How to get personal training clients CHIROPRACTORS

How to become a successful personal trainer vol 2 has an entire chapter on getting clients - 10 R's of getting clients. If you want to become a successful personal trainer, start by reading the book, not an 800 page textbook.

You can be an amazing trainer and still struggle to get clients if your marketing is built on hope instead of systems. I’m sharing a simple referral strategy that consistently brings in high-quality leads: build real partnerships with chiropractors (and other allied pros), then make it easy and profitable for them to send people your way. It’s not about begging for referrals. It’s about showing up like a business professional and creating a clean, repeatable process that benefits the client, the chiropractor, and your coaching. 

We get tactical with what to say, how to say it, and where most trainers lose the deal. I walk through two approaches: paying for an initial chiropractic assessment to build trust fast, or starting lean with Instagram DMs and multiple follow-ups. You’ll hear why directness matters, how to offer a complimentary workout without sounding passive, and how to set the precedent that your relationship is long-term and collaborative. 

Then we do the numbers. If you spend a few hundred dollars on an assessment and a lunch but land one 72-session package, the ROI can dwarf what you’d ever see from random ads. I also explain a smart package structure where the chiropractor keeps a premium for referring, why “go for no” follow-up wins, and how to position yourself as more than the stereotype of a trainer with selfies and weak anatomy knowledge. 

If you want more personal training clients, better client referrals, and a stronger network in your local fitness market, listen through and take notes. Subscribe, share this with a trainer friend who needs leads, and leave a review with the outreach step you’re committing to this week.

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Want to ask us a question?  Email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!

Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/
Become a Successful Personal Trainer Book Vol. 2 (Amazon): https://a.co/d/1aoRnqA
NASM / ACE / ISSA study guide: https://www.showupfitness.com

Transcript

Referrals And Reach Outs That Work

SPEAKER_00 0:00

If you're a trainer trying to build your book of business and get clients, you're gonna want to watch this video. As I talk about in my book, the 10 Rs of Getting Clients, we're gonna focus today on referrals and reach outs. Chiropractors. We're really big into building your network at Show Up Fitness. Have a physical therapist on your team. But if you were to reach out to a chiropractor, I just did a search right before this video today, Santa Monica Chiropractors. There's a chiropractor right near us, $250 for that initial assessment. That's what you want to be charging. So surround yourself with individuals who have that type of business. Now you can do one of two things here. You can pay for that $250, or if you're a frugal trainer, which most are, you can reach out to them and say, hey doc, I'm a trainer in the area. Would love to take you to lunch, learn more about your business to see how we could help each other out. I have a lot of clients who could benefit from your services. Now, when you look at their website, there's different techniques that these kairos could be doing. Grassed on, it could be, you know, cracking and whacking, whatever the heck they're doing. I'm not going in there challenging their methodologies. Some people think chiros are a bunch of quacks, but here's the thing: there's a lot of individuals who love chiropractors and

Turn A Chiro Visit Into ROI

SPEAKER_00 1:17

they go regularly. So why not use that to your advantage? So if you were to pay $250, the ROI on this is going to be humongous. You need to have that growth mindset. I would challenge you to go in there for that $250. You meet with them, you're there on time, you're professional. Have them take you through their assessment process, and then afterwards suggest taking them to lunch. Let them know you're a trainer. I would love to take you through a complimentary workout. Normally I charge $150. I'll give it to you for free. What's your schedule look like for next week? You have to be a little aggressive. Don't just say, oh, you know, maybe sometime if you want to work out, you know, maybe I can take you through a workout. Very passive. Be direct. How does your schedule look next week? Here's my location. Let's schedule you in. Get them in and take them through a workout. And then I would follow that up with a lunch, a dinner, happy hour. Here in Santa Monica, I have the Fig, the Fairmont. It's a very high-end gym. We train the bartenders. I take people there all the time. I drink and eat for free because I train these bartenders. So you could use that as like a meeting space. You bring the Kyle in there. How did everything go? How did you like my assessment process, my training style? Because I see a really great synergy right here. Here's my proposal. What do you say about offering a $300 package? Use their business offerings and tailor it for what you're going to offer here. Here's the kicker. So if you were to say $300, that's a single price. Add in $50. You keep that extra $50. So you just main, you know, 15% premium right there by networking with me. And you then send that client to me. That's a huge opportunity. That's a free lead for you. Most people spend a ton of money. If you're doing the Google ads or Facebook, whatever, you're spending money at the opportunity to speak to someone. This Cairo would be making money to refer that client to you and then you take them through a workout. You need to set the precedent that this is their working relationship. I'm not here to take your clients and never talk to you again. Because the clients that come to me, they're going to keep on working with you. They love everything you do because you're a great chiropractor. But what do you think is going to happen if they incorporate a strength training program within them working with you? That's a win-win. And so if you have clients who maybe they work with a massage therapist or a physical therapist and they weren't getting the reprieve, you have this outlet so you can send your clients to them as well.

Build A Package They Want To Sell

SPEAKER_00 3:45

That's a great working relationship, and trainers don't do a very good job of building their team. I've done one of the largest studies interviewing managers at gyms independently. Where and why do trainers struggle? Most are not very competent with anatomy, most are afraid of sales, but they don't have physical therapists, RDs, andor a chiropractor on your team. This whole video was stemmed from a lifetime trainer who was a chiropractor, visit chiropractor. And she's trying to figure out how she can do it independently. And I told her if you go to other chiros, they don't have a strength and conditioning background like she does. So build that relationship and say, how about this? Add on an extra $50, $100 for a package, and then you send them to me. You keep that. I'm not going to take that premium to have them work out with me. So they're seeing as, oh, normally this trainer is $150. It's only going to be an extra $50 or $100. That's where the discount comes in. And then they come in and you wow them. You take them through your workout, you assess them prior, and then you deliver on what they want. Now you just have a very hot lead. You then sit them down. Here's the packages that I offer. We have a 12-pack, we have a 72-pack. Which one do you want? Here's a 10% discount. I like the 12 and 72, especially if you plant that seed in the beginning during the assessment. What does success look like six months from now? Because three times a week for six months is going to be 72 sessions. And so if they were to sign up, I'm going to give that Cairo money as well. So I'm giving, giving, giving where most trainers take, take, take, take. They're going to reach out and say, Do you have any clients that would want to work with a trainer? They're not going to have any interest in that because you are a victim and you have a scarcity mindset. But if you go in there with a growth mindset, your professional great handshake, you're smiling, this could be a great working relationship. And if someone is sent over and you sign someone up for $10,000 and you give that Cairo a thousand bucks, on top of them keeping that premium, they're going to be like, holy crap, if I were to send you 10 people per month, that's an extra 10 grand. You can't be thinking, oh, that's a lot of money to send them. The ROI on that initial 250, add in the lunch, the dinner, the happy hour, whatever, maybe 500 bucks. But if this client signs up for 72 sessions and you're charging only 100 bucks, let's say. Here in Santa Monica, we're 150 to 350 per session. But let's say you did 100. That's $7,200. You give the Cairo a thousand, you just made 10x of your initial investment to work with this Cairo. You're going to come across some who are very hesitant because this is not a common thing for fitness professionals, which you are, to reach out to them and want to build something. You have to take the approach

The Math Behind A Growth Mindset

SPEAKER_00 6:28

that if you were to work with 10 kairos, three or four of them are going to want that working relationship. Now, again, I understand you see this and you freak out. I don't have that money. Use a credit card. Everyone's so freaked out today about investing into their business that they don't even do it. You need skin in the game. So if you didn't want to, you could try it the other way. Go to Instagram, send out 50 DMs to chiropractors in your area. I would love to take you to coffee to see if there's an opportunity for me to send you clients, but I just want to have a little initial appointment to make sure that our philosophies aligned. You just send a very succinct message. Don't say bro or yo, hey man, what's up? No. Professional. Hello, Dr. Name. My name is Chris. I'm a trainer in the area. I have a lot of clients who are looking for pain management and chiropractors, such as yourself. Wouldn't it be a time where we can meet up to see if our philosophies align so I could potentially send you business? And then if they don't respond back, you reach out again. And you do it seven to ten times. Go for no. It's a great book. It talks about how the majority of sales, if you want to call it that, are made after the fifth point of contact. That first reach out is one. Reach out again via DM, send them an email, call the office, go in. That will be your fifth time, but you haven't even talked with them yet. If you get that initial contact, that is then one, and then you go to lunch. Two, you take them through a workout. Three, you send them business. Very freaking important. So if

DMs And Follow-Ups That Get Replies

SPEAKER_00 7:58

you find that this could be a really good relationship, now you need to get the ball rolling. If you just wait for them to start sending you business, it's probably gonna take a long time. So if you send them a family member or a friend, if you believe that they're a safe practitioner, they see money coming in, they're gonna want to reciprocate and they're gonna start sending you business. That's how you grow a successful personal training business. I talk a lot about it a ton in my book. We have live calls daily for mentorship. Don't be wasting $5,000 on a mentor or business coach who sit in front of a freaking Ferrari with a shirt off. Don't waste your money on that, especially if they say bro or yo. You are a business professional. You need to find other professionals so you can complement one another. The bigger your team grows, the more success you will have. I guarantee it. Reach out to 50 online. If you're gonna go this route, even if you did 10, that's $2,500. You may be shitting your package. That's a lot of money. One person signs up for one of your packages, you are set because you're a great trainer and this is gonna turn into another package. So if you keep that client for years, fast forward three years from now, you made $30,000, $40,000 off of that initial investment. Here at our gym in Santa Monica, we have numerous clients that have invested over $40,000 over three to four years of personal training. It was from that initial investment that we took to reach out to chiropractors, massage therapists, doctors of physical therapy, concierge, physicians. When you look at your area like Monopoly, where can I find like-minded professionals that are charging what I want to charge or what I currently charge? Be mindful if you found a professional like a chiro or a therapist who's charging less than you that might rub them the wrong way. I always like to educate that professional on what this career looks like because I'm different. I'm sure you're aware the average trainer reads a textbook and they don't really know what they're doing. They can't even tell you the 17 muscles around the shoulder. You went to school, you're a doc. You know what you're doing. You got to give them compliments. But it's like a little commercial. Let them know you're different because, in their mind, they're thinking about you as dodgeball. Nobody makes me drink my own blood or bleed my own blood, Ben Stiller, funny comedy. The profession of a trainer is looked down upon

Look Like A Pro And Scale

SPEAKER_00 10:18

because of what the average person does. They read a book, they go online, they post selfies. They're not professional. This chiropractor, physical therapist, whoever it is, they went through schooling. They are a professional. You need to show them that you are as well. Dress the part, make sure your breath doesn't smell like shit. Nice handshake. Treat them. Bring the entire staff coffee when you come in for that assessment. Wine and dine them because they're gonna see this as a fruitful working relationship, which it will be. I know you're a great trainer. So if you play the odds looking at this monopoly board, so let's do some math here. You got five out of 10, $1,250 that you invested, which is the write-off as well. But if you had five people sign up for that, $0,000 times five, that's over $30,000. That is a significant ROI. That's how you build a business. And here's the kicker: you don't have to keep on doing this because you have that steady stream of referrals coming in. And then every month, take the kairos out. Thank you very much for sending me your business. You just want to have a little social event, see what's going on, where you're struggling. That is a business growth mindset. One of these kairos may want to leave their practice because they're working for someone else and they want to start one with you. Holy moly, now you're opening up gyms. You leave that independent spot, you leave Equinox or Lifetime, whatever it is, because you are being proactive outside of that brand. Success in this industry, there's no cap. I know you kids like saying that today, but there really isn't. If you want to make $200,000, you absolutely can. 1% of trainers make more than $100,000. It's because they have that scarcity mindset. They're victims, but they also read a textbook. They didn't have any business acumen that was taught to them. They don't have the people skills. They're very narrow minded. So when you think like this, the sky is the limit, and I know you can do it. Just remember one thing big biceps are better than small ones. It keeps showing up.