When it’s time to boost business, often the first thing that pops to mind is to check out the latest trends and workout fads. And when it comes to reaching a bigger audience, it seems we’re never without a breakout social media platform to join.
Trends and social media? Both great ideas. Consider honing the skill of public speaking to get new clients using your current exercise knowledge, and without a requirement for you to start, and thus maintain, a new account on SnapInterestBook.
New fitness knowledge is something all personal trainers should continuously strive for. Unless you’re able to communicate your knowledge in a way that prospects can understand and buy into, you won’t be making the most of your hard work.
4 Benefits of beefing up your public speaking skills
- It helps you to better communicate with prospects. Consider that people buy based on emotion. Effective communication can help you identify their buying motives or emotions and directly tie in your services to what they are wanting to achieve.
- It gives you confidence and the ability to speak concisely about your skills and what you offer. You never know when opportunity will present itself. Having a canned pitch in mind is a start, but it takes away from authentic conversation and can keep you from connecting and responding effectively to unique concerns and questions.
- It helps you demonstrate your knowledge and can establish you as an expert in your field. That comes in handy whether you have to find your own clients or not. Even if interviewing for a spot at a gym, the way you demonstrate your knowledge determines whether you get the job and could also decide where you land on the pay scale.
- Another way to use public speaking to your advantage is to present at professional conferences. If that thought makes you want to curl up in a ball, you aren’t alone. It’s actually even more of a reason to learn and practice public speaking. You’ll be setting yourself apart, and if you do get to the point of presenting at a conference, tradeshow, or community event, go prepared to make a whole lot of all-new contacts.
Sharpen your public speaking skills
Let’s cover a couple of easy ways that can work with any schedule.
Check out Toastmasters International. Club members meet regularly to give speeches and get feedback and guidance in a low-pressure, friendly environment.
As the name suggests, there are clubs all over the world, and many times there are several chapters that service a single area. If there isn’t one convenient to your location, you can start your own chapter or opt for an online club. For more information, check out toastmasters.org.
If your schedule is too tight for meetings, but you’d still like quality guidance on public speaking, you can check out iTunes U.
Go into iTunes, look up iTunes University, and then narrow your search to public speaking. You’ll find podcasts, some from actual university courses, that you can download and listen to at your convenience.
If you’ve already been practicing public speaking, we’d love to hear your tips on success. Pop into the comments section to let the community know what’s been working for you.
Tanisha Rule has a BA in English and is a former Mad Dogg-certified Spinning instructor. She taught indoor cycle and boot camp and has now combined her passions as a full-time writer for the health and fitness industries, check out her site at www.ruleboutiquewritingservices.com. If she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found happily training for an endurance event, likely after having said, “This is my last one for a while,” because there is no finish line; there is only progress.
