I gave my second Bx xCite presentation on July 11th.
This time the theme was "The Key Elements of making Short-term Clients into Long-term Clients".
It gives some insight into a key importance of my business, how I feel about my clients and my priorities.
I am very happy to share this presentation and hope it helps some of you likewise.
“The Key Elements of making Short-term Clients into Long-term Clients”
“People buy for only 2 reasons. 1. To solve a problem. 2. For good feelings” - Des Hunt
This is 100% true…for an example, you’ll notice dunny rolls on your table…one is cheap, not very pleasant but it solves a problem… to wipe your bum! The other is a nice soft 3 ply…it’s there to wipe your bum but perhaps feel a little softer on your butt cheeks…and give you a little better feeling with your activity.
“It is harder to keep an existing client than to find new ones” - Phil Whyte (an old sales mentor of mine)
This is more true and relevant than what you may think. We’re all business owners here. Whether we are selling a product, service or combination of both, we must recognise the importance of our existing clients.
The first thing we need to do is recognise who are our internal and who are our external clients.
Internal customers are our employees, suppliers, business associates, people who know and work behind the scenes. An example is the Bx Group. All members are internal clients of each other’s business. We promote each other’s businesses, and in the same context, we could also hurt each other (obviously that isn’t a good way to practice).
It’s up to each internal client, like the Bx Team, to make sure you are getting value. Whether to improve brand awareness, generate sales, make friends and contacts…. we (as business owners) have a specific reason to be here.
Our external clients are those that want to employ your goods or service to solve a problem or to have great feelings. These are your revenue.
Now, you’re probably thinking, what does a personal trainer know about sales and/or sales retention when he’s only been running his business for 3 years full-time?
My background is in electrical industry sales. I’ve been a sales rep, a sales manager and internal sales manager in the electrical wholesale and electrical industry for 20 years.
“Every client has an expiration date and that’s something you’ll have to face” - John Chambers (pychologist)
This is true. John is my psychologist and he always advises me to relax instead of getting upset when you lose a client. But I will always endeavour to keep them for as long as possible.
The average personal trainer retains their clients between 3-6 months. I average 1.5 years. My longest clients are still with me and they are almost at 5 years. (I started this as a part-time business September 2019). My shortest client was 1 day.
There will be times that you have a bad run of losing clients for different reasons. 90% (if you have good strategies in place) are beyond your control.
What are the 5 big benefits of maintaining your existing clients…
1. Guaranteed Income
2. They know, like and trust your brand
3. Reduced marketing costs
4. Great source for referrals
5. Positive reviews on social media and web pages
So, what are 7 key strategies for keeping your existing clients….
1. The ability to listen! It’s easier said than done. You may assume, after some time, that you know your client, but things change. Life is constantly changing around us and whether its physical, mental, sociological or economical changes, it can quite easily affect a client’s needs or wants.
2. The ability to communicate clearly with each other and adapt. Is the message that they’re trying to get across matching your understanding of it? Ie. In fitness terms, if a client wants to run the city to bay this September and focus more on the cardio, are you focused more on endurance training or power training?
3. Ask for feedback and be receptive to it. Asking for feedback can be great to justify the goods or services that you’re providing are meeting expectations. If they’re not, don’t take it personally. Listen to their feedback and act accordingly. If the feedback has merit, alter what you need to do. If you’re not entirely satisfied with their feedback, calmly talk to them. There may be some misunderstanding or accept that it’s the client’s right to make up their own opinion.
4. Be polite, use manners and smile. A simple smile and a nice warm felt greeting like 'Good Morning', 'Please and Thank you', go a long way. Although you’ve developed those relationships in the past, avoid being grumpy, miserable or disinterested.
5. Put technology away unless you need it for your role/position. In my industry, there are too many personal trainers that spend more time on their phones, playing games, updating their Facebook status and messaging other people other than actually watching their clients exercise.
6. Make notes for the future on your existing clients if they discuss personal events. Have they been on a holiday? Have they recently had grand-children for the first time? The simple art of asking “How are the grand kiddies going?” shows that you have a vested interest in them.
7. Finally, wherever possible, go the extra mile. Each client wants to feel important. The extra mile doesn’t have to cost anything. It could be the simple thing of helping them load up their goods into a car. In my case, where I have a steep driveway, anyone that is elderly, I generally walk down the driveway with them to ensure that they’re safe.
How much effort should I put into keeping my clients than to attract new ones?
It’s a hard question to answer because it may depend on where your business is at. If you’ve just started, you may be spending 80% of your energy into finding new clients.
If you’ve been around for a little while but need to increase your revenue due to a drop in the market, you may be spending more time than you normally would. So that could be 40% of your time.
For me, I spend about 10-20% of my energy into attracting new clients. I would much rather research, improve my services and keep clients like many of my exisitng clients.
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