The PT Roadmap

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Business

9 Get Clients Fast Strategies

Watch this as a free 20-minute sample lesson from the Lead Gen Roadmap course.

Sometimes, you just need clients.

Ideally, you’d play the longer-term marketing game. You’ll invest time into your content, maybe have a FB ad or two running, send a value-based email each week to a list of interested people, attend local business networking events, and shake hands—so you’ve got seeds growing that position you as the go-to PT.

But even with all of these in place…

You might still need a few clients quickly.

Here are 7 effective ideas for getting them in quick.

1. Ask for a referral

Message all of your current clients a text and tell them you’re looking for more clients.

“Hey Jamie, I’m looking for 2-3 more clients just now. I’d love it to fill those slots with people like you before I advertise elsewhere. Do you have any friends, family members or colleagues you think might like to try a 7-day free trial of PT?”

2. Reactivate ex-clients

Like the 1st tip, I talk about this one a lot. So, you’ve probably done it before.

But if not, it’s well worth doing.

You just never know when one might be ready to return. And its just nice to touch base with people who you care about.

It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, a simple, “Hey [name], I hope you’ve had a great week. I miss our sessions! How’s life treating you?”

It can be worth running an ex-client campaign if you're looking for clients. You can offer clients who have left you an offer to return at a discounted rate.

Approach this in a way that feels right to you, but a message along the lines of:

“Hey [name]. I hope all is well with you and your family! I’m running an ex-client promotion, which I thought might interest you. You can get your first month back for just [insert price with 20-30% off.] This will give you access to [insert number of sessions a week] and be perfect if you’ve been thinking about [kickstarting your fitness/ getting in shape for summer]. The only catch is I’ve only got [insert number to create scarcity, but don’t lie] spots, so get in touch if you’re interested :-).”

Add some personality and a personal reference or two to that client, and you have a solid returning client promo message.

3. Offer out free PT slots on your stories

Here’s an example script you could use on your stories and Facebook wall:

“Wanna try personal training for free? Next week, I have [insert number] of slots available. If you want one, [tell them what to do e.g. ping me a message, hit this sticker etc] No cost attached and I won’t hard sell you into ongoing training or anything like that. I’d just love a few people to take these who would benefit from getting some exercise in and being coached in strength training properly.”

4. Do the ‘Just Ask’ task

My in-laws live next to a lady called Margaret.

I’ve gotten to know Margaret well since moving here in 2020.

Now and then, Margaret will talk to me about her sore knee. She knows I’m “in fitness”, so she’ll update me on how it’s feeling.

It had never crossed my mind to ask Margaret if she’d like PT, until I told a mentoring client to do the same thing with someone he’d gotten to know.

So, in February of last year, I asked Margaret if she’d like to try a PT session for free to run over some stuff that might help her knee.

She’s been training with me once per week since then.

You probably have a person you talk to occasionally who would be perfect for PT.

But they haven’t asked, and you’ve not brought it up.

Ask them.

The worst thing that’ll happen is they’ll say no.

Or maybe you’ll end up with a client like Margaret.

5. Launch a new program

Let’s say you’ve been running a 30-day trial of your personal training for a few months now.

It’s not delivering you new leads; most people who would’ve bought it now know about it.

What you can do here is launch a new program.

This doesn’t mean you need new onboarding and new programming - most of that stuff stays the same.

It means you launch something that feels new but really isn’t.

For example, you could launch a 21-day Get Fit, Get Strong Challenge. Does this really need to be drastically different to your 30-day trial? Nope.

You’ll use the 5,1,30 method (“I’m looking for 5 people who want 1 result in 30-60 days”), popularised by Jon Goodman of the PTDC, to announce it and bring in some clients on your beta-testing group. This initial group will get it for a discount, and you’ll be using them to get feedback and gather testimonials and proof to push it out to more people.

6. Engaged follower DM

If you have a follower who likes your content, engages with your stories, and is generally supportive of your content, ping them a message.

Say thanks, and offer them a free trial session.

Sometimes, your next client is sitting right there in front of you, waiting for you to approach them.

Sure, you’ll get told no by some people. But this is part of business/ life.

6. Run the 5-step FB group method

Read more about this effective idea in Monday’s issue.

7. Run a competition for free PT

I’ve got a mentoring client who has filled his books using these.

He runs a competition every 3-4 months to win free PT.

He gave away a month to the winner, 14 days to second place, and a free session to everyone else (initially, when he had the time, we offered two free sessions).

He often signs up the 1st place winner because his service is great and he’ll typically sign up 2-3 of the 3rd place winners.

He does a different version of a competition each time he does it.

• Chocolates in a box guess

• Marshmallows fitted into his mouth

• Time taken to eat an entire box of cereal

You will have your fair share of time-wasters when doing something like this, which is why it’s important to ensure your winner is a good candidate (not just someone who has entered for the sake of it.)

If you’re doing it online, take a selfie of yourself holding a transparent box filled with balls, skittles, or celebrations, and have everyone guess how many are in the box. Share it on your socials, and in local FB groups.

If you’re doing it in person, do it in your gym or local town centre and walk around with it in your hand. It’s a great ice-breaker, and because it’s for something free, people are much more likely to get on board.

Social Post

Helpful reminder from Ella Whitcomb-Khan here.

I’ve definitely made this mistake.

Clients telling me they feel good and all is well.

But there’s no real progress.

And before I know it, I’ve lost that client.

Don’t get me wrong; some PT clients are just with us because we help them tick the exercise box. They make a bit of progress here and there, but nothing major.

That’s not who I’m talking about here.

You have to look out for clients with legitimate goals but aren’t moving towards them.

Or they are, but at a snail’s pace.

They are the ones you have to have those chats with.

You must be more on top of them to ensure they are genuinely content.

As Ella says, you provide high support and high challenge to those clients.

Thanks so much for reading.

— Stuart.

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