RRiseForIt
The Trusted By Strangers Workbook
By the end you'll have a Google Business Profile ready for reviews, a referral ask timed to your next client's win, and your first weekly video planned and cut into Shorts, all aimed at one kind of client.
Free workbook12 pagesabout 50 minutes
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
Step 1 of 5 · Learn it
Find the gap referrals can't fill
If you don't know how many clients you need, you can't tell whether referrals are enough or whether you're just hoping. Referrals only reach the people your clients already know, so check whether that gets you where you want to go next.
How to do it
- Write the monthly income you want from training.
- Write what one client pays you a month. Divide the first number by the second to get the clients you need.
- List your current clients in the table and write how each one found you.
- Subtract the clients you have from the clients you need. That's your gap.
- Tick the goals that referrals can't reach on their own: online clients, higher prices, people nobody you train knows.
Example: Maya, an in-person trainer in a commercial gym
Goal: $6,000 a month.
One client pays: $400 a month. Clients needed: 15.
I have 11. Gap: 4.
How they found me: 7 referrals, 3 from the gym floor, 1 from Google.
Where I want to go next: 3 online clients. Nobody can refer those, so I need content.
Your turn on the next page →
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 2 of 12
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 3 of 12
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
Step 2 of 5 · Learn it
Set up your Google profile and ask for reviews
Someone searching for a trainer nearby picks the one who shows up with reviews. Without a profile, the people who'd find you on Google find someone else.
How to do it
- Search "Google Business Profile" and claim or create yours.
- Fill in every box on the checklist below.
- Copy your review link from the profile and save it on your phone.
- List every client who's happy right now, with their latest win.
- Text each one the script with your link. Ask every happy client, not just your favorites.
Example: Maya, an in-person trainer in a commercial gym
Profile name: Maya Strength, inside Northside Fitness.
Hours: 6am to 7pm, Monday to Saturday.
Photos: me coaching a squat, the gym floor, a client's deadlift.
Happy clients: Dana (first pull-up), Rob (deadlift PR), Priya (back stopped aching), Luis (jeans fit looser).
Asking Dana first, Monday after her session.
Your turn on the next page →
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 4 of 12
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 5 of 12
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
Step 3 of 5 · Learn it
Ask for referrals at the moment of a win
Ask for a referral at a random time and you get a polite "sure" and nothing else. Right after a win, the client is proud and already talking about you.
How to do it
- List the wins your clients hit: a new lift, clothes fitting differently, stairs without stopping.
- For each client, write the next win you expect and about when.
- Keep the script on your phone so it's ready.
- When the win happens, say it right there in the session, or text it the same day.
- Write down who they named and follow up that week.
Example: Maya, an in-person trainer in a commercial gym
Wins I watch for: first pull-up, 225 deadlift, jeans fit looser, back doesn't ache at work.
Rob: deadlift 225, expect in about 2 weeks.
Priya: 10 push-ups from the floor, expect this month.
Rob hit 225 on Thursday. I asked right after his set.
He named a coworker. I followed up with Rob on Monday to check he passed my number on.
Your turn on the next page →
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 6 of 12
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 7 of 12
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
Step 4 of 5 · Learn it
Pick the one kind of client your content is for
A video for everyone pulls in no one in particular. Pick one kind of client and the right strangers see themselves in what you post.
How to do it
- Look at your client table on page 1. Circle the clients you'd love ten more of.
- Write what they have in common: life stage, schedule, goal, what hurts.
- List the problems they bring you in the first session, in their own words.
- Finish the sentence: I help [who] get [what] even though [their problem].
- If you train in person, write where you train so nearby strangers know they can book.
Example: Maya, an in-person trainer in a commercial gym
Clients I'd want ten more of: Dana, Priya.
In common: busy parents, 35 to 45, used to lift, stopped after kids.
What they say: "I only have 45 minutes." "My knees ache on squats." "I don't know where to start again."
My sentence: I help busy parents get back into lifting even though they only have three hours a week.
Where: Northside Fitness, east side of town.
Your turn on the next page →
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 8 of 12
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
Step 4 of 5 · Your turn
Pick the one kind of client your content is for
Who they are: life stage, schedule, goal
Your one sentence: I help ___ get ___ even though ___
Where you train (for in-person clients) or how online clients reach you
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 9 of 12
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
Step 5 of 5 · Learn it
Plan one long video and cut it into Shorts
My first three online trainers all ghosted for the same reason: "I just don't know what to post." Pick one problem, teach it properly, and that one video becomes a week of chances for a stranger to see you teach.
How to do it
- Pick one problem from your list on page 4 that you explain in sessions all the time.
- Title it the way that client would say it.
- Outline it in five parts: the problem, why it happens, what to change, one drill, and where you train or how to message you.
- Film it the way you'd teach it to a client standing in front of you.
- Mark 3 to 5 moments that make sense on their own. Each one becomes a Short.
Example: Maya, an in-person trainer in a commercial gym
Problem: knees ache on squats.
Title: Why your knees hurt when you squat, and what busy parents should change.
Outline: 1. The ache. 2. Knees caving in. 3. Feet and depth changes. 4. Box squat drill. 5. I train at Northside Fitness, message me to book.
Shorts: the knee cue, the foot fix, the box squat, the one mistake I see most.
Filming Wednesday after my last client.
Your turn on the next page →
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 10 of 12
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 11 of 12
RRiseForItThe Trusted By Strangers Workbook
The plan
Your next 7 days
One small step a day. Day 1 matters most, so do it even if you skip the rest.
Your answers, in one place
First review ask
Referral ask
My client
Video 1
One small job a day
riseforit.com/guides/do-personal-trainers-need-social-media/workbook/Page 12 of 12