You’re Fired
This is a very controversial subject. I’m sure there will be plenty of people out there who disagree with me, but I’m OK with that. To some, this idea seems like business suicide, but to me it just plain makes sense.
You’re fired—two words that every trainer or coach should learn and not be afraid to use with their clients. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should use those exact words, as there are many far more user-friendly ways to say it, but the basic idea is summed up pretty easily there: firing your clients.
The Client
I’m sure every trainer had at least one client who routinely showed up late or canceled sessions with little to no notice, always gave a sub-par effort, or didn’t seem to want to learn or work hard. If you haven’t, I want to see what kind of population you’re working with. By this point, you may have picked up on where I’m going with this. If you have a client, or clients, who just aren’t working, it’s time to send them a pink slip.
Now don’t get me wrong. This isn’t an excuse to throw around with any client who has a bad day. In fact, it couldn’t be further from that. Everyone has an off-day, and if you have a client who comes in, has a bad day, and still gives you a solid effort, that’s the type of client you want. I’m talking about the clients who always seem to have an excuse. I’m talking about the clients who fight you tooth and nail the whole time you train them. I’m talking about the clients who seem to feel that their time is more valuable than yours. Even still, those kinds of people should be given your best efforts to get them results. As a trainer, it is your responsibility to exhaust every option to motivate and drive your clients. This is especially true with these people. However, once you have tried everything and they’re still giving you excuses and not putting in the work or still eating nothing but junk, it may be time to have the talk.
The Solution
From a business point of view, the idea of willingly turning away a client seems insane to some people. Not to me. The way I see it training with me is a privilege, not a right. Simply having the money to pay for a session doesn’t secure you the chance to train with me. I’m not saying that I’m the best trainer in the world, but I’ve put tremendous amounts of time, effort, and money into being the trainer I am and I don’t see the point in wasting my time with someone who is lazy when there is someone else out there motivated to work and dedicated to getting better who I could be working with. There are lots of trainers out there who are happy to play the part of the babysitter for these types of clients. Me? I’d rather work with someone who wants results.
This may be a tactic you want to consider employing with your clientele. If you regularly deal with people who believe the job of a trainer is to babysit, talk and count reps, it might be time to draw a line in the sand. Put your clients and athletes to the test. If they are lazy and always quit no matter what you try or just generally don’t seem interested in making the changes they need in order to reach their goals, give them a final chance to prove that they want to work with you. If they’re still coming up short, it’s time to kick them to the curb and make room for the people who actually value your time.
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Christopher Smith is a strength coach and ACSM certified personal trainer from New York City. He is the founder of Train Better Fitness. In addition, he is a record setting powerlifter and an overall health and fitness fanatic. Contact him at www.trainbetterfitness.com or at Chris@Trainbetterfitness.com. 
The same concept applies in all types of businesses. You need to know who your target market is and what you want to be known for. You can’t be everything to everybody.
My athletes never give me piss poor excuses and weak efforts. My fat loss clientele has a couple bad apples. One gentlemen is always late and won’t diet even though he is obese. However, he couldn’t even tie his own shoe when I first met him, now he can do full range of motion KB swings. He always pays his bills.
A couple women I train are bags full of excuses and drama. The one I am on the verge of firing threatened to quit training. I almost smiled because she is the most needy, emotional, and irrational woman I have ever met. I could’ve cared less. She is very ungrateful and doesn’t pay enough money for me to put up with her childish bullshit. I think it is fair to say I would like to beat her with a dragon door KB. #thereisareasonyouarestillfat
I’ve been a trainer for two years now and I can honestly say that when I started training I didn’t feel I had the luxury to fire my clients no matter how bad they were. I had to pay the bills! Over time and very rapidly my self worth as a trainer grew, though. My ever-increasing confidence in my ability to get results made my disdain for the bad clients concomitantly grow.
I realized that in order to thrive in the business you had to find the good clients. Those are the ones that are dependable and make it a pleasure to come to work. They also make me look good through their dedication and hard work so it’s a win win.
Plus, by being selective and occasionally firing bad apples you send a signal to potential clients that it’s not all about the money to you. It’s about your passion for results. What better way to attract new business then to send such a signal?
Agreed.
Great article…very short and to the point. Think of it this way, a bad client will never give you a great referral…simply because you will never be able to deliver the results to a horse who won’t drink…and as we all know, a great referral is the best form of marketing you can ever have. It might pinch pockets on the front end, but it always pays off down the road.
Overall…extremely good advice.
Very well put. I’ve had to do this on a couple of occasions and when I first started training, I didn’t think I could afford to do such a thing. However, the decrease in stress and frustration alone will ALWAYS be worth it, and because your ability to perform your job at your best is dependent on your job satisfaction, firing clients is sometimes the only way to give your best to the ones who truly want you there to help them reach their goals.
I just “fired” a client, she can back crying for me to train her again. Now no problems with her at all. so yes this does work
Agreed. Although Im in that “just starting so Ill take what I can get boat” but I have at least 1 client that Im ready to boot out. Then again if theyre paying me to do nothing then I guess Ill take it for now.
I like this statement of reality!
In my consulting work, I fire clients, and I also turn down a LOT of business. If you are in demand, it’s better to not be working and have that time available for a productive, rewarding client than to be wasting it with someone who is going to emotionally drag you down and waste your time.
J.Ja
The time you spend on some clients is time stolen from profitable clients. It’s a real skill to learn when to fire them.
Great article.
Thanks everyone. I’m glad that you enjoyed the article and found it valuable.