Beyond the Session: How to Create Clients for Life

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We all got into this industry because we care deeply about helping people and making a meaningful difference in their lives. But the reality is, it’s very hard to do that, and to build a sustainable, fulfilling career if we don’t have full schedules and a livable income. The sad reality is that the average trainer only lasts 6 months in our industry because they can’t get enough clients to earn a good income. It’s our mission at NWPT to help our clients, but also help each of you be as successful as you can be. I’ve found it takes at least a year for a trainer to develop a clientele base and start to gain momentum in their career and if we can help you get there faster, that will give you the confidence to really thrive!

Client retention is the key to longevity and success as a personal trainer. It’s expensive and exhausting to constantly chase new clients. None of us want to be a “revolving door” trainer where clients come and go every few months. The big question is: How do we continually show our value so clients want to stay with us long-term?

After working in the fitness industry for 37 years, here’s what I see the most successful trainers do…including our trainers at NWPT who regularly have a full schedule:

1. Results – This goes without saying, but you must deliver results. Understand what matters most to each client and create a concrete, personalized plan to help them achieve it. Strength, weight loss, energy, mobility, confidence…know their “why” and coach with purpose.

2. Accountability – Your value goes beyond the 30 or 60 minute session. Are you checking in on their solo workouts, nutrition, sleep, and stress? Provide the structure and accountability they need to succeed and can’t provide for themselves. Use our app to track habits and make this easier for you to provide that needed accountability.

3. Reporting Progress – Highlight progress every single session. Point out increased reps, load increases, better endurance, reduced rest time, PRs, and milestones. Do regular assessments (like our Olympic challenge) every couple of months and show them how far they’ve come. Make progress undeniable.

4. Future Talk – Plant the vision. Talk about what they’ll be able to do in the future: ie “One day you’re going to be able to do pushups from your toes”, “You’ll be doing a full chinup within a year”. Discuss next training phase, and new goals. Perhaps help them set an event goal like a 5k, a triathlon, an adventure race or a competition if that’s their thing. Keep them excited about what’s ahead.

5. Fun – Make sessions engaging and creative. Notice what lights them up…boxing, ladders, ropes, games…and bring that energy. Training should be something they look forward to.

6. Relationships – Do your clients like you? They will be unlikely to want to continue spending money if they don’t enjoy their time with you. Get to know them. Learn about their family, travel, interests, and important dates. Write these down. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

7. End of Session Experience – Finish strong. Stretch them out, use the massage stick or massage gun, and end on a pampering note. Clients often say this is their favorite part of their sessions – make it memorable.

8. Referrals – When clients love you, encourage them to bring in friends and family. If everyone they love trains at NWPT, they’re not going anywhere else.

9. Develop Friendships – Introduce clients to other clients and trainers. Your clients should know everyone else they are training with at the same time. Build community. When people feel connected socially, retention skyrockets. When they have friends at the studio, they aren’t going anywhere else!

10. Difficult Conversations – Regular late arrivals, cancellations, and no-shows are red flags. Address it early. Ask what’s going on, how you can better support them, and adjust their program. Don’t wait until they disappear.

11. Show Appreciation – Tell clients how much you enjoy training them and how much you appreciate that they’ve chosen you to oversee their health and fitness program. Gratitude goes a long way.

12. The Value of a Trainer – On occasion point out that they are thriving with the accountability that a trainer provides. Let them know they aren’t alone and that studies show that people who train with a trainer have better form, push a little harder and experience better results than those who don’t. Training with a trainer is a very wise investment in their overall health with incredible ROIs.

If you do all these things, when a client is nearing the end of a package or a term commitment, it will go without saying that they will continue training and the renewal conversation is very easy and can be as simple as “It looks like you have one session left in your package and it’s time to renew. Did you want to do the same package as last time?”

If for whatever reason, a client tells you they want to discontinue training with you, ask questions so you can try to understand where it’s coming from. You can say something like “I’m surprised to hear that. You’ve experienced such incredible results and seem to be thriving with the accountability of our weekly sessions. Are you sure you want to do that? What’s going on?” If it’s a time or financial burden, suggest they reduce training frequency instead of cancelling completely so you can keep the momentum going. Maybe dropping to just 1x/week or every other week or 30 minute sessions instead of 60 minutes would be a better solution to keep the relationship going and maintain the accountability that has helped them get to where they are. If it’s an injury situation, suggest that you can focus on other areas while they rehab. For example, if they are going in for knee surgery, suggest that it would be the perfect time to focus on their upper body and core. If you are not successful with keeping them as a client, be sure to regularly check in on them, send them motivational and educational emails….so that when they are ready to come back and train, they will come back to you versus anywhere else.

A full schedule is the applause for a job well done and key to success in your PT career!

Our goal is not just sessions…it’s relationships, results, and long-term impact. Let’s be the trainers clients never want to leave!

Thank you for everything you do to change lives every day. I hope this helps each of you get to a full schedule of clients who are happy and living their best life in part because of you!

As always, let us know how we can help. The strength of NWPT is our team and for those of you launching your career, you can glean so much from our veteran trainers. Ask questions, watch what they do, learn from them…and you will thrive too!