MARCH 2010
Soldiers Five on Retaining and Building New Clients
Now is the time the New Year's Resolutions may start to wear off, and participants may start to lose motivation. So, add a kicker to your program, add goals for your clients, and add methods to get new clients in the door.
As always, here are some quick tips to achieve just that!
1) Re-visit your client goals. Where are they at? Have they achieved them? Is it time to re-set some new goals? Goal setting is a fantastic way to keep motivation, and don't forget to think outside the box. The goal doesn't have to be weight, it could be a run time, or reps of an activity, or the ability to complete a fun run.
2) Research and promote a fun run. As stated in our last post, there are only so many times you can do a fitness test before they become monotonous and boring. Once again, focus on lifestyle goals. The Mother's Day Classic is 60 days away (http://mothersdayclassic.com.au/) and can provide that goal your clients need. Challenge them to run as a team, put on brekki and hand out some awards....build that club spirit.
3) Build club spirit. At the end of each course have an awards night or morning (with drinks or coffee). Ask your clients to bring friends and family, and hand out awards in a social atmosphere. Obvious awards are ‘best X’ and most ‘improved X’. But don't forget some funny awards...eg: This award goes to 'I can't do any push ups CHRIS, but managed to pump out 50 in the final fitness test'.
4) Change your programs! Don't become stagnate, your clients need challenges, fun and variety. They are not after a brand new session each time, but they are also not after the same month's program repeated each month. Contact us if you're running low on ideas.
5) Our favourite method, was the classic 'buy one get one free' aka BOGOF! Essentially, tell your clients that if they find someone brand new, then they train for free. So you don't lose anything, because whilst one person is training for free, the other is paying full price (they tend to share 50/50), and then next month you have two potential clients either paying full price or seeking a friend to join. The key is your instructional ability, and converting that free client into a paying client.
FEB 2010
This month is a quick reminder on Fitness Testing, especially as you’re likely to have a bunch of new clients. Here are some quick pointers to a successful GROUP fitness test:
- Make sure your test is valid. This requires specifically designing the test to measure the fitness aspect you will be training in the following sessions.
- Make sure your test is repeatable. You need to be able to see an improvement, and you need to compare apples with apples, the run distance must be exactly the same each time. Get a trundle wheel or running GPS to confirm.
- Have your tests planned in advance. Simple things such as having your client names written down on your spreadsheet will save you time. The aim is to process your group in a 55-75 minute session (remember you’ll use 20-30minutes in warm ups and cool downs).
- Demonstrate and Explain to the whole group, and then aim for whole group to do the test at once. Make use of your assistant to demo and explain, then both (or all of your) roam around to make sure clients are safe.
A common discussion point we have on our instructor courses is how regular should fitness testing be undertaken. This comes down to a number of factors, but consider the following key points:
- How many new clients do you get each month? And therefore how many need to be base-lined.
- Will your clients be happy being tested 1-2 times per month?
- What happens when your clients taper off and no longer get massive improvements?
- What happens when your clients figure out the days they are going to be tested and simply not turn up?
- Do you want your group sessions to be results focused or lifestyle focused?
We recommend twice in a month for new clients and then 3-6 months intervals thereafter.
Think about how you will test the following areas for a GROUP: CV Endurance, Speed, Agility, Flexibility, Muscular Endurance, Muscular Strength, Postural Stability or Core Stability.
