When you walk around in a big chain gym or a health club, you notice the different styles and methods personal trainers employ when they train their PT clients. While there's often some great training going on one thing that is almost always missing is the element of fun. One of the main reasons gym goers give up training is boredom. The others are too little time, or too tired. Let's be honest if you enjoy something it becomes much easier to find the time and energy to do it. Enjoyment in training is a client retention goldmine, and with long term retention comes long term results.
Boredom in training sessions leads people to question whether they want to spend the little time they get free from work, or family commitments, training. Everyone knows many of the benefits of training, but despite this, boredom can easily move it down the priority list and cause:
- Missed sessions.
- Clients losing motivation.
- Clients leaving and giving up altogether.
There are many ways to keep clients committed, wow them and make them feel special that we have discussed previously but helping them to enjoy training is even more important.
Here are 5 key benefits of making your clients' workout fun.
1. Happy Clients Feel Comfortable Straight Away
While we all know that change happens outside of the comfort zone, making your new clients feel comfortable in an otherwise very uncomfortable situation for them will immediately create a bond between you two.Imagine someone whose confidence is knocked down because they are overweight, feel tired all the time; their motivation is nowhere, but they took a leap and hired you to help them get out of that mindset.
If you unleash your meanest workout that will leave them on the floor by the end of the session without creating any other reason for them to look forward to the next one, what do you think will happen?
They will probably feel sore for days, not entirely convinced they like or hate you and potentially think that fitness is not for them. Unless there is any other reason for them to turn up for session 2, you may never see them again, or they won't renew their package. Of course, there may be a few exceptions where that type of beasting may be needed, but in most cases, people don't handle it well in the beginning.
2. Boost the Feel-Good Factor
People will come to their sessions in all sorts of mood depending on their day, how tired they are, what food they had that day and so on. Most clients consider their training sessions a way of taking care of themselves, but if they had a bad day, their exercise motivation would not be where you need them to be to perform well.Using any tools and methods available to shake your client out of that mood, have a good laugh and set them up for a successful session can be a crucial element of helping them achieve their fitness goals. They may not be aware of why they want to keep training with you but remember this marketing principle: "People won't remember what you said, they won't remember what you did, but they will surely remember how you made them feel."
General population clients typically want a good workout, feel they are doing something for their health and fitness and switch off from their daily problems. If you throw a whole lot of other physical stress on them without some fun elements, they will likely break eventually.
3. Encourage Consistency
Think about it. When is it more likely you'll attend an event: when you're dreading it and feel pressure, or when you're looking forward to it, even though you know it will require some effort from you?When your clients look forward to each of their workouts, you have a golden recipe for adherence, consistency and ultimately progression towards their goals. That doesn't only translate into client success; it brings success for you as a personal trainer. That means referrals, more clients and more business.
4. Make Clients Feel Valued
There are many ways to make your clients feel valued. Making sessions fun can be one of them because people find enjoyment in different activities and experiences. If you can see what makes each of your clients smile and tailor their sessions to trigger that, it shows that you care about them more than the money they pay you.Long term, staying passionate about each of your client's goals and ensuring they receive an exceptional service will have tremendous benefits not just for your clients, but for your personal training venture too.
5. Love Your Job
There is no human without at least a tad of selfishness. While being positive is not always possible, making the most out of your days will lead to higher job satisfaction and ultimately happiness. Have you ever met trainers who can only complain? Whether it’s a client, their busy schedule, that they don’t sleep enough and tired all the time, but they don’t earn enough money, so they carry on with that vicious cycle?If you ever find yourself falling in to that trap try this trick: spend a day going out of your way to make your clients have fun without focusing on yourself or your problems. See what happens.
So those are some benefits of making training fun, next week we'll look at some methods to actually do it for both face to face and online training clients.
