3 Psychology Hacks to Gain New Clients

Personal training, and health coaching in general, is ultimately about influencing behaviour. Your goal as a coach is to help people change.

Marketing, in an attempt to gain new clients, is exactly the same.

It's become increasingly clear that the skills and techniques we employ to support our clients to reach their goals are the same ones we need to encourage them to become clients in the first place.

With that in mind, here are three simple concepts from the field of psychology that you can utilize to create powerful marketing campaigns that will maximize new client sign-ups.

​How to Gain New Clients: It's All Psychology

The following 3 principles may sounds simple, but are you actually implementing them on a daily basis? If not, you're likely leaving thousands of dollars on the table!

1. People like people like themselves

Ever taken an instant liking to someone who supports the same football team as you? Or, someone has kids of the same age? Or who drives the same car? This feeling of connection is deeper when you realize someone shares the same values as you or has similar opinions on things.

What about someone who pays you a genuine compliment? Instinctively we warm towards them.

We are hard-wired to resonate with people who like us, and ARE like us, and as a result we're more compliant with them.

To show how powerful this is, experiments have shown that people are more likely to help a stranger who asks for money to make a phone call if he or she is simply dressed the same way as them!

So imagine how much more successful your chances of signing up a client will be if they really like you.

When you meet people for the first time, make a point of finding something in common - perhaps a favourite exercise, favourite food, or even just where you're both from.

During your conversation, rather than picking up on something you disagree with or something you think they need to change (such as their less-than-ideal dietary habits or unstructured training routine), identify the positives which you can compliment them for.

For example, see the contrast in saying, "training twice per week isn't really enough, you'll need to do more" with something more positive like, "I think it's great you already exercise twice per week".

Remember, the aim here is to bring the person on board as a paying client. When you've achieved that, THEN you can address the behaviours that need to change for them to achieve results.

2. People will place a higher value on something if they believe its availability is limited

This is known as the scarcity principle and is why rare collectors’ items are worth more than common ones.

A prime example of the scarcity principle occurs on a daily basis for many of us; if our phone rings while we're having a face-to-face conversation with someone, we are often compelled to answer it, even more so if we don't know who the caller is.

Despite the current conversation being very interesting, we know we're not going to lose it - we can pick it up again momentarily. However if we miss the call we may never find out who it was or what they wanted, and that means it's more valuable to us in that moment, purely because its availability is limited.

So how do you take advantage of this phenomenon as a PT?

The three simplest ways to convey scarcity are to offer something no one else offers, to only offer a limited amount of it, or to restrict the length of time it's available for. All of these will encourage people to not only sign up as a client, but to be willing to pay more as well.

Taking the first as an example, this is similar to the principle of a unique selling point (or proposition). Identify the skills and knowledge you have that none of your competitors do. It might be a specific type of training, a particular approach you have to coaching, or even the equipment and facilities you utilize.

If you really can't think of anything that makes you unique, consider up-skilling or devising a training package that includes features and benefits that clients can't get elsewhere. This might comprise certain free elements, complimentary products and services, or discounts with selected partners.

Perhaps you could offer free membership to your weekly boot camp as part of a 3-month personal training plan, and include a monthly sports massage from a good therapist you know.

The second way to 'scarcify' your product or service is simply to limit the number of clients you take on. Only make five places available on your upcoming training program - this creates a sense of urgency in people to book on so they don't miss out. As the places are taken, tell people about it through your marketing channels such as social media and email (“3 spots left, 2 spots left…”) to intensify the effect.

Lastly, only offer what you do for a finite period of time. Give a deadline by which people need to sign up so they can’t leave it on their ‘to do list’ and forget about it.

And be sure to only promote authentic limited time offers. The power of this form of scarcity is drastically reduced when the offer is vague or seems disingenuous. For example, the following ad says, "LIMITED TIME OFFER" but doesn't mention any details of this limited time frame. Is there really scarcity here?​

You don't necessarily need to use all three of these scarcity approaches but it will be more compelling if you do; a unique training package that’s only available to the first 10 applicants who sign up by the end of the month will have far more appeal than something anyone can get, at any time, from anywhere.

3. People are more likely to give you something if they’ve had something from you in return

The ‘law of reciprocity’ is another very powerful psychological concept. If someone does you a favour, you’re more motivated to do one for them in return. Indeed you often feel obliged to. This feeling is intensified the more the other person does for you or gives you.

In a business setting as a PT then, the more you can give potential clients for free, the higher the chances they will invest in your services, and the more they will be willing to pay to ‘reset the balance’ of give and take. This is why comprehensive free consultations are so important for people that otherwise haven’t considered personal training before.

What else can you give?

You could provide a free e-book through your website which includes useful advice and tips on how to lead a healthy lifestyle, hand out easy-to-follow workouts and nutrition guides to people at networking events, or offer to spend 20 minutes with someone on the gym floor to teach them a new exercise or two.

Whilst some people will be inclined to reciprocate after just one of these gestures and sign up to be a client, you’ll find that many of those who accept more of your ‘gifts’ over time will eventually ask to work with you and they will become your best customers because of “all you’ve done for them.”

Take Action, Gain New Clients

If you’ve read all of this and found yourself thinking that this is common sense, you’re right! Social psychology is simply the study of human behaviours that are common and intuitive.

The suggestions above may seem obvious, but few trainers actually implement processes to take advantage of these simple ideas to gain new clients and to grow their business. So take action and see what effect it has on your client base.

If you want to learn more about these concepts, as well as a whole load more, I can highly recommend the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Dr. Robert Cialdini.