Meet the Client Where They Need to be Met

Having spoke with numerous club chains around the world, it is no secret that one of the primary reasons people leave a gym or stop training with a Fitness Professional is they feel that 'their needs weren't met." In other words, they didn't get the service that best matched who they were, what they wanted and how they wanted it.


Over the years, PTA Global has had the distinct pleasure of learning from and sharing with industry expert, phenomenal trainer and good friend, Annette Lang. Annette's experience and understanding of our industry has laid a solid foundation for how PTA Global views and addresses the industry as whole. She has, on more than one occasion, stated that we as an industry need to "meet the client where they need to be met."

Annette Lang

If you want to succeed ethically, morally and/or financially in this industry, this is the philosophy that will get you there. If you are able to meet the client at their level, on their terms and with what they are asking for, you will succeed - period! Now that we got that out of the way, the trick is doing it.


As we discussed in our initial post, a "Leader in Professional Fitness Development" means that we are here to 'serve others by providing guidance and a means to derive performance driven solutions for the challenges they face.' Performance driven solutions don't happen by chance. If they are to be reproducible and consistent, they will require some form of structured guidance or what we call "structured freedom."


Meeting someone where they are right now in their life and matching their experience with us to that place, requires knowledge, skill and application. Furthermore, it necessitates that we 'know' them at a sub-superficial level. How does this happen, you ask? You just did it! You ask! We must ask questions that allow them to volunteer the necessary information. 


Be careful now... it's not just about asking questions. It's about asking the right question AND THEN responding correctly.


Enter PTA Global's Program Design Questionnaire (PDQ) found in the PTA Global Personal Training Certification Course and the PTA Global Bridging Course. Masterminded by PTA Global Co-founder Bobby Cappuccio and built with the support of decades of research, the PDQ was specifically developed to provide a simple, reproducible process for structuring and delivering a high degree of intimate communication between us and potential clients. 


The brilliance of the PDQ lies in its ability to practically and concisely allow you to use proven Motivational Interviewing techniques with intelligently laid out open-ended questions and timely positioned confidence scales.

One of the main purposes of the PDQ is to provide us with the ability to immediately establish trust and rapport with a client or potential client. It does this by showing us how to systematically walk someone through a series of questions that reveal their goal, preferred style of training, level of ability and the motivation behind their goal.

Two immensely important aspects of the PDQ that are highlighted above - the person's 'style of training' and their 'motivation' - are specifically mapped to the industry's needs and the philosophy of "meet the client where they need to be met." By asking the client "how" they would prefer to train and "why" they are here to train will provide an overwhelming abundance of personalized client-centered treasures. 

When used, you will successfully provide the client with the experience they were looking for and in a way that specifically matched how they wanted it done. Or, simply put you were able to "meet the client where they needed to be met."

In less than 10 minutes this proven performance driven solution can remove one of the top reasons why someone would leave your club or stop training with you. Not convinced...

Here is a quote from Marco Ferdinandi, Regional Director of Fitness Operations for Pure Fitness in Hong Kong & Singapore:

"Going beyond just our education needs, PTA Global has been a major influence in our operating procedures, training philosophy, sales process and member interaction.  We rolled out our first PTA Global courses in 2009 and since then have consistently seen our key metrics improve.  Our penetration rates at point of sale are up 20 percentage points in that time, our active client penetration is above 30%, and our revenues directly from Personal Training are up 20% each year and continue to grow.   

Our Personal Trainers have seen their productivity improve as well.   The average Personal Trainer is training over 30 sessions per week and working with 35 – 40 clients in any given month.   Regardless of their experience and level, our team is able to deliver a consistently excellent member experience with PTA Global’s systems in place.   For example, by implementing a simple visual presentation built on PTA Global science, our new club opening team in Singapore was able to convert 50% of the new members we met with into personal training clients during our presale."

Thank you Annette Lang for your authenticity. Thank you Bobby Cappuccio for your brilliance... and thank you Pure Fitness for your belief.

Got 10 minutes... Make it happen!