– By Palak Chaturvedi, Nutritionist & Lifestyle Consultant
Nutrition and fitness are fast growing as an industry that primarily focuses on providing essential
health related services. According to me, “competition is only beneficial when its purpose it to break
barriers and build bridges”. In my journey as a nutritionist, the goal is to develop effective eating
habits along with achieving one’s weight loss goals and fitness plans. This entails leveraging the
power of nutrition with an optimised diet to recover and repair the damage caused by irregular
eating habits coupled with an unhealthy lifestyle. Providing a pathway to one’s overall wellbeing is
paramount for a nutritionist. This is achieved by keeping up with the ever-changing dynamics of the
fitness and health industry. Every now and then, new research findings provide a closer look into the
body’s reaction to certain foods and its subsequent effect on one’s weight and lifestyle. Hence it is
necessary to study the market and stay relevant in a competitive business environment.
Key essentials to establishing a successful nutrition-based service
Below are a few qualities that are necessary to start and sustain a nutrition-based consulting service
in a competitive market.
- Identifying and embracing your niche to create leverage is the quintessential starting point.
This involves looking at your own offering and differentiating basis your competition and
common market practices. These strengths should be unique, identifiable and beneficial to
the various types of clients. - Consistency in building an advantageous position would require commitment and
embracing the exceling qualities in one’s practice and services. Applying these strengths will
require time and effort for it to grow and mature before becoming a major part of your
unique value proposition. - Strategy is necessary to help clients differentiate your services from the competition. This
will require a bit of research to understand the market and competition for popular diet
charts and weight loss methods. Competitor research will emphasize best practices that can
be applied to help your clients reach their fitness goals. - Recognizing white space in the market will help detect and deliver the needs of the local
market. Post the white space identification, building and implementing niche solutions that
fill these gaps will go a long way in establishing your practice. This will ensure a strong
competitive advantage over other nutrition-based services. - Being passionate about nutrition helps in mentoring others and provides the necessary
motivation to stick to the diet plans. Listening to the client’s practical issues are more
important than just drafting the best diet chart. While one can get diet charts from the
internet, a nutritionist plays a pivotal role in maintaining and sticking to the plan by
providing constant motivation throughout the process. Closely monitored follow ups and
feedbacks at appropriate points can establish lasting and sustainable client relationships. - Staying relevant while strategizing requires specialisation and socialising. These socialising
and networking skills are critical to help build awareness of one’s services and present the
various solutions being offered. Since the fitness and health industry is constantly changing
every day, staying updated with the latest in the industry significantly helps in providing the
best services. - Connecting and supporting other nutritionists works in helping one reach prospective clients
that need your expertise in your specialised field. Building lasting relationships with other
practitioners and clients creates room to increase one’s influence and enlarge the consulting
service. This facilitates in building more creative and innovative solutions instead of
aggressive competitiveness. - Being socially active in the community and industry helps one to sustain their authority and
credibility in the area of nutrition and fitness. Activating powerful social networking tools
work brilliantly by highlighting one’s techniques and showcase testimonials that
demonstrate result-oriented diet plans. - Exceed expectations by going above and beyond the call of duty will enable one to create
lasting relationships with clients. Being passionate about the client need by going the extra
mile to develop a solution and making that a sustainable solution will help establish your
unique offering in the market. - Strong philosophy of any business and practice will give strength to achieve one’s dream
even within a competitive environment. As a practicing nutritionist, staying true to one’s
philosophy and belief provides a helpful guidance in making key decisions during the
growing years of the business.
Staying successful in a competitive environment is all about achieving results from the client’s
perspective. A practitioner should lead by example and employ what one advocates for a visible
transformation. This will help clients to see the bigger picture and help promote the consulting
services. Total dedication towards one’s goals while avoiding short cuts is necessary to meet long
term goals and business milestones. By being different and innovative, you become your own
competition while carving out an entirely new market area for specialization.