Group Personal Training. Communication. Methods. Strategies.
NOTE: This blog post is a transcription between two of our teacher/faculty members discussing proven and real world methods of leadership for coaches and trainers.
In this lesson, we are going to talk about leadership, and that is going from one-on-one to thrilling groups of eight to 30 clients and beyond. First, we’re going to talk about the skill of the instructor which makes or breaks the program. So, what are your first thoughts on that?
We know that people are coming into this program or the group exercise instructor certification as fitness professionals of all different abilities, backgrounds, as well as experiences in leading one-on-one or leading groups. Regardless of their leadership ability we felt so strongly about them taking it to the next level that we’re going to dedicate this entire segment to raising the leadership bar. There is no great success without great leadership.
Strong leadership applies to both in the workouts as well as conducting this program including running group fitness as a business. Leadership takes both ability and the dedication in order for success to happen and as your dedication to this program increases, your leadership increases, and therefore so does your success. We’ve seen this time and time again, using the programs program as an example. The more passionate people are about this program, the bigger their program becomes.
Now, we know that the skill of the instructor can completely make or break this program just like any class or program that you have ever taken. Somebody can have the same mold or the same model, but it is very instructor-dependent and what you bring to this is going to make a difference in the buzz that this creates and how this program grows and how profitable it is and the name that you make for yourself, and how you rise up as an expert in your community as a certified instructor. So you’re really setting the tone for the program, you’re setting the precedence of how things are conducted, and completely it’s up to you. You are the leader. We’re giving you something that we know works and you’re going to make or break the program.
When you say “set the tone,” that begins with the very first phone call, email, interaction at your website, or them perhaps seeing you in and around your community, so the tone and the presence that you bring with you in everything you do should exemplify the highest level of professionalism, follow through, and really being the part, and that’s the next thing I wanted to talk about is looking the parting.
You know, we are all built different. We all look different. That is what’s called humanity, and that’s what makes the world go around. There are some given standards that I think we can all agree with that are necessary to look the part of a successful fitness professional and someone who has leadership qualities, and looking the part means that you are not disheveled. It means that you don’t have tattered clothes, even if you think that that may be the latest rage. It means that guys don’t wear inappropriately fitted shirts or small tank tops trying to show how buff they have become. They may be, and that’s great. Good for you, but for the most part, it’s not what people want to see, and it’s not what will reflect you in the best possible light. You just want to look in shape, whether you’re really muscular or slightly muscular, but you don’t have to flaunt it. If you have it, it will shine through.
You definitely want to look professional. We are going to encourage you to get branded t-shirts and be wearing those as you’re leading the class, as well as when you’re out in the community. That’s going to help to promote your business. So always professional, always together, and that’s part of the whole look and feel of the program that comes from you.
Absolutely, and then of course you have to be organized. This is something that when I was younger I certainly lacked, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten better at it and of course, there’s a lot of room to improve, but I tell you what, the one thing that I have done that has allowed me to become more successful, more at ease, less stressed, and have a better grasp of my business, is better organization. The organization is what you have on your desk. It’s how your files are organized in your computer. It is how clean your car appears, your garage, your home…… your mind. Organization is essential.
Organization – being organized saves your resources. It saves your time; it saves your money, and makes life a lot easier. So if you’re somebody who needs to work on being organized, it is absolutely worth doing. It’s something that may or may not come easy for you. If it does not come easy, it’s going to take practice, it’s going to take skill, but you really need to look at this as something you need to be dedicated and devoted to now. If you are not organized, your customers will notice right away and that will be strikes against you in wanting them to continue with your classes/programs. Their time is precious. They are very savvy customers, and if it looks for a moment like you don’t know what you’re doing, or you don’t have everything you need to conduct the class, they’re going to be upset.
And also, being organized really is a big part of your customer’s service and your responsiveness to your customer or your client, so keep that in mind as well. And then to round out this first segment is be confident. That’s not overly confident, and that is not being over the top in any way. It’s knowing that you know what it takes to run a successful class or program. Being confident in your abilities and who you are as a professional will shine through. You cannot be a leader if you lack confidence.
I’ll tell a very brief story that I think will illustrate this point to some degree. There’s someone that I was working with some time ago and they had lots of confidence, but they didn’t have the ability to lead because people didn’t want to follow them. So even though you are confident, there are still other criteria that are necessary to be a good leader, but just realize that confidence is an integral part of that, but to be a true leader, confidence is essential but it’s also the ability to get people to realize that you are the one that they should be following.
And sometimes the opposite of that scenario is true where somebody comes in and they have the competence – they’re certified, they’re experienced, they’ve attained several certifications, they may even have degrees, but they don’t always have the confidence to get in front of a group to lead. Sometimes, the egos are huge and that will be a strike against you as well. So you need to find some kind of a happy balance where you have the confidence to get up in front of a group and to let them know that you are knowledgeable, you are capable, you will earn their respect, and that you are confident and not arrogant. So if you have any fear of getting up in front of a group and leading, that will be something that you will need to work on. Work on leadership on your own. You need that confidence or it’s not going to work. Becoming a Certified Professional Speaker can help as well.
And one thing I can tell you from experience is that when you have the ability to command your native tongue, whether it’s the English language or if you’re taking classes in Spanish, or people are using this abroad and teaching in other languages, to be able to transmit your message clearly with language and vocabulary that really resonates with the people and the way you deliver the material in a confident, sure way, really makes a huge difference. It doesn’t mean that you stand on top of a pedestal and orate to people and pontificate on things that aren’t relevant just so you can hear your head rattle, but be concise, to the point, direct, friendly, and use language that is descriptive in a way to where everyone, regardless of their learning style, has the ability to really understand the information.
Let’s move on to “Make everyone feel important.” What are the expectations?
Make everyone feel important is something I remember Mary Kay saying. That’s what she did with her customers and employees from Mary Cosmetics – and that is absolutely universal. If you pretend that every customer has a giant sign right across their chest when you meet them that says “Make me feel important,” that will have a lot of mileage for you. Everyone has that sense of “I want to belong, I want to be respected, I want to be liked, I want to succeed, I want to be inspired,” Most people are socially deprived and go through their whole lifetime without being clapped for or without knowing appreciation.
Some people, in their relationships at home, are not respected. Nobody’s paying attention to them. They’re not respected at work, so when they get to this fitness program and you really make them feel special and feel important, that will speak volumes and that will absolutely help with your retention rate. That’s the best way to gain and retain clients is to make people feel special. That’s the bottom line, I don’t care how many degrees, certifications, or years of experience you have, if you put somebody down and make them feel disrespected or unimportant, they’re never going to come back, but even somebody who doesn’t have a lot of education or experience who knows how to make somebody feel important, can have a better chance of succeeding.
So let’s talk about the tools for success in helping people feel important.
As a trainer/coach, some of the tools that you have in your toolbox are that you are an expert, you are coming in with information that they want. You have knowledge, you have expertise, you have the answers to getting them to the body they want, to the posture they want, to eliminating their pain, to making them look and feel younger. The tools we have are fitness, nutrition, lifestyle, and coaching. All of these things are at our fingertips and we have what they need to change their lives.
You know, I think what’s important too is to really elicit – and this goes back to the life coach training through the Spencer Institute – and that is to elicit their goals and values. If you just start spouting off on what you think is important for them or to them, you’re really going to miss the mark and that’s why we have to have a series of inquisitive bits of dialog to where you can really unravel what’s happening to that person or with that person, and how they’re interpreting their body and their experience and how they associate with food and how they deal with the group dynamics of the class and what they want for themselves from a health or wellness or fat loss perspective. But rather than telling them what’s important, you need to ask them what’s important.
Let’s go on to “Speak to current members/clients,” and also about testimonials.
One thing that you can do with the new clients coming in is have them speak to your current clients, and get testimonials from them about the program. Connect them with somebody who’s like them. So if it’s a woman in her mid-40s who has 20 pounds she wants to lose, or if it’s a guy who has more of a runner’s body, or someone more athletic, start to connect them with people that are already in your program that they will see like them or something that they aspire to and let them give their testimonial to the program. To you as an instructor, that’s going to help the new members coming in feel important. It’s going to help them connect, and that’s all part of this whole group program. So it’s an easy way to get a new person to feel comfortable by introducing them to people like them.
And also, I think one thing that’s important that we’ve put in this outline here is “keeping it simple.” That goes for so many different things. I actually just read another study today about the simplicity of a home page of a website and if you think about how you keep it simple when you’re working with your kids or a pet or anything that you want explained to you – simple directions. “Don’t tell me five streets in advance, just let me get off the freeway and then tell me what’s next,” you know. So making people feel important and also leadership in general, has to do with keeping it simple.
And even some simple feedback. A few words can go a long way. “Mary, great job on that run today.” You know, “James, you really crushed it on the pushups,” or “Joe, wow, you used more weight on the squats today.” Little simple words like that can have such big impact on making somebody feel important because you’re paid attention to them and they know that you’ve noticed.
And then also, begin the educational process because, in fact, it is a process.
That should happen right away and it’s constant. It’s ongoing. You’re giving them information about hydration, about sleep, about stress, about clean eating, about the importance of showing up for their workouts, about recovery, and so on. They may or may not be ready to hear things when you’re giving them, so that’s why there’s repetition and it’s a process and when they’re ready to hear it and apply it, then they will do so and then they’ll move on to the next phase. So making them feel important by remembering what their goals are and then educating them in that area, are all parts of leadership. They’re going to help people feel like (even though this is a group program), that you get to know them and you understand what it is that they’re after in the program.
And I think it’s also important you, as a leader, to encourage them to educate themselves because – and also I think – let me rephrase – to educate them on how to determine what is viable information and what is nonsense because they’re going to be getting a lot of information from other people while they’re enrolled in your program and some may have fantastic advice or facts, but others may not, and are simply more concerned with the dollar bill. So as you’re educating them and motivating them, also educate them on how to determine what type of information they should pay the most attention to. This also gives you an opportunity to review any information with them or the class, if it’s appropriate, and make it more of that sense of community. That works as well.
Let’s move on to encouraging or encouragement in general, and also camaraderie. This is what makes it fun.
It’s true and there’s something so special about that group setting that they absolutely love. It’s different than the one-on-one training. Some people, honestly, they don’t like that one-on-one attention. They don’t want to be the center of the attention and some people feel like they can hide out a little bit in a group, or they like the sociability or a group or they need to meet people. Maybe they’re new in the area and they want to meet people that are like them. So, you want to encourage them to get to know each other during the actual workout and there’s ways that you can do that.
When people are working out, you can feature them by saying things like, “Meet Josh. Josh has lost 11 pounds already and this is his third week,” Continually giving them little tips to remind those people of names and what they’ve accomplished and any little bits and pieces that get people to remember them and to connect is what you’re looking to do because if you can get this group to connect, then anyone who’s been part of a cycling club or a volleyball team or a dance camp or whatever it is that you’ve done, if you can connect with a group, you’re much more likely to show up, stick with it, enjoy it, tell your friends about it, and that’s what we want to create with the community here.
Well, and that brings me to my next point which you nicely dovetailed into. Create a sense of belonging. I can tell you that that is what, from the onset of the creation of all our business systems. You know, I still hear today stories of a lot of the ladies getting together after class and they’ll go share a cup of coffee or their husbands have become friends and they go to their kids’ graduation and then they learn that they have other mutual friends and some of them have gone on vacation together and they trained for a marathon together outside of the class, and they may use that as part of their overall training, but it really gives them a community and it’s so, so important.
It is and you will really get to know them personally, even though you may think, “Wow, I’m starting my first my first NESTA program and I’ve got 15 people signed up. I only had 15 total clients before. How am I going to get to know 15 people?” Well, you need to review their health histories before you even meet them, and that’s going to help you to learn their names and to know something about them and those associations will help you. For example, “Oh, let’s see, Liz is the one who rides horses,” or “Karen is the one who had the c-sections,” or “Josh is the corporate CEO who wants to reduce stress.” So reviewing the health histories, really getting to know them beforehand, will help you to get an idea of what their ages are, what their goals are, and it will help you to connect them even though naturally they’re going to gravitate together. We do quite a few of the workouts as partners, so you’ll start to see who may, personality wise, want to connect and hook up with somebody else.
And what is very similar to all of this is communication and that is in person, email, voice mail, and over deliver. That’s something that you have done throughout your business and that’s why you, being a great instructor and having these incredible credentials certainly helps, but I think even above all the obvious, is because you really over deliver and the people feel that sense of connection, and so let’s talk about each one: in person, email, voicemail.
I don’t think it’s possible to over communicate. I mean, especially today where everyone is into texting and receiving emails, so it is better to over communicate than to under communicate. The last thing you want is a client who’s confused, who’s not sure where to go when, what to expect, what to bring. Nobody wants to show up and look foolish or be unprepared, so I would suggest that each day of the class there’s some communication via email. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call somebody either and just check in and say something like, “Hi, Maria, I just want to see how is the program going for you because I’m trying to get a feel when you’re in class. I can’t really tell,” and usually they’re going to rave about it, but sometimes somebody’s hard to read so the phone has sort of become a stranger to some people. Everything is done with email and voicemail. Don’t be afraid to just pick up the phone and call somebody.
That’s right, and it can take a little more time. It’s kind of like hand writing a letter is what the phone has become. It takes a little more time, but people appreciate it a lot more. And also what happens through email is the tonality or in flexion of your message can not be translated in the right way except if you use lots of exclamation points and bold and underline and uppercase, you know. But that can be misconstrued, so I think that a plain old phone call can make a world of difference, so whenever possible, do that.
And as far as over delivering, I’ve always said that I give the Ritz-Carlton service of personal training. I’ve been impressed anytime I’ve stayed at the Ritz-Carlton and that’s what I aim to give to all my clients who really receive more than they ever expect when they sign up for an NESTA program. Whether it’s $19.95 or $24.95, whatever you’re going to charge, they’re going to get way more than that for the hour, not only in the dedication that you have to them and getting to know them and the awesome workouts and the feedback you’re going to get, but in some just simple touches like picking up the phone after they finished their second week and getting some personal feedback from them and they just think that’s over the top for you to pick up the phone and take three minutes of your time just to check in with them. So anything that you can think of that’s personal to you and your style that you want to do that you’re comfortable with, don’t be afraid to inject that into the program. The more that you can do to make it special, the more miles that it will have.
And now this is something that I’ve heard you say a hundred times and yet it’s so poignant and never more so true than now, and that is tell, show, do.
Most things can be timed – your beginners might be doing 45 seconds and people more advanced, up to a minute of the different exercises. You’re walking around, you’re giving them feedback, you’re telling them how to breathe, how their head should be aligned, where their knees should be – so constantly giving them feedback on how their doing.
And the part that I’ve never had much of a problem with, and that is keeping high energy, possibly spastic at times, but definitely high energy. And I think – you know, here’s the thing, you are an entertainer and a coach and a go-to person, a mentor, a role model – all these things rolled into one person, and if you talk like this: [spoken in a slow, soft tone] “Hey, you guys, welcome to class. Eh, I’m just not feeling very good. I don’t know. You guys, okay, line up. Okay, I’ll be with you in a second.” That is not going to work. You have to have high energy. You have to be light-hearted, and yet direct, but keep the energy high.
Some of these people are sitting in cubicles all day. Some of the people are staring at a computer screen all day in a home office and they don’t get to interact with anybody. Some of them are exhausted taking care of their small children all day, sitting in traffic, whatever it might be. They want to go there and not see that your energy is low. They want to be able to feed off of your energy. They might be exhausted when they get there. We know that people are sleep deprived. They’re walking around, they’re taking sleep aids. So we want them to start with the tone of feeding off of our high energy because they might not even feel like lifting a foot that day, but they can vibrate off of our energy. So it has to come from us, otherwise it’s just not going to happen.
And also what’s absolutely essential is involvement and recognition, so why don’t you talk a little bit about that.
You always want to be maximally prepared as an instructor, a leader, or a trainer. Be there early, look for teaching opportunities, and recognize them in front of their peers. Sometimes I’ll do an exercise where one person comes up and does something and the rest of the group will do something else, and that will be a good opportunity to say, “Okay, here’s Todd. He’s lost 11 pounds, he’s in the 3rd month of the program and his goal is to go skiing this winter.” So any chance that you get, recognize people for what they’ve done, what their accomplishments are. I’ll bring people up or when somebody’s going by or at a station, I’ll say, “Here’s Sylvia. She’s lost 44 pounds since January and she’s on her way to go hiking in the spring.” So just that kind of feedback, the recognition, the small things make such a big difference and when I put it in an email and I send it out to the entire group, they write me back and they just think it’s the greatest thing in the world and they send it to their sister-in-law in New Mexico and they send it to their husbands and wives and so that – most people don’t have that in their lives, so the fact that you’re paying attention to them and recognizing them just is so important and really touches their heart.
And socialization is essential. Introduce people and praise them. One of the things that I’ve always done is to ensure that everyone that is in a class that I’m teaching, they know each other. So I’ll say, “Now, Sue, do you know Jody? Jody works here in town and Sue actually lives right around the corner. You guys may have some other mutual friends.” You know, something that will spark a conversation so they don’t just say, “Uh, hey,” or “It’s nice to meet you,” and then they walk away or they feel uncomfortable. But if it’s appropriate, and you have to think about it for a second, though; you don’t have to say something that would put you in a bind, by any means, but if you can think of something that will spark a conversation or stimulate them thinking about how they can become buddies, that’s a great way to do this. And obviously there’s a time to do this because you don’t want everyone socializing when you’re trying to teach a class because that becomes disruptive and disrespectful to everyone in the class – and that’s also another thing about leadership is to stop the chatty Cathy’s or chatty Bens or Bobs or whoever it is if it’s a coed class. But that’s part of being in control and having appropriate authority. But Kelli, what did you want to say about socialization?
We do quite a bit of partner work where they will have the opportunity during the minute of the exercise or during the 10-minute drill to converse with somebody that they’re partnered with, so I’ll say, “Oh, you know, Maria and Cathy, you ladies live in the same neighborhood,” or “Susan and Doug, your sons are the same age,”. Look for the connections. “I love the socialization. It’s just such a missing piece,” so make sure that you go out of your way to create that social environment. Even though they’re so working hard, they’re sweating, there’s no hanging out and talking, but it’s still possible on the way in as people are taking a lap and warming up or after the stretch, they’re rolling up their mats, that opportunity is there.
And of course, we have to talk about achievement. And that is achievement for you as a leader, but also achievement of the participants in NESTA.
You know, we really want to enhance their commitment to this program. We don’t just want this to be a one-month thing that’s going to get them jump-started, although that will happen, we want to initially set objectives with them and make sure that they have goals for themselves and that we are a partner in that goal so we really understand what it is – and most people don’t know how to set goals. Only about 2% of people set goals, so they might say things like, “I want to lose weight,” and that’s when you really need to pull on your coaching skills and help them understand how to set goals that are realistic and have a time frame in mind and obviously, the more specific they can get, the more likely that their goals are to happen and the more specifically you can help them achieve their goals, so really understand people, that some are going to be outgoing and some are going to be more reserved. Some are task-oriented, so they love that goal setting, and others are more people-oriented and more social, but everyone should have some type of objectives or goals as they’re starting out this program – where they want to be by the end of the first month and then even three months and long-term beyond that. So this is something that you should do with them before they even start the program. The night of the nutrition seminar, which we’ll talk about in a minute, is a good time to review their goals and even help them to set some goals.
And of course, you have to have improvement when you have achievement and the improvement is you improving as a leader and that’s going to come with practice and being receptive to feedback, and then improvement in your clients or your customers. So if you are not a good leader, they will lack improvement and conversely with the acceleration of your leadership skills, the improvement of your clients’ success in all the areas of life that NESTA touches will be enhanced as well.
That is so accurate. You really want to continually strive to improve your leadership skills. You want to be a better communicator, a better edutainer, a word I learned from Tim Keightley from New York Sports Club – edutainment, that’s really the field that we are in. Really you want to engage your students so you’re educating them in an entertaining way and that’s going to help them improve because a lot of times, the things that we’re teaching them might be kindergarten level nutrition. I mean basic stuff. People are not eating their fruits and vegetables, but nobody wants to hear “Eat seven fruits and vegetables a day.” You need to find a way to communicate that that is going to engage them, be interesting to them, make them really strive to want to do that, and ultimately, they’re going to see you as a leader who they respect and they are going to want to please you, and that is a big part of it. They really don’t want to let you down even more than they don’t want to let themselves down, and with more practice and with more experience, you can go from very basic leadership skills to more advanced and masterful leadership. And again, the more you love this program, the more you’re going to pour into it, the more energy and excitement you’ll have for it, and the better leader that you will become.
And now we come to my favorite part – fun. If I’m not having fun in anything I’m doing, I don’t want to do it and I’ve conditioned myself in that way that I always seek the fun and that way, for me, it becomes a better learning experience and because you have that heightened state of awareness and you have a greater positive Neuro-Association or Neuro-Associative Conditioning, with that experience it will make a more indelible, appropriate, positive impact (no pun intended) in your subconscious mind, and that goes into a little bit of psychology and Neuro-Linguistics, but the short and long of it that when you have fun, when you make it fun, when the participants experience fun, everyone wins every time.
You know, it’s so obvious that John enjoys his work and its fun for him because his best work has taken place when he does things that he enjoys and he’s done almost more than anybody in this industry that I know. I could say with great confidence that he has created more programs than anybody in this industry with a very high level of success, and it could only be because he enjoyed it and he let his personality come out. Personally I’m pretty shy and I don’t honestly think I’m very funny, although people do laugh at me, but I’m—
I think the qualities that makes a difference are that I’m happy, positive, I’m success oriented, I’m coachable and I’m able to accept feedback. So I might not be comedian hysterical funny like some other people might be, but even if you feel like, “I’m just not funny. I’m kind of quiet. I’m kind of shy. It’s not me,” don’t focus on the negative or the shyness. You have to just get out there and let your personality come out a little bit. You are going to grow because of this program. As much as your clients are going to see physical and lifestyle changes, you’re going to see changes to your ability to lead a group of people, to have more fun doing it, and to have your personality really come out. You are going to be the center of attention for a little while during this class. You are going to be the leader, so why not have fun, why not enjoy it and let that come out as well.
So let me just kind of recap these things because we’ve bantered back and forth on this. Fun is interpreted differently by everyone. So if you don’t have fun, it will show, and if they don’t have fun, they won’t sign up again. So it makes it pretty simple, so make it enjoyable for you and for them. Let your personality come out, whatever that is, and if you get feedback that says, “Man, you always have this habit of doing this or that,” and I know I’ve done that in the past and sometimes I’ve hurt my feelings, but I’m still glad I was told that I had done it because I corrected it and have become a better person because of it. So if someone gives you feedback, and especially the stuff you probably don’t want to hear, you need to listen especially intently when they tell you those things that probably aren’t as enjoyable to hear. And then be happy, success-oriented, and able to accept that feedback. That’s the biggest thing.
I’ve told this story before is that I went through a period of my life probably more than once, but primarily in my 20s when I didn’t want to have any feedback that didn’t tell me that I was wonderful and doing the best thing in the world, and that was bad because I also missed out on a lot and I didn’t grow as much and I didn’t learn as much, and I made more mistakes that cost me time, money, effort, relationships and everything else. So now that I’m in my 40s – that’s fun to say – I’m able to accept the feedback and I’m okay with it. It’s good because now I know that I will do something better the following day after accepting feedback that perhaps I didn’t want to hear, and I’ll be able to serve more people and have more benefit for everyone all across the board.
There’s a way to still make it fun even though these workouts are crushers. I mean, some of these workouts are absolutely grueling. They are going to be pushing their physical limits beyond what they have ever done; some of them, in their entire lives, but it can still be fun. It can still make them strive to want to do better and do more and come back and laugh at themselves and so don’t focus on the difficulty of the workouts, because they are going to be difficult, but find a way to make it lighthearted and just focus on their improvements and how things are getting better, easier. So don’t think we’re just out there dancing. We’re not. You can have fun and still have an intense workout.
And they don’t want to see me dance.
No.
Absolutely not. But before we conclude this particular lesson, there’s two other things I want to talk about for the leadership and that is the leadership – Number one is leadership at the nutrition seminar which can be an important and profitable aspect of your group fitness program.
This might be your first interaction with somebody. They may have signed up online. They may have signed up because a friend told them to. They may never have met you, so this – there’s a good chance it’s going to be the first time they’re meeting you so you want to be very assessable, get there early, be prepared, be set up. Let it come across that you’re knowledgeable, confident, again fun, entertaining, funny, but also humble. You want to be excited to be there, relaxed, lively. You want to be direct, inviting, and loud. I know that sound like a lot of things to be and you might not be all of them yet, but think about somebody who you have ever sat in front of and listened to. That’s what you want to look for. You want it to be engaging.
You don’t want to be lectured to in front of others (or at all). You don’t want somebody who’s extremely reserved. You don’t want somebody who’s scattered or aloof or somebody who’s just up there bragging, showing off. You definitely don’t want somebody who’s dull or lewd or insulting or arrogant or too wordy or too quiet or too slow.
We’re not going to get into this right now, but know that your audience has different ways that they learn. We’ve heard this before: visual, auditory, kinesthetic. When you’re up there, you need to speak to all of those or you’re going to lose some people. So during the nutrition seminar is a chance for you to get to know them, interact with the, put their minds at ease, let them leave with some information that they can use to successfully get started in their eating at the beginning of the program, and leave feeling like they got to know you and you got to know them. That’s just as important as explaining the macronutrients to them.
And then finally, and although we’ve touched on this all along the way, leadership for your business – as what has happened for hundreds of our NESTA people – and again we use this as a reference because it’s been such a successful model for people all over the world, so we’re drawing some comparisons where appropriate – you will become an icon within in your community because you’re going to be out there. You’re going to be on the web. You’re going to be on the news. You’re going to be in the newspaper and you think, “Oh my gosh, I don’t know if I want to be on the news. Well, let me tell you, I’ve gotten more trainers on ABC, NBC, CBS and everything else than they ever thought was possible and because of it, their business flourished.
You are going to be out there and you have to be a leader and you have to walk that walk and talk that talk and still be accessible to everyone.
And if you cannot lead your business, you don’t have to worry about leading customers because you’re not going to have any. So you really need to focus on the most important priorities and then, and only then, will your production increase. Then you’ll get more people in your program and you’ll have more people to lead. So some of you may have been doing one-on-one in a gym, a club, a clinical setting where you’ve worked for somebody else. This may be the first time that you are going out and really leading a complete business so you want to give them something when you begin the NESTA program that shows them that you are a leader. So just a couple of brief leadership principals, because this can seem overwhelming for some people as they’re getting this ramped up.
One of the principals that have served me is the Pareto principal which you may have heard of as the 80/20 rule, that really 80% of a lot of stuff is junk. If you think of 80% of your email and 80% of your mail and a lot of how we use our day a grand majority is not productive or urgent. 20% of what we do gets us 80% of the results that we get. So the thing to take away is to focus on the highest importance, high priority task when it comes to getting your business up and running and keeping it running successfully and profitably.
So as a leader of your business, you need to initiate things to make sure it happens. Plan ahead so that every detail is covered. You need to lead your investments, meaning watching your money. You need to prioritize what the most important things are. You need to not be afraid to pick up that phone and connect with people and this may be a time where you start to reflect more on what’s working in your business and what’s not working in your business, and you might be taking some risks that you haven’t taken before because you’re going to be placing some ads or spending marketing dollars that you haven’t done before, but if you emerge as a leader of your business and look at this as a business and lead it with consistent excellence, this can be the program that absolutely puts you in a whole new career better than you ever dreamed was possible.
I think we should conclude this lesson with that beautiful close right there. So look forward to that and apply already what you’ve learned in this lesson beginning right now. So thank you very, very much.
RESOURCES:
Professional Speaker Certification
Life Strategies Coach Certification
Group Exercise Instructor Certification
