I remember in my first year of personal training that I really struggled to pick up clients – most personal trainers do! The first 1-2 years of your personal training career are usually the toughest. 

If somebody would have told me How To Get 5 New Personal Training Clients Over The Next Month, back when I started, I would have jumped at every opportunity! 

Why trust me?

Hi, my name is Nick! I have a thriving personal training business called LEP Fitness, where I do 30 sessions per week, and get between 20-30 new enquiries each month.

To date I’ve completed over 11,000 x 1-1 personal training sessions. I know exactly what it takes to build a successful personal training business.  

I would like to share some tips to help fellow PT’s out there who are struggling to build a client base (I only wish I knew these tips at the beginning of my PT career!)…

How To Get 5 New Personal Training Clients Over The Next Month…

#1 Talk to 25-50 New People Each Week 

It’s amazing how many personal trainers think that clients will come flocking to them as soon as they become qualified. I can’t talk though, because I expected the same, as soon as I’d achieved my PT qualification…i thought I’d be getting £40 per hour straight away, and be fully booked up within 1 month! That didn’t happen, In fact I was deluded! lol! 

Start working in a gym 

The best place to start for a personal trainer is in a commercial gym. Most personal trainers are broke at the beginning of their careers, and unless you have money saved up, or get a business loan, you don’t have the money to buy things like a website, and pay for Facebook Ads. 

Instead, you need to be resourceful, and get on the gym floor, talking to as many people as possible, building rapport, and getting experience. Being in a gym means you already have an audience to market yourself too, which is ideal… when you have little finances (if any!) for a marketing.

Goal: 

For the next month aim to speak to between 25-50 new people each week in your local gym. All you need to do is smile, make eye contact, say “hello”, strike up conversations… “how’s your training going?”… “would you like a spot?”… “can I pass you those weights?”… etc etc. All it takes is one conversation… and you could potentially gain a client.

#2 Give Away Free Sessions 

As a beginner PT you’ve got to provide value before asking clients to sign up. You can build trust by giving away free sessions…

Don’t be afraid of giving away free sessions. I did it at the beginning of my career, and it helped me pick up tons of clients! 

When you start your PT career, you have no reputation, and you have to prove yourself, you have to earn your stripes (so to speak!) And the best way to do this is to get experience, and help as many people as possible. 

Offering a free taster session is a great thing to do, and lots of people will take you up on your offer. Once you’ve built rapport with people in the gym, offer them a free session, and say…

“i’d really like to help you with your training/goals, would you like a free session? If you’d like, I can provide some tips, and teach you some things, which are guaranteed to help speed up your results”

Goal:

Over the next 4 weeks, I want you to give away 5-10 free sessions per week. During the free taster session(s), provide as much value as you can, build rapport with each client, and WOW them with your coaching skills.

You’ll be surprised at how many people sign up, or at least will sign up in the future. If you do a good job, they may also recommend you to their friends (referrals are key). Also, at the end of their session, give them a business card… with your name, contact number, email, and links to your PT social media, etc. 

#3 Write New Content 3-5x Per Week

The most successful personal trainers in the fitness industry produce new content every single week! They do it because it attracts customers. 

Whether you use Instagram, Facebook, or your health and fitness blog – it doesn’t matter! Just make-sure that you are writing at least 3 pieces of content per week. 

Before writing any content, it’s important to know your target audience, for example if you want to work with women who want to lose weight, you could write about things such as…

• How to lose your first 10lbs 
• The 5 best exercises for weight loss
• Why women need to lift weights to burn fat
• How to annihilate body fat from your stomach 
• Fat Loss program for women 

Or something along those lines!

Goal:

Over the next 4 weeks I want you to write 12 pieces of content (3 per week). After reading this post, sit down with a pen and paper, and plan out your content topics for the month. If you want more ideas, then check out this post I wrote – I share 60 content ideas for personal trainers (feel free to pinch them if they help you!)

#4 Put On A Free Talk At Your Gym 

This is a great way to show off your knowledge. By offering a free talk at your gym, you can build trust with potential clients…

You could put on a 20-30 minute talk called “how to lose a stone in 30 days” (or something like this!) and then share 5-10 weight loss tips. At the end of your talk, you could pick 3-5 lucky winners to attend a free session with you. This is a great way to pick up clients and get positive exposure for your personal training business. 

Goal:

In 4 weeks time from now, I want you to put on a free seminar at your gym. Plan a 20 minute presentation that will help your target audience. Then over the next month talk to between 25-50 new people a week, build rapport and relationships, and then tell them about your talk at the end of the month. Aim to get between 10-30 people to turn up. I can almost guarantee that you’ll get at least 1-5 clients from something like this. 

#5 Ask For Help 

To be a personal trainer you have to be disciplined. Most personal trainers are in good shape, they’re fit, healthy, and fiercely independent. These are all fantastic qualities…

That said, because of your independence, it can be hard to ask for help, you don’t want to come across as a failure, you want to figure it out by yourself…

I was like this, I was afraid to ask for help because I was embarrassed. I wish I would have read more business books, and reached out to other successful personal trainers – asking them for tips to pick up clients and get great results.

There are lots of ways to get help, for example you could read books, or listen to podcasts for personal trainers, or hire a coach/ business mentor. Books/audiobooks are great because they’re not very expensive – compared to private business coaching, where you could be spending £50-£100 per hour. 

Another resource, which I would highly recommend is my ebook – The Ultimate Guide To Building Your Personal Training Business. I literally share all of my secrets, which I’ve learned over the last 7 years of running my personal training business, LEP Fitness. 

I teach you how to…

• Get new clients
• Market your business
• Social media tips
• How to earn more money 
• Manage finances
• How to make money through blogging  
• Track business data 
• I give away my cancellation policy (saving you thousands of pounds each year!)
• Website Tips
• Payment methods
• Pricing strategies
• Improve your SEO – so you rank highly on Google and get even more customers!
• Ways to grow your business – hiring trainers, group PT, getting a private gym, etc 
• Email marketing

And tons more! 

It’s literally 85 pages of knowledge bombs! – I wish I had this book at the start of my personal training career. 

To pick your copy of the ebook – click here – It will totally transform your personal training business! 

About Nick 

Sheffield personal trainer ‘Nick Screeton’ founded LEP Fitness back in 2012. He started the business with no money, just some rusty old weights, and a pop up gazebo…

7 years later, Nick has completed over 11,000 x 1-1 personal training sessions, and now has his own private personal training studio.

Alongside running LEP Fitness, Nick also helps other personal trainers to grow their businesses – sharing all of his knowledge in order to help others succeed in a highly competitive industry.