6 Strategies for Boosting Client Retention
Georgette Pann
Whether you teach fitness boot camps, exercise classes or even conduct one-on-one personal training, there’s one issue that crops up repeatedly: client retention.
A lot of trainers just accept client loss as part of the business. But the good news is that you can improve your client retention rates. End result? You get to spend less time and money advertising your business, which frees you up to focus on what’s most important: training your clients.
In general, one of the best ways to boost your client retention rates is by getting good results for your clients. When they see results, then you can bet they’ll stick with you. And better yet, they’ll even tell their friends about your bootcamps and training.
To that end, here are six solid ways to boost your client retention rates…
Track Attendance
Obviously, the more often your clients attend your bootcamps and training sessions, the better results they’ll get. And tracking attendance in a visible ways adds in a social factor, which can boost attendance. When everyone’s attendance records are posted publicly in a class, your clients are more likely to show up for the next class just so that they get the badge or star (or to avoid the “X” or other negative mark). And if you giveaway “points” for attendance, that’s even better. (More on this in a moment.)
But that’s not all. Tracking attendance also gives you the opportunity to follow up with those who don’t attend, such as by sending them an email to give them good reasons to show up at the next session. And that means you can boost attendance for future sessions.
Send Reminders
Like you, your clients are busy. Sometimes they forget they have an appointment or bootcamp session with you. And sometimes they’re well aware of the upcoming session, but they’re thinking about skipping it because they’re busy or because they just don’t feel like attending.
That’s where sending email or text reminders comes into play. Not only do these emails or texts serve as gentle reminders, but you can also use them to reinforce the benefits of attending the class. For example, your email might include a line such as, “You won’t want to miss out on tomorrow’s bootcamp, because you’ll get a nutrition packet to help you shed the fat…”
Which brings us to the next point…
Provide a Complete Package
Even though your training focuses on the exercise component of getting in shape and losing weight, it’s no secret that your training and your clients’ efforts are nearly wasted if they go home and eat junk food. That’s why you’ll want to provide nutritional instruction too, such as by giving them a nutrition information, a diet plan and menu ideas.
Track Goals
Yet another way to boost client retention is by tracking goals. When your clients have specific goals, a specific path to achieve those goals, and accountability, they’re more likely to meet their goals. As such, you should help your clients set goals on the first day, and the track those goals every week thereafter.
Create a Points System
You’ve seen businesses which create loyalty cards and points programs, such as credit card points, airline miles and punch cards at the local coffee shop. Now you can take this idea and apply it to your bootcamps and training sessions, by assigning “points” to various activities.
For example, you can giveaway points for:
• Attendance
• Creating goals
• Achieving goals
• Doing challenges
In turn, your clients can exchange these points for valuable products and services, including discounts on upcoming bootcamps and other training.
Make it Fun
If your clients aren’t having fun or being challenged, they’re going to get bored. That means they’ll stop attending sessions, which means they won’t get results… and eventually they’ll discontinue their relationship with you.
Here are two ideas for making it fun:
• Do weekly challenges. We like to do short challenges such as “no caffeine” or “no sugar” weeks. We also challenge people to perform exercises, such as squats or sit ups.
• Change up the routine. People get bored if they do the same thing every week, so keep it as a fresh as possible to challenge your clients and keep them guessing.
Conclusion
Remember, the #1 key to boosting client retention rates is to get results for your clients and to keep them interested in attending sessions. As such, start with the client retention ideas I gave you above. Then brainstorm your own strategies for ensuring your clients are happy and getting good results.
Georgette Pann: owner of NutriFitness LLC. She has 25+ years experience in the Health and Fitness field with expertise in fitness bootcamps.She is author and creator of the best selling “Sure Victory Fitness Bootcamp Business in a Box” at http://thefitnessbootcamp.com and Sure Results:The Ultimate Book of Bootcamp Workouts http://fitnessbootcampworkout.com