Lift The Bar

I’m a great believer that you should only teach classes if you enjoy it, or at the very least can overcome any negative feelings you have about classes to focus on all the positives they bring to the attendees.  As a result, I wouldn’t recommend focusing on classes solely for lead generation purposes.

Having said that, if you enjoy teaching classes alongside your personal training, they can be a great way of attracting people into your business.  Here are a few tips for getting the best from the classes in this way.

 

Run Great Classes

It should go without saying but your classes are a great opportunity to showcase your skills, and the attendees will form opinions of your abilities, personality and whether they’d want to be trained by you based on how you run the classes.  With that in mind it’s important to be at your best in every class and ensure the people who come to them leave feeling good about the session.

I covered a number of considerations for great classes in last week’s blog and the Classes Guide available to members provides additional ideas for class formats. If you want more detail in this area however, here are 3 things that can make a difference to any class:

1. Choose music appropriate to the attendees and the class style.  A bit of planning on this front can improve the feelings class members have about the session and is well worth the time required to think about it in advance rather than picking a random playlist at the last minute.  (Personally, I don’t think anything is better than 80s pop but as there are a shocking number of people who weren’t alive to experience that wonderful era, there may be an argument for choosing something else in some circumstances 😉).
2. Send people out of the room with a smile on their face by thinking about the order of the session and how you can end it on a high. That’s the bit that they are most likely to remember so if you do include something that you think is unpopular aim to “lose” it in the middle of the class.
3. Make sure you know what the attendees want from the class and provide that – Do they want to be relaxed?  Feel the burn in their abs? Have a laugh? Learn a skill? Improve their mobility? Interact with others in the group? Move in time to a beat? Get a sweat on? Whatever it is, make sure it is the foundation of the class.

 

Tell Attendees What Else You Do

It’s really easy to assume people know what you do.  I fell into this trap myself and it was only when a long-term class member was surprised to learn I was a personal trainer in response to them telling me they had hired one that I realised my mistake!  The people in your classes know you as a class instructor.  They may also know you work in the gym.  Neither of those things mean they assume you are a personal trainer, have spaces, work with people like them, or can help them towards their fitness goals outside of the class they are there for.

 

With that in mind it is important to find ways to give them information.  You can weave references into the session itself in some class formats, tell (appropriate) stories about clients in general chat before the class starts or simply tell people you are also a personal trainer during cool down and stretches.  

Tell people you have some personal training spaces and to come and chat to you if they know anyone who might be interested in training with you. This opens things up past the people who are in front of you.  There’s no reason to assume they’d never work with you but by asking if they know anyone else who might be interested, you can open up the number of people you are an option for.  If you have a specialism or work with a particular demographic then mention that too.   

The key thing is that you regularly mention what you do.

 

 

Give People A Reason To Talk To You

Talking about the results you help people get and highlighting how working with you can complement their classes are great ways of getting people’s attention but it’s still a good idea to include a “call to action” in your information.  Encourage people to chat to you about how you can help them.

Depending on the class in question there can be benefits to highlighting how working with you can improve their performance in the class.  

Alternatively, you can highlight the areas that people often want to work on that aren’t covered by the class – If you are doing this make sure you don’t disparage the class itself or any other activity that the individual may be doing.  Merely highlight the extra benefits that adding in sessions with you could bring. This could be mobility or strength / power  to people in a spin class, or core work to attendees of a dance focused class, or “feeling fitter” / cardiovascular fitness to yoga or pilates based class participants.  

If you offer general nutrition support, nutrition support for weight loss, weight gain, muscle gain or performance, you can mention the ways that nutrition can enhance results from classes.

Then there are more personalised elements like how to improve training with a specific injury or niggle etc.

Having something to give attendees can be an additional method of giving them a reason to talk to you. This can just be a flyer with your contact details on. However, making it a useful document increases the number of people who are likely to pick one up.   All of the topics already suggested can be made into a useful handout which you can encourage people to collect.   In addition, things like recipes, short stretch sessions or workout programmes with a particular focus can be options.

If you prefer not to print lots of things out then you could have a poster or banner of some kind made with QR code people can use for your current useful resource.  

 

Loyalty Schemes And Competitions

Another option that many trainers have used is to have a loyalty scheme for attendees of their classes.   They receive a stamp for each class they come to and, on completion of a certain number, they receive a free session of some kind (personal training session, nutrition review, personal programme etc).

You can also run competitions or draws within your class participants with similar prizes.

 

Emails and Newsletters

With any of these approaches, you can ask people if they are willing to sign up to your email list.   They will need to know what to expect from being on the list and you will need to ensure you send useful content to keep them on the list and reading your emails but, if you enjoy writing, it can be a great way to nurture contacts over time and provide a platform which allows more space for content than what you’re able to include during a brief stretch at the end of a class.

A newsletter can be another form of regular email or something you print out and give to attendees.   It gives you a slightly different platform to include useful content and advice as well as showcase client wins.   In addition, you can provide more information on your services and even use it as internal marketing for existing clients to reinforce the positive behaviours you want them to adopt.

 

You don’t need to adopt all these options, and it’s generally best if you don’t try to. The key principles are the items covered in the first 3 tips.  Run great classes, tell people what you do, and give them a reason to talk to you.   How you go about that is up to you.

 

LTB members can access a number of Canva templates for handouts that can be adapted to your service, used to demonstrate your knowledge, give people a reason to talk to you, potentially encourage people to join an email list or in any other way you find useful.

 

If you aren’t a member of LTB, you can access these resources and more via our free trial (new members only) or by signing up as a returning member if you have been with us before.