Fitness Experts and Physical Therapist - Defining Roles
by Dr. Kareem Samhouri author of Double Edged Fat Loss

Defining the role between fitness professional and physical therapist is extremely important in optimizing results with our clients. Not only will this decrease competition and bring you new business (and tons of referrals!), but your clients will see better results than ever before! As a team, physical therapist and fitness professional will be viewed as elitists in their communities, and therefore be recognized as the best in each respective field. Many fitness professionals, however, just do not realize how easy it is to draw this line and improve outcomes.

Follow these three easy steps to rapidly define your role and maximize the results you seek with your clients:

1) Only work within your strengths. Refer the rest.

People understand that you can't know everything. They will respect you for saying so. The best thing to do is simply explain that you don't know the answer, but you will find out who does. By providing resources for your clients, you will become their go-to person. Whenever they have a problem, they will learn to trust that you'll send them in the right direction. This, in turn, will entice them to continue training with you long after they may have otherwise finished with your program. Client longevity and well-being is the key to your successful business.

2) Make a list of your weaknesses.

This is a good idea no matter what your business is. By identifying and writing down your weaknesses, you are more likely to be aware of them. Also, you are better prepared to conquer them, making your list smaller over time. You are probably a competitive person, even with yourself. Well, if that's the case, and you've had to admit a weakness, you are likely to overcome that weakness over time. And in doing so, your confidence will rise, and your prospects will notice. Exuding confidence, without becoming overealous, is about the most convincing form of sales that exists.

3) Self-reflect. Ask yourself who you would go to in the same situation.

Those of us that are fitness professionals have a gift... the gift of understanding the human body. We know when we break down, no matter how stubborn we are about getting help. Think about it like this: even though we are capable of designing each and every workout we put ourselves through, many times we go in with a rough idea and just workout. Well, if we do not put more thought into our clients' workouts then we'll be in trouble, right? The same is true here. Just because our clients have an ache or pain, or history of pain that we may not fix on ourselves, we still have an obligation to help them fix it. We are hired by our clients to look out for their best interest, to plan and execute for them, and to teach them what we know. This includes our knowledge of when referral is appropriate. Hiding this from your client is just the same as being too lazy to plan an effective workout for them. Unacceptable, period.

If you're ready to start gaining all of the respect in your area, just follow these simple directions. By learning when to refer, and to whom you should refer, you'll be surprised how quickly things will come full circle. Physical therapists will learn to refer clients back to you, and you'll be the most sought-after trainer in town before you know it!

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