5 ways a personal trainer can save time

Your clients might not always see the effort you put in behind the scenes. I didn’t know how challenging it was to work in the fitness industry until I talked to Margot, my personal trainer and one of the hardest working people I know.

Margot does the job of four people every day, finding new customers, training clients, promoting her business online, and keeping the accounts in check. Somehow she manages to be chipper and bright every morning, but the one thing she doesn’t have a lot of is time. With her busy schedule, she’s always rushing back and forth to keep up with demand.

Luckily I work at Timely, a company that is dedicated to giving personal trainers more of their day, so I came up with 5 technology-based solutions to help Margot save time.

Online booking

Every time I want to book a session with my personal trainer, I have to text, call, or send Margot an email. It’s usually over text message though, and about four back and forths later deliberating over calendar times, we’ll have an appointment.

If Margot was using online bookings, I could open her booking page on my phone, look at when she has set her calendar to “available” and book my session in. She’d get a notification on her phone telling her that I made an appointment, and she wouldn’t have to do anything! Sorted.

SMS reminders

I’m not gonna lie – there have been one or two times where I’ve slept in and missed an appointment. I’m not proud of it. Don’t judge. But ever since that happened, my PT texts me the night before every appointment to make sure I turn up on time. I’m obviously not her only client, so this must take up quite a bit of time every day!

If she was using automatic SMS reminders, I’d get a notification 12 hours before my appointment without her having to do a thing!

Taking notes

Whenever I turn up to the gym in the morning, Margot brings out a little notepad and starts scribbling notes on how many reps I’m doing. To be honest, it’s a bit intimidating, but it’s good because I don’t have to keep track of my progress. When I’m done, she goes and types it all out on her computer.

If she could use an app like Evernote or Google Docs on her phone to keep my records, she wouldn’t have to spend all that time double entering the information from my workout.

Taking payments

I feel bad not paying for my personal trainer’s time up front, and I’m one of those pesky customers who needs a receipt and invoice for everything. At the moment, Margot waits until the end of the day to write me up, and then she prints off the invoice and hands it to me when I next come in.

If she could have it sent out automatically, based on the session I booked with her, I could pay her up front as I sit in the parking lot after my workout, and she’d be able to receive that payment without doing anything.

Automatic emails

When I haven’t gone to the gym in a while, I get a little email reminding me that it’s time to head back in. The pressure is real, and I usually act on it. These emails always seem to be sent individually, or copy and pasted – they’re not automated.

My personal trainer could integrate her booking system with MailChimp so that it automatically sends me an email when I haven’t made an appointment for 2 weeks. This would allow Margot to focus on taking care of the clients who are coming in regularly and rest assured that I’ll be in soon, without her having to email me. It’s still personal and effective too.