Retaining personal training clients through winter

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s getting pretty nippy outside, and with this drastic shift in temperature comes the inevitable battle that is retaining clients to your personal training sessions. As mentioned in previous posts, your clients face a battle of their own. In these chilly months, it’s a battle of will-power, motivation and determination – and that’s where you come in. Here are a few ways to keep ‘em coming back for more!

Adapt Your Workout for The Season

The great thing about a city as vast and as diverse as London is that no two outdoor workouts have to be the same. In these colder months it’s important to ensure your client remains as comfortable and confident as they do motivated.  Whether that’s switching out jogging for a more on-the-spot form of exercise on a particularly icy day, or even just a few recommendations for more appropriate winter workout clothing. Helping your client to transition seamlessly into winter will do a world of good!

Build the bond

Personal training is all about the relationship between client and trainer.  Building a bond on trust and positive energy between yourself and your client is paramount in ensuring their continued attendance and commitment to your sessions. Invest some of your one-on-one time in finding out more about your client – their hobbies, their passions, their goals. Really get to know the challenges they face both in, and outside of your PT sessions. Knowing a little bit more about your client and their life will help you really understand the best ways to keep them motivated throughout winter.

Reward Their Winter Loyalty

One thing you should always remember is the importance of showing your client just how much you value their loyalty. Perhaps they’ve committed to an outdoor session on a particularly chilly morning? How about bringing along a coffee as a little pre-workout treat. Or maybe they made it through the whole Christmas period without cancelling a session? Why not offer them the first session in the new year free of charge. Whatever you decide to do, It’s little things like this that will really set you apart from the rest.

Emphasise Targets

When motivation starts to falter you need to really communicate the importance of hitting those targets that you worked so hard to smash in the summer and autumn months. Remind your clients of the how far they’ve come by reviewing their progress of the last few years/months/weeks. Give them clear, realistic targets for them to hit by springtime – detailing how and why they should be hitting them. You know your client’s workout capabilities better than anyone…

As Always, Stay Fit and Healthy!