There’s no denying that personal training is an essential component to a health club’s success. Selling personal training services not only increases revenue, but also improves member retention. Members who purchase personal training packages are more engaged and stay members for longer periods of time. 

Here are three strategies you can apply in your club to see an immediate improvement in personal training sales.

Develop More Personal Training Leads:

Members are most excited about embarking on their health and fitness journey when they first join your club. Sales staff can capitalize on this excitement at point-of-sale by booking all new members in for a complimentary orientation session or personal training trial. Staff can communicate the importance of the session by letting new members know they will be meeting with a personal trainer who will introduce them to your facility and help them get started with their health and fitness goals. The objective of the orientation or trial is to help members understand the benefits of working with a personal trainer and either directly sell personal training packages or identify members who are prospective personal training clients. In this way, you immediately increase the number of leads your personal training sales people can follow-up with after the session.

Follow Up With All Personal Training Leads:

Now that your sales staff is working hard to develop more personal training leads, the next step is for your personal training sales people to follow-up with all of them. Proactive, consistent communication is key in any sales process and the same holds true for selling personal training. Set up a defined follow-up schedule for your personal training sales staff to stick to and keep in touch with personal training leads. Because different people respond to different methods of communication, it’s a good idea to have a mix of follow-up calls, emails and text messages. Just make sure that you adapt the content of your follow-up messaging and schedule based on whether personal training leads have booked, showed up or completed their orientation session.

Build Personal Training Client-Trainer Relationships:

Once your member purchases a personal training package, it’s imperative that their trainer builds a relationship with them both in-person and between training sessions. Trainers should personally reach out to each personal training client between sessions to see how they are progressing, encourage them to book their next training session and give clients the one-on-one attention they expect. By tailoring their follow-up messages, trainers can develop a deeper relationship with their clients and keep them engaged so they continue to purchase personal training services. Since trainers spend most of their day on the club floor and in training sessions, it’s important to block off time in your trainers’ calendar so they can reach out to clients.

By engaging a higher percentage of new members in your personal training sales process and effectively following up with both personal training leads and clients, you will see immediate results in your club’s bottom line. As you implement the above tactics you should also take a look at your sales software’s capabilities to ensure personal training staff have the tools they need to efficiently execute your personal training sales process.

Written by InTouch's Rachel Lai; Published by Club Solutions | Nov 4, 2014