Episode 305: How to Transition a Client To Another Team Member

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED, the podcast for female boutique fitness and wellness business owners. I’m your host, Christa Gurka, and today we’re diving into one of the toughest leadership challenges for studio and clinic owners: how to transition clients from your personal schedule to a new team member’s schedule—without losing trust, clients, or revenue.

If you’ve ever felt nervous about handing off your long-time Pilates clients, physical therapy patients, or yoga students to a new instructor, this episode is for you. We’ll unpack the real reasons this transition feels so uncomfortable (ego, perfectionism, people-pleasing, scarcity mindset), and I’ll walk you step-by-step through the process I used in my own business to successfully move off the schedule.

Inside this episode you’ll learn:

• Why keeping every client on your personal schedule leads to burnout and stunts your growth
• The mindset shift that reframes clients as belonging to the business—not just you
• How to position a new instructor or PT as an upgrade, not a downgrade
• Phrases and scripts that work (and the ones to avoid) when having the conversation
• The exact step-by-step process to transition clients smoothly and protect retention
• Creative ways to build trust in the handoff—like shadowing sessions, social media introductions, and check-ins
• How I personally transitioned more than 95% of my caseload off my schedule before selling my studio

🎁 Free Resource: Want my exact email script announcing my transition off the schedule? Grab it here → christagurka.com/clientletter

If you’re ready to stop being the bottleneck, reclaim your CEO time, and set your team up for success, this episode is a must-listen.

👉 Tune in now and let’s start building a business that thrives beyond just you.

Transcript

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies: 0:51

Hey there everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Female Empowered Podcast. I'm your host, Christa Gurka, and I'm just gonna apologize ahead of time. Most of you have heard my cough that I have forever and ever and ever, but today I don't know why. It's super tickly in my throat, so I'm just gonna apologize ahead of time for the. Coughing. I have some water, but I don't know what it will be. And I got a new webcam, so I'm super excited. If you haven't checked me out over on YouTube, just go to YouTube, search up Christa Gurka, and you can watch the videos if you'd like rather than listen to that. But today's episode is all about how to transition clients to a new team member, so. How to transition Pilates clients to a new Pilates instructor or physical therapy clients to a new PT, or, basically how you can move away from being, especially if you're one of the main providers in your business, to how you can make that transition, feel good for you, feel good for the client, and then ultimately be the best decision for the business as a whole. Right? So. We've all been through this, right? You've finally hired, A good person, a good instructor, a good pt. They're talented, they're energetic, they're ready to go. They're ready to take on clients. You know it's time to start to free up your schedule, which is why you hired this person in the first place, and now you have a slight problem. You are terrified of moving some of your favorite clients to someone else's schedule. I know the feeling this, this podcast episode came from an idea of a conversation we had in our membership group because people are having a hard time, whether that be in their head or in real life, transitioning people, especially if they're people that have been on your schedule for years on to someone else. But you know, it's really important to do for yourself and for your business. This is one of the most. Pivotal leadership skills you'll learn as a studio owner. As a clinic owner, okay? It protects your CEO time so that you can focus on growth, not just service delivery.'cause most of us got into this business, most of us, not everyone, but most of us did get into this business so we could eventually. Earn more money, working less hours. And the way to do that is to get away from being the main person, providing the service, providing the delivery. So it's time to let your team thrive because you know that a new hire can't grow with an empty schedule. Right. It also improves the client experience. Sometimes the best person to help people reach their goals is not you. It's another qualified member of your team. And if we go back to the math, I love a good. Analytic or formula or spreadsheet. The more clients your team serves, the more revenue you generate without increasing your personal workload. So the math is just when you start out, you might be the technician, the service provider. So the way you make money is you provide the service, you get money as your business starts to grow. You wanna move away from that as owner so that you're making money without providing the service. Other people are providing the service and the business is generating revenue. So why is this? So hard for us. Why is it so hard for us as owners? I get it. It's challenging. You've built these deep personal relationships with your clients. You worry that they'll push back, that they'll say, no, I only wanna work with you. That they won't work with someone else. You might even feel like an imposter. On behalf of your new hire, your worried. Maybe this new hire is relatively new to the industry too. So then that becomes an issue of do this, does this person have the right onboarding? maybe you've had a bad experience before transitioning people off your schedule. Then you've had to take'em back and you don't wanna go through this yo-yo back and forth again, but what is the actual truth? What is. The issue underneath the issue or the issue behind the issue because keeping every client on your personal schedule is the fastest way to burnout, and it will actually stunt the growth of your business. You are only one person if you expect your business to grow. You cannot continue to grow the business while carrying a full caseload or even sometimes a part-time caseload of 20 to 25 hours a week. That's a lot of teaching and doesn't leave you enough. Mental capacity, mental bandwidth to do the other things that are required to move your business forward. So let's think on A deeper level, what's really happening here? So one is it ego that we have as business owners and many of us do. The no one can do it better than me. No one is a better instructor than myself. No one is a better therapist than than I do for years. You have been your brand, you have been the reason people are coming, people book because of you. So there's a subconscious fear sometimes that. You know, clients will leave that if they're happy with someone else. What does that say about you? Right? There might be this unconscious fear, and I know on a superficial level, most of us would be like, no, no, no. That's not it at all. But it could be a little bit that whole, I don't wanna train somebody else to do it. No one else does it as good as me, is really a self-protective mechanism so that you don't have to take the time to transition other people or uplevel other people or empower other people. Most of us high achievers also tend to be people pleasers. and so we love helping others. We love making people happy. It's probably what got us to be really successful in the first place. The customer service levels and all of that stuff, but changing a client's schedule. To another instructor feels like you might be letting them down or inconveniencing them, and you don't like how that feels to you. Saying this is what's best for the business, and having to have that uncomfortable conversation feels selfish for you, even if it's in the client's best interest. Even if maybe this person is a better person to work with, a client than you are, right? We have this control and perfectionism, this belief that no one can serve our clients as well as we can, and the feeling of maybe this new person. will mess up the relationship that you've built with your client, right? We have this scarcity mindset sometimes that, if you make this decision and the person leaves, you won't be able to replace that client. And so you feel very indebted to them, especially people that have been with you from the beginning, right? But in the end, the truth is clients. Aren't yours to keep the same way. They're not your instructor's, clients or your PTs patients like they are the clients and the customers of the business as a whole to serve, not one specific individual. They are the clients, the customers, the loyal people of the business as a whole. So if you reframe the thing of they're not. Clients of mine to keep, they're the studio's clients to serve as a whole, and your job is to make sure that they're getting the best fit for their needs. Okay? And sometimes the best fit for their needs is not you as the owner. Okay. Before we dive into how you can make this transition, I just really want to talk about getting true with. The reason that, that feels hard for you. Okay., And going through like, what is the worst that happens? What is the worst that happens? That, that per the worst that could happen is that person decides to leave. And what evidence do you have that you can't? Replace that person with someone else. Okay. Maybe that opens up new opportunities for you to dive into more marketing or do some different kinds of strategies to get new people in the door that are going to be with you for years on end with the team that you have and not just with you at the helm providing all of these services. So. Let's dive into some of these processes. The best way to do it, the first off, is these are some things that you should avoid. Avoid asking instead of telling, so you wanna avoid. Would it be okay and be more? Declarative. So here's what's going to happen and I'm gonna give you some scripts at the end of this episode. A little bit about the best ways, and I even have a free download for you of ways that, actual scripts that I used when I did this in my business. Because at the end of when I sold Pilates in the Grove, I had been operating it for 15 plus years and I hadn't really had clients or classes on my schedule for at least. Six years. Okay. So the other thing is you don't want to necessarily over apologize. It makes it sound like a downgrade. So instead of being like, I'm so sorry this is happening, I'm so sorry. You can say things like. I recognize change is hard if they're like, oh, I don't know. or We really appreciate your loyalty and understanding, or if they're, or if the client is expressing some concern, you can say, no, I totally get that. But we don't wanna over apologize. We also don't wanna do it without some sort of Transfer. So a lot of the ways that I do it is I'll have the new instructor, new PT, shadow for one or two sessions and they get introduced to each other. They shadow, we're announcing them on our social media. We're talking about these new people in the, our emails and on our website. And so there's this kind of handoff that happens that makes the client and the new practitioner feel. Good and supported. And then I always recommend checking in after the first session. Like, check in with the client, the customer, and the instructor or the pt, and see how did that go? Maybe you pop in in the middle of a session, you reach out. So you're still letting the customer know, you're here, you wanna hear them. You're confident that this transition will. So let's talk now about the actual step by step transition, the step by step process of how you can make this happen. First, you're gonna decide how many people you need to get off of your schedule. So if you're seeing 20 clients and you wanna go, go down to 10, who are the people you're gonna transition off first and why? Then the second thing would be, How long that's gonna take. So are you gonna do it over a 90 day period? Are you gonna do it over a four month period? Are you gonna do it over a two week period? So just look at your schedule, figure out who you're gonna get off the schedule, who you're gonna transition, and what your schedule's gonna be like. So for example, maybe you currently teach four days a week and you wanna go down to only being on the schedule two days a week. We'll make that decision and figure out who the transition is going to be. Okay. So. The next thing, I said, we want to avoid asking, so we wanna avoid saying, would you be okay seeing our new instructor instead? You wanna say something you know, starting next month, I am no longer gonna be on the schedule Tuesdays and Thursdays, but Jamie, who. Is our new pt. I'm super excited to have her on staff. She's taking over all of my clients, and the good part is you don't have to change your time. You don't have to change your day. She's gonna be working with you. We're gonna transition for a couple weeks, but she's really incredible at our post rehab clients and so. You are talking as the authority, as this person is going to be the best for you. And so your clients are looking to you for guidance, so you wanna frame it as a benefit to them. So highlighting like they have more time on their schedule or they can allow you to keep the same day and time, or they have a special skill set, or if. Fresh perspective. So making it seem like a highlight, like an upgrade versus a downgrade. Okay. The other thing is you definitely wanna build the new PT or the new instructor's credibility. So you wanna start by, they have specialty. So for example, I am not A DPT, I am not a doctor of physical therapy. So when I would transition people to another pt, I'd be like, oh, they're. Actually a doctor of physical therapy and they're an orthopedic clinical specialist or they're a cardiac specialist or this Pilates instructor has actually been teaching for 20 years. She's someone I learned from and I'm really excited to give you the opportunity to work with her, to work with him. the other thing you can do, I recommend having these conversations in person. As much as possible versus over a text or a phone call, especially if this person has been with you for five years. I think you kind of, we kind of owe that to our customers, our clients. Right. So having this maybe at one of your sessions or at the end of a session, or. If you have to, maybe calling them, but I'd rather do it in a phone call than a text or an email. And maybe you create this like VIP transition experience. So maybe you talk to them about, you know, listen, Susie's gonna be taking over my Tuesday schedule. I'm no longer gonna be seeing clients on Tuesday, but you get to keep your same day and time and. I'm really excited for this transition. We're also gonna offer you the first two sessions on Suzy's schedule for free. I just wanna say thank you so much for your loyalty. I'm gonna continue to check in. Or the other thing is, you know, you could say, and as a benefit, Susie's rates are a little bit less than mine. Were as the owner. but you want to do this in a private situation. You don't wanna announce a public discount. So I recommend maybe a private discount, like, Hey, I know that this is a transition for you. I really, really appreciate your loyalty. I'm gonna. Give you 50% off your first two sessions. I wanna make sure that you're comfortable. I'm confident that you will be, but I wanna make sure that you're comfortable with it, right? Or you can say, you know, if in any, if you're unhappy for any reason, we'll go ahead and we'll refund that session for you. You wanna be so sure, like you wanna put yourself in the driver's seat in terms of how you're gonna make this happen and make them feel comfortable that this is. Actually in their best interest. You don't have to overexplain, you don't have to apologize, and you really just wanna own the decision, and make sure that the person that is taking over is, is also ready and willing and able and good to, have this transition be successful on everyone's part. Okay, so now we're gonna talk about, let's talk about like a few different ways you can handle this in terms of scripts. So, You can say things like, I'm really ex excited for you to start working with Jamie next month. She's amazing with our post rehab client. She's actually done a lot of specializations with total knee replacements, and she has a unique approach that I know that you will benefit from. I'll be checking in with you both after the first couple sessions, but I, I am confident you're really gonna love her. a schedule benefit. You can say things like, starting next week, I'm no longer gonna be on the schedule Tuesdays and Thursdays. And so you'll be able to work with Jamie still at your same time and you're actually gonna get a discount on your services. You're gonna be able to keep your consistent time slot, and she also specializes in mobility work, which I know has been one of your important goals. Okay, so. Another way we did this, especially when I was transitioning. Patients off of my schedule. I'd say things like, I'm gonna have you schedule your next several sessions with, Kelly, she actually is a myofascial specialist and I think that that's really gonna benefit you in your course of treatment. And that's how, we do things here or things like, I would do the evaluation and I say, so here at Pilates in the Grove. I do the evaluations and then I determine who the best practitioner is gonna be for you. And based on what I found in here, I'm gonna put you with, Jane, she really is the best person dealing with total knee replacements at this point, and I'm gonna make sure I tell her everything about your evaluation where you are. And she is the most skilled person to be working with you at this point. As you do this, you're gonna get better and better at doing it. And then in the back of your head, one of the things you really, really want to just keep remembering is that this is the best thing for you as the owner of the business, and this is the best thing for the business. So rather than. Being afraid of having the conversation'cause that's uncomfortable. I would rather you fight the discomfort of keeping all these people on your schedule and being burnt out for the next six months to a year, to two years. So it's for the betterment of the business, and this is what you signed up to do when you took on the role of being a business owner. You signed up and agreed to make the difficult decisions. And yes, this is one of the difficult decisions, but over my time at Pilates in the Grove, I was able to go from a relatively full schedule of 20-25 visits and classes a week down to. Less than two. I think I saw, I saw some, my professional athletes, which were sporadic, whether it was in season or outta season, and I saw maybe one or two physical therapy clients from time to time because I wanted to, and then I would just sub, I would cover for classes and stuff like that, but I was able to transition people that came specifically for me, people that I'd had on my schedule for 10 years onto someone else's schedule, because I had a great hiring process. I had a great onboarding process. My team was excellent at service delivery and I knew that this was the right thing to do for the business. I could no longer have everything. I could no longer run a business that was a seven figure business a year and see a caseload of clients. I, something had to give, and in my situation, that's what I decided it was that I was gonna come off the schedule. So when you get this process down. Right. You'll see that your new hire will have a. Full schedule sooner than later, you'll have more time to focus on things like marketing, leadership, overall business growth, which will continue to feed your people's schedules, right? You'll have less burnout. You'll have higher retention because clients actually feel cared for and that you have their best interest at heart. I can tell you I did this in my own business and we, not only did we keep 95% of clients that I transitioned off, but they became even more loyal to instructors even after I left and I sold Pilates in the Grove clients of mine that had been gone there for years because of me stayed and worked with other people. So it is doable. And if you keep thinking, you know, I would like to challenge you that if you have this belief, oh, it wouldn't work for me, I'm different. I would just invite you to challenge that thought process or that mindset a little bit and recognize that. Again, your, your job as a business owner is to make the right decisions for the business, and this is one of those right decisions. So I am someone and I always wanna provide you with the tools to make these business transitions as easy as possible for you. So I have. Created the exact scripts, literally the exact email that I sent to the company as a whole announcing that I was coming off of the schedule and the reasons why. So if you're interested in grabbing this free download, all you have to do is visit www.christagurka.com/clientletter to grab this free download. Okay. If you're on my email list, the link went out. Directly on the email this morning, that accompanied this episode. If you're just listening to this, you can check out the show notes and we'll link it in the show notes christagurka.com/clientletter for the exact email that I sent to the company as a whole about me not being available for appointments and classes anymore. And then I also had individual conversations with my actual clients. So. If you want to grow your business beyond yourself, if you wanna continue to grow the business and keep your clients, you cannot be the bottleneck. You cannot be the bottleneck. You will just not grow, and you'll stifle your scalability. A confident well-managed transition protects your time. Empowers your team and strengthens client loyalty. It actually does. And then you create a business that is not revolved just around you, and is revolved around people that are. Only committed to one specific instructor. Start with one client at a time. Practice this process and watch how much lighter and more scalable your business feels over time. And give yourself some wiggle room. Say you're gonna do this over a 90 day period, over four month period, over a six month period. And watch how it does become easier and easier to do this the more time you practice. Okay. Okay, I hope this was valuable. It was a very big conversation we had in our FitBiz membership. I think it was last month, and so I thought if they have questions about this, more people do. So let me do a podcast episode about it. So as always, I'd love for you to share your insight with me. You can DM me over on Instagram, I'm@christagurka. Be sure to grab your free download and until next time, bye for now.