Most gyms start with a single coach. That’s one person establishing meaningful relationships built on trust with every client who walks through the doors. The intimacy of the small training space and the one-on-one relationship is wonderful as it relates to delivering an authentic experience, but eventually we all want to generate more business, drive more revenue, and climb.

It’s at that point in time that the one-man model begins to feel unsustainable. There isn’t enough time in the day to respond to all of the emails, return all of the voicemails, and take care of all of the paying clients…so what do you do?

Something’s gotta give, and that usually means carving out payroll dollars to bring on coach number two.

This post, however, isn’t about how much cashflow you need in order to add that coach (it depends), whether to make a full or part-time hire, or the merits of employees versus independent contractors. Instead, today’s post touches on the ongoing challenge of convincing existing clients to trust the new guy.

They deserve to be skeptical. After all, they signed up to train specifically with you in the first place, so why should they be expected to embrace a change of course without any push-back?

Here’s a look at my three suggested methods for tackling this problem:

1. Put your ego aside and aim to be second best.

Whether you believe it to be true or not, what’s the harm in telling your clients that you hired the new guy because he’s a better coach than you are? Do you think that they’ll suddenly think less of both of you and quit training at your gym? Your goal should always be to build employees who are, in fact, better coaches than you. There are no rewards for being the business owner who also happens to be the best technician in your space.

The time is now to start building a rockstar team, and that starts with telling the people around you that you’ve identified their new favorite coach and begin positioning him as a better option than yourself.

2. Don’t just talk about it…be about it.

If you really want to send a message to your regulars that they can trust the new guy, show them yourself. Ask coach number two to take you through an assessment and design your training material. Then I want you to actually execute the programming to a T, and quickly realize that you are seeing results because we all need a coach, coaches included.

You think clients are going to second-guess the new guy if they learn that you’ve put your own training needs in his hands and ask that they do as well?

Don’t just ask that people trust the new guy, show them how to do it.

3. Make him the expert.

If you’re like most gym owners these days, you make a habit of creating informational content that both demonstrates your expertise, and educates your audience. This means you’re in the habit of standing in front of a camera demonstrating proper technique, publishing the occasional tutorial instagram post, or writing up an information-packed blog.

Why not keep the message the same, but change the voice delivering it?

From this moment forward, at least for the foreseeable future, I want you to fade into the background and let your newest hire be the face of your social media content. You can micromanage the message all you want, so long as the person delivering it is the one who you’re trying to position as worthy of your clients’ trust.

You’re not parting ways with your expert reputation…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in 12+ years working alongside Eric Cressey, our business’s namesake, it is that no matter who is doing great work on his behalf, he is perceived to have a hand in it. You don’t have to worry about someone else stealing your shine if and when that new employee is in fact a rockstar. In fact, you’ll be assumed to be a driving force behind that performance.

There is a downside, however, and that is that you’ve got to own their failures as well. This being said, you’re going to do that whether you successfully position the new guy as a winner in the minds of your clients, or allow him to be perceived as an inferior option relegated to only new clients moving forward. Either way, it’s on you.

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