A couple weeks ago when I was teaching the Fit Body Boot Camp "Operation Domination" Mastermind, three of my old clients stopped by.

Each of them were active clients of mine for about 5 years, right up to the day I retired from training.

So I drilled them pretty hard to find out, in their experience, what my "magic formula" for long term client retention was.

Here's what we came up with.

1. Connect with your clients - I always made sure that I really "got" my clients.

I would find out what their "hot buttons" and core values were.

I would "dig" deep until I knew exactly what made them tic.

2. Bring the ENERGY - I would pretend a camera crew was filming me to make a documentary that would be seen by thousands of people all over the world.

So I had to be on my "A game" every second.

I also never got up to train my clients... I woke up in the morning to take another step towards achieving my life's dream.

Because of this, my clients would get the "ENERGY" of my dream and they would have a way better experience than if I woke up for them.

3. Shower your clients with appreciation - Maybe it was because I was never the "cool" kid or had a lot of friends.

Or maybe it was because in high school I lived out of a junker car.

Whatever the reason, I totally appreciated the fact that people would actually get up super early in the morning, and pay me to train them.

I always felt so grateful that in my early twenties I owned my own house, had two brand new cars, owned rental properties, had over $100,000 in my savings account, didn't have to answer to anyone, had a blast everyday while I was making over $50,ooo a month.

Not bad for a 20 year old kid that was homeless only a few years before that.

4. Call all your clients every Sunday - Every Sunday I would call EVERY singe one of my clients (NOT TEXT) them.

I'd give them a super awesome pump up message about how I couldn't wait to see them next week and how we were gonna have a huge breakthrough or how they were dead meat.

(Btw, even when I did group personal training I had over 100 clients and I would call every single one of them)

And to this day, the one thing they remembered most was how much they felt that I cared about them and that they looked forward to that Sunday "pump up" call.

They all say they miss that stuff the most.

5. Constantly increase your knowledge - Now this doesn't mean you have to go to an official seminar or get another cert.

Truthfully in the ten years I trained clients I only had once cert and I never attended any kind of seminar on exercise.

I got new ideas everyday either watching the 40 trainers who worked for me, watching videos on Youtube or browsing fitness magazines at Borders Books.

But not only that, just by reading success books or learning and stuff like that, I could further inspire, motivate and improve my client's experience.

Plus the more you "teach" them stuff that improves their life, the more they love you and the more you solidify yourself as an authority in their life.

6. Be fun - Don't take yourself, or being a "professional" so seriously that you're not super fun.

It's all about the experience.

Your clients will remember how you make them feel, and making then have fun can go a loooong way.

7. Make your clients feel important - One of the most influential books in my life was "How To Win Friends And Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.

(I listened to the audio version in my car about once a month)

Dale Carnegie explains that one of the most powerful human desires is to feel important.

So I figured that if I can satisfy my client's most powerful human desire then they would never stop training with me.

And it worked.

8. Change it up - I never stuck to one type of workout format.

Sometimes we would do a timed circuit.

Sometimes we would all do the same stuff together.

Sometimes I would have everyone doing different things.

Sometimes we would do a certain number of reps.

Sometimes we would do things for a certain amount of time.

So not only did I constantly change up the workouts, but I would also change the format on a regular basis.

9. Build your cult - One of the ways I build a cult was that every so often I would have my clients do something ridiculous that they could brag about and hold on to emotionally.

One time we did the "1000 Push-Up Club Challenge" where we did 66 sets of a one minute sprint on the stationary bike and then 15 push-ups.

It took about an hour-and-a-half but when they were done they were dripping sweat and would have the memory and bragging rights forever.

My clients would brag to their friends about how they could do 1000 push-ups and I swear I got more referrals and more retention outta stuff like that than almost anything.

In fact, when I talk to client's that I trained years ago, one of the first things they say is, "Remember when we did 1000 push-ups... and remember when we did this or that?"

Awesome!

10.  Be cool - Seriously, this one little thing (combined with visualizing my dream lifestyle and being a persistent mofo) is responsible for 90% of  my success.

And it's simple...

Just be cool to people.

It's not all about how much you can get from people or what they can do for you.

Zig Ziglar says, "The more people you can help get what THEY want, they more outta life you will get what YOU want."

And this blog is proof of that.  As you read my posts or watch my videos and then take action, I'm helping you get what you want...

And it's continues to come back to me ten fold 🙂

PS. Tomorrow is your last chance to hire me to get on board my private coaching program.

In fact, then next time I open it the price will double...

Even then it will still be pennies compared to your return on investment.

To learn more about my private coaching program go here

PPS. all my time slots for the free 15 minute business assessment call are full so the best thing to do is get on board my coaching program now, and if after our first call I feel 100% certain that you will gain at least $100k more, then you can stay on board.

Here is the link to explode your business and live your dream lifestyle  just like all the fit pros you saw earlier Here <--

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Posted in Uncategorized by Steve Hochman | 8 Comments