your praise.”
This quote comes right from the book, “How To Win Friends And Influence People”.
What this quote is really saying is that when it comes to the words you speak over your team either as a whole or individually, it’s crucial to speak positively to them, even if everything is going wrong. A simple tip is to always be on the lookout for a way you can compliment your team members on something they did well. Or something your team did well as a whole. Even in the little things, this can go a long way.
Not only will they feel better about the company and be more dedicated to your vision (hint hint, this is key to reaching your big goals), but they will also reflect this positivity directly to clients. Clients know when they walk in if a team is thriving or just surviving.
We are emotional creatures. We can “feel” when an environment is hostile, or happy. In the end, the way you speak to other team members with your words will either turn clients away or make them want to come back for life.
To recap, keep these 3 things in mind as you strive to grow communications within your team:
- Share the vision and set goals – Your team needs to know the “big plan”
- Communicate to your team regularly, individually and as a team – This is where the team can stick to the plumbline in regards to your vision
- Be quick to show appreciation and slow to criticize – Your team is made up of people.
When you communicate your overall vision to your team, keep them updated with ongoing communication, and care for them through your words, your company culture will shine, and as a result, will transform your clients into dedicated ambassadors.
Now What?
There is always something exciting about earning a new certification and applying that new knowledge of how you train your clients. This also helps you hit the reset button.
Our programs are open to anyone with a desire to learn and help others. There are no prerequisites.
That’s it for now.
Take action!
NESTA | Spencer Institute
PS: Click here to see many helpful business/career resources
NESTA Pinterest
Discover 3 Ways To Improve Communications With Your Team Today
In a world where staying connected online is a given within any training and coaching business, we can easily bypass actually connecting with our team and our clients on a real level.
In regards to communication, the combination of social networks, smartphones, and instant messaging has made the ability to connect personally with your clients and your team easier than ever. However, it is just as easy to seem like you’re working and connecting, meanwhile avoiding the important tasks to improve communication within your club, spa, gym, or office.
The top trainers and coaches today recognize that their job in improving the health and fitness of their clients first starts with a connection. You need to make sure that as someone who builds someone’s body up for a living, you need to first build a relationship (and keep the relationship strong). You can have the perfect, results-driven training program and have mastered all the top skills in regards to taking someone’s physique and transforming it to the next level, but if you don’t have clear lines of communication with your client and your team, your business will struggle.
Here are 3 ways you can improve team member communications as a trainer and coach to best serve your clients:
1) Have a shared vision & Set Goals
Without a plan, everything will fall apart, including your team.
In order to have solid communication with your clients, you have to make sure your team is on the same page. What is the vision for your company? Do you have a clear end goal? Is your plan to grow local clientele as fast as possible? Or is it to gain a smaller, highly dedicated following? Looking at your sales funnel and the overall vision for the company is the best place to start as it is the foundation upon which the business is built. Where do you want the company to be in five years? How about ten years? Knowing where you are going and sharing that vision with your team will set you up for success. Your team wants to know the vision. They want to have a clear understanding of what the master plan is. When everyone knows the macro vision of the company, and clear long goals are set and understood, the team will continue to operate in those goals on a micro level every day.
2) Keep open levels of communication with your team
Communicating the grand vision of the company and long term goals with your team is crucial.
What’s just as important is the ongoing communication of this vision through one on one meetings as well as group meetings. Having an open door policy when it comes to meeting with your team is huge. People need to know that they can talk about anything. It helps them feel more comfortable personally which will directly impact how comfortable they will make their clients feel. It’s only when people aren’t given a voice to speak up that they begin to grumble and get stressed out.
There need to be team meetings. The vision and plan of attack can be communicated through an email or an update or by posting a policy update in the lunchroom, but this isn’t enough. Beyond the head knowledge of changes the company makes is the need for team members to actually feel like they’re part of a team. This is only possible by actually spending time as a team doing something. It’s really straightforward. This can be formal meetings in person at the business or more informal like going for lunch somewhere else. Don’t worry. Hour-meetings every day isn’t necessary. (There is such a thing as having too many meetings.) But a quick, 10-minute meeting every week, bi-week, or month is optimal.
Your team also needs to have access to one on one conversations to get more motivated, get ongoing support, share ideas, feedback, and for accountability. To know that there is freedom to have more private conversations on things that they wouldn’t necessarily want to talk about in front of a group is huge.
It’s on these micro level of communication that the grand vision of the company thrives and your clientele becomes dedicated members.
3) Be quick to show appreciation, and slow to criticize
Clear and honest communication starts with showing respect to your team.
The best way to do this? With the power of your words. It’s amazing at how a work environment can shift from moment to moment depending on the interactions each team member has with one another. Every interaction is an opportunity to spread positivity or negativity. Will this be another gossip-inspired conversation? Or will it be an uplifting, encouraging one?
Using your words effectively and positively is a deal breaker when it comes to communication with your team. Starting with a simple acknowledgment which is as easy as saying “Hello!” when your team member walks in for the day goes a long way. When someone messes up or something goes wrong, it’s easy to spew out negativity and criticism on other team members. But… I offer up this piece of advice from one of the most well respected human relations books that the top business people in the world constantly reference.
“Be hearty in your approbation and hearty in your praise.”
This quote comes right from the book, “How To Win Friends And Influence People”.
What this quote is really saying is that when it comes to the words you speak over your team either as a whole or individually, it’s crucial to speak positively to them, even if everything is going wrong. A simple tip is to always be on the lookout for a way you can compliment your team members on something they did well. Or something your team did well as a whole. Even in the little things, this can go a long way.
Not only will they feel better about the company and be more dedicated to your vision (hint hint, this is key to reaching your big goals), but they will also reflect this positivity directly to clients. Clients know when they walk in if a team is thriving or just surviving.
We are emotional creatures. We can “feel” when an environment is hostile, or happy. In the end, the way you speak to other team members with your words will either turn clients away or make them want to come back for life.
To recap, keep these 3 things in mind as you strive to grow communications within your team:
When you communicate your overall vision to your team, keep them updated with ongoing communication, and care for them through your words, your company culture will shine, and as a result, will transform your clients into dedicated ambassadors.
Now What?
There is always something exciting about earning a new certification and applying that new knowledge of how you train your clients. This also helps you hit the reset button.
Our programs are open to anyone with a desire to learn and help others. There are no prerequisites.
That’s it for now.
Take action!
NESTA | Spencer Institute
PS: Click here to see many helpful business/career resources
NESTA Pinterest
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