How To Re-engage Old Clients

Over the years, clients come and go from your personal training business. Some may have thought personal training was just a short-term solution, while others didn’t see the results they wanted. Either way, reengaging with old clients is important to running a successful fitness business. If an individual was your client once, it’s probable that he or she can become a client again! Here are some ideas on how to win back your old clients.

1. Provide incentives.

A general economic principle is that people respond to incentives. People are constantly weighing the costs vs. benefits of the decisions they make. To encourage previous customers to come back for more training sessions or classes, you have to tip the cost:benefit scale in your favor. One way to do this is to provide them with a discount. For example, if a client purchases five sessions at the full price, offer the sixth training session for free. If they refer a friend to your training studio, give your referring client his or her next training session for free. You can also encourage clients to bring a friend, a significant other, or heck, even a first date! At the very least, being different will help you stand out and stay top-of-mind.

2. Show you have a long-term plan for their overall fitness.

Having a personal trainer means one-on-one time with a client, which means you as the trainer are completely focused on that client’s fitness. A great way to encourage clients to come back is to sell the individualized-attention aspect of personal training. Remind your clients that you are completely focused on improving only their fitness and working to help them achieve their goals. To drive home that point, show your customers how you can help them set goals and how you can build a workout plan that’s right for what they want to do. When you can show clients you have a plan for them beyond the immediate meeting, you have a distinct advantage and are more likely to earn their long-term business.

2. Share success stories from existing clients.

A great way to reengage a client is to tell them about the success stories you’ve had with other clients. The best trainers use their past successes, such as providing before and after shots, to market their fitness business. Do you have existing clients you could use as part of a case study? If you have success stories of previous clients who do not wish to be featured, you can instead speak in generalities of your success with that particular demographic.

4. Talk about improvements to the facility.

What improvements have you made since you were last in contact with clients? Talk about the extra certifications