Business & Clients
Your Client Has A Second Scoreboard, And They've Never Told You What's On It
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in Movement Trainer (AFT) — where the interview process is taught →
In short: Movement Trainer's interview stage doesn't stop at the goal a client states out loud. Its question list also asks a trainer to find "how they will secretly measure themselves when I am not looking" — a private test that can be completely different from the number on an intake form. Alongside it: what they're willing to give up to get results, what they're not willing to give up, and what would put them off training altogether. A programme built only on the stated goal is built on the half of the answer a client was comfortable saying to a stranger with a clipboard. The private measure is usually the one that decides whether they stay.
The goal on the form isn't the whole test
A client's stated goal is real. It's also not the only measure they're running. Movement Trainer's interview stage lists the questions a trainer builds an intake from, and buried a few lines after "what they want to work" and "how they will know that they have achieved their goal" is a different kind of question: how they will secretly measure themselves when I am not looking.
A private test nobody puts on the form
That's not the same question as the goal. A client can say the goal is weight loss and be privately checking something else altogether: whether a particular pair of jeans fits, whether they can carry both sets of shopping in one trip, whether a friend says something different about how they look. None of that shows up on a scale, and none of it necessarily gets said out loud to someone they've known for one session. It's the scoreboard they're reading, and a trainer who never asks for it is coaching against the one they were handed instead.
The two questions either side of it
The course puts it between two others that do the same job from a different angle: what they are willing to give up to get results, and what they are not willing to give up to get results. A plan that asks for the thing on the second list, without anyone knowing it was there, is a plan that gets quietly abandoned, however well the exercises were chosen. Finding the line before building anything past it is the whole point of asking.
What this does to the programme
A programme built off the stated goal alone is built on the half of the answer a client felt comfortable saying to someone they'd just met. A programme built after the private measure has been asked for is built on the thing that decides whether they keep showing up. Same exercises can come out of both. The difference is whether the trainer knows which scoreboard the client is checking.
PT Manager opens the moment you sign up with any FASTER course, and adding real clients unlocks the day you pass one. Its coaching room is built to hold a goal a client keeps checking in on, not just the one written down on day one. Read more about Movement Trainer (AFT), the course this comes from.
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Movement Trainer (AFT) — where the interview process is taught — 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: PT Manager's coaching room, built to keep what the interview finds.
See what the course covers →Frequently asked
Isn't the secret measure just the same as the stated goal?
Not always. A client can say the goal is weight loss and privately be checking whether their jeans fit differently, whether they can keep up on a walk, or whether anyone's noticed — none of which a scale answers, and none of which they necessarily say out loud in the first session.
Why ask what they're not willing to give up, not just what they're willing to give up?
Because a plan that quietly asks for the thing they said they wouldn't give up is a plan that gets dropped, however good the exercise selection is. Knowing the line in advance means never building past it by accident.
Does finishing the course get me PT Manager?
Yes. PT Manager opens the moment a trainer signs up with any FASTER course, and adding real clients unlocks the day they pass one.
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