15 Aug 8 Simple Ways to Boost Your Show-Up Rates for FREE Personal Training Sessions

There’s nothing worse than offering something for free, setting time aside and then people fail to show up. Of course, sometimes there is a good reason, but when you have a consistent amount of potential clients failing to take the first step in a transforming their life, it’s bound to drive you crazy.

In this post, I’m going to share with you some of the psychology around why people don’t show, and what you can do to help boost those rates and ultimately get more sign ups to your fitness business.

At this point, it’s probably best for me to make clear that your fitness business is just a set of systems that once you start to optimise can only begin to bring some dramatic results.

Prospects showing up to Free sessions is just ONE of many systems that once tweaked, can have an enormous impact on your personal training business.

For example, let’s say that you generate 100 leads and that a new client sale is worth £1k to you. If only 50% of those leads turned up to a session, and you converted 1/4 of them into permanent clients, then boosting your show-up rate by 20% over the course of a year can lead to some serious extra money.

Never forget that it’s the small percentage increases that really make a difference to your profits and ultimately give you the fitness business you dream of.

So here goes, 8 quick changes you can make to boost show up rates.

1. Speed of Booking Them In

The faster the process of lead coming in, to being booked, dramatically boosts the chances of them showing. When someone reaches out to you for your services, they are in a ‘peak state of interest’. This then starts to diminish literarily within minutes of that point of contact. So act quick, if you’re leaving it days to reply, then you know why some people may not be showing up, and it’s just wasted effort.

2. Testimonials / Content

Imagine you are the prospect. You don’t really know much about the personal trainer you’re about to go and see. What you are shown before you get to your appointment could have an immense impact on your decision to actually turn up. So if you have great testimonials and other valuable content, deliver it to the prospect via email before their appointment, it can really help to reinforce the value of why they are coming to you.

3. Overcoming Their Fears

A lot of the time we think that people who don’t show are just being rude, but that’s not the case. Remember, most prospects have a huge fear of being judged, maybe of not being good enough or they fear the whole process of being in front of a trainer. So use this knowledge to your advantage, make sure that you put people at ease before their Free session.

4. The Promise

A simple step, but definitely an effective one. Ask the prospect to ‘promise’ that they will let you know if they can’t make it. Psychologically they may feel it’s harder to notify you that they can’t come than it is to show up. Which ultimately stops them bailing on you, and gives you a chance to turn them into a sale. So try it out next time you book a lead.

5. The Excitement Factor

If you can get the prospect really excited to want to see you before they get there, then this can help. Desire plays a tremendous role in someone taking that first difficult step. So, try and establish and understand some of the pain they are in, how can you help get them out of it before the free session? Gain some common ground, make them feel comfortable but excited.

6. The ‘Bridge’ Strategy

You need to create a ‘bridge’ between the two-dimensional ‘you’ on your website and the personable personal trainer they will meet. For example, when someone fills in an application form for a free session, they do it not knowing much about you, which can affect their show up rate. However, if they see a blog, watch a webinar or a see a video of you before booking in, then this will DRAMATICALLY increase their desire to gain your expertise. Why? Because now they feel like they know you, and more trust would have been gained.

7. The Gift Bribe

There’s nothing quite like enticing people with a free gift, even if it is on top of the free session. Test by offering a ‘limited number’ of special gifts that can only be claimed once they show up. It could be anything from free samples to a t-shirt, try and get creative it might just make the difference.

8. Reminders – by phone or text

The truth is, people forget, so make sure you have some systems in place to remind them before the session. Whether this is the day before or the day of, either by email, text or even a phone call. Any of these can certainly help to boost the chances of them making the session.