How to approach potential clients to boost your earnings for the New Year
If you spend some of your time working as a personal trainer in fitness clubs, whether private or local authority owned, your time on the floor just before or after personal training sessions can offer a great opportunity to drum up new business.
And the inevitable influx of new gym members throughout January offers the best opportunity – you just need to figure out the best ways to approach potential clients.
Pick your moment
When approaching potential new clients, it’s important to make a good first impression so you’ll need to choose your moment and your words wisely – no-one wants to be interrupted mid-workout, much less have their technique criticised by a complete stranger.
So once you’ve identified someone you think could benefit from your expertise, wait until they’re on a rest period or, better still, they’ve finished their workout before approaching them.
And you then need to make sure you employ the right line of conversation to get them interested.
Choosing your words
While timing is important, it isn’t everything and so your opening gambit has to be strong as it could make or break your pitch. Just saying “Hi, how’s it going?” or “Hey, how’s the workout going?” could just result in a polite one-word response that stops the conversation dead.
So one good tactic is to keep an eye on what they’re doing, letting them know what you think and then suggesting another exercise that will compliment what they’re already doing.
With this advice imparted, you’re then clear to ask them what their training goals are. This not only means they can’t escape with a one-word answer, but it will give you a good idea of what they’re after, which in turn gives you the chance to introduce yourself before offering some more helpful tips and, ultimately, your services.
Make friends with other gym staff
When using a facility, it’s always a good idea to make friends with as many people who work there as possible, not only because this will make your time working there a lot more pleasant, but also to take advantage of their contacts.
For example, reception staff will interact with more gym members than anyone else and so will most likely have more connections than most. So if you get to know them and make sure you’re at the front of their mind, if and when members ask for PT recommendations, your name should be the one that springs to mind.
Ask around
If your current clients are happy with your work then don’t be afraid to ask them if they’ve any friends or family who they think could benefit from your expertise. You already know what they’re training for so a little lateral thinking could drum up some additional business. For instance, if you have a female client training to get into shape for her wedding, it could be worth asking if she has any bridesmaids undergoing similar exercise regimes. If not, you could suggest they offer your services to them, and maybe suggest a group booking so they can all go through the same routine together for additional motivation.
A group session like this is also a great way to bring more clients in without the need to book in any extra session time as you can train several clients in one hour-long slot.