How To Keep Long Standing Clients Happy

Long term clients can be a problem - yes clients you may have had coming once or twice a week for a year or more can be a challenge; both to your motivation and creativity.

New clients are easy - a blank page on which to write your brilliant programme, professionalism and charm. However, your regular clients have been exposed to your brilliance for quite a while now - so you need to consider how to keep them happy. Nothing speaks of success like being able to quote clients you have helped consistently for a considerable time. New clients love to hear these stories and these seasoned clients often write wonderful testimonials, if you ask them to. These personalised recommendations are a great marketing tool.

So how do we do it?

It's a two pronged question:

1. How do we keep the client happy?
2. How do we keep yourself happy?

The second part is probably more challenging than the first. After all you must be doing something right to keep them coming. You may be taking for granted some specific technique or approach you have that is encouraging to your clients. It would be very useful if you could define this for marketing purposes.

Ask your clients directly what it is they most enjoy about your sessions. However first you need to understand what it is you are trying to achieve once you have the information.

• Are you going to use the data to promote your classes, courses or centre?
• Is this purely a fact finding mission, to see what comes up?
• Are you trying to find out which areas of your sessions are most effective?

Then of course you need to use the information to benefit you and your clients. It may be that what you thought was your biggest USP (unique selling point) is not.

Finding out what clients want is sometimes surprising. It can often conflict with what you know (or think you know) they need. On the whole people buy or respond to what they want.

Probably the biggest frustration for me as a Pilates teacher of teachers is when I hear someone say they are concerned that their clients will get bored, this is the reason so many teachers, not just Pilates teachers are constantly seeking new movements, programmes, exercises etc., etc.,.

The Pilates technique is so diverse that teachers have many options to choose from when it comes to deciding on the approach he or she is going to take. The "problem" of keeping a long term client both motivated as well as happy to return one or more times a week will depend on the character of both the teacher and the client as much as the content of the sessions.

Personalities

We cannot underestimate the value of the client/teacher relationship. Whether it is natural for you to engage easily on a personal level with a client or you prefer a more distant approach is an individual choice, connected to your teaching style.

When I say "distant" its not meant in negative terms - I was going to use the word professional, but I do not consider those teachers who easily connect on a more casual level with clients to be necessarily less professional than those who do not.

If you keep your clients for a long time - there must be some element of enjoyment in the Pilates sessions with you that is significant. I think anyone would struggle to maintain a relationship with someone if fundamentally they did not like them.

Qualifications

My experience about how clients view teaching qualifications is, if they are happy with the results and the time they spend with their teacher the question of qualifications is rarely broached.

I have experience of Pilates teachers with limited Pilates qualifications who are doing very well. They are usually teaching to a specific group of people - generally beginners, or they live in a small village where they are the only Pilates teacher, so they are fulfilling a need of the local area. The issue here is they will be limited in their ability to help clients progress beyond their scope. These teachers with less than full Pilates training are, in my opinion the ones who eventually feel frustrated or bored with Pilates due to their lack of exposure to the many elements of the technique.

To promote yourself as a Pilates teacher with confidence it is necessary to have a fully comprehensive training. Once that is achieved the decision about how you help clients and develop a business starts there.

It has become acceptable, for Pilates teachers to make a conscious choice to teach only mat work. In some cases this is due to the lack of availability of equipment suppliers or manufacturers or teachers do not see the potential of opening a dedicated studio, they may have family commitments and starting a new business is not on their agenda.

Class Design & Presentation

Of course this element of why clients keep coming back is essential to consider, but once again it can be quite personal. When I taught aerobics and step, my class members loved knowing the choreography well, being able to "go for it" on automatic pilot - in fact they told me when I changed the choreography they didn't like it much because they had to think!

Pilates is quite different - although routine is one of the principles, teaching exactly the same series of movements in the same order suggesting the same results will become tired and uninteresting over time.

I have heard people, some teachers included state that Pilates has a limited repertoire, they struggle to make changes, they look for new exercises all the time. Creativity in class design is so much more than changing the exercises, or trying continually to introduce new moves.

How you cue each movement can change the client's perception every time. Changing the breathing pattern will change the effect of the movement. The trick is to keep the client engaged in the process. I am a believer in giving responsibility to the client. The reaction I get from student Pilates teachers when I suggest a change in breath, position or intention of a movement can be quite shocking to me at times.

My feeling is that if Pilates teachers only view an exercise in a certain way to achieve a particular result, of course Pilates repertoire will seem limiting.

Here is an example that I hope will clarify my position.

Spine Twist

Generally speaking Spine Twist is considered to be an exercise that will improve the ability to rotate, mobilising the thoracic spine and enhancing shoulder stability. There are several considerations when performing an effective Spine Twist:

• Keeping both sitz bones on the floor
• Engaging the deep abdominals before movement
• Placement of the legs, arms and shoulder blades
• Lengthening the spine during the rotational movement
• Maintaining good placement of the neck and head at all times
• The breathing pattern
• Keeping the disassociation between upper and lower body

All of these considerations need to be taken into account each time the movement is performed. As the teacher guiding quality of movement with verbal cues together with visualisations or hands on correction as necessary; you can choose to focus on a specific section instead of listing all the consideration needed. This kind of bullet point cueing simply washes over clients, it may even confuse them as to the purpose of an exercise.

In your position as class facilitator you can take the focus away from mobility of the spine, which will take place by default and put the emphasis on the disassociation between the upper and lower body.

Now the areas that takes the participant's attention are the hips, legs, abdominals and lumbar spine. The cues that will be effective are about:

• Equal weight distribution between the two sitz bones
• Relaxed legs - whatever the position they are placed in
• The connection to the deep abdominals
• A sense of increased amplitude within the hip sockets
• Awareness of the lengthening of the lumbar spine
  

The breathe can change from exhaling to rotate, if that is your usually cue. This attention to the lightness in the hip sockets, the opening of the hip joints, responds to an inhale when rotating. The inhalation as the movement progresses with naturally give a sense of length to the movement as the ribs lift slightly, then exhaling to return to the centre will focus on maintaining the length created in the spine.

As the number of repetitions increase you will encourage the class or personal training client to notice the feeling of the upper body literally spiraling, floating away from the lower body. Their intention will be to create a light space around the hips and low back, which generally helps them improve their rotational ability without mentioning it. By the way this disassociation is exactly what a golfer needs during the golf swing.

The Spine Twist taught in this way could lead a person to think it is something quite different from thoracic mobility alone.

In closing I would say congratulations for keeping your clients for a year or more, I know how challenging it can be seeing them every week sometimes two or three times. Maintaining an even mood even when they don't is a big enough achievement. Don't lose your spirit.

If you have any specific questions relating to this piece don't hesitate to email me at info@thepilatesconsultant.com. As usual your comments are always welcome.

Nuala

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