Personal training can be highly rewarding. It’s a profession which genuinely helps people. Done properly personal trainers are able to improve the health, longevity and quality of life of their clients. At NK Fitness, we’ve noticed outstanding client retention over the years. Several of our Fulham and London based personal training clients have been with us since we started 6 years ago. What causes them to keep coming back? Here, I highlight what I feel is the most important aspect of personal training and why it’s so important to success.
Gaining and Personal Training Clients
Every personal trainer wants clients. Effective marketing and sales techniques are crucial in what is becoming and increasingly competitive market. Type in Fulham Personal Trainer to the internet and there is no shortage of choice. Each trainer has a niche or an angle that they market to attract a certain clientele and to stand out from the crowd. Not all potential PT clients are looking for a long term training, wish to train outdoors, or want to travel. Many potential clients will have an idea of what they are looking for in a London fitness coach. As a result, it’s important to attract clients that want fitness in the way that you provide it. That’s the first step.
Retaining Personal Training Clients
You’ve got you’re clients, now you have to keep them. This is where coaching, programming and personality come into play. When it comes to exercise planning, there is no ‘one size fits all’. Therefore, there is no perfect programme but there can be an optimal or appropriate programme. What does this look like? It produces results in the direction that the client wants to see them and keeps them healthy (injury free), If a programme ticks this box then it’s effective.
Part of effective fitness programming is ‘coaching’ the athlete. Providing feedback that improves their execution of the programme as well as their lifestyle habits outside of their Fulham personal training sessions. This requires outstanding communication to gain buy in from the client, produce a response to any feedback cues and be understood by the athlete. Not all of your clients respond the same way to any given form of communication!
Fitness Coaching with Personality
To truly retain personal training clients for the long term you have to be able to develop a strong relationship with them. This goes beyond effective programming and coaching if you are seeing them for one to one sessions. You have to deliver your product with personality. Outside of being an elite athlete most people will not spend an entire session discussing the intricacies of their technique. They do, however, wish to enjoy their sessions and the training is only a part of this enjoyment. Therefore, it is so important to have a good personality and to establish a friendly rapport with them.
And there you have it folks! Knowledge and coaching skills are so important to a Fulham Personal Trainer. Without them you will not get many clients. However, retaining clients requires more – it requires you to deliver your product and training with personality. Your clients must enjoy the time that they spend with you.