Now is the time to be running a nutrition challenge. People are excited to lose weight and are seeking guidance to do so. 

The problem is most people stop making nutrition a priority and go back to old habits at the end of a nutrition challenge. 

It shouldn’t have to be that way. Gym owners should feel confident helping their members with nutrition all year round, not just during a challenge. 

Have you run a nutrition challenge and wondered why very few people, if any, signed up for ongoing coaching after the challenge was over? The reason is that you are missing one vital piece of the puzzle. 

At Healthy Steps Nutrition, we have helped over 650+ gyms to launch nutrition challenges, many have run multiple over the years. I have spoken at the CrossFit Games, TwoBrain Summit, Wodapalooza, and written articles in the CrossFit journal on this vary topic. 

The problem most gyms make when launching nutrition challenges is that they do not create a clear client journey after the challenge is over. 

They talk about all these amazing results clients will see during the challenge and wait until after the challenge is over to discuss what happens next.

If you don’t build yourself into your client’s plan, they will not understand how you can help them. 

Over 80 percent of people will regain the weight they worked so hard to lose without the accountability and support of nutrition coaching. By creating a clear client journey and making it easy for someone to continue with ongoing coaching, you will be guiding clients to their next step. 

The real missing piece when running challenges is not scheduling individual meetings at the end of a nutrition challenge. Participants will line up at the end of a challenge to get their biometrics done one right after another. This makes it nearly impossible to truly help clients understand what their next step is. 

Instead, you need to set final biometric appointments with each challenge participant. Ideally, these are set at the beginning of the challenge. Treat these appointments like mini follow-up visits. Talk to clients about bright spots, their struggles, and their progress towards their short and long-term goals. Talk to them about the value of accountability and support to continue the awesome progress that they have made then guide them to an option that will continue to help them achieve their goals. 

If you aren’t scheduling individual appointments with your nutrition challenge participants to wrap up their challenge, you are missing the boat. 

Running a challenge right now? Ensure that you have a clear client journey after the challenge is over then reach out to all of your challenge participants and book them in for a final biometric meeting. 

For more information about running an effective nutrition challenge and increasing conversion to ongoing coaching after a challenge, check out episode #4 on the Grow Your Nutrition Business Podcast. Listen >> HERE!

Nicole Aucoin, MS, RD, LD/N

Founder, Healthy Steps Nutrition
Home of CrossFit HSN and HSN Mentoring
www.healthystepsnutrition.com
www.growyournutritionbusiness.com