Are you ready for the big January fitness rush?

Most people want a fresh start in the new year with new hopes and promises to themselves, and one of the most common resolutions is changing their way of living.

Most experts would agree that gym and fitness instructor schedules are the most congested in the first quarter of the year. This is no miracle since most of us want to start the new year anew, in a good shape. This is why getting ready for the rush at the beginning of the year is important for you as a trainer – there’s an increased chance of acquiring new, loyal customers for your clientele.

How to get down to the task?

There are many things to do in January, so it worths it to create a checklist well ahead of the rush. List all the important tasks relating to your training sessions and your business which you’d like to accomplish.

It’s paramount that you be prepared for welcoming new clients, but it’s even more important to lure in these customers to your training sessions efficiently. So first and foremost, let us give you a couple of tips on how to acquire new customers longing for exercising and challenges for your core clientele in the first quarter of the year.

How to acquire new clients?

Boost your marketing strategy

Do you think you already have a steady core clientele so it isn’t really worth it to waste time, energy and money on popularising your business? Did you fail to spend enough resources on your social media presence and building an active online community around your coaching services? This can be a costly mistake, but there’s a way to fix it – it’s never too late to start building an effective marketing strategy.

Boost your self-promotion and aim at platforms where you feel your target audience could be found easily. If you don’t want, you don’t necessarily have to spend a fortune on marketing. Placing local advertisements and social media itself both grant you a perfect opportunity to spread the word about your business to potential clients who couldn’t have heard about your services before. Advertise in community centres and schools, build a community on Facebook and Instagram. These opportunities are within arm’s reach and you can grow your current clientele with minimal expenditure.

Start the new year with promos and discounts

Welcome your newly joining clients with exclusive promotions and discounts. A free try-out session could attract a lot of future clients for your business, but a free consultation or coupon providing a 20% discount for a certain month can also be a good method for keeping around those who are interested.

Discounts at the beginning of the year and dynamic pricing adjusted to the needs of the customers are both tricks which can help you attract loyal customers who are genuinely interested in your services.

Start a new era of scheduling!

Preparing weekly timetables, constantly managing bookings and overbookings is a challenging task. Not to mention all the administrative hassle coming with new clients, something which occurs even more often in the first quarter of the year. In order to be able to handle these important tasks related to your work, it might worth it to switch from a paper-based administration to a more trustworthy, effective and modern tool.

Spomoco is an application which takes the majority of the administrative workload off your shoulders. It helps you create your timetable dynamically and to manage your bookings, cancellations or overbookings, plus it can provide a good and quick alternative for creating a weekly schedule for not only trainers but clients as well.

Attracting new customers is only the first step of the process. In order to keep your business steadily growing, you have to be able to keep the majority of your new clients.

If clients joining at the beginning of the year drop out, it is not necessarily your fault. For many people, it is quite common that they lose their initial enthusiasm and momentum for exercising. Don’t be afraid of letting them go and focus instead on those who are still enthusiastic as the weeks pass by.

Convince them that they would never be able to find a trainer as good as you are and that you are genuinely concerned about them improving from week to week and reaching their long term goals. And how to do this? It might not come as a surprise – we have a couple of useful tips for you.

How to keep new clients?

Welcome them with gifts

We have already mentioned the benefits of having promotions and discounts exclusively available for new clients. These do not only help you acquire new customers but also let you keep the loyal ones. Apart from rewarding newly joined clients of your business, you should also provide similar discounts and smaller gifts to honour their loyalty. Free training sessions, consultations and smaller, promotional gifts can help you make your clients feel special and know that you value their devotion and trust towards you and your training sessions.

Keep in constant touch

Make it sure that your regular clients are up-to-date with all the important information related to your training sessions. Should you postpone a session because of sickness or raise the fees for the upcoming month, don’t forget to send out an e-mail about these important changes in time.

Ask your clients to follow you on every social media platform and to use the scheduling application you are also using so that they can be informed about the occasional changes pertaining to your sessions thanks to notifications and reminders.

Check your equipment

Before the fitness rush of the new year would commence, it might worth it to check and even revamp the equipment you need for your training sessions. Think through the following:

Do you have sufficient equipment so that both your regular and new clients can actively and effectively take part in your classes? Is your equipment modern and in good condition to be used properly? 

In case your equipment needs an update, you should get the new devices well before facing the tide of new clients in January.

Apart from new clients, you shouldn’t forget about your loyal, regular clientele. In order to keep them satisfied with the service you provide, you should also think a little bit about them as well and treat them with something small but meaningful.

How to make your regular clients happy?

Make them feel special

The above-mentioned reward system – with some minor modifications – can be applied not only to new clients but to regular customers as well. Rewards make your clients feel that they’re important for you. This way you can motivate your satisfied and loyal customers to give some feedback on your services.

Make them aware that they’re important not only as clients but as partners as well and that by giving their feedback they can also contribute to future improvements at your business. This way they do not only help you but also have a positive impact on their own development.

Make administration easier for them 

If you would like to keep your loyal, regular clients, make basic administration like booking, cancelling or modifying appointments easier for them. If you don’t have to do this via telephone or e-mail, it does not only make your schedule free of clutter but also your clients’ days much easier.

By using the mobile application of Spomoco, your clients get a perfect solution for taking care of any administrative work related to their training sessions – 24/7. The application isn’t simply useful but it also unshackles you from the burdens of administrative tasks. Spomoco is also compatible with GDPR, meaning that it takes of the responsibility of studying the new data protection law off your shoulders.

Apart from striving to make both your new and your regular clients happy, it might worth it consider rethinking or even overriding your business plan. What else can you do in order to help both your business and your career flourish dynamically in the future? If you’ve just closed a successful year and wish to keep this tendency for the upcoming one, check out the following tips which can help your business grow.

How to ensure a steady and undisturbed growth in your business?

New equipment

While we might have mentioned this earlier, it’s important to highlight that a dynamically growing clientele requires you to constantly check and – if need be – expand the equipment at your disposal. Try to acquire equipment of the highest quality depending on your financial means and make sure there is no shortage of anything for your new and your regular clients either.

Bigger space for upgrading your business

If you get to the point where your own flat is too small for your sessions, don’t be afraid to get your business to the next level. Check out places where even larger groups could fit in with ease. You don’t necessarily have to think about having an own place or renting a studio. In the very beginning, a community centre or a gym in a school can both fit your needs. These are budget friendly options yet they also provide a good solution if you are dealing with the issue of having an increasingly tight space.

Catch up with the latest technologies

It’s never enough to emphasise – having an expanding clientele both has its perks and their disadvantages as well. The more people are interested in your training sessions, the more responsibility you have with administrative tasks and the less time you get for improving your own skills or just simply have a proper rest. If, on the other hand, you try to catch up with the latest trends of the fitness world and the technological novelties, you can free yourself from the bulk of the stress and the paperwork.

By using Spomoco you can save valuable time that you had been forced to spend with administrative tasks earlier. This extra time can be used for tending to your clients, improving your business or yourself, or just having a rest. Eventually – it’s all up to you.

Register to spomoco®

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *