Landing new clients as a personal trainer in your local commercial gym can be challenging. It may take a while to break through and convince people that your services hold value; especially when you just started providing personal training services.
The thing about working on the gym floor of a commercial gym is that you can land as many clients as you want. But, it all depends on how you can build rapport, inspire confidence, and network.
Luckily, there are effective strategies to help you land more personal training clients on the gym floor and stand out from the rest of the trainers. Some of these strategies include the following.
Hold Fitness Challenge
One way to build your client base as a personal trainer is to run a fitness challenge. Encourage people to join by making it free, and you’ll find a lot of interested people. Just walk around and inform regulars on the gym floor that you’re holding a challenge.
Offer free tips and allow clients to train at their own pace while sticking with the challenge; you’ll watch your client roster fill up fast. The key is to ensure that you give value in the challenge, making it fun while also delivering results.
Finding the right people to approach will be the tricky part. You want paying clients, so you can’t exactly approach everyone. But at the same time, personal training clients will always send referrals your way so more may be better.
Part of becoming a successful personal trainer is making tough decisions like these, so it’s best to go with your gut. Eventually, you may find that a ton of people want to join the challenge.
Join the gym email list
For many small businesses, having an email list is never out of trend as it is an excellent way to build relationships with potential clients. However, things are a little different for you as a personal trainer. You won’t have direct access to the gym’s email list. But, you can ask the people in charge to mention you.
Your gym may already have an arrangement like this where they mention personal training services to some clients, or your suggestion could push the initiative.
Some of the things you could talk about are fitness tips, great exercises to reduce body fat percentage, and even tips to stay consistent. If you want more clients, the last thing you should do is promote your personal training services. People hate being sold to, especially on email.
Instead, sign your emails, so they know who to approach on the gym floor and focus on sharing useful info.
PS, if your gym doesn’t have an email list, here’s a post from Hubspot on how to build one.
Be Friendly
As a personal trainer seeking to build your clientele, building rapport will get you results faster than any other strategy. Focus on having great, insightful conversations that provide value and try to genuinely be friendly.
You’ll quickly find that people love talking about their goals, whatever they may be. You’ll be in a great place to offer helpful advice, show them how to stay motivated, and even recommend calorie-intense exercises. You can quickly land more personal training clients that way.
You should know that most people on the gym floor will be wary of personal trainers looking to strike up a conversation because you’re probably trying to sell to them. You’ll need to dial back the self-promotion and really listen if you want to make any real progress.
Ask for Referrals
Many businesses thrive on referrals and the fitness business is no exception. If you’re just starting as a personal trainer, referrals may be the major way of getting new clients.
To get referrals, the first thing you need to do is offer value. When current clients are satisfied with your services, the same clients will go out of their way to promote you and tell more people about what you have to offer.
In the same vein, you can offer incentives to satisfied clients to refer their friends and family. For instance, offer existing clients discounts on their next session if they refer a friend. People rarely turn down discounts so leverage them and build your client base.
Host a Free Seminar or Workshop
A free fitness seminar is one way to reach a lot of potential clients at once. Upsell yourself and your services by giving tips on topics people are interested in like how to lose weight. Also, you can invite a health practitioner to give a brief talk on the seminar topic.
You have to be careful here because too many people offer free
Encourage attendees to sign up for your newsletter using their email addresses. Getting the emails of potential clients is one way to foster a relationship with them.
Other ways to get clients on the gym floor include:
- Handing out flyers with permission from the gym owners
- Talking to non-gym members (gym staff)
Talk to Other Personal Trainers
It may seem counterintuitive to ask other personal training professionals for help since they are more or less your competition. But you’ll be surprised at how many of them will gladly refer you when they have more clients than they can handle.
You could also learn other things, like the importance of a personal trainer liability waiver or things no one tells you about being a personal trainer.
To Wrap It up
When you work on the gym floor at a big box gym, it can feel like you’re in constant competition to land clients and actually earn an income. It’s not easy, but hopefully, this post has given you some helpful tips.
You should also check out this post on how to land your first training client.
ox gyms, getting clients can be daunting. With other personal trainers vying for the attention of gym members, it’s important you put your best foot forward. One way to stand out from other trainers is to build rapport with both gym members and gym staff. With tips in this article, you’re well on your way to growing your customer base and getting the recognition you deserve.
