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.
The FASTER Journal shares the next teaching point first. Sign up at /newsletter.
You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
The honest route from scratch to qualified — taught by the people who wrote it, with free return access for life. The price is on the page, payment plans at checkout, no sales calls.
Also worth a look: Level 3 Personal Trainer, where the business unit lives.
See what the course covers →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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