Lokatrain
Help individuals find candidate personal trainers in their area and book sessions. Helps trainers offer their services to the public directly. Customers view trainer profiles, experience, specializations, rating, price, availability. Contact trainers, schedule trial sessions, book multi-session packages. Find group workouts in their area.
Bill - Step up to Training
Situation
Bill works out at a gym regularly, on the machines and a bit with free weights. He is doing ok, but would like to go a bit further. He sees other gym members working with trainers, pushing themselves, doing exercises that look different and interesting. They also seem to be friendly, getting along well, joking a bit and chatting, but taking it seriously and being motivated to push themselves. Bill has never worked with a personal trainer before. He would like to try, but not sure how to start. Doesn’t want recommendations through the gym, since they seem too business driven. Approaching random trainers in gym also seems weird, since he doesn’t have an idea yet about the typical cost, what type of training he would like, etc.
Vision
Bill was googling about training and saw a helpful introductory article about goals and programs for different types of training. The article was written by Lokatrain, an app that helps people browse local trainers and find potential trainers that suit they needs and goals.
Bill checks out Lokatrain, creates a profile. Browses possible trainers, reads about them, looks at photos and gets a feeling that a couple of them might be nice to work with. Checks their price, proximity, specialties, and availability. Over the next couple weeks, Bill hold trial sessions with 3 trainers. With Alex in particular he connects and enjoys working out. He starts booking sessions with Alex regularly.
Insights
People who work out on their own could improve if accompanied by a personal trainer.
Helpful intro articles can guide people new to training to learn about Lokatrain.
When considering what one would like in a trainer, helpful to be able to browse potential trainer profiles before contacting them.
Convenient to browse a centralized list of trainers.
A somewhat detailed profile with specialties, proximity, price, availability and photos helps searching for a match.
Andrea - New City, Old Feel
Situation
Andrea just moved to New York from San Francisco and needs to find a new gym and a new personal trainer. Would like to train with someone she connects with as much as with her old trainer from back in SF.
Vision
Andrea googles a few gyms in her neighborhood and goes to check them out. Sees a flyer for Lokatrain at a couple of them. Checks out Lokatrain online and after a fair bit of reading and researching, sees a several trainers that match her goals. Andrea decides to try trial workouts with a few different trainers first before choosing a gym. The trainers each take her to their favorite gym. Andrea like the vibe and connects with one trainer at a gym she feels good at. Match!
Insights
A bit lost at first when moving to a new city, and no established personal network.
People already experienced with training have a clear vision about what they want in a trainer.
Flyers at gyms might leads people to Lokatrain.
Having a comprehensive central list with detailed profiles of trainers helps experienced people find potential trainers that can continue their current style and goals.
Clara - New World
Situation
Clara is out of shape and would like to look and feel better. Clara has never been athletic and is intimidated by gyms, even feeling a bit embarrassed that she wouldn’t know what to do.
Clara has several friends and colleagues at work who exercise or do sports. She confides in a few that she doesn’t know a good way to start. A friend offers to take her to the gym, but Clara doesn’t want to be a burden, asking her friend to go with her all the time.
Vision
One friend suggested she check out Lokatrain. Clara was very intimidated at first by what she saw on the site, so many super fit people, who might regard her with contempt. She gave up.
Or
Her friend encouraged her to have courage though, and to make a profile and take some time to browse and see if there are some more friendly looking trainers. She did the work and found eventually a couple of candidates. Chatted with them about her situation and arranged trial workouts.
Alternate Vision
When Clara checked out Lokatrain for the first time, she was asked about her experience level, and was immediately presented with example trainers that match well with beginners. She felt good about some of the nice people she saw, and decided what the heck, I’ll give it a try. Eventually Clara found an encouraging trainer who inspired her to believe that a bit of effort and consistency was all it takes to look and feel better.
Insights
Total beginners are easily intimidated by fitness people, especially the super-fit. They need to feel safe and comfortable in order to learn and progress. Like to work with someone they can imagine becoming some day.
Presenting new customers with suitable match candidates during initial contact might help them to feel “this is for me”. Otherwise, they might leave almost immediately. Note this applies also to fit people, who would like to see people they relate to or aspire to as well.