Hey, it’s your boy Sam here with another great post for you. Today my good friend and guru to physical therapists Nitin “King Pin” Chhoda shows you “The Client Ascension Formula”. You definitely need to pay attention to this.

The biggest asset for a personal trainer is his list of prospects and present clients.

In addition to collecting ‘optins’ on your website in exchange for free reports, you can collect a list of ‘prospects’ with public speaking, postcard marketing to local communities and joint venture relationships with local businesses.

Building a list is important, especially for a referral based business like personal training.

It’s not the size of the list that’s important; it’s your relationship with the list, but more on that later.

It’s critical to avoid the temptation to focus all our time and energy trying to get new clients, when instead you should be focusing on increasing referrals from existing clients.

Once you can understand the different stages of your relationship lifecycle with a client, the whole process is demystified.

It’s important to understand the ‘progression’ of the client relationship; the ‘ascension ladder’.

When an individual shows interest in something you are giving away (a free report), they are automatically identify themselves as potential clients. Essentially, they are raising their hands and saying, “Yes, I’m interested, tell me more.”

Once a ‘stranger’ gives you some information on your website (an email, a phone number) or responds to your ad requesting a free report, they have already starting moving up the ascension ladder. This individual has already demonstrated some trust in your service and has recognized your expertise.

At this point, you should educate and empower the anonymous suspect, transforming him/her into a likely client i.e prospect.

Let’s define some of the stages in this ascension ladder.

A suspect can be transformed into a prospect in 3 different ways:

This is only possible when you have a high quality list that wants to hear from you. If a sufficient number of individuals in your list have moved up the ascension ladder, you will find that they want to hear from you, and are concerned when they don’t. This is a ‘true’ connection with your client list. On the other hand, if you have a list that doesn’t ‘miss’ hearing from you, then it’s likely that a majority of individuals have not yet moved up the ‘ascension ladder’ yet.

Focus all your efforts in moving clients up the ascension ladder as quickly as you can.

It’s the fastest way for you to grow your personal training business.

Nitin Chhoda PT, DPT is the world’s leading consultant for physical therapy business, dental marketing and chiropractic marketing and his book on “Marketing For Physical Therapy Clinics” ($39 value on amazon) can be downloaded for free at www.physicaltherapywebsite.com