How to tell a client no
I feel like a client is taking advantage of me. She only signed up for a limited number of sessions and doesn’t want to continue because she feels she doesn’t come often enough to gain benefit. Yet, she wants me to give her a list of all of the exercises I’ve done with her and provide a second routine. I want to tell her no in a way that will maintain a relationship with her even though she doesn’t want any more personal training. Any suggested language?
You have gotten yourself into a situation that is not a big deal, but could be handled differently in the future.
I always make sure to ask my clients what they want out of the time we spend together. I specifically ask if they want to learn to workout on their own or if they want me to be their regular guide at workouts.
The ones that want learn a workout routine/program that they can do on their own get a copy of the workout, but they fill in all the information they need to remember how to do the exercises. It takes longer to cover the material, but they are responsible for learning the workout.
Those that are coming in for sessions under my guidance can still have a copy of the workout, but we don’t spend time on the education aspect. We get in the gym and get the workout done. Rinse and repeat.
If a client tells me after a while that they want to have a copy of the workout with explanations to do on their own, it can go one of two ways. One, they were an excellent client for a fairly long time and I do it for free. Two, they were difficult or missed sessions (etc.). Then they can get a copy of the workout without explanations or they can do a few more sessions and take their own notes. I spend a lot of time designing a program for each client. That time goes into my fees accordingly.
All of my clients know their options. And when they want to change things, I explain their new options. You could still approach this client in this manner if you haven’t made a move on this yet.