Fitness professionals all over the world have asked me how to get more referrals for personal training, small group training, and large group training. My response is always the same - you have to do some marketing to get your name in front of people. The follow-up are numerous excuses but the one that rings true is the financial impact. Fitness professionals rarely have enough income to launch a good marketing plan. The return on investment is just not there for large-scale marketing.

Most fitness professionals don't know that your certification organization is already marketing for you! Members organizations of the Coalition for the Registry of Exercise Professionals® (CREP^®) include The Cooper Institute (CI), American Council on Exercise (ACE), American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), National Council on Strength and Fitness (NCSF), National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), and Pilates Method Alliance (PMA). The JCC Association and the Medical Fitness Association (MFA) are both affiliate societies to CREP^®. The mission of CREP^® is "…to secure recognition of registered exercise professionals for their distinct roles in medical, health, fitness and sports performance fields." The Registry is not just a list of names, but can be used by consumers, employers, referring professionals, referring organizations, and regulatory boards.

USREPS^® (www.usreps.org) was launched in 2014 by the member organizations of CREP^®. It is the first registry of fitness professionals in the U.S. It displays all of the current NCCA-accredited or ANSI-accredited certifications that any one individual holds. By virtue of holding a certification by any of these certification organizations a fitness professional would appear in the Registry. The Registry can be used in a number of ways ranging from certification confirmation to prompting a physician to find qualified fitness professionals in the community. For example, if a consumer wanted to find a qualified personal trainer in his/her community, the Registry would be helpful because it can be sorted by name, state, city, or zip code. Or, a physician wants to find a clinical exercise physiologist in the community, the Registry can be sorted to find them.

USREPS^® is a member of the International Confederation of Registers for Exercise Professionals (ICREPS). An international united voice covering eight countries and five continents allows for portability of the certification all over the world. There are now over a quarter million fitness professionals that belong to ICREPS by virtue of their membership on USREPS^®. 
It makes great sense for CREP^® organizations to work together. No single certification organization can do the necessary marketing by themselves. Fitness professionals should use the Registry in order for it to become the place where qualified professionals can be found. Go to www.usreps.org for more information and try out the Registry while you're there.