Fitness Business Podcast: Leadership, Innovation, and Profit · Justin Tamsett | Fitness Business Leader

Rebuild Your Personal Training Program and Improve Member Retention: Richard Boyd and Bob Esquerre: Episode 537

·52 min·3 clips

Richard says a consult fails if you do not know why the client is there.

1. Fitness Business Podcast: Leadership, Innovation, and Profit focuses on rebuilding personal training departments and improving member retention. 2. Justin Tamsit hosts Richard Boyd and Bob Esquerre, two operators with more than 20 years in clubs, because they have worked through PT highs, lows, and post-COVID changes. 3. The episode asks how clubs can relaunch PT in 2025 after the old pre-COVID model stopped working. 4. Bob calls the current PT state “ouch,” “what happened?,” “COVID,” and “nightmare,” then says the model can still be fixed if operators think differently. 5. Richard says the trainer is no longer the authority on the gym floor because members are more educated, use apps, and arrive with their own programs. 6. Bob explains that COVID split the industry into experienced entrepreneurial fit pros who left, inexperienced fit pros who learned fast, and a new generation of educated but underprepared trainers. 7. Richard says clubs are also struggling because operators are looking to AI to solve problems that require better human coaching and better floor education. 8. Richard recommends measuring PT success by member length of stay, trainer survival past 90 days, and the percentage of clients who show up for PT consultations. 9. Bob says clubs should stop selling credentials, sessions, packages, and price, and instead build a customer-centric solution and value proposition. 10. Bob argues that many clubs hire the best trainer and call that person a manager, even though managing eight or thirty people requires a different skill set. 11. Richard says the first thing a trainer must learn in a consult is why the client is there, because the emotional driver determines whether the session succeeds. 12. Richard says trainers should identify restriction or pain, work on it during the consult, and use tools like InBody or E-Volt as part of the plan. 13. Bob says clubs need to recruit talent that wants to be served by the organization, not just fitness professionals looking for a paycheck. 14. Richard gives Annette Lang as an example of a great trainer who met a 92-year-old widow where she was, including a walk around the block and even smoking while walking. 15. Bob says career progression needs manager training, fit pro entrepreneurship, and relationship-building skills on the front end. 16. Bob also says 2025 planning should include SWOT analysis, target-market focus, responsive social media, testimonials, and a pricing model that supports both gross and net income. 17. Richard says education drives revenue, citing his analytics work at PT on the Net and examples from Equinox and EFT. 18. The interview style is direct, technical, and practical, with Justin pushing for concrete tactics and Bob and Richard answering in long-form industry language. 19. Trainers, club owners, PT managers, and fitness directors who want a rebuild framework will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners focused on entertainment, light banter, or non-industry topics will probably skip it.

As heard by us

A practical PT reset for clubs trying to get the department moving again.

The episode looks at a question fitness club owners are already asking: what happened to the PT department, and how does it get back on track?

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Why you'd press play

If your PT floor feels leaky, this is the reset you need.

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