Business & Clients
How to Find the Personal Training Clients You Want
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in The Fitness Business Accelerator →
In short: You attract the personal training clients you want by researching what they value, building your service and pricing to match, and being visible in the places they look.
Have any of these thoughts crossed your mind? I wish I could train celebrities. I wish I could train athletes. I wish I could charge more. (I wish I could fly, survive in no atmosphere and train aliens. Okay, that one might just be me. Good to have a goal, though.)
In the last year, four of my trainers hit £100+ an hour, training A-list celebrities, athletes and high-income individuals, royalty included. That is not the goal for everyone, and it is not realistic for everyone. What is realistic is a fair price and clients you genuinely love working with.
What your price actually means
A lot of trainers believe price reflects their experience or competence. It does not. Whatever you charge, you should be confident and competent before you train anyone. That is a given.
Price is really a message to the market about the disposable income of the clients you are targeting. Your marketing and your delivery decide how successful you are, not the number itself. Every client deserves excellent service, so treat price as a targeting decision, not a report card.
Build your service in tiers
A useful exercise is to map out the essentials of your service and build up from there.
Level 1 service is your non-negotiables:
- On time, every time
- Pre-session and post-session texts
- An easy payment system
- Smart and presentable
- Well-designed sessions
- Qualified in the right field
Level 2 service adds a bit more care:
- Client branding, like T-shirts or water bottles as rewards
- Homework and exercises between sessions
- A private, invite-only group
- Recipes
- Social gatherings and events
Level 3 service is where you tailor to the exact client base you want to train. Getting there takes research: look at the other products and services those clients already use and find attractive.
Those products tell you what to build. A more price-conscious client tends to value value, so Level 3 might mean loyalty rewards, free sessions and money-off offers. A higher-income client tends to value quality, so Level 3 might mean better qualifications, better results, and using your client base as a networking asset for them.
Being visible when the itch hits
Once your pricing and service fit the client, you have to be findable. The best description of marketing I have heard came from a workshop called The Check-in Strategy Journal: marketing is "being visible to a client when they have the itch to purchase your service."
To be there for the itch, you have to build content and show up where those clients already look. Marketing well today needs:
- Storytelling across your social media and website
- Photography and design, which can be outsourced, though original work sets you apart
- Budget, because social media is crowded and being seen often means paying for it
- Engaging content tied to your storytelling and your clients' success
- Genuine expertise, so your content actually reflects that you know how to train
In our FSQUAD group we help you find your tilt: the characteristics that make you, you. Once you can name those traits, you can replicate and amplify what already makes you likeable.
The seven-step summary
- Identify the client you want to train, in as much detail as you can.
- Research the competition and build your business plan around the maximum price that group can afford.
- Look at every place, product and service that attracts your client.
- Build your marketing in the same style, and your service with similar traits.
- Market, usually paid and social, to the clients you want.
- Attend the social events and business meetings your clients go to.
- Use PR, current clients, friends and other professionals to get introduced in person. Network like crazy.
Final thoughts
Edgy marketing does not mean swearing and being smug about it. The more authentic you are, the better you sell. And remember: your skill and experience are what keep clients, not what attracts them. Persistence and daily action will be your best traits as you build.
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51 tools to run your business, with no monthly fee and no cut of your money
PT Manager is yours to learn on from the day you sign up. Using it with real clients comes once you hold your Level 3 and are listed on the FASTER Trainer Register.
See all 51 tools
Set-up
- Import clients Bring a whole client list across in one go.
- My quotes Daily lines your clients see — yours, not stock.
- Programme templates The programme shapes you reuse — a session or twelve weeks. Pick one for a client, get your own copy.
- Exercise library Every exercise with FASTER coaching detail.
- Money Products, payments and who owes what.
- Send from your own email Connect your own email service so invites arrive from you, on your domain.
- My brand & client view What your clients see when they walk in — views, header, accent, logo.
- Your enrolment pack What every new client gets the moment you enrol them — your forms, ours, or a mix.
- Products and services What you sell — blocks, packages, memberships and one-offs, with their prices.
- Insurance Your policy on record — provider and expiry. Client features unlock while it is valid.
- My menu Switch any tool on or off — for your menu, your home and your whole account.
- Your website A free website on your own web address, filled from PT Manager. Or just the client sign-in door on your domain.
- Your public page Your verified Trainer Register listing, linking out to your own site and socials.
Business day to day
- Clients Your client list — invite, open a client, manage their space.
- Clubs Group your clients — a board they share, a programme or a monthly price if you want one.
- Challenges A dated push everyone logs against — for everyone you train, or for one club.
- Calendar Sessions, classes, capacity and bookings.
- Reminders The dates your business can't let lapse — insurance and first aid, nagged ahead of time.
- Nudges Who needs a nudge today — opportunities, one tap each.
- Who needs chasing Every conversation about money, in the order to work through them.
- What needs doing Your own list, in your own words — the jobs you keep meaning to get to.
- Till Sell at the desk — cash, card or on their phone — and download the sales sheet.
- What you are making What is coming in every month, what was paid in the last 30 days, and what sells.
Templates and systems
- Forms & interviews PAR-Q, consent, consultations and your own forms.
- Coaching room The coaching tools shelf — wheels, journeys and resources in one place.
- Radar wheels Build a life or performance wheel a client fills in — see change over time.
- Nutrition by FASTER Nutrition sheets and habits without meal-plan pretence.
- Pathways Automated coaching journeys you assign to clients.
- Programmes Start a programme — a session, a month, 12 weeks or a season — and find the ones you have built.
- Games & drills planner Build game-based sessions and drills.
- Sport screens Pick a sport — the shots to film, the analyser, and a ready-made radar of the qualities that matter.
- Movement screen → radar Read joint angles off the analyser — they auto-score and fill a radar wheel.
- Assessment builder Build and run client assessments and re-tests.
- Tag analytics Every tag across your clips, grouped and exportable.
Client
- AI prompts Your reusable prompt library for coaching copy.
- Before & after Side-by-side progress comparisons.
Trainer tools
- Exercise generator Fresh exercise ideas from constraints you set.
- FASTER dice & wheel Spin-and-roll session variety for groups and games.
- Movement demonstrator A 3D model of the FASTER movement patterns — body or skeleton view, prime movers lit up, live joint angles.
- Client video analysis Your media library — client folders and your own. Pick a clip to analyse.
- Movement by FASTER (HMAC) Human movement analysis charts — see how a client moves.
- Live analysis Mount your phone and coach live — skeleton, reps, angles and depth in real time.
- Tell a group One thing, to the right people — and you see exactly who it reaches first.
Media centre
- Video builder Reels, stories and client report videos, in your own branding.
- Image builder Branded posts and cards for your socials, at the right size.
- Shot list builder Every shot with its size, angle, lens, location, people, kit and sound; sorted into shooting order, ticked off on the day, printed or sent as a sheet.
- Storyboard builder Plan a video shot by shot: what the camera sees, what is said, the move and the cut.
- Script writer Write what you will say, with the word count and how long it takes to say.
- Teleprompter Read your script off the screen at your speed, and film yourself behind it.
- Video and image organiser Everything you have made and every source you can pull from.
- Ad builder Make your own ads, coached as you go, in your branding. As many as you like, no fee, no cap.
Frequently asked
Does a higher price mean I am a better trainer?
No. Price signals the disposable income of the clients you are targeting, not your competence. Be confident and competent whatever you charge.
How do I attract higher-paying clients?
Research the products and services they already use, then build your marketing and service to match that world, and get introduced through networking.
What is good marketing for a PT?
Being visible to a client at the moment they feel the itch to buy, through consistent storytelling, content and being present where they look.
How do I stand out as a trainer?
Be authentic. Original photography, a clear personality and genuine content sell better than polished but generic marketing.
Reading this for your own training? Every trainer on the FASTER register has been assessed by us — search by town or speciality, free.
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