8 effective ways to get more personal training clients

Whatever your reasons for becoming a personal trainer, there’s a good chance you didn’t do it because you also wanted to become a sales and marketing expert. Yet to attract and retain a stable base of clients, you’ve got to learn how to do those things too. 

No matter how skilled you are as a fitness professional, if you don’t have a reliable client attraction and lead generation system, you won’t have recurring clients. And without clients, you won’t have a business.

In this article, we’ll share eight effective tactics to get more personal training clients, and highlight a few ways Jotform can help — whether you’re thinking about starting an online fitness business or simply want to level up the one you already have.

1. Build a powerful personal brand

Personal training is a large and highly competitive market, so it’s critical to create a powerful brand that differentiates you from the thousands of other PTs out there and gives your ideal clients a reason to choose you.  

A personal brand is much more than your logo and visual identity. It’s made up of your personal training niche, like weight loss, endurance training, sports performance, prenatal and postnatal fitness, or post-surgery rehabilitation. It’s also dictated by your target market — that is, the group of potential clients you’re aiming to reach who are best suited for the specific personal training services you offer.

Just as importantly, a powerful personal brand is made up of the many other touchpoints of your business. This is everything from how you onboard clients, to the ease of your payment system, to your feedback collection methods. In fact, not all personal trainers ask for feedback, so this could be a branding differentiator in and of itself! Essentially, it’s all the elements that impact a customer’s perception of your business.

Offering a professional, streamlined client onboarding experience is simple with Jotform’s personal training client intake form template. The form can be customized with your logo, fonts, and colors, and questions can be tailored to align with your personal training services. When you’re done, it can then be embedded on your website for easy client access. 

Regularly collecting feedback from your clients is also made easy using personal training feedback forms. Simply select a template and open it in the Form Builder to drag and drop form fields, design elements, widgets, and more. The insights can help you improve your services and programs, and clients will feel like their opinions matter — potentially helping with retention.

Having a reputation for ease and convenience is another way to differentiate your personal training business from the competition. One way to do this? With a seamless system that makes it a breeze to securely receive online payments. Jotform’s online payment features include secure PCI compliance, a mobile-friendly interface, no additional transaction fees, and more than 40 payment gateways available on our free plan. Alternatively, you can get started with one of our free payment form templates. Select from among hundreds of pre-built forms, then choose the payment gateway you’d like to use, such as Square, PayPal, Stripe, or Authorize.net.

2. Grow your online presence

Your online presence is made up of many elements, including your 

• Website
• Social media profiles
• Blog
• Videos or other authority-building content 
• Paid advertising
• Client testimonials
• Email marketing
• Newsletter

A compelling presence on the web driven by a holistic marketing strategy made up of some or all of these elements can help you get more clients. As potential customers get to know your services and level of personal training expertise through these touchpoints, those who are just right for what you have to offer will reach out to inquire about working together.

And when they do, this process should be frictionless and easy to navigate. For example, potential clients should be able to schedule a first meeting and submit intake information online. Using a personal training application form or consultation questionnaire, you can collect the relevant data you need to begin this process. Form questions can ask about lifestyle, medical and health conditions, goals and aspirations, and more.

As part of your online presence, you’ll also want to embed relevant forms like consultation questionnaires and intake and feedback forms. These can be placed directly on your website or social media platforms to get more reach — and, as a result, more clients. Jotform makes it easy to embed a form into a web page, and offers multiple methods for sharing forms via social media. 

3. Get referrals from existing and past clients 

One of the most direct, effective, and often fastest ways to get more clients as a personal trainer is to ask your former and current clients to refer you to others — otherwise known as word-of-mouth marketing.

If you’ve taken good care of your clients and they’re pleased with their results, most will be happy to pass your name along to friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues who could benefit from your services. You can even increase your chances of getting referrals by offering incentives like a free training session, a customized workout plan, or a discount. 

You can use one of Jotform’s referral form templates to make the process easy. Simply embed the form on your website when you’re done customizing it, and then direct your clients to fill it out or send it to them via email.  

4. Create a newsletter 

Another effective way to get more personal training clients is by sending a regular newsletter. A weekly or bi-weekly message packed with useful content like training and nutrition tips, workout routines, client success stories, and details about your services and availability adds value to your subscribers — demonstrating your expertise and establishing authority in your industry. It also keeps you top of mind when they’re ready to hire a personal trainer or refer one to a friend. 

It’s easy to embed an email signup form for your newsletter directly into your website using Jotform’s email signup form template. Simply customize the form to match your brand, embed it on your website, and start collecting addresses from site visitors. You can also ask your current clients to subscribe if they’re not already on your email list. After you begin sending emails, you can track any responses with Jotform Tables. 

5. Network with professionals in related industries

Networking with fitness and other health professionals is a great way to get more personal training clients and grow your business. There are several ways to do this. You can

• Network with doctors who regularly prescribe exercise to their patients
• Network with other well-connected people in your area, such as real estate agents, salon owners and hairdressers, and staff at your local health food store 
• Attend related industry events and conferences
• Join online fitness forums and social media groups 
• Partner with other health and wellness professionals, such as nutritionists, yoga teachers, wellness coaches, physiotherapists, and sports massage therapists to offer package deals to clients or do referral swaps
• Partner with local businesses to offer discounts or special promotions on your services
• Ask aligned businesses, such as chiropractic offices, yoga or Pilates studios, wellness centers, and nutrition practices if you can leave your business cards or brochures with them 

6. Follow up with leads and previous clients 

If you’ve implemented the five steps we’ve covered so far, you should have a pool of leads to reach out to and hopefully a roster of previous clients too. Prompt and professional follow-up with both groups can easily result in new — or repeat — personal training clients. 

There are plenty of reasons you might reach out. Maybe a previous client stopped booking sessions, so you could inquire about their current fitness plan and goals — offering to help them get back on track if needed. Or perhaps a potential client got in touch but didn’t follow through and book a session — you might now have a special package offer that’s perfect for where they are on their fitness journey. Or maybe you’re simply doing your regular quarterly check-in with leads and former clients, or wishing them a Happy New Year — prime time to start or reignite a fitness plan.

Make follow-up a regular action item in your marketing calendar and be sure to tailor every outreach message based on what you know about that person. Personalized emails result in 29 percent higher open rates and 41 percent higher click-through rates.

7. Offer a free trial session 

Offering a complimentary session is a powerful way to introduce your training style to potential clients and encourage them to sign up for paid services. It also allows you to determine if their goals and your training approach are aligned, and gauge other markers you’ve set for the ideal clients you want to work with. At the end of the free session, you can share how you’d help them achieve their specific goals if they were to hire you. 

You can spread the word about your initial free training session via many of the touchpoints we’ve discussed here already, like your newsletter, website, social media channels, and word of mouth. 

8. Get your personal training certification 

The impact of a personal training certification can’t be overlooked. A qualification like this can increase your value in the eyes of potential clients, help you stand out in the industry, demonstrate your specialized knowledge, and confirm your commitment to the field — all of which will help you get clients more easily.

Just some of the U.S. organizations you might want to consider for your certification include the 

• American Council on Exercise
• American College of Sports Medicine
• International Sports Sciences Association
• National Academy of Sports Medicine

Other ways to get more personal training clients 

The eight methods above can be very effective at acquiring and maintaining a full roster of personal training clients, but it’s not an exhaustive list. Here are a few other approaches you might consider:

• Share client testimonials on your website and in your newsletter
• Write articles for fitness and other health-related websites, blogs, and magazines to build your authority 
• Apply for inclusion in personal training directories 
• Host free fitness classes or workshops for small or large groups
• Post flyers in your area featuring fitness tips and your contact information
• Tag your clients on social media to celebrate hitting their fitness goals
• Join professional organizations
• Speak to clubs and groups aligned with your specific fitness specialization
• Launch a pay-per-click advertising campaign

If you add at least a few of the strategies we’ve mentioned here into your marketing calendar and commit to implementing them consistently each day, week, and month, you’ll fill your client roster and find yourself with a thriving personal training practice. 

Photo by Li Sun