The Trackster

The Trackster is online software that helps Personal Trainers communicate with and motivate their clients.

“It’s not the will to win, it’s the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.”

“Bear” Bryant

Recently I have come across a few mentions of TrainerFind.com.au on the internet.  Thought it might be useful to do an interview with Chris from Trainer Find and discover a bit about his business and how it helps Personal Trainers.

Can you give us a brief overview of trainerfind.com.au and how it’s useful to Personal Trainers?
Sure Craig.  Trainer Find is an online Personal Trainer directory.  We help Personal Trainers connect with clients instantly through SMS and email.  If the budget is tight we also have a free listing option too.  Our advanced listings have inbuilt lead generation features and show more Trainer information.  Basically, we help increase your chance of being found online and then give clients a definite way to get in touch so you can start training.

Why do we need a product like Trainer Find?
Clients are increasingly turning to the Internet to find and commence training with Personal Trainers.  Potential clients now use directories and search engines to find local Trainers.  Trainer Find puts you right in front of your potential clients and helps increase your chances of being hired.

We have broken the country into many areas and regions to help make our search engine work great.  Basically, if a client lives or works in your area, you will be found.  We are Trainer “Find” not Trainer “Search”.

It looks like you essentially have two clients – Personal Trainers and people looking for trainers.  Which is the most important?
That’s kind of like “what comes first, the chicken or the egg” huh?  You can’t have one without the other.

Right now our focus is on getting trainers registered and listed on Trainer Find.  So first up we are spreading the word to Trainers and ironing out the kinks in our website.  Since launching our Beta website we have had great feedback from Trainers around the country.

In a few weeks we take of the “Beta” tag and start heavily promoting the website to potential clients.  Ultimately, getting visitors to the website is just as important as creating great content.  Clients come flocking to directory websites with significant relevant content.  The content of our website is made up of Personal Trainers from all around Australia.

In Australia there are a couple of competitors who offer a similar service, how are you different?
Unlike other website directories, we offer SMS connectivity to Personal Trainers with advanced listings.  This allows you to be out on the road and get a lead sent straight to your phone.  You may miss an email lead, how professional does that make you look! Not very!!  So getting a lead sent straight to your mobile instantly is like getting a leg up on your competition because your potential client will be blown away by your speedy response.  They will know you mean business.  They will be pumped.  Imagine that!

Plus, we are actually current Personal Trainers ourselves.  We are still in the game and Personal Training is how we make our living.  We don’t need to overcharge you for an advanced listing so we won’t.  We know what clients like because we actually deal with them day to day.  We know what Personal Trainers want because we are Personal Trainers.  We just want to offer a service that Trainers will find effective and useful and that clients will find helpful.

What sort of things is Trainer Find doing to get more normal people searching for Personal Trainers?  Why should PT’s be interested in what you are doing?
As I mentioned, we will start pumping up the promotion for clients in a few weeks.  We’ll do this using some online and offline methods.  Right now we are focussing on building awareness of the website within the fitness industry in Australia and helping Trainers to get listed.

Trainer Find will help your clients to find you, contact you and start training with you.  You will project a professional image in the mind of your client because of the speed at which you can connect with them.  The leads you get are always qualified, because of the information you can place on your listing.

And like I said, if budget is an issue, you can always place a free listing which other directories don’t offer.

Do you have plans to expand into other countries?
At this stage we’re just sticking to the Australian market.  We’ll see how we go.  We could do it easily enough as our backend is extremely portable and flexible.  We just want to offer a good service here and focus on that for the time being.

What is the one best marketing tip you have for Personal Trainers?
Get a website up and running.  There are some easy peezy ways to do it.  It doesn’t have to be super duper flashy or look spectacular, but try to make it match your brand image.  Get the colours to match, the words, the slogan, the prices, etc.  Creating an online presence is essential for lead generation and giving clients a way to get to know you.  Think about it.  How do you find more information about products or services you want to buy or use?  One word – Google.  Creating a website allows potential clients to find you using Google or any other search engine.  They’ll find your website directly or via a directory like Trainer Find.  If you don’t have a website – get one asap!  If you have a website – get listed in as many directories as you can!  Make sure Trainer Find is one of them of course ;o)

Thanks a lot for your time Chris, appreciate you answering a few questions.  Check out TrainerFind.com.au and see if it could help you get more leads for your Personal Training business.

If you have any suggestions for interviewees please let me know in the comments below.

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony”

Ghandi

Just read this article that asks the question “Who is your business showing the love to?“   Basically it talks about looking after your current customers as opposed to spending big money on marketing trying to get new customers.

All business is the same, in the fact that all business is selling something.  You need to be constantly trying to get new sales/clients and you have to be finding the best way to do that.  For the Personal Training industry and really any business, word of mouth referrals are crucial to increasing sales.  Someone comes to you after being referred by a friend, half the job is done.  There is a certain amount of trust already, just because their friend suggested you.

How do you get more referrals?  By giving your current clients the best value they can get, by looking after them and making them want to talk about what you do and how you have helped them.  Turn your current clients into fans, not just customers.  Get them talking about you to all their friends.

Here’s a couple of suggestions for doing that:

• Every now and then give your long term clients a free session.
• If you run a bootcamp, why not set up a breakfast after one of your sessions.
• Give out movie tickets to clients when they achieve their goal.
• If your client has been with you for a year, why not take them out to dinner?

I know of a Mortgage Broker that sends out scratchie tickets to all his customers once a month with his newsletter.  Not sure anyone has won big yet, but what a story when they do.  It is the smallest things that get’s people talking.

These are just a few little things that can be done to surprise your clients, and make them feel like you care about them and the fact that they come to you.  They are all fairly cheap when you compare them to advertising or other marketing campaigns you can do.

The result of this is two fold, 1) your clients are more likely to stay with you, and 2) are more likely to refer their friends to you.  A double bonus for your Personal Training business.

Have you got any other suggestions for looking after your best clients?  Post them in the comments below.

Just want to let you know that we have recently made some updates to The Trackster.  We have added an invoice module and an email marketing module to our other features.

Invoice – When you log into your account you will notice that there is a new navigation item called Invoice.  You can now send out invoices from The Trackster to all of your clients and also send a copy to your bookkeeper to save time later.  All your invoices will be in one spot and guaranteed to be delivered to your clients.

Email Marketing – Another new navigation item is Newsletters.  From here you will be able to send out Email Newsletters to all of your current, past and even prospective clients.  You can even target specific groups, for instance you might want to let all your current clients know about a special you are running, or just let your prospective clients know about an exlusive offer.  After the email campaign is sent you can then get access to reports about who opened your emails and where they clicked – invaluable information for future newsletters.

We hope that by introducing these two new features that The Trackster will become an integral part of your Personal Training business.

If you already have an account, there is nothing to do but simply log in and these new features will be available.  If you don’t have an account, we offer a 30 Day Free Trial with full access to all the features to see if it suits your business.

If you have any feedback or suggestions for new features please feel free to get in contact.

I’ve already mentioned that I love quotes.  So I’m going to make this a regular Wednesday thing.

This weeks -

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavour.”

Henry David Thoreax

Unless you were on a deserted island last week, you probably heard about Apple’s new Ipad that comes out in a few months time.  Some people are excited about it and some are a little disappointed.  Apple, for their part, thinks it’s a game changing device.

Where do I stand?  Well I think it’s going to be a massive seller around the world and be a very popular computer.  I say that because of two reasons 1) the massive popularity of the Iphone, and 2) the way the majority of people use computers now.

The Iphone is hugely popular phone.  I can hardly believe the popularity among my friends, everyone has one and invariably it’s a topic of conversation when a group of people get together – “Have you seen this app?” or “Have you played this game?”  And these are from people who don’t trust websites with their credit cards.  It’s simple and easy to use and has brought the smart phone to the normal every day person.  I think the Ipad will do the same for computers.  Most people have a computer, but when they see what the Ipad can do and how you interact with it, and at a price that is reasonable, they will snap up these things quick smart.  For a start every person with an Iphone will think about getting an Ipad.

The second reason I believe it will be popular is the way everyday people use computers.  My friends and family basically use a computer to upload photos, email friends, check in Facebook, upload songs to their Ipod or Iphone and do their banking online.  After that there are some online purchases through the year, mainly music, and if someone wants to make a major purchase like a computer, car, tv etc, they will get info online.  But that’s the basic way people interact with computers.  These are the things that the Ipad will excel at.  You will be able to do these things in an easy way and with the touch screen a “cool” way that will be attractive to everyday people.

I can see the Ipad basically being like a remote in the lounge room.  You sit down and watch some tv, and you have the Ipad checking your emails and Facebook, and then when you are done you just throw it on the couch ready for tomorrow when you might have some photos to upload.

What about how Personal Trainers can use the Ipad?  I think it will be a great tool for trainers.  It’s reasonably small and very portable and also has 3G connectitivity (basically you can connect to the internet anywhere you can use your phone).  When you are training your clients, you can update their training diary as they exercise, you have access to all your important information at the same time you are with your client, you’ll be able to use it in a Bootcamp situation, you can show clients videos of the exercise you are talking about to help them with their form, you can invoice your client while they are right there with you.  If you are a trainer that works in a gym and tries to get clients on the gym floor, you can carry it around and show people actual results you have achieved or at the very least get their details to put on your marketing lists.  Personally I think it will be a real boost to the productivity of any trainer.

And lets not forget that you will be able to use and update your Trackster account while you are training your clients.

You can, of course, do these things now with various tools available to anyone, but the thing about Apple and the key to their success is that the Ipad will be a “cool” thing to have.  And a very easy computer to use.

What do you think about the new Ipad?  Do you think it’s going to enhance your productivity or just more marketing hype?