As a Personal Trainer, one thing that can make or break your business is the ability to get new clients. But how can you recruit new clients without giving away free sessions? The first step is to make sure you believe your time is valuable.
Your time is valuable
You have invested time and money into becoming a Personal Trainer. You have completed your Certificate III and IV in fitness, continuing education, registration with organisations, keeping your first aid and insurance up to date, uniforms, equipment, petrol – it all adds up. Personal Training is your career. It is what you love doing, but it also pays the bills, puts fuel in the tank and food on the table. Without paying clients you cannot survive.
I’m sure you would not expect another professional to give away their valuable services for free – dentist, mechanic, physiotherapist, hairdresser, massage therapist, any high quality professional who has a busy schedule simply cannot afford to give away their hard-earned skills for free. Your time is money, and any time you give to a potential client is valuable, this is why you don’t give away free sessions. The sooner YOU believe this; the sooner you will be able to explain it to your clients.
Don’t market like you’re desperate
It’s important that your marketing reflects the high quality and high value of your services. You can’t afford to have clients who are looking for cheap, discounted or free sessions, and who don’t have the ability to pay the prices you charge. For this reason it is important that you avoid giving away your services cheap, discounted or free – how will your clients see how valuable your time and service is, if you don’t place a value on it? Giving away free sessions can certainly reek of desperation, and that is the last impression you want a potential client to have. Don’t negotiate. Don’t discount. Don’t give away!
Professionals don’t give away free sessions
If you found a coupon for a dentist who said “Get your first root canal for free” – how much faith would you have that this dentist was of a high quality? I know I certainly wouldn’t want someone drilling my teeth who had to give away their services for free. I want the dentist who has a waiting list because they have such an excellent standard of practice. Personal Trainers can do plenty of damage if they are dodgy, unqualified, irresponsible or unprofessional. You need to show your potential clients that you are a professional Trainer in every respect, and this means that you charge for your service. If they are not willing to pay for a one-off trial session, then chances are that they will not want to pay thousands of dollars for ongoing sessions either.
Market to quality clients
You need clients who are willing and able to pay full price for every session. If you build your brand name to embody high-quality service and only market yourself to high-quality clients, then they will respect your value and adhere to your policies. You need clients who want premium service and are willing (and able) to pay a premium price for it; so make sure your target advertising, recruiting and marketing hits this niche market.
If you are giving away free sessions to an unemployed uni student who pays $10 a week for their gym membership – expecting them to want to pay $180 a week for PT sessions is highly unreasonable.
Think about how and where you can find the clients you are after – and direct your time and money there. If you’re struggling with these steps, why not consider what job opportunities or franchise options Fitness Enhancement can offer you?
