Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned personal trainer, getting more clients is always a top priority for personal trainers. Regardless of whether you’re looking to scale and expand or just maintain a stable roster of regular paying clients, it’s essential that you’re getting a steady influx of fresh new faces through the door and onto your books.
New clients are your ticket to maintaining a stable and successful fitness business.
In this article, we’ll cover not only how to get personal training clients but how to create a scalable and sustainable business model with a long-term payoff. First, we’ll first talk about creating a unique niche and building an ideal client profile. Once you’ve got your marketing foundation, we’ll next delve into some of the top strategies you can use today to build your personal training roster and create set-and-forget workflows to help automate your client acquisition.
Let’s dive in
Establish Your Personal Training Niche
Like many small business owners, personal trainers need to deliver a service that stands out from their competitors. In the UK, this is especially true given the fact that the coaching market is saturated with qualified professionals who are all competing for the same clients.
To put things into perspective, between 2011 and 2022, the number of personal trainers increased from 15,000 to just over 25,000. Despite the fact that the demand for personal training services has also increased significantly, it’s now more crucial than ever that your PT business can differentiate from your rivals and appeal to prospective clients.
If you can find your own niche, you have something that sets you apart and lets you promote your business in a unique way. Do you have a specialty already, or could you develop one? Some niches in the fitness industry include:
- Weight loss
- Rehabilitation
- Senior wellness
- Bodybuilding
- Aquatic fitness
- Yoga and Pilates
- New mom/postpartum health
- Corporate wellness
- Endurance training
- Triathlon training
- Sports performance
Related Article: 6 Reasons Why Personal Training Niches Generate More Revenue
Understanding Your Target Market
Once you find a niche, you want to take a deeper dive into your target demographic. Create an avatar or profile of your ideal client. Ask yourself questions like:
- How often do they work out?
- Where do they exercise or prefer to exercise?
- What are their wellness or sports goals?
- What are their unmet training needs?
- Do they have fitness challenges (time, kids, disabilities, etc.)?
- How old are they?
- What is their typical fitness budget?
You should know where your hypothetical clients spend their time—online and in real life. Which social media platforms do they prefer? Do they watch television or listen to the radio? Perhaps they belong to sports clubs or have memberships with other health-related businesses in your local area?
Understanding this will help you know how and where to reach them. We discuss strategies for getting their attention in more detail in the next section.
Related Article: Personal Training Marketing: How to Drive More Clients
How To Get Personal Training Clients
Now, you’ve identified your perfect personal training clients. You’ve also created an ideal customer profile for them. What’s next?
Use these strategies to turn them into regular customers for your services:
Get Referrals from Existing Clients.
All small businesses—including personal trainers—have two key elements that make up the foundation of their revenue. One is current clients. The other is new clients. So why not use the first to get more of the second?
Did you know it’s much easier to convince someone to buy from you when a friend or family member recommends them? In one survey, between 66% and 71% of adults bought products or services based on suggestions from people close to them.
So, how do you get established clients to refer you to others? One way is to offer a discount or incentive in return for referrals that sign on with you.
For example, you could offer a free extra session or a discount off a yearly membership or branded merchandise. You could also feature clients who refer others in your newsletter, socials, or on your website (see more below).
Connect on Social Media.
People interested in fitness today often turn to social media for tips and inspiration. It’s, therefore, a fantastic place to meet people who need help with training or who can’t seem to get started on their fitness journey.
You know where your ideal clients hang out online because you took the time to create your ideal customer profile. For instance, older adults are more likely to favour Facebook, while people in their 20s might prefer TikTok or Instagram.
You don’t have to master every social media platform. Instead, pick the one (or ones) that are most popular amongst your prospective clients and focus your efforts on attracting new clients there.
Related Article: The Top 5 Personal Trainer Networking Tips
Build a Website That Works for You.
What do you post on social media? In addition to fitness videos or class schedules, you can share announcements and blog posts from your website.
You should maintain a website to improve your credibility and present a professional presence to the public, plus it will work wonders for anyone searching for the services you offer on Google. After all, prospects are more likely to search for “personal training near me” than they are on social media. The basics include:
- Home page
- About page
- Services page
- Contact page
Your website is also a reflection of your brand. It should convey the unique vibe you want to give clients about your business. Think of it as a virtual first impression about who you are and what you do. You’ll want to keep things clear, concise and attractive to anyone first encountering your brand.
Once your business is up and running, you want to add client testimonials. This will help to boost your credibility and show that the services you offer actually work.
While you know they do, your clients will need reassurance that they’re making a good investment before they hand over their credit card details. Feature testimonials on their own page or add them to the bottom of the home page. You’ll also want to consider adding a blog or news page for more authority.
Authority is a highly effective way to boost your search rankings among clients seeking personal trainers online. Another way to improve visibility is to use search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques, like:
- Including keywords on your website or blog that people use when looking for trainers via Google and other search engines
- Adding local SEO by mentioning your city, area of the UK, and local landmarks
- Providing useful educational content about your niche that demonstrates that you know what you’re talking about, even if people aren’t ready yet to make a purchasing decision
Related Article: 5 Things Your Personal Trainer Software Should Be Doing for You
Offer a Free Trial Session.
People love a freebie! Giving them a complimentary session lets them experience your training style firsthand. They can see if you’re a good fit for their needs and goals and if your personalities mesh well, without having to worry about exchanging payment right off the bat.
Having an “easy way in” taster session might seem counterintuitive, but when it’s structured correctly, can often lead to easy sales and long-term clients. At the end of each free appointment, give the potential client a plan for what you would do if they hired you.
This is similar to what home remodelers do after visiting someone’s house for an estimate. This gives them a clear understanding of how they can get from point A to point B. (Hint: You’re the one who can take them there!)
Speak to Clubs.
If you specialise in elite performance, finding athletes who train in those sports is essential. You can do this by contacting sports clubs and asking to speak or do a group training session.
Since you’re not in competition with them, most clubs will welcome a trainer to give a different perspective and help members improve. Individual sports like running, fencing, and golf were made for this approach.
Reach Out to Local Businesses.
You don’t have to specialise in corporate fitness to get new clients from area companies. Offering to teach a group lunch class or give a discount for after-work sessions might land you some new customers.
You could also target businesses where fitness plays a role in work performance and efficiency. These include the medical field (on their feet all day) and delivery services (lifting).
Related Article: 7 Ideas for Making More Money as a Personal Trainer
Offer Online Coaching Services.
Online coaching is a no-brainer if you’re looking to grow from tens to hundreds—or even thousands!—of clients.
The obvious advantage of online coaching is that you don’t have to be physically present with clients to train them. That means that you can coach clients from all over the world. You save time and costs associated with travel as well as serving up on-demand coaching packages which deliver results, without time-intensive admin.
You might think that not being with your clients in-person might lead to poor results, less accountability and a lower price-bracket for training packages. However, most personal trainers find the complete opposite.
Online coaching enables you to provide your clients with tailored plans in a matter of seconds, allowing for greater convenience and keeping them accountable via online check-ins. This method often leads to better performance and retention levels. It also means that you can charge a premium for your services.
This is particularly true for personal trainers who use personal training software and custom coaching apps. Not only does using personal training software make it easier to streamline your business, coach thousands of clients simultaneously and remove the time-draining admin from your day-to-day grind, offering clients the ability to experience-tailored fitness coaching from the palm of their hand offers a game-changing level of service that they unlikely to find anywhere else.
Related Article: Using My PT Hub to Become An Online Fitness Coach with Jack Wilson
How You Can Start Getting More Personal Training Clients Right Now
Are you ready to get started on bringing in more personal training clients? Here are some ideas you can use right away:
- Carry business cards with your logo and contact information. You never know when you’ll run into a prospective client.
- After a successful training session, send clients a reminder to send you a testimonial for your website. Or you can message them a link where they can leave an online review for others.
- Are you a natural writer? Consider composing articles for top magazines and websites to show you’re an authority in the field. Start a fitness blog on your own site to increase your own SEO authority and make it easier for clients to find you and your training products.
- If you’re located in a more rural area of the UK, what about a YouTube or TikTok channel? You could develop and monetise a members-only section for exclusive workouts and fitness tips.
- Be sure to include a few email capture bars on the pages of your website. Create email marketing lists so you can send out announcements, coupons, or a newsletter. Manage everything with an email service and/or software for personal trainer businesses.
Related Article: 10 Personal Training Email Templates to Improve Your Business