How do you convert your prospects into paying clients? We've taken best practices from across industries that will work for you. Let's dive in…
Typically, the hardest part in any industry is to get a prospect. If you are getting leads, this is great! (If not, you need to check out this video).
Now, the ball is our court and unless the lead is just not a fit, we should be able to convert every single one into a paying client. As a growth marketer that's worked across industries, these are tried and tested tips that will improve your lead→paying client conversion.
In this post, we'll cover these tips in more detail and give you a winning pitch template that you can use to convince anyone to pay for your services.
Tip 1: Reply immediately to your prospective personal training clients
Time is money. Your prospects are looking for a solution right now. The longer you wait to reply, the sooner they'll find someone else.
So, reply to them as soon as possible. One way to do this is If you use EZbookapp.com, you can set up a quick lead capture form in 30 seconds for free and stick it into your social media profiles to start generating leads.
And the best part is you get an automated email sent to you every single time a lead signs up. And that way you will never miss a lead and you can reply immediately.
Tip 2: Reduce friction by offering a free trial
What's easier?
Trying something for free first OR paying upfront for 12-sessions?
Offering a free trial or a free assessment reduces the friction for an interested personal training client to try your services before buying a 12-session package. Reduce potential barriers the client will have in trying your services.
This especially makes sense if you sell packages because the lifetime value of a paying customer far exceeds the one-time cost on you for offering a free trial.
If you are struggling to convert prospects into paying clients or maybe you're, you're new in the business, this is a great tip for you. Spend a few minutes understanding your prospective client's goals and what they're trying to seek from your services and offer a free trial that targets that on the spot. This is your best bet to convince them to join you as a free paying client.
Stick around as we'll soon put this into a winning elevator pitch you can use to convince every single prospect into a paying customer.
Tip 3: Use Discounts and FOMO
Going back to reducing friction, this is another great way to drive action. Everybody loves a great, exclusive deal. What drives action faster?
Option 1: My 12-session program at $399. Let me know if you're interested
OR
Option 2: By the way, I'm running a discount only for this week where my 12-session program is now $350 instead of $399 for the first month. Let me know by Saturday if you're interested!
By the way, FOMO = fear of missing out (especially on a great deal)
Once you offer a free trial session, it helps to offer some sort of discount and a FOMO factor to help them to convert to you very quickly. Again, time is money.
You can let your prospects know that you are offering a special discounted price for a limited period of time to help them to drive and buy your services. If they're on the fence, they will take the action and buy your services.
Tip 4: Convenience Matters
Convenience is a very underrated tip. But if you are struggling to convert prospective leads into clients, this is a great tip for you to try.
So what does that mean? It means offering more flexibility. This is a great edge or advantage you could have over other personal trainers as not everybody offers this kind of convenience. And this is especially useful if you are starting out and building your client list.
This means you could offer flexible payment terms. You could potentially do home visits. You could allow last minute scheduling. It may not be ideal, but when you're starting out, all these things matter.
Once you have some credibility established and a roster of clients that are driving referrals, you no longer need to offer this convenience as much as you do when you're starting out.
Tip 5: Crafting a Winning Pitch
And now coming to my last but most important tip, which is having a winning pitch.
A winning pitch = a short 1-min pitch that you say to prospects that convincingly drives them to try your services.
If you don't have one, you need to try this out. Check out this free template to create your own.
I can't stress enough how important it is to have a winning pitch because this is your chance to convince a prospect to join your services. So it's important that your winning pitch has all the elements needed to make that conversion. So a winning pitch is a pitch that works every single time in converting a prospect into a paying client.
And I'm going to show you how to set one up for yourself.
Use this pitch to convince your leads to buy a multi-session package from you or any kind of service from you. Through this, you're going to give them assurance that you are the right fit for them.
So what are the elements a winning pitch has?
Targeted "what you do"
First, you need to have a one liner about what you do and who your target market is. Make sure it aligns with the client you're pitching to.
You can come up with two to three different client pitches if you serve multiple different target markets. I highly recommend that.
In the example below, we have the one liner about what you do i.e. what this personal trainer does and what her target market is. She helps postpartum mothers gain strength and lose fat. Her target market is postpartum mothers looking to gain some strength and lose fat.
Client results story
The second element is to use a client results story that resonates with this prospective client.
If your client is looking to solve a specific problem such as losing 10 kilos of fat in a matter of two months, include a client result story that is extremely similar to that, or even better than that. That is how you're going to prove that you are the right fit for this client.
In this example, we have a personal trainer who helps new moms lose fat and gain strength in their post-partum journey. The results she shares is exactly what the prospective client is looking to achieve. This is a key element of what makes a winning pitch work every time = relatability and assurance!
Your unique approach
You're going to include a one liner about your programming style, and why your programming style is uniquely geared to solving this client's problem.
This is your chance to shine and share what makes you a perfect fit for the client over others. Here, the personal trainer shares a unique one liner about her programming style, which is a combination of strength training and low impact cardio.
Call-to-Action
And lastly, you are going to include a call to action ("or a CTA") is a growth marketer's favorite term because it literally drives the action you want from anyone interested in you. What does this mean?
It means make sure that you offer an exciting incentive and an action for your interested prospect to convert into a paying customer. Here, the personal trainer has offered a "free session." A free session or trial is a low-commitment and low-friction next step for the prospective client. This is key to driving an interested client to making a purchase from you.
It's very frictionless and easy step for the prospect to take, right? Compare this to signing up for a 12-session package and paying maybe $500. This would be a huge step and stop many interested clients from moving forward.
But taking a free session at the convenience of the prospective client is an easy step, and why wouldn't they take it? And that's how you're going to get this prospective client to convert into a paying customer.
Example of a Winning Pitch
Let's combine all the elements together here...
Write your own winning pitch with this Free template
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