When you first start working with a new client for in person session, one of the first touch points you will have with the client (after sales and onboarding) will be the initial consultation. This will be slightly different for online clients as the consultation will likely be done via online consultation form and PARQ. This blog will be about consultations with in-person clients.
A large number of PT’s underestimate how important the initial consultation is with the client. This is extremely important for several reasons, the three of the main being:
· Health screening & informed consent
· Building rapport
· Programming information
Firstly, lets cover health screening and informed consent. As a health professional, one of the trainer’s main tasks is to ensure that it will be safe for the trainer to work with the client, or if the client will need to be referred to another professional such as a doctor before they are deemed safe to train. This is needless to say very important for the safety of the client as well as the professional practice of the PT. This initial health screening is normally performed via PARQ. If the PT is working within a commercial gym, it is likely the client filled out in the onboarding process, however if the client is a private client to the PT, then the trainer will have to take the client through this and have PARQ forms as part of their own business. Informed consent can be verbal or a written document and involves the trainer fully explaining to the client what is going to happen and the client agreeing to all the steps. Some gyms will have written documentation of this, for example Nuffield Health as their Health MOT consultations involve taking blood for glucose and cholesterol measurements. Informed consent is important for legal reasons, as well as can be an important step in making a nervous client feel more comfortable, if you fully explain to a nervous client what is going to happen and give them full opportunity to ask questions, it can help to relax them as opposed to something being sudden and invasive.
The next point is building rapport with the client. This is something that cannot be underestimated in its importance as there is a real truth to the term people buy from people. In this industry, there are a large number of personal trainers who have the same qualifications as you, and some of them will work in the same gym as you, so why would the client pick to work with you rather than the others? Well there are a number of reasons, including extra CPD qualifications and availability, however if those points are not a priority (such as a pregnant client needing to work with a PPN qualified trainer), then it will likely come down to the person and whether they like and trust you as a trainer. The initial consultation is normally the first real touch point the trainer has with this new client after maybe a 5 minute chat in the gym or even something that has contacted you online, so this consultation will be your first real opportunity to start building rapport with the client. If the client likes, trusts and respects you, then they will be more likely to not only buy PT from you, but retain your services long term. I have personally both seen and experienced a client coming for a consultation and changing their mind about PT with you and telling you that they cannot afford it or something, and then two weeks later you see them getting trained by one of the other PT’s in the gym. It is important that this is not taken personally, as the client has full right to spend their money how they want, and it is probable that they just felt like they got on better with the other PT, or that they trusted them more with their journey. This can happen, and as a business owner, you need to learn from this and try and lower the likelihood of it happening by adjusting yourself to match the client that you have in front of you. There is an old saying, “there is no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher” although there will be exceptions to this rule, it stands with PT as well. As a trainer/coach/instructor, you must build rapport with the client and to do this, you must match their energy/personality type and show that you can coach them the way that they want to be. The consultation is a great place to start this process, by being professional and thorough, while also being friendly, the client needs to know you are taking them seriously and their business and goals are important to you, as well as knowing they will get on with you (as you will possibly be spending hours with them throughout the week for months).
The last of the above points is programming information. On this subject, we could easily write enough to fill a book, but I will keep it as succinct as possible. In order to prescribe the correct programming for your client in order to meet their goals and needs, including training and recovery days, training split, exercise selection, exercise order, volume, intensity, rest times, nutrition, etc, the trainer has to discover as much about the client as possible in the consultation process. There are many points to cover here, however I shall pick some of the most important ones. Firstly, what are the client’s goals? This will dictate a large portion of the above, and it all needs to match in order to meet these goals in the allocated time. Is one of your client’s goals hypertrophy in a 6 month window, then what training split will suit them best, what intensity, reps/sets and rest time (according to the resistance pyramid) will be best, how many days training vs recovery, nutrition, what would be the best type of CV for them to do, and would there be a best time of day? Another point to discover would be the client’s preferences, and I personally cannot highlight enough how important this is. You could prescribe the best programming in the world to meet the client’s goals, but if they do not enjoy it, it will be very difficult to keep their adherence up, especially long term. The next point I will cover is the client’s barriers, and these can be actual or perceived. Actual barriers are things that the client cannot change, for example if the client works different shift patterns, it will be near impossible to train at the same time every day. Perceived barriers are ones that can be changed, normally over time, such as the client feeling scared about going to the gym. While this is a real thing, it is something that most gym goers feel to different extent when they first start and over time goes away as the client makes friends in the gym, gets comfortable training, and with the equipment etc. As a health professional, and to help build rapport, it is important as a trainer to never dismiss any of the client’s barriers as silly or not important, as for the client these will feel very real and for you to dismiss the barrier, then it not only damages the rapport between you, but may also enforce the client’s negative perception of the gym. Another point would be health and fitness assessments including things like weight, BMI, measurements, resting heart rate, mobility tests, etc. These can be useful for a few reasons, one to get a starting point for the client on their journey, that can be used as a measuring point throughout (normally month to month) to monitor the client’s progress, as well as be used as a motivational tool if the client improves each month, and a potential reality check for either the client or trainer if the client is not making progress. Also, assessments for things like 1 rep max (1RM) can be done with experienced gym goers to properly gauge the load to prescribe them in their programming (NB: I would advise against this with a beginner or even an intermediate lifter as the risk/reward may be too high, and something like a 10 rep max would give very similar results and be a lot safer for the client). Assessments can also be done for mobility and posture, and this can be extremely important to highlight any imbalances, weaknesses or structural issues the client may have, as these would likely need to be addressed first before any serious load is prescribed to the client, as the saying goes “you can’t build a house on a bad foundation”. If you have a client with postural issues or imbalances, then the chance of injury increases exponentially when load is introduced, and if this happens then the client will not only likely have to take time away from training, meaning a likely delay in their goals (and loss of income for your business), but there is also a chance the client will not come back as they may get depressed, fall out of the habit, lose trust in the trainer, and many other things (including potential long term injury) leading to them not coming back to their sessions or the gym.
These are just three of the reasons it is very important to perform an initial consultation with every in-person client. For online client’s this process is also important for the same points, however things like mobility assessments and others may not be possible to conduct, but the trainers onboarding process for online clients must include some form of consultation and be as thorough as possible for all the above reasons and more.
Remember, the client is paying you a considerable amount of money to look after their health, wellbeing and fitness, and if they do not feel like you are taking care of their needs, they will leave your business. Use tools like proper consultations to give the client a brilliant customised experience, and they will not only be more likely to invest their money, but do so over time as well.