Want to know the key to a successful personal training business? Retention.
Of course, finding new clients is important, but it’s keeping them around that really matters. High retention means:
- Less time searching for new clients
- Better results for your clients
- Better results for clients means more referrals for your business
- Better stories to promote your business
Plus, get this: Research shows that increasing client retention rates by just 5% can lead to an increase in profit of up to 95%!
As you can see, everything falls in place when you can retain more clients. But as you might know, clients quitting personal training happens all the time. It’s easier said than done to maintain all your clients for the long haul.
That’s why we want to share some of the most common reasons clients quit their training programs. We’ll talk about what personal trainers can do to address those reasons and retain more personal training clients in 2024
Table of Contents:
- Chapter 1: Reasons clients leave and how to make them stay
- [Chapter 2: Retain more personal training clients in 2024] (#chapter-2)
Reasons clients leave and how to make them stay
Taking on a new fitness challenge isn’t an easy task. Even the most motivated clients come up against roadblocks on their journey, and there are several different reasons that would push a client to quit personal training altogether.
As a trainer, it’s up to you to know these reasons, and help mitigate common concerns for your clients. If you can do that, you will be able to retain more clients and make more money.
Reason 1: Life happens
One of the most common reasons a client would need to drop out of personal training is simply because of life circumstances that affect their capacity and schedule.
We all know that life is busy and ever-changing. Your clients may move, lose a job, have a baby, need to care for a sick loved one – the list goes on!
The traditional personal training model has high attrition because there’s no fallback mechanism to deal with such life events.
But there is a solution to this: Use online training in combination with in-person training!
Along with traditional personal training, you should offer one hybrid (online + in-person) and one fully online package to your clients. Now, online training doesn’t mean virtual training – you won’t be leading workouts over Zoom. Instead, we mean using a personal training software or other means to deliver personal training to the client on their own time. This can be a combination of videos, workout plans, nutrition packets, etc, that clients are able to access online.
In hybrid models, you’ll still meet face to face with clients, but online training is done fully online without the need for in-person sessions. Both of these options reduce the time it takes to train a client which means it can be more affordable and more flexible for those clients going through a major life transition!
Think about it, online personal training can help a client continue working with you when they move to a new city. It can be a more affordable option for a client that just lost their job. It is a more flexible solution for any client who’s schedule just changed – like one that just had a baby or took on a new responsibility.
You’re bound to lose clients to life changes, but if you broaden your offerings, you’ll be able to help your clients stick to training no matter where life takes them.
Reason 2: They reached their fitness goal
Graduating clients will naturally leave personal training as well. These are your clients that have seen great results, met their goal, and no longer see the need to meet with a trainer 2-3 times a week.
This is ultimately a good thing for your client, but you don’t want to lose them as a source of income completely.
In order to retain more of those graduating clients, offer them online personal training to help them stay on track. This is a much more hands off version of your training that allows them to work out with more freedom, flexibility, and affordability.
With online personal training, clients get the accountability and all the other benefits of working with a trainer, without having to come to the gym. Having this option for graduating clients that need less hand holding will help you retain clients for much longer than traditional personal training on its own.
Reason 3: They weren’t the right fit
If a client isn’t the right fit for your training program or you aren’t the right person to help them reach their goals, they will quit personal training quickly! Sometimes this just happens – personalities clash or training isn’t what someone expected.
But, more often than not, you can avoid this problem by having a very specific niche. Your niche is the segment of the population you want to work with. And by focusing your marketing efforts on this segment, you can make sure that you are getting the right type of clients for your business.
Working within your niche helps you serve the people you are most qualified to serve, which can help you bring them great results, and help you stay passionate and motivated. Not only will niching down help you get clients faster, it will help you keep those clients for much longer.
Reason 4: Lost motivation
Lost motivation is yet another common reason a personal training client might disappear. You’ve likely dealt with this before, and even though it’s understandable, it’s frustrating to see clients fall off the wagon.
Holding clients accountable is a big part of your role as a personal trainer. You can do this by laying out ground rules in the beginning and outlining what to expect. Make it easy for clients to do what is expected of them and check in with them regularly.
It’s also important to support your clients as they go and even build a community that supports them as well. Knowing how to set goals is important, and helping clients set and reach smaller goals can keep them motivated and on track.
A personal training software like TrainerFu can actually help you hold your clients accountable and keep them motivated. Within TrainerFu, clients can check in and update you on the progress quickly.
They can see what workout they need to do and when. And when it is time to track they simply need to click a few checkboxes and they’re done! You can see the updates on your trainer app right away. You can also use the app to schedule reminders and send regular check-in messages automatically.
TrainerFu also allows you to build a community component where your clients can share updates and wins with each other right in the app. Studies show that greater emotional support from others encourages more enjoyment in physical activity.
If you can keep your personal training clients motivated, you can greatly improve your retention efforts and help those clients see better results.
Retain more personal training clients in 2024
There you have it – some of the most common reasons that personal training clients quit. If you’ve been training for a little while, you’ve probably already lost some great clients to some of these reasons.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to mitigate all these concerns and help keep clients around for much longer.
Adding an online personal training component to your business opens up your personal training to many more new clients and helps existing ones continue to work with you through the many seasons of life. It can also be a great option for clients who have reached their fitness goals, and are ready to graduate to a new step on their fitness journey.
Making sure to train with your niche can also help. Keep all clients motivated throughout your training with the help of a personal training software that makes it easy for them to stay on track and receive community support. TrainerFu is a great option. Try it for free today.