According to a survey conducted by GetPTfit, almost 50% of clients would like to have greater contact between sessions with their personal trainer.
GetPTfit is the new online communications toolkit to help personal trainers promote their business, increase income and motivate clients. The survey offered interesting results across a range of areas where clients felt there was room for improvement. Findings from the survey included 35% saying they would like the opportunity to ask extra questions, while 24% felt that, if this was achieved, it would help with their motivation.
Technology featured highly on the agenda, with 40% commenting that they would like a free app to run alongside their training and 34% saying they wanted to be able to access fitness plans online. Continuing on the technology front, 48% of those questioned were interested in fitness reports being sent to their phone. Achieving the highest statistic were questions surrounding nutrition, where 65% of people would like their personal trainer to provide advice on food, drink and well-being. With regards to contact time, it was found that 33% would use their personal trainer more if they were actually better at keeping in touch.
Simon Whitnall, a personal trainer and captain of the England Touch Rugby team, and Chris Mitchell, a marketing professional, ran the study. Whitnall said, “Our survey reveals that clients are becoming more demanding of their personal trainers. They are no longer happy to simply turn up for their sessions at the gym. There is a desire for their PTs to embrace modern technology to provide them with additional information and advice between sessions.”
Education provider PTA Global was the first company in the industry to have a member-centric behavioural-change process at the foundation of its information, placing an emphasis on behavioural sciences and communication rather than solely on exercise science and other programmes.
Some of the areas covered by PTA Global are:
- behaviour change
- motivational interviewing/theory and practical application
- prospecting
- meeting and greeting people
- first impressions
- building rapport
- how to ask questions
- building a client base
- keys to long-term retention
- behavioural client screen
- behaviour-based programme design
- multisensory communication.
The education provider has also created a client-orientation process and programming strategies based on a behaviour questionnaire, using strategies focused on the principles of behaviour change and motivational interviewing techniques. The programme design questionnaire (PDQ) is designed to allow the client to discuss and illuminate their goal and preferred style of exercising. The questionnaire provides the fitness professional with the necessary and immediate information to effectively adapt a programming strategy that is more suited to a client’s preference, as opposed to that of the fitness professional.
PTA Global has also developed the Kaizen-6TM, which is a self-appraisal tool for fitness professionals to use with each client. The tool allows the fitness professional to ask the client specific questions to determine how they are engaging with the session.
These practices provided by PTA Global may just help pave the way in ensuring that positive communication between client and trainer is always achieved. They also promote effective feedback, which can be applied to current and/or future training sessions.
Find out more about PTA Global here: ptaglobal.co.uk
