Waverley Magazine Issue 1 2014 | Page 20

There's no magic formula or hidden secrets. Success will require many hours of practice and study. Greatness has to be the goal. The discussion on this topic would overlap into the next topic, Skills and Attributes, which would also be vital to building Brand You.

Skills and Attributes

We started this topic off by having a quick brainstorm on what were the main skills and attributes needed to be a successful fitness instructor. It was also clarified that attributes and characteristics are very much the same with both of them relating to the general term 'Personality'. One of the main factors to be discussed was as a skill was communication skills. We went deeper into communication skills to define what it actually meant and ended up with a list that included the following

The way you walk, talk and dress

The way you listen to others

Your body language

Your communications by phone, email, in person, tone and pace of voice, your website, Face book page, Linkedin

It transpired that communications was all encompassing and that in fact, communications was a core part of the 'Brand'. Other skills and attributes that were clarified and debated were

Sales Skills

Building Rapport

Presentation Skills

Planning and Organisational Skills

Time Management

Career & Business Skills

We finished off the workshop with some suggestions for building some elements of the plan.

Suggestions for building 'Brand You'

Get to know yourself

Work on building your confidence levels

Believe in your ability to succeed

Adopt a winning mindset

Surround yourself with positive people

Start thinking about the image you want to project and how you want to be perceived by your customers or employers

Think about branding yourself as a product with value

Suggestion for Building Rapport:

Building rapport will be crucial for growing your client base and retaining customers. It will also have a big impact on you been able to motivate your clients towards their goals as they are more inclined to believe in you if you have a good working relationship with them. And remember, rapport is the new motivation. Students were advised to conduct some internet research on the subject as it is vital to customer acquisition and retention.

The workshop concluded with a suggestion and demonstration of how to devise a simple plan using a blank piece of A4 paper turned on its side (landscape).

It was suggested that students take just 3 elements from the workshop and write them into the 'Plan' column and make a commitment to start tipping away at these elements of their plan.

7 top Tips For Successful Careers

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