Become a Personal Trainer
Sales Strategies For A Personal Training Business Come In Named Types, And The Level 3 Course Has You Pick The Ones That Fit Your Own Clients
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in The honest route from scratch to qualified →
In short: Criterion F/617/8598 3.1 of the Level 3 route asks a learner to describe sales strategies appropriate for target markets and customers. The course defines sales strategies as the tactics and actions a business uses to increase revenue, then lists types aimed at personal training. Relationship selling builds long-term trust through personalised plans, regular check-ins and progress reviews, which leads to repeat business. Solution selling identifies a client's specific health or fitness need and offers a tailored answer. Consultative selling is the third type the course names.
Selling is a skill with names, and the names make it learnable
Plenty of people weighing up a personal training course want to know whether the work will pay. Getting clients is the part of the job that decides that, and the industry likes to make it sound like a dark art. Criterion 3.1 on the route to Level 3 describes sales strategies for a target market, and it turns the dark art into a short list of types you can recognise.
One of the things you learn on our CIMSPA-recognised personal training course is that a sales strategy is a set of tactics and actions a business uses to reach its sales goals. The course then points that idea at a personal training business.
Two types, in the course's own words
Relationship selling. A trainer builds long-term relationships through personalised workout plans, consistent check-ins and regular progress assessments. The goal is to understand the client's fitness goals and create trust and accountability. That trust leads to repeat business.
Solution selling. A trainer identifies a client's specific health or fitness need, then offers a tailored answer such as exercises and a plan. The goal is to position the trainer as the expert for that need.
Consultative selling. The course names a third type, and its full wording sits inside the lesson.
Why the names help
Both types start with the same move: find out what the client wants. Relationship selling keeps the conversation going over months. Solution selling answers one need clearly. A new trainer can use both on day one, because both begin with listening and a clear plan.
The target market comes first
The criterion says strategies must suit the target market and its customers. A trainer working with busy parents, an office team or retired walkers picks differently from one working with athletes. The course has you describe your own market and match a strategy to it, so the answer fits the clients you want.
How the course teaches it
The FASTER course is visual and interactive. You read the lesson, listen to it, and answer in writing or by dictating your answers. Your examples come from your own area, so the idea stays with you after the assessment.
Where to go next
Later in the FASTER journey, PT Manager holds the client record, the check-ins and the booking that relationship selling relies on. PT Manager is free with any FASTER course and opens when you sign up.
The honest route from scratch to qualified is on the become a personal trainer page. The business unit sits in the Level 3 Personal Trainer course.
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You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
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Also worth a look: Level 3 Personal Trainer, where the business unit lives.
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PT Manager is yours to learn on from the day you sign up. Using it with real clients comes once you hold your Level 3 and are listed on the FASTER Trainer Register.
See all 51 tools
Set-up
- Import clients Bring a whole client list across in one go.
- My quotes Daily lines your clients see — yours, not stock.
- Programme templates The programme shapes you reuse — a session or twelve weeks. Pick one for a client, get your own copy.
- Exercise library Every exercise with FASTER coaching detail.
- Money Products, payments and who owes what.
- Send from your own email Connect your own email service so invites arrive from you, on your domain.
- My brand & client view What your clients see when they walk in — views, header, accent, logo.
- Your enrolment pack What every new client gets the moment you enrol them — your forms, ours, or a mix.
- Products and services What you sell — blocks, packages, memberships and one-offs, with their prices.
- Insurance Your policy on record — provider and expiry. Client features unlock while it is valid.
- My menu Switch any tool on or off — for your menu, your home and your whole account.
- Your website A free website on your own web address, filled from PT Manager. Or just the client sign-in door on your domain.
- Your public page Your verified Trainer Register listing, linking out to your own site and socials.
Business day to day
- Clients Your client list — invite, open a client, manage their space.
- Clubs Group your clients — a board they share, a programme or a monthly price if you want one.
- Challenges A dated push everyone logs against — for everyone you train, or for one club.
- Calendar Sessions, classes, capacity and bookings.
- Reminders The dates your business can't let lapse — insurance and first aid, nagged ahead of time.
- Nudges Who needs a nudge today — opportunities, one tap each.
- Who needs chasing Every conversation about money, in the order to work through them.
- What needs doing Your own list, in your own words — the jobs you keep meaning to get to.
- Till Sell at the desk — cash, card or on their phone — and download the sales sheet.
- What you are making What is coming in every month, what was paid in the last 30 days, and what sells.
Templates and systems
- Forms & interviews PAR-Q, consent, consultations and your own forms.
- Coaching room The coaching tools shelf — wheels, journeys and resources in one place.
- Radar wheels Build a life or performance wheel a client fills in — see change over time.
- Nutrition by FASTER Nutrition sheets and habits without meal-plan pretence.
- Pathways Automated coaching journeys you assign to clients.
- Programmes Start a programme — a session, a month, 12 weeks or a season — and find the ones you have built.
- Games & drills planner Build game-based sessions and drills.
- Sport screens Pick a sport — the shots to film, the analyser, and a ready-made radar of the qualities that matter.
- Movement screen → radar Read joint angles off the analyser — they auto-score and fill a radar wheel.
- Assessment builder Build and run client assessments and re-tests.
- Tag analytics Every tag across your clips, grouped and exportable.
Client
- AI prompts Your reusable prompt library for coaching copy.
- Before & after Side-by-side progress comparisons.
Trainer tools
- Exercise generator Fresh exercise ideas from constraints you set.
- FASTER dice & wheel Spin-and-roll session variety for groups and games.
- Movement demonstrator A 3D model of the FASTER movement patterns — body or skeleton view, prime movers lit up, live joint angles.
- Client video analysis Your media library — client folders and your own. Pick a clip to analyse.
- Movement by FASTER (HMAC) Human movement analysis charts — see how a client moves.
- Live analysis Mount your phone and coach live — skeleton, reps, angles and depth in real time.
- Tell a group One thing, to the right people — and you see exactly who it reaches first.
Media centre
- Video builder Reels, stories and client report videos, in your own branding.
- Image builder Branded posts and cards for your socials, at the right size.
- Shot list builder Every shot with its size, angle, lens, location, people, kit and sound; sorted into shooting order, ticked off on the day, printed or sent as a sheet.
- Storyboard builder Plan a video shot by shot: what the camera sees, what is said, the move and the cut.
- Script writer Write what you will say, with the word count and how long it takes to say.
- Teleprompter Read your script off the screen at your speed, and film yourself behind it.
- Video and image organiser Everything you have made and every source you can pull from.
- Ad builder Make your own ads, coached as you go, in your branding. As many as you like, no fee, no cap.
Frequently asked
What does criterion 3.1 ask for?
To describe sales strategies suited to a target market and its customers, applied to a personal training business.
What is relationship selling?
Building a long-term relationship through personalised plans, regular check-ins and progress reviews, so trust and accountability bring repeat business.
What is solution selling?
Identifying a client's specific health or fitness need and offering a tailored answer, which positions the trainer as the expert for that need.
Do I need a sales background before starting?
No. The course describes each strategy in plain terms and has you apply it to your own target market.
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