It’s been a tough time for all businesses, and the personal training industry is in the same boat. Many have lost clients as people tighten the purse strings, and fitness is pushed down the list of priorities and motivations. The need to stay relevant is more important than ever before.
If you’ve recently lost some of your clients, it’s likely you’re feeling demotivated and perhaps a bit confused. Don’t be disheartened, it’s time to try something new!
Although there is a lot of competition within the industry, there are things you can do to stand out from the crowd. Diversifying your range of clients, even within your niche, is totally possible.
Finding a Diverse Range of Clients (Within Your Niche!)
We often talk about the importance of finding your niche and understanding who your target audience is. If you’re struggling to find new clients in the current climate, there is no harm in trying to attract a more diverse range of clients, if you feel like your skills and experience can add value to their health and fitness journey.
We’ve all had those clients that do a session or two with you, and then move on before they start to show any signs of progress. It leaves you feeling like you haven’t accomplished anything, even though they probably wouldn’t have stuck it out with anyone. They probably weren’t ready to give it their all.
Maybe something needs to change. That change could be diversifying your offerings. Ultimately, adding variety to your client base could help. Hopefully, you will have conducted extensive research on your target audience, but now could be the time to carefully diversify that audience – whilst not adopting a scattergun approach and targeting everyone.
Here are a few tips to appeal to a wider audience who may be looking for a more long-term plan or have different goals to your typical clients.
1. Think outside the box
Not all clients are looking to lose weight or gain muscle. People train for different reasons, such as to improve their fitness to earn a place on a sports team or to reduce pain from an injury. Make it clear that you can adapt to people’s needs and share content on your social media channels about the different ways you can help.
And in the world of online, be open to finding clients from different locations – maybe you could be the next global online PT sensation!
2. Make your training sessions adaptable
It’s important, especially if you are encouraging clients to train at home, to consider what barriers they have for their training and how to overcome them.
For example, how can you expect your client to wake up at 7 am every morning to do an hour-long session at home, when they have kids to look after and no equipment?
Or, they might live in a very small space so need a solution that works around their environment.
Talk to your prospective clients about how you can make your services more useful to them. People will appreciate your willingness to work around their commitments. If you are flexible, it will mean they will be more likely to stick with you for a longer period.
3. Diversify your offering
In this ever-changing landscape, you need to be adaptable and keep up with the times. We are seeing an online shift; delivering sessions via video call or even pre-recorded workouts.
Nutrition is on the rise with a plethora of products on the market from shakes to bars to ready meals.
Think about how you can become a leader in all of these other areas, from online workouts to nutrition. Read about it, and offer those services to your clients.
4. Be friendly!
It might sound obvious, but being friendly and approachable is one of the key traits personal trainers need to recruit new clients and gain their trust. You and your potential new client don’t know each other yet. So make the right first impression to make them feel comfortable around you!
Whether that’s gently approaching people in the gym or online, you want to come across as non-judgemental and keen to help.
Want more tips on growing your client base? Check out our 3 Top Tips for Building your Client List.
