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Bridging the Gap between Fitness Club Owners and Trainers

April 21, 2014

Hope Osborn

As a club owner, of all your important assets of a sound management team, flourishing community relationship, buzzing online and off-line marketing strategy, effective equipment, and vital location, your trainers have the potential to be the most valuable and effective. They are the personal connection between you and the members and the personable touch for the members. Your trainers bring your mission to the gym floor.
Promoting a healthy environment for you, the trainers, and the members in the gym includes exercising your relationship with and strengthening up your trainers.  Jen Bacon, M.S. has 15 years of experience in the health and fitness industry in the commercial, corporate, and community settings, and in ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal she shared a few tips about this aspect of fitness club health.

Training for the Trainer
It is important to hire trainers who are well-educated and experienced. It is also important that they continue to keep up in the continually evolving field of fitness. As a club owner, you can create opportunities for this with in-house training or seminars and availability of memberships to online resources and of an in-house library. Look for opportunities in the industry for them to interact with other professionals and to build their own experience.

A Social Workout
A nationally recognized key to business management is the importance of social interaction among coworkers. It is just as key in the business of your gym. Bacon reminds us that “trainers are highly sociable people.” Their job requires it. Looking for and encouraging opportunities for the trainers, and the rest of your staff for that matter, to engage one another will promote the health of your entire club. Friendly professional interactions make for friendly client interactions.

Join the Club
Your mission, values, and goals are important to you. Develop their importance for your trainers as well. Involve them in the promotion of these ideas by demonstrating them and showing them in fun and creative ways how they apply to them and their clients. Keep your mission, values, and goals at the forefront of their minds by including them in bite-size reminders in meetings and team-building events.

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Coming Alongside
Your trainers are on the ground running. They have a wealth of day in and day out experience in your gym with your clients. Give them the opportunity to provide input and to have their questions as to “why” answered. It will help bridge the gap from a “them” to “us” attitude.

The Rewards
Recognize their professional achievements and what they accomplish for your club. Stimulating an encouraging environment produces happy trainers who, in turn, have happy members who are glad to workout in your gym.

Happy members are after all what you need to have a successful business. Follow these tips and create some more of your own to interact successfully with the trainers who will motivate your members to keep coming to your gym.

Works Cited
Bacon, Jen. “Building the Trainer-Club Connection to Boost Service.” ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal 17.3 (2013):33-34. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.