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Customer journey
Natasha Furian at the workout network
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Understanding the Customer Journey

Title: Understanding the Customer Journey and how your clients find you can help build a plan for how more can find you. 

Introduction
Have you ever considered how your clients found you? In the competitive industry of personal training, recognising the customer journey can be a valuable way to create a competitive advantage. 

How is it people find you? How can you use that information in combination with the traditional customer journey? What can you do with that information to attract and retain your clients. 

Awareness
The awareness phase is where a potential client realises that they have an issue. However, at this stage, that individual might not recognise how best to solve their problem or even what they are looking for. 

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is the world’s leading professional body for marketing. Their recommendation during this phase is to deliver educational information on the issue that your client is facing, suggesting possible solutions that could be beneficial.

The types of educational content that might be useful to people can include ‘How To’ guides, e-books, Videos, Blog posts, and newsletters. Understanding your client’s problem and the pain points that they’re facing is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and build trust.

Channel selection can also be important during this process; you want to create and publish your information so that it can be found by the right person. An obvious starting point is to consider your social media platforms: is Instagram or LinkedIn most appropriate for your target market? Do your clients engage with content like yours on their social media or is it important to make them easily discoverable on search engines? Could paid ads help you get in front of the right client? Last month’s newsletter touched on the idea of reengaging clients who have previously purchased through more personal communication channels like email or telephone. 

 

As a working example of this, one of the biggest problems that PTs are facing is the added cost on our product from gym rental or commission-only structures. This is something that we are seeking to address at TWN. Therefore, the information that we produce is to highlight a new business practice for trainers to get a fairer deal. We highlight this position to solve an issue that we feel is challenging to all personal trainers and a risk to how we can best perform and run a business. Our aim has been to communicate this clearly on our social media channels (feedback welcome) and make sure that we are discoverable through appropriate keywords on search engines, whilst simultaneously using advertising so that new trainers can find us, through channels that we believe are most effective. 

 

Central to our digital presence are the 4 Ps:
 

Product – low cost, flexible booking, private personal training studio for hire.

 

Place – we rank highest on search engines in our most accurate location, Monument. However, we also try to make ourselves visible in the surrounding City of London, Bank and Fenchurch Street. 

 

Price – transparency is crucial to us, so saying were a low-cost option without providing details seems disingenuous. We clearly state how much it costs (from £18 by the way). 

Promotion – new trainers will have a first free trial session, to ensure this studio is right for them and their business so that no one commits to something that is not right for them. We also advertise through Meta & Google.

 

Understanding the awareness phase really is crucial to the success of your business. Without understanding your client’s problem, and helping them solve it by positioning your content, website, and product in a manner that is easily accessible to them you will not manage to become part of the next phase, consideration. 
 

Consideration
By this point your potential clients will have done enough research to understand their problem. Next the client begins the process of evaluating the solutions. Now it is particularly important to understand the competitive landscape and how you create a differentiated solution.

One way to do this could be to highlight customer success stories and how you have helped people in similar positions. This gives potential clients a clear understanding that you’re competent in resolving the issue that they’re facing, whilst giving customers insight into what they can expect from your service. With information about you, your service, and your competency they can create a clear image of what to expect. Having more information at this point can help them progress to decision-making. 


Decision stage
Assuming that you have provided all the necessary information about yourself and the work you do on websites, social media or other effective communication channels, it’s now important to send out a call to action to any potential client, ideally highlighting a low barrier to entry.

 

Ensuring a low barrier to entry is pivotal, particularly when clients are making high-involvement purchases, whether in terms of time or cost. Generally, personal training is such a commitment. It's crucial to counteract the inclination to walk away and say “no”. By instituting a low entry point, such as offering a complimentary sample session, the aim is to transform the default response into a "yes." 

 

At The Workout Network, providing a free personal training session serves as an effective strategy. Trainers are able to assess whether we are right for them and the session offers a tangible preview of our services. 

Retention
We can often get swept into the notion that marketing is about new business. New client acquisition is 6 times more expensive than retention, so one of the most important considerations in “marketing” to your clients is to never forget the importance of the people already integrated with your service, current and former clients alike. 

How you do that is down to you, and maybe can be done in you session time. Maybe it’s checking in with clients between sessions to help them hit agreed targets. Maybe it’s a newsletter or providing extra digital content. Whatever it is, you are the secret sauce, it is what you do with your clients that binds them to your service and hopefully progresses them to the next phase. 


Loyalty

The pinnacle of the customer journey is loyalty. Personal trainers who consistently deliver results, adapt to evolving client needs, and provide a unique and enjoyable experience cultivate loyalty. Loyal clients not only stay with you for the long haul but also become your brand ambassadors, attracting new leads through their success stories and recommendations.

Having a clear understanding of the customer journey allows you to think strategically and puts you in the shoes of the consumer. By consciously navigating each stage – from creating awareness to fostering loyalty – personal trainers can not only retain clients but also attract new leads organically.


If TWN can help you with looking for your personal training business in the City please reach out below. It is always wonderful to hear your feedback, so if you have any general questions, criticisms, or suggestions please let me know. 

 

Remember your Customer Journey checklist:
Understand your clients pain points.
Provide them with information that can help them to improve their situation. 

Are you communicating your product on a channel that they use? 
Are you search engine optimised?

And don’t forget your current clients!

meet the staff
Contact

The Workout Network - Exercise and personal training in England, City of London, Bank Call: 07867470454

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