Working as a personal fitness trainer means understanding how to manage your client relationships in a way that helps you achieve your business goals. Client relationships are critical as they determine whether your business succeeds or fails. At the heart of that relationship is the personal training contract. This is the agreement that defines the relationship between your business and your clients.
Neglecting to do a client contract or not paying attention to the details of the contract can have a devastating effect on your business. In this article, we are going to look at the importance of client contracts and how to go about writing one.
Why Personal Training Contracts Matter
Putting together a training contract helps to define the relationship that your business has with its contract. While there is a standard format that one can use for client contracts, there will be changes to every contract as the goals and needs of each client are different. Having a client contract helps you and the client understand what to expect from each other. This in turn reduces any possibility of grey areas.
By removing ambiguities in the dynamic between you and the client, there is minimal chance of disagreements as the relationship is clearly defined. Putting together a client contract at the start of the relationship with the client also helps you to know exactly what the client wants and this makes it easy for you to formulate an action plan.
Client contracts also make it easy for you, as the trainer, to review the engagement with the client and determine if you were able to meet the client’s expectations. This in turn helps you to learn and constantly improve, making it likely that your business will grow. Ultimately, well-drawn-out contracts make it easier to meet your client’s expectations and this in turn creates happy clients who will help you sell your business to their friends and relatives.
Basic Contract Terms
When drawing out a client contract, it helps to comprehend some of the terminologies that are used. For example, you may encounter terms such as offer which means the proposal to enter into the contract made by one party to the other. Acceptance on the other hand refers to the willingness of both parties to agree.
Another term that you are likely to see is consideration which means the deliverable (or value) that each party is bringing to the contract. In this case, this would refer to the expertise that you are bringing into the agreement as a personal fitness trainer. For the client, the monetary value that they undertake for these services is their consideration.
The important thing to know is that despite the legal language, you must be sure that the letter and spirit of the contract are clear to you and the client. If the contract creates grey areas in the agreement, then it fails to serve its purpose.
Essential Elements of A Client Contract
Parties Involved
This refers to the people involved in the contract. In most cases, this is going to be between you as the personal trainer and the client. However, if the client is part of an entity (for example if an organization is paying for personal fitness training for an individual as might be the case for athletes) then the other party might be an organization as opposed to an individual. The key thing to note here is that all parties involved must have the legal capacity to enter into the contract.
Scope
This means that the contract must define the specific services or deliverables that are expected from both parties. In this case, the contract must clearly define what is expected from you as the personal trainer and this could include personal training sessions, counseling, nutrition advice, and so on.
On the other end, the contract must define the monetary compensation that the client is expected to bring and this must be broken down to show how this is expected to be paid throughout the agreement. The contract must also state the methods that are to be used to make this payment.
Other Elements
Your contract should include other elements such as indemnification which clearly states each party’s responsibilities when it comes to damages and injuries. It may also need to include a confidentiality clause that helps to protect the client’s private information (such as medical conditions or other private information that you, as the trainer, may be privy to in the course of the fitness program. It is also useful to include a termination clause which helps to define how both parties can terminate the contract.
Although you don’t need to be a lawyer to draw up a client contract, it might be a good idea to get professional help when drawing up your standard agreement. This is because lawyers are trained to spot legal loopholes that may end up creating legal problems for you down the road.
Whether you draw up the contract yourself or seek legal help, it helps to understand the basics of client contracts. As a personal trainer, the importance of contracts and other business skills cannot be understated. This is why you are sure to learn these skills at NPTI Florida where we offer top-notch personal fitness training education.
If you have any inquiries about our personal fitness training courses, feel free to contact us today.
