In that past, if you booked yourself a free consult you were virtually guaranteed to get me. As we’re growing I realized the trainers should also be taught how to do consults, especially since several of them have a lot of experience at other gyms doing consults.
However, a 3 Seasons consult is different from a consult at other gyms in one important way that often catches people by surprise!
At 3 Seasons, the purpose of a consult is to figure out the needs of the person we’re meeting with, and recommend whatever service we think is best suited for them given their goals, personal situation, and budget.
Sometimes that means making a recommendation other than training at 3 Seasons.
We are not trying to get everyone who walks in the door to sign up. We are only trying to get people to sign up who we think would be a good fit. We might ask you some questions that spur reflection, but we won’t pressure you to sign up. Trainers are paid a flat hourly rate to do consults – there isn’t a sales commission. Trainers are financially rewarded for retention and for getting their clients amazing results, not for sales prowess.
For example, in order for you to get stronger, your workout plan MUST include rest. Some people can’t stand resting, and need to keep moving for the full hour. They want a “bootcamp” style workout. The problem is that the ceiling on your progress is dramatically lower when you do bootcamp style workouts. To get strong you have to lift a heavy load and then rest long enough that you can repeat the effort. Same goes for building muscle. How many people in a bootcamp class can do strict chin ups, or squat, deadlift or bench press their bodyweight? Not many. So for people that are training primarily for the endorphins and getting their heart rate up, and they don’t care about joint health, getting stronger, building muscle, athletic performance, quality of life etc. we are not a good fit for them. We simply refer them to somewhere else because they wouldn’t be happy training with us.
We only want clients who really want to be here, and who have long term goals related to athletic performance or quality of life. It’s not fun working with clients who are showing up to the gym begrudgingly or who are not very committed to their health/fitness. It’s only happened three times so far in our almost four years of existence, but if someone in their first week or two tells me they deeply regret signing up, or that they can’t really afford it, etc. I just give them their money back and wish them well.
