The Trackster

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

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.

Today we have our first blog interview.  As mentioned previously, we want to make this blog a resource for Personal Trainers to improve their business.  One of these resources will be interviews with successful people in the industry or successful small business people who we think can pass on some lessons and advice.

Our first interview is with John Miller.  John owns a Brisbane based physiotherapy, massage and sports injury clinic called PhysioWorks.

Can you give us a brief run down on how you got started in Physiotherapy and also how you came to own your own practice?

Sport has always been an integral part of my life. I also believe that you should really enjoy your work. I couldn’t think of a better way to be involved in sport for the rest of my life than as a sports physiotherapist.

Owning my own practice was an evolution. After working in hospitals and other private practices, I identified areas of patient care that I believed could be improved but the management never implemented. If they weren’t offering a high quality product, someone else should. The rest is history.

What’s the hardest part of being the boss?

It’s the work that goes on behind the scenes. You wear many hats: human resources, marketing, legal issues, mentor, finance, administration, strategic planning, networking etc. Patient treatment and consulting is only one hat.

What’s the best part of being the boss?

I love being able to make the ultimate decisions that matter and you think will have a positive impact on your clients, staff and practice.

What marketing do you do for your practice and what is the most effective marketing that you do?

I’ve always strongly believed that people only seek your service if they have a need. Education of the public into the why, how and what of an injury is invaluable. Only then do they understand that it’s needless to suffer when an effective solution is just a phone call away. Only you know the skills that you posses. The difficulty promoting any solution is explaining the benefits to the public. In order to do this we primarily utilise our website and newsletters.

Do you have any professional partnerships or associations with any personal trainers?

All the physiotherapists within the clinics have personal trainers that they recommend. Ultimately, we recommend the personal trainers that our patients utilise and have good rapport. Otherwise, we do discuss the individual needs with a patient and provide a suggestion based on who we think would best fill their requirements.

Is that a mutually beneficial partnership of referring to each other?

If you think that you can fix everything yourself you are sadly mistaken. The best synergies we have do provide the best results for the patient. We’re more than happy to meet or chat with personal trainers about any patient or potential patient. Personal endorsement normally follows good outcomes. I certainly would only recommend another health professional who I believe is the best option for that patient’s desired outcome. Likewise, I should never expect a referral from someone who didn’t think I could help their client.

Have you felt the effect at all of the downturn in the economy, and if so, are you doing anything to appease that effect on your business?

Fortunately, physiotherapy is reasonably immune from an economic downturn. Pain is the primary reason why a patient seeks the assistance of a physiotherapist. Luckily, pain doesn’t ease up in a recession.

However, I believe that as unemployment increases there will be additional pressure on the family budget. In this instance a budget decision needs to be made. Sadly, personal trainers and remedial massage will and have become options to some families. The general public sees these great services as luxuries. At PhysioWorks, we employ several massage therapists and suspect that we will notice the downturn in massage first.

What can be done about it? I think that it will be survival of the fittest. If you are offering an exceptional product of customer service, fantastic results and at a fair price, you’ll gain customers from the weaker businesses. It’s up to you to be the best option.

Do you have a mentor, former boss or colleague that has helped you in your career?

I confide in numerous mentors from all spectrums of life. Being a good listener has its benefits. There is a lot of untapped wisdom in this world if you are simply prepared to let them speak.

What’s the best thing about working in the Health and Fitness Industry?

Caring for patient injuries has always been my primary concern. The satisfaction of an outstanding result that allows someone to walk, sit or run painfree again is extremely rewarding.

What is the best advice you have ever been given?

Be good to your mum.

Thanks John for your time.  I think you have given people out there who want to work for themselves something to think about.

You can visit the PhysioWorks website for more information, including a bio of John and his experience.  And I can tell you from first hand he is very good with fixing minor shoulder problems!

Is there anyone that you want us to interview?  Any type of profession that might have some links with the Personal Training business?  Just add a comment below and we’ll do our best.