Personal training is a great source of income for fitness businesses. But are your personal trainers reaching their full potential in terms of retaining clients? Read on for a roundup of six things your personal training team can be doing to keep their clients engaged and coming back for more.
1. Keep the client front and center.
Personal trainers are people, too. This means they need time to eat, use the bathrooms, and even check their text messages. However, using time during a personal training session to attend to these tasks can lead to a disconnect between trainers and clients. Make sure trainers build in adequate time between sessions so that they can devote 100 percent of their attention to each and every client for the full length of the workout. Also, remind them to be wary of shuffling around the schedule too much. Remember that consistency builds relationships, and relationships support retention.
2. Record progress.
If your personal trainers are effective, they likely have a full roster of clients. How can they be expected to remember baselines and benchmarks for each if they don’t keep track? This record can also be used to routinely give feedback to clients, which can help keep them motivated and committed.
3. Check in and follow up.
Clients can’t be relied upon to speak up about how they’re feeling during a workout. Checking in throughout the workout about perceived effort and difficulty can help trainers gain valuable information about their clients’ fitness and wellness levels to help them progress toward their goals. Incorporating fitness monitoring technology into the workout adds another level of insight.
Checking in during workouts is just the start. Following up afterward is also important, particularly after the first couple of sessions. While texting is tempting, calling is more personable and will, therefore, make a more positive and lasting impression.
On a related note, while touching base with canceled clients is not technically a retention method, it can also help bring them back into the fold.
4. Help clients build a network.
From connecting clients to other clients with similar interests and goals to referring them to a particular yoga class or nutritionist, personal trainers can play a role in deepening client bonds with your fitness business. While they may be afraid that referring a client to another professional may cost them business, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Doing so may actually lead to future referrals.
5. Go over their goals.
Client goals aren’t static. They can and should change over time. Routinely reviewing your client’s goals can help trainers keep them on track and moving forward. This is also a chance to manage expectations. If clients aren’t reaching their goals, helping them set new and attainable ones can prevent frustration and burnout. If clients aren’t closing in on realistic goals, this is an opportunity for intervention.
6. Go above and beyond.
There are many personal trainers out there. What makes one stand out from the rest? Going the extra mile. Personal trainers who make a sincere effort to get to know and understand gym members as people, not just as paying clients, are much more valuable than those who are merely punching the clock to collect their weekly paycheck.
Long-term personal training clients are extremely valuable in the fitness industry. Why? Because not only is it cheaper to retain clients than to attract new ones, but loyal clients are also a great source of new business through referrals.
To learn more about the pivotal role fitness monitoring technology can play in supporting training client retention, download the catalog today.
