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Special Tips To Retain Your Loyal Clients
Apr
10, 2006
Author: Tom Perkins - Business Solutions Coach and Certified
Personal Trainer
It is an indisputable fact
that loyal, repeat clients are the backbone of every fitness
business. Yet,
for whatever reason, fitness professionals tend to place more
emphasis on courting new clients then they do in retaining
repeat clients. This
could lead to a very costly mistake.
By simply paying more attention to your repeat clients,
you are likely to increase your profitability.
How? Plainly
put, repeat customers are open to your suggestions to try
other services and aren’t probably going to need those deep
discounts you offer new clients to motivate them to try your
services.
And they can be a huge
referral source if you keep them happy.
What other things should
you do to build better relationships with your existing
clients? Here
are a few tips and suggestions:
- Reward
Loyalty. As
we mentioned earlier, if you can retain your customers
your revenues will increase.
Research indicates that repeat customers spend 67%
more than new customers with us.
Therefore, it obviously pays to retain those
customers. Are
you keeping your repeat clients engaged and interested in
returning to your facility or using your personal training
services again? It
doesn’t cost much or take much effort to let someone
know you appreciate their patronage.
- Continue
to reduce the risk factor.
What does this mean?
When a client takes a chance on using a new
business, they are encountering a high “risk factor”
in terms of determining whether they will have a good
experience. They
are taking a risk. If
they do have a good experience, you’ve greatly increased
their satisfaction level and reduced their desire to want
to take that risk again by trying another trainer or facility. No one likes to take a chance on trying another business if
the one they are using is treating them well.
In short, keep your clients
happy. Listen
to what they are telling you and learn to look for any
signs that they aren’t happy with the service you are
providing.
- Be
aware of any milestone dates.
Milestone dates are a client’s contract ending
and renewal dates. Typically,
it is around these times that people begin to evaluate
their experience with you and decide if they want to
continue or not. Don’t
wait until that time comes to begin talking about renewal.
The time to find out if there are any issues or
concerns that you need to address should be done weekly.
This provides you with an opportunity to address
any issues instead of
the last day the contract is up for renewal.
Often, it is then too late to do anything about
it.
In the long run, a few
simple steps, designed to keep you focused on your current
clients, can be more cost-effective then spending all your
time, energy and money in recruiting new clients.
Statistically, it can cost you twelve times as much to
hunt for new clients as it will to retain current clients.
So if you can successfully retain your loyal clients,
you will be able to lower your costs and boost your profits.
Tom
Perkins is a business solutions coach and certified personal
trainer who leads fitness professionals to profitability.
Send
an email to thecoach1-140208@autocontactor.com
to receive the Essential Fitness Business Success Checklist.
Or visit his website at http://www.fitnessindustrysolutions.com
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