7 Strategies to Get Personal Training Clients In The Gym

​When you work in a gym as a personal trainer, the gym floor is going to be your most significant source of picking up clients. Whether it's an independent facility or a big chain commercial gym, harvesting the opportunity of people seeing you in-person as an expert is paramount.

In this article, we take a look at some of the ways to build relationships with members of the gym who might be interested in personal training - without the use of any social media marketing or paid online promotional advertising.

Strategy #1. Run Group Sessions

Running classes is an excellent way to meet people that might be interested in personal training and picking up clients this way lends itself to be friendly and non-threatening. At the start and end of every class when you introduce yourself to the members, say "I run classes here, and I am also a personal trainer. It's my job to make sure you enjoy your time in class, but if you'd like more personalised help with your gym time, there'll be a chance to have a chat at the end of class." 

Lots of people that go to gyms don't realise that fitness instructors that run their classes and personal trainers that support them individually are different. This way, people have time to think about how much they enjoy spending time with you in sessions, and they approach you if they're interested in one to one support. These are people who are already comfortable with your personality, training style and trust your knowledge, so it makes sense letting them know you can do more for them. Those that need that extra help and already are on the lookout for a trainer will approach you first.

Strategy #2. Set-up Challenges and Competitions

Running challenges and competitions can be a fun way to engage with members of the gym that allows you to reach people that don't attend classes. These events can be training related or something accessory to their progress, like nutrition or lifestyle.

You can launch a challenge that involves people completing your baseline fitness assessment for time. It's your decision whether you allow members to do it only once, or you give them a month, and they can attempt as many times they want.

Another idea is to create a treadmill or bike competition around who cycles, walks or runs the longest within a period, say between the first and the last day of the month. 

The prizes will be related to your personal training services; they could win 1 PT session per week for a month, a goodie bag that includes an in-depth PT consultation, goal setting and assessment or anything else that defines how you work with your clients and gives you the chance to show your competence.

The point is to use this time to collect contact information from anyone that might be interested in personal training services so they can hear from you in the future.

Strategy #3. Host Workshops

If you have an area of expertise that is a unique selling point of your fitness services, such as nutrition support, mobility or rehab training or Olympic lifting, consider hosting workshops.  

Advertising it around the gym is a great way to attract people that are curious about your style of personal training and may be interested in working with you one to one. The very least, you will have more eyes on what you offer and another excellent opportunity to collect member contact details for future promotions.

You may need permission from the gym manager to run a workshop, and it would help if they would be willing to help you promote it. Work together to pick a date and advertise it as a free, optional class with a trained expert. Once you've established your reputation as an expert in your fields, you can even consider charging for them if they get too popular and you need to cap the number of people who can attend.

Strategy #4: Connect with the Gym Staff

Relationships with members of the gym are essential but don't neglect the relationships with your colleagues. Offering to run free gym inductions, and make sales calls can be two simple ways to build relationships. These two jobs are often the realm of the admin staff, and a willingness to help out with these two jobs will do two beneficial things. 

First, it will endear you to the front of house staff. These are powerful allies in getting warm leads, as often people will sign up to the gym and express anxiety or excitement about achieving a particular goal. It's an excellent opportunity for them to suggest working with a trainer. 

Secondly, it will also give you a chance to get in front of new and potential members of the gym and be a friendly and approachable face. Often, people ask about personal training as part of these interactions, and bringing up your services feels quite natural at this point. 

Strategy #5: Engage with Members Daily

Talking to members of the gym every day, remembering their names and being friendly is essential in building trust and rapport. Even if these people never buy personal training services from you, they often make referrals to people that would be a good fit. 

You're also seen around the gym being friendly and approachable, so other gym members see this and feel comfortable to get in touch with you if they are ready to get some support with their training. In other words, you can become the go-to guy or girl when people have questions, and slowly all members will know who you are. Once they feel they need personalised support, you'll be on top of their mind.

Strategy #6: Nurturing Relationships with Ex-Clients

Reconnecting with people that used to train with you but stopped or "graduated" out of your programme is something that should be done every quarter. Tracking those ex-clients, and staying in touch, sending birthday or Christmas cards, can be an excellent way for you to remain part of their world. 

Often, when people have had a period away from the gym, they can fall back into old habits, and appreciate an email or a text message every now and then telling them you still care.

Strategy #7: Connect with Local Businesses

This strategy doesn't fully relate to the gym floor. Still, if you're hanging out around the gym all day anyway, it might be a good idea to check out the immediate neighbourhood for offices and businesses that may need help with the wellness of their employees or customers.

You can run "desk health" classes during lunch hours, health check appointments for stressed-out office workers or a lunchtime de-stress session in a local park. This way, you can reach people that aren't yet part of your gym but who may be interested in joining or having personal training in a small group of colleagues to offset costs. 

Alternatively, local cafes might be willing to let you create a "healthy menu" option for them, which allows their customers to put together food choices which are diet or muscle building friendly. This doesn't necessarily mean they would put new items on their menu, but you could create charts for their guests that include their food's nutritional data if they don't have it yet, menu options for "low fat", "low carb" or "high protein" meals so their customers can choose based on their goals.

Wrapping Up

​There are several strategies here to get clients, but they all have a common aspect: building a positive relationship with people. Existing members of the gym, colleagues, ex-clients and local businesses are all relationships that can be nurtured offline. 

There is no need to pay for advertising or have a complicated sales funnel. Be a friendly and knowledgable expert and help people to achieve their goals - and they will be loyal clients that make reliable referrals to your in-person fitness business.