Creating your Dream TeamRecruiting, Hiring, Training & Keeping an elite

team of Personal Trainers

Sherri McMillan holds a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology and was awarded the 2010 CanFitPro International Presenter of the Year, 2006 IDEA Program Director of the Year,

Inaugural IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, & 1998 CanFitPro Canadian Fitness Presenter of the Year. She has been in the fitness industry for over 25 years and has presented hundreds of

workshops to thousands of fitness leaders throughout Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, England, Spain, South America, Asia and the U.S.A. She is the Author of 5 Fitness Books and Manuals (Go For Fit - The Winning Way to Fat Loss, Fit over Forty - The Winning Way to Lifetime Fitness, The Successful Trainer’s Guide to Marketing, Hiring and Training

Master Trainers, and The Business of Personal Training) and is the star of a variety of educational Fitness DVDs. She is a Nike, Schwinn and PowerBar sponsored Fitness Athlete and is a fitness columnist for various newspapers, magazines and journals throughout the world.

She is the owner of Northwest Personal Training in Vancouver, Washington which was awarded the Better Business Bureau’s Business of the Year.

www.nwFitnessEducation.com

www.businessofPT.com

RECRUITMENT

• University Co-op Education Programs– Interview & No Guarantee

• Fit your Team

• Want to work for you

• Fitness Courses/Workshops• Great opportunity for current trainers

• Constant influx of potential staff

• Mold

• Your star may be closer than you think– If you are in a club setting, hire from within your organization -

front desk, sales staff, group fitness instructors

HIRING PROCESS

How many of you have the time to spend

interviewing every single person who

applies to your organization?

HIRING SYSTEM

• Resumes - start to get some information

• Information package and Orientation questions• Leave package - include brochures, flyers, newsletters, and a

series of questions

• Record when you leave package, when they pick it up and when

they return it

HIRING SYSTEM

• Interview– Casual conversation

– Standardized questions

» Positive Company/Personal Image

» Customer Service Skills

» Building Relationships

» New Business Oriented

» Initiative

» Taking Ownership

» Adaptability

» Goal Oriented

» Ability to Influence

– Role playing (practical/technical questions or scenarios)

HIRING SYSTEM

–Don’t forget the Reference Check

HIRING SYSTEM

• Hire the Best people you can find, develop them as much as you can, and hand off everything you possibly can to them

• Slowly hire only unbelievable people!– Schedule multiple interviews with good candidates

– Ask for action as much as you can!

• If there are things about a potential team member that you don’t like during the interview…you’ll like them even less after you hire them!

TRAINING PROGRAM

• Establish a “stepping stone” system or a “farm team” - Make your own top-notch trainers!

• Dating - Watch like a hawk!

• The Engagement Phase - Make the commitment to bring them onto your team

• Getting Married - Signing on the dotted line– Agreement - extensive

– New Employee Handbook and wage increase

– Mentoring

– Incentive questionnaire/Personality questionnaire

• The Honeymoon - Show you’re committed!

Deciding upon a Compensation Package

• Compensation packages are the highest expense in

the budget

– If you pay trainers too much, profit margin evaporates

and it will be difficult for the business to succeed

– If you pay trainers too little, you risk losing your best

trainers

What’s the difference?Employee

• You establish and evaluate program recommendations and training techniques

• The service is an integral part of your business model

• You market the program, book appointments and collect money

• You set policies and procedures and schedule meetings

• You are responsible for paying certain taxes and deducting employee tax contributions from pay checks

Independent Contractor

• Trainers are self-employed operating their own business

• You cannot control program design, training techniques or administration

• Independent contractors are responsible for their own taxes, marketing, scheduling and money collection

What $$ split is best?

• Depends how much overhead and involvement the business has vs the trainer

• Depends on goal of the PT program – profit vs retention or both

• Be fair• Benchmarking and Review the IDEA/IHSRA Compensation

SurveysOptions:

• Straight % of revenue• Sliding scale• Tiered Plan• Hourly/Salary

Samples…

Straight %

• Average client fee = $50

• Trainer Pay = 50% or $25

per session

– Or whatever % you decide

on

• Pros/Cons

Sliding Scale

• Average client fee = $50

• Trainer Pay

1-5/week $18/session

6-10/week $20/session

11-14/week $22/session

15-20/week $24/session

21-24/week $26/session

25+/week $28/session

• Pros/Cons

Samples…

Tiered Scale

• Average client fee = $38-$68

• Trainer Pay =$18-$40

• Pros/Cons

• NWPT, Vancouver, WA

• Average client fee $68

• We only hire full-time trainers

• Trainer Pay– Guaranteed Hours = 30-40 hours /

week

– Comp sessions /Administration/ Meetings = approx $10/hour

– Paid PT = Average $17-$27/hour

– Many trainers after one year on salary or set hourly wage

– Offer Paid Time Off, Education Benefits, Group Health Plan etc.

• Pros/Cons

Good Business Rule of Thumb

– Ideally in a strong business model, payroll should not

exceed 40% of total revenues

– NWPT at 50%

Teach me what to do and how to do it.

Set high standards for yourself and for others and don’t accept anything less.

• Initial Training

• Clear set of expectations

– Job Description

– Corporate Manual

• Ongoing Training

Apprenticeship Stage 1a: Practical Training

• Shadow veteran personal trainers for a total of 40 hours. Keep a log of exercise ideas, techniques used, motivational cues, personality attributes, administrative duties etc. Submit a copy of all notes to manager.

– Ten Initial complimentary sessions should be viewed

– Twenty beginner/advanced programming clients should be viewed

– Ten special condition clients should be viewed

• Work out in the facility 5 hours per week

– Learn how to use each cardio-vascular piece of equipment

– Learn how to use each piece of muscle conditioning equipment

– Learn how to use each piece of balance and functional conditioning equipment

• Watch each of Sherri McMillan’s educational DVDs/webinars in the training resource library. Submit a copy of all notes to manager.

• Read the NWPT Fitness Results Manual. Submit a copy of all notes to manager.

• Begin attending all Personal Training meetings

• Train one person for 5 sessions. Client will be assigned. After each session, notes are to be reviewed by manager.

• Apprenticeship Stage 1b: Relationship Developing

• Learn and memorize the name of clients each and every opportunity (at least 5 each visit to the studio)

• Say hi to and inquire about clients’ programs each and every opportunity (at least 2 each visit to the gym)

• Introduce yourself to all NW Personal Training Customer Service Representatives, Management, Personal Trainers etc…

• Get involved with all Extra-curricular activities

• Attend Group Training sessions

• Apprenticeship Stage II: Business Training

• Read the NWPT Corporate Manual and complete NWPT quiz.

• Schedule two “Initial Complimentary session” training appointment with manager. They will perform a comp on you. You perform a comp session on them. Go through entire process from start to finish.

• Schedule a “Learn how to use all the Client Forms, Systems and Results Manual” appointment with manager.

• Schedule a “Learn how to do a Tour” appointment with manager.

• Schedule 3 additional “Sales Training” appointments with manager.

• Schedule a meeting with Customer Service Manager to review scheduling/sales/communication with CSR expectations

• Finish your Bio / Headshots / Business Cards

Foster an environment that keeps me

growing and learning

• The minute your team stops learning, is the

moment they begin to look elsewhere for other

opportunities…

• Invest in your team - #1 Asset

• Monthly Group Meetings

– Give schedule a year in advance

– Allocate agenda time for social catch-up, business and

educational information

– Offer food and a meeting or administrative wage

• Monthly Individual Meetings

– Social conversation

– Evaluations

– Individual Training

– Discuss clients and issues/concerns

• Evaluation Systems - Have a yearly system!

– Bi-monthly Indicators of Performance Review

– Yearly peer evaluation

– Yearly video evaluation

– Yearly Comprehensive Organizational Review

– Client feedback forms

– Monthly stats and reports

– Manager’s Evaluation

• Continuing Education opportunities

• Access to Trade Journals, PT on the Net, Resource

Books, Audiotapes, Videos

• Lecturing opportunities

Keeping Master Trainers

Trainer Turnover Costs $$

Show Me the LOVE!• Do you know your team? How much face-to-face time do you give them?• The Heart Comes First!• Praise and Recognition = Great things happen when you give others the credit

• “Soft” rewards• Thank you cards, letters, notes• Post client feedback forms and letters in memo book, newsletter or on club

boards• Group incentives for meeting financial goals• Wildly celebrate all successes/special moments

• Responsibility and Authority– Team members must feel a sense of accomplishment, success and personal

achievement– Give your supportive trust– Know that it’s not always going to be done exactly as how you would have done it –

give the boundaries of success and practice self-restraint– This will also allow you to work “on” your business and not “in” your business –

empower and make yourself dispensable– Ask me my opinion – PT Survey

Reprimand me with kindness

• Begin with a positive statement

• Ask questions about the issue

• Offer your help, support or a suggestion

• Finish with a positive statement – Be sure they leave knowing you care about them and only want the best for them. The reprimand has nothing to do with them as a person – it’s about changing actions so they and the business can reach their/its potential.

Praise in public. Criticize in private.

• How to know when it’s time to move on.

• Exit interview

A company that plays together, stays together!• Team Incentives

• PT & Client outings

• Parties

Walk your Talk

Bottom Line:Culture is caught not taught.

If you want a team that is energized, excited, passionate and motivated, that’s exactly how you have to be!

Don’t expect anyone to become anything more than

you are willing to become yourself!

• Manager’s Evaluation

• Personnel determine the potential of a business

• Relationships determine the morale of the business

• Structure/systems determine the size of the

organization

• Vision determines the direction of the business

• Leadership determines the success of the business

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – John Maxwell

“Motivate them, train them, care about them and

make winners out of them…

J.W. Marriott, Jr.

www.nwFitnessEducation.com