The PT Roadmap

The weekly newsletter for personal trainers interested in building a great business filled with clients you love, that runs efficiently and provides a level of income to live comfortably.

Hey!

Thanks for opening up today's newsletter. I appreciate you being here.

The eagle-eyed among you will notice a slight change to the PTR in this issue - no recommended exercise section.

The further I progress in my PT education and mentoring career, the more I realize I’m best suited for business and marketing.

There are much better people out there providing education on training and coaching.

I’ll occasionally dip my toes into that stuff, but this newsletter will now be fully dedicated to helping you improve your business, grow your client base, and make sense of where you want your career in PT to go.

A new trial section will be in it’s place - Get Clients Corner: A tip to help you get clients.

Let's get into it!

Business

Better Client Onboarding in 5 Easy Steps

Your onboarding process is the steps you follow when you welcome new clients to your business.

You take payment.

Get them to sign your Ts&Cs.

Introduce them to your client-only Facebook group.

Check-in with them after each of their first few sessions.

If you do any of this stuff, you already have a system.

But, if you’re anything like most PTs, it hasn’t been formalised. You have yet to write exactly what you do when a new client signs up.

I’d recommend formalising it simply so you can stay consistent and look for ways to improve.

The simplest way to do this is to write down exactly what you do when a client signs up. What steps do you follow? What things do you send them? How do you make them feel welcomed and like they know what to do next?

Even if yours is random, start by documenting what you do now. Once you’ve done this, you can start looking for areas for improvement.

And speaking of improvement…

Here are five easy additions you can make to your onboarding process:

1. Send a Thank You For Signing Up Card

When did you last receive post that wasn’t a bill or headed straight for your bin?

Send your clients handwritten thank you cards.

It takes 5 minutes, adds a sparkle to your service and never goes underappreciated.

2. Welcome The Client on Your Stories

Canva has hundreds of templates for this. Just search for “Instagram story welcome” on their homepage.

Tag the client in it and add a sentence about why you’re excited to work with them.

“I'm delighted to welcome Anthony to the team, who’s looking to build strength and get back to working out regularly. Welcome on board, mate!”

This is a nice touch and does a few things:

• Shows your most engaged followers (your story viewers) that you’re working with clients who look like them.

• Gives the new client a chance to share your story on their stories, which might mean you reach their network.

3. Ask For a Referral

There is never a better time to ask for a referral than in a client’s first 30 days.

I recommend doing this in two ways:

#1 Just Ask.

• Nothing fancy. After a session, ask the client if they have any friends, family members, or colleagues they think might want to try a free session or two.

#2 Hand Them a VIP Card.

• I’ve been testing this with a few mentoring clients recently, and it’s been working well. Head to Vistaprint and get a plastic credit card printed. One side says VIP PASS with an offer (e.g. 2 free sessions, 6 sessions for the price of 4 or 7-days free), and the back says how to redeem it. Give it to your client after they’ve done a couple of weeks.

4. Book in a Formal Review Conversation

This is the perfect time to ensure all is going well.

Create the space to hit a 15-minute sit down with your client and discuss:

• how they’ve found things so far

• their favourite and least favourite parts

• anything you might be able to do better as their coach

• whether they’ve got anything coming up that might derail them or get in their way

I speak more about how I do client reviews in this newsletter issue

5. Check-In Regularly

I’m sure you already do this, but checking in after each of your client’s first 1,2,3,4 sessions is smart.

It underlines your care for them and allows you to better understand the effect your programming has on their bodies.

Get Clients Corner

This Week’s Tip: Laptop Call-to-Action

Do you spend time in a coffee shop or two each week?

If you do, and you want clients (or just more conversations that might lead to clients), get one of these on your laptop.

I googled it, and you can personalise and order a laptop cover from various companies.

Well worth doing.

I’ve also seen something similar, but using an angled sign holder. This method would be cheaper but more inconvenient as you’d have to lug it around and ask for permission.

H/T Marco Ferreira

Social Post

If you work with clients and their nutrition, this is a helpful post from Precision Nutrition on people's biggest struggles.

There are some great content ideas here.

Thanks so much for reading.

Until next Friday, Stuart.

Want to score your personal training business and receive customised recommendations for improving it?

Take the PT Biz Quiz.

It’s free, takes just 2 minutes and will tell you where to dedicate your time so you can:

• sign up more clients

• improve your marketing message

• and run a more systemised business.