The PT Roadmap

The weekly newsletter for personal trainers who want to build and run a great business.

Hey!

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

Last week, I took the newsletter off to Galivant around Cologne with the rest of the Tartan Army. It's a lovely City with great people and very good beer. It’s just a shame it was a tournament based on the quality of players rather than the quality of fans 😂 

Let's get into it!

Wanna hear from me more often?

I email 207 of you 4-5 times weekly with shorter, more story-based emails on a different list.

This week, I’ll send an update on why I don't plan to start posting again on Instagram anytime soon and another about some good books I consumed while I was away.

Hit this link if you’re interested, and I’ll manually add you 🙂

Business

The Client Review

Imagine this…

You’ve been working with a client for 6 months now.

They’ve made good progress.

Weight lost.

Strength up.

But they’ve started to show a few signs of discontent.

The occasional late cancellation.

Slow to reply to messages.

Small body language dips you pick up in session.

They are a client you could see yourself losing if things don’t change.

So, you schedule a client review.

You learn this client is struggling at home. 

And they aren’t enjoying their training because it’s so focussed on their fat loss goal. 

You had no idea.

You’ve asked in session how they were doing.

But it’s only because you opened up space that your client actually told you what was going on.

You suggest taking a month-long diet break.

“Let’s focus on bringing back up your calories and getting your lifts stronger.”

Your client is noticeably excited, and like a weight has been taken off their shoulders.

—

I’ve painted a perfect picture here, but the client review is a powerful retention tool.

I define it as a formal meeting with a client to discuss their progress.

We often have informal conversations, but we rarely make the time to sit down and properly discuss how clients are getting on.

Here's my 5-step framework for how to do one:

1. Environment

2. Set the scene

3. Use open-ended questions

4. Actively listen

5. Action

Let's break those steps down.

1) Environment

Where you choose to do your review matters.

Ideally, you'll go somewhere quiet, private and away from the gym floor. This will help you in having a better conversation.

If that's not an option, go somewhere you can sit down or get some space to talk.

Having a phone call is also an option.

2) Set the scene

"We're going to have a quick 5-15 minute conversation to review how the last month or two has gone. This will help us to ensure we're working towards the right things and I'm doing all I can to help you."

Simple, but the client must know why you're doing it.

3) Use open-ended questions.

You'll get more information from your client if you use a higher ratio of open rather than closed-ended questions.

Open: "How do you feel our last training phase has gone?"

Closed: "Did you enjoy our last phase of training?"

An open question encourages more than just a yes or no answer.

Question prompts:

• "What did you enjoy/ not enjoy about our last training phase?"

• "How would you say the last phase of training has gone?"

• "What are we missing from our sessions?"

• "Is there anything you'd like to work on in our training that we're not currently doing?"

• "Is there anything I can do to better support you inside or outside of our sessions?"

• “Do you have anything coming up that might get in the way of making progress?”

4) Actively listen.

This step is crucial.

Ensure you are fully tuned in to what your client is saying.

Bonus points for using reflections (reflecting back the words and phrases your client uses to show you understand and to gather more information) and summaries (summarising the main points of what your client has told you.)

5) Action.

If there are some points you or your client need to act on, take note of them and ensure you do what you said you would or follow up with your client.

An example could be that your client told you they hate doing X exercise, they miss doing Y or saw someone else doing Z and want to try it. So, you make a point of removing or adding that exercise. Or maybe they've told you they are struggling with high-protein breakfast ideas, so you create something for them and email it.

I'd recommend giving formal client reviews a go if you don't already use them.

I always come away with helpful information that helps me create a better client experience.

Depending on the client, I do them once every 6-12 weeks. Some rarely need them, and some need them every 6 weeks. You know your clients 🙂 

Also, for those of you who run group operations, I recently discussed adding these with a mentoring client who mainly runs SGPT. We’ve decided she will do them via phone rather than in-person meetings. I see no reason why this wouldn’t work just as well. It’s probably even more critical when working with groups because you don’t get that one-on-one time.

Social Post

I enjoyed reading through this informative post from Lift the Bar about Paddy Francis's transition to online coaching.

Paddy used to work on the gym floor.

But like many PTs, he wants more career flexibility to travel the world.

I liked his advice around keeping a schedule as an online coach. This is essential for all of us, but it’s especially important when your time is more open.

Thanks so much for reading.

— Stuart.

Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways I can help you:

1. One-to-One Mentoring. For those of you who want to work 1-1 with me to build, grow and improve your PT business. We’ll work together in three phases:

   1. Assess—We’ll spend a lot of time initially assessing your PT business, including its strengths, weaknesses, big issues, and opportunities.
   2. Implement—We’ll set 90-day goals and work together to create a plan to achieve them.
   3. Support—We’ll talk on the phone weekly to address challenges and keep you accountable.

   If you're interested, reply to this email, and we’ll schedule a talk.

2. The Lead Gen Roadmap. If you need clients or want to develop a systemised approach to consistently getting leads, this course is for you. It is everything I have learned in my 11 years of Personal Training about getting clients. I've tested every strategy, script, playbook and tactic myself and with 100s of other trainers. Start it today for as little as £58.