Here is what you need to include in your personal training business plan
- Company Overview
- Branding Initiatives
- Staff Overview
- Product Portfolio
- Market Analysis
- Logistics and Operations
- Marketing Plan
A business plan could be more important than you think when it comes to personal trainers
Whether you’re starting your first PT business, or your third, one thing should never change. The need for a well thought out business plan.
Why?
Well, it puts into place an actionable set of information that you can use to guide yourself as you embark on the wonders that come alongside your own personal training practice.
After all, words are just words. But action… That stuff is powerful!
It’s essentially a tailored playbook that will help you lay the foundations needed to turn a profit.
Now, you can make your own business plan as simple or as complex as you wish but as a general rule of thumb, you should include at least seven key points.
Not sure what they are? Read on!
Company Overview
First comes the company overview. This is essentially where you get to explain what your business is, and what it stands for. Though the business plan is for internal use, it’s likely that your company overview will make its way onto your website. It should include:
- Mission Statement (What you do?)
- Vision Statement (Why do you do it?)
- Company Values (What do you stand for?)
Now, if you’re not sure how to go about writing these, it’s recommended you look at what some other companies are doing.
If you like, you can even read ours, right here.
Branding Initiatives
Next comes a section all about your proposed branding initiatives. This section is fairly straightforward and self explanatory. Here’s what you do:
Write a list of preferred brand names and brainstorm the potential benefits of each.
- Do you want it linked closely to your personal identity?
- Perhaps you want it to focus on certain fitness keywords?
- Maybe you plan on operating in a niche and would like to promote that within your brand name?
There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to brand names. In fact, you could even just really like certain words. Then, before you know it you’re known as “Tropical Treadmill PT”.
P.S – We checked, and that name is all yours! You’re welcome.
After you’ve decided on a name or two, it’s time to create some logo visualisations. All you need to do here is log on to an online logo creator such as Canva or Hatchful and you’re on your way.
Alternatively, you can hire a professional logo designer (Or make one yourself on photoshop) though these are often costly.
If you’re stuck for ideas on creating a name or logo, the best way to start is by listing what properties your company has. Is it modern, professional, quirky, serious?
These descriptors will help immensely in the sort of vibe, look, and personality you end up deciding on.
For some inspiration, here are a few logos we made for free on Canva. And, if you really have your mind stuck on “Tropical Treadmill” then they’re all yours.
Staff Overview
A good thing to include within your business plan is a section on staff. Depending on the business structure you have decided to go with, staff overview could look significantly different.
Regardless, list every key person who is a part of the business. It might be a partner, marketing coordinator, or even an external nutritionist consultant that you recommend clients to.
Any human asset that you can think of, write down, alongside their history and the value they bring to the business.
If it’s just you, list yourself alongside a professional bio and relevant qualifications that you can later use to sell both yourself, and your services.
It may not seem like a lot, but when it comes to personal training, you essentially are the business. So, why would you not write down potentially the largest asset your business has? You!
Product Portfolio
While many other sections can involve quite a lot of effort and research, product portfolio is likely to be where you have the most fun. After all, it’s where the money is!
What do you do?
List the services and products you’ll offer alongside the prices you intend to charge! That’s it! An example might include something along the lines of:
- 30 Minute Session – $30
- 60 Minute Session – $50
- Exercise Consultation – $60
- Nutritional Consultation – $110
- The Tropical Treadmill Transformation Challenge – $219
Market Analysis
Now we move into the heavy hitting sections of your personal trainer business plan. The market analysis. A.K.A – The part that involves a lot of research.
While this may seem boring, it will likely be the section that will pay dividends for years to come, as it will underpin the majority of your marketing material and website copy.
Where should you start?
It’s recommended that you start compiling a list of other PT’s within the area alongside their services and prices. Find out what they do well and what they don’t. Read reviews and note down areas of improvement.
That way you can create a positioning map that can better help you identify your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). This is simply what makes you different.
This could be a niche in the market that isn’t currently offered by any other local personal trainer’s. It could also be a window of opportunity for a premium or budget service where competition is particularly low (But demand is still high).
Once that is done and you know what makes your business stand out, it’s time to create a SWOT analysis. This is essentially a grid that allows you to identify your businesses
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
Finished? congratulations! You have a winning marketing analysis.
If you’re stuck on what to write, again, here is an example using our beloved “Tropical Treadmill PT” business as an example.
Logistics and Operations
Most other sections within your personal trainer business plan revolve around ‘ideas’ or ‘concepts’. Logistics and Operations is where you cover ‘processes’.
This will be where you essentially write how your business will function from a technical standpoint. You should aim to include all the finer details of your business and how you intend to run your business on a daily basis
We’re talking product ordering flow, service fulfilment process, payment processing, workout environments (Gyms, Parks, Back-up Parks etc.).
For example:
- What happens if you host a boot camp at a local park and upon arrival, you notice it’s being occupied by another group of citizens. Can you tell your members to drive to a different location? Do you have a different location? Alternatively, what do you do if the gym you contract with has a temporary shut down for some reason?
- How will you take payments from your clients? Cash or card? More importantly, how will you manage them or schedule them in? Do you have ways to make contact before or after a session? Do you have appropriate systems to manage their details and safely keep a record?
These are the critical things you need to outline. This is essentially the lifeblood of your business. It’s how you work. Without it, you can’t efficiently operate, grow, or keep a large client-base satisfied.
While many of these things may seem overwhelming, this is typically where you’d get help from a personal training software. It helps do a lot of these things for you and enables you to focus more on actually training.
Top Tip: To save yourself A LOT of money, time, and hassle – it’s recommended you get something to help you manage all this. We happen to offer free PT Software in tandem with Payment Processing Solutions to help you store client details, facilitate service payments, view financial reports, estimate revenue, and sign new clients up online.
Marketing Plan
Though a traditional marketing plan would cover price, product, place, and promotion – this special business plan addition aims to mostly cover promotional strategies.
If you’re looking to go more in depth, you can look at putting together an entire marketing plan, though this can often be time consuming and costly depending on how you go about it. Or, at least it would be if we hadn’t created an extremely detailed fitness club marketing plan template. That you can access for free by clicking the highlighted orange link!
Otherwise, there are typically six key areas within the marketing section of your business plan that should be covered. They include:
- Social Media Plan (What social channels you plan to utilise)
- Network Marketing Plan (What current networks/ partnerships can you leverage)
- Referral Strategy (How to incentivise clients recommending new clients)
- Sales Promotion (Price reductions, Group discounting, Multi-session prices etc.)
- Paid Advertising (How you will use Paid social advertising, Google Ads etc.)
- Organic Marketing (What is your plan for website content, SEO, Resources, etc.)
Get a world-leading company to back your personal training business
Starting a new personal trainer business can be daunting, especially when considering how competitive the fitness industry can get.
That’s why it’s essential to find points of differentiation that can place you above the rest. Not just in terms of processes, but also in the eyes of your clients.
How do you do this?
Well, one of the most effective ways comes down to how you manage, transact, and onboard clients.
That’s where our whole team comes in!
We happen to offer free PT Software in tandem with Payment Processing Solutions to help you store client details, view financial reports, estimate revenue, and sign new clients up online.
That’s all. No extravagant sales pitch. No plea.
It’s a leading software system for free. Plus, an opportunity to partner with a leading industry partner to help manage the operations and finances of your business.
If you’d like access, fantastic! Congratulations! If not, best of luck.
