There are lots of factors that affect the overall success of a business. The quality of your product, your marketing strategy, the overall reputation of your profession. Personal reputation is also a factor but is almost always an uphill battle. As a businessman you want to achieve a high level of trust with your clientele for obvious reasons of return business and potential customer referrals. There are certain professions that are a given when it comes to trust. We tend to trust our doctors, our lawn guys etc. Now those are 2 radically different professions. One we trust almost blindly with our health because frankly we don’t have the knowledge or desire to get medical degrees. The other we trust because the job is so easy how could it possibly be messed up. But there are professions we don’t readily trust: accountants, lawyers, politicians etc.
So how does this relate to fitness and personal training? Well rather simply actually. As a personal trainer whose business is mostly mobile (meaning I travel to clients homes) I must engender a level of trust and comfort with my clientele. That being said, not only does the client have to be comfortable with me but so does their spouse. I will be in their house with their significant other, largely without them being present. Now typically this calls for a 1st initial meeting in which I meet with both so I get to know them, the client’s goals and current health, fitness and nutritional choices. I have about a 95% rate of success if I get to this meeting. However this is where the bad eggs of my profession come in….
There is a moderate amount of distrust in regards to personal trainers. As seen in this video courtesy of youtube, here is Arnold Schwarzenegger about to perform a massage of a client when the husband comes home thinking something might be awry.
While that is funny it's this kind of attitude that can put a real damper on my business. I wish I could say it was unfounded but frankly it's not. I have worked at several gyms over the years and worked out at many more and gyms have a high turnaround rate of personal trainers. And sadly enough, the main reason for their leaving is member complaints. I worked at one gym where 1 out of 5 trainers actually left for better opportunities, more pay, more clients etc. The other 4 out of 5 were fired, mostly for inappropriate interactions with their clients. This can take the form of touching inappropriately, as one such trainer was fired because he was rubbing the inner thigh of a client as she did sit ups. I can’t imagine who that would be part of the exercise and I’ve done every variation of a sit up there is. Never felt the need for someone or to touch someone's inner thigh. Other times there is proof of a sexual relationship between trainer and client, making matters worse it's usually with married or otherwise attached clients. Then you have husbands, wives etc coming to the gym and confronting the trainers in public creating a spectacle. I would imagine most people here have had someone say their ex “hooked up” with their trainer.
In Dallas, Texas recently there was an incident where a gym provided a trainer to a new member. She asked for a new trainer when she felt the one assigned to her was a little too free with his conversation regarding his sexual exploits and asking her to perform exercises she felt were so he could “watch her boobs.” .The second trainer was equally as offensive and asked her via text if she "suffers from hard nipple syndrome." . These are the kinds of things that happen in my line of work that give all of us trainers who have never crossed that line a bad name. It is a constant battle to convince clients and their spouses you are a certified professional who does not have ulterior motives.
This is the link to the original article, courtesy of ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/02/woman-sues-la-fitness-and-2-trainers-over-alleged-harassment/
I can honestly say in 2015 and 2016 combined I lost out on 30+ potential clients because husbands did not want me in their homes with their wives unattended. Some would say this shows a lack of trust in the spouse and there might be some merit to it. But that’s not the point. It's the profession of personal training has a bad reputation. Lets face it, between Law & Order, Criminal Minds and all other law drama related shows there is at least one episode where the personal trainer is accused of something inappropriate. It’s a negative view of a profession dedicated to helping others reach their maximum potential physically.
Here I am trying to make a living and all I can think is “Wow! Some trainers must be dogs!”