Discounting to Sell Personal Training - Part 2

Continued from Part 1

So we established in Part 1 that discounting is bad… m’kay?

We also know that it’s crucial to quickly build a client base and income so you can run a satisfying, rewarding and profitable business doing what you love… so if discounting is out what’s the alternative? 

Unfortunately there’s no single quick fix, magic bullet, miracle method to selling personal training at premium rates the day you step out of your very first PT course.  So I’m going to keep it real and give you an overview of how you can earn the right to charge premium rates for your personal training service (no, it doesn’t involve gaining advanced qualifications... and yes the right does have to be earned) and never lower yourself to the depths of discounting.  How quickly you earn this right will be largely determined by you so let's start with the biggie.

Become very good at what you do

First and foremost, without a doubt you absolutely must get very good (not just ok!) at what you do.  This involves becoming very good at all of the foundation skills that a personal trainer performs every day.  The foundation skills are represented in this diagram: Click here to see full size image

The right hand side of this diagram (business chassis) shows you the financial elements of your PT business that the foundation skills influence.

What if I'm not up to scratch in all of these skills?

If you’re very good at the skills in the top half of this diagram but lacking in the bottom you’ll probably convert leads in to clients easily enough but struggle to retain them.  On the other hand, if you’re very good at the skills in the bottom half but lacking in the top you’ll probably be a great trainer with hardly anyone to train. You must become competent in all of these foundation skills and then consistently perform them in a confident, comfortable and professional manner.

Competence vs confidence

When you’re competent you can perform a skill to the minimum standard required.  When you’re confident you can consistently perform a skill to a high standard – smoothly, comfortably and easily (also known as unconscious competence)

Why is this important for me to be confident as opposed to merely competent? 

Because when you’re anything less than absolutely sure of what you’re doing and/or unconvinced that you provide a valuable and professional service that’s worth every cent of the average market rate (if not more!) your potential clients sense it during your consultation.  It’s like they’ve got a finely tuned, built in risk detector that trips on any sign that you’re not completely sure of yourself and of what you’re doing.  So when presented with a recommendation for PT at or above the average market rate, the potential client perceives more risk than benefit and more often than not politely tells you “I need think about it” or “I need to talk to my spouse”… aka “no thanks”.

When you’re confident, absolutely sure of what you’re doing and convinced that you provide a valuable and professional service that’s worth every cent of what you charge, your potential clients also sense this.  Right from the word go everything about you reassures them they’re in good hands, that they've come to the right place and that you have a genuine solution that will get the result they want in a safe, effective, fun and enjoyable way.  Now when presented with a recommendation for PT at or above the average market rate it’s a no brainer.  Your lead (provided they’re relatively qualified and you've done a good job of the consultation) becomes a regular paying client and then it’s up to you to deliver the goods.

So how do I get very good at what I do?   

You guessed it.  Practice… or “do it”.  Practice til you can’t get it wrong; practice til it becomes second nature. 

You drive a car right?  Remember the first time you drove a car around the busy city streets?  Now it’s easy.  You can talk on the phone (hands free of course) change the radio station, sip on drink, scratch your leg and be thinking about what to have for dinner - all while driving… Why?  Because you’ve driven a car so many times it has become second nature.  The good news is that becoming very good at all of the personal training foundation skills works exactly the same. 

There’s no substitute for doing it so get out there and do it.  If you’re certified but haven’t started personal training, I’d recommend first finding employment in a gym floor role where you can develop and polish your foundation skills by working with club members in more limited capacity, usually at no expense them.  Consider it an opportunity to hone your skills and be paid for it rather than merely getting a job.  This is exactly what I did, for six months prior to starting my PT business and the experience was invaluable. 

If you’re already personal training:

• Brush up on your knowledge of how to perform the foundation skills in a competent and confident manner
• Practice your foundation skills with friends, family, other trainers or anyone who is willing to help you out and give you objective, constructive feedback
• Enlist the help of an experienced, successful trainer, PT manager, coach or mentor who will help you set goals, gauge your progress and hold you accountable

I’ve dedicated a decent chunk of this blog to getting very good at the foundation skills because attempting to build value on anything less than a solid foundation is futile when it comes to charging premium rates for personal training.  Most personal training clients are happy to pay premium rates for a premium service and that all starts with being very good at the foundation skills.

Charge a minimum of the average market rate

Once you’re confident in all of the foundation skills you can justifiably charge at least the average market rate of personal training in your area with the aim of gradually increasing your rates over time as you get better and build your reputation. Being dedicated to becoming more skilled over time in order to provide even better value to your clients, you’ll want to exchange some of this added value for more income by increasing your session rates. 

WARNING:  Personal training clients will only tolerate an increase in session rates if you are consistently meeting and exceeding their expectations, providing great value and guiding them to great results.  So be sure you’re hitting the mark before putting your prices up.

Add value instead of discounting

Clients don’t care about your qualifications or how many letters you have after you name so you don’t have to run off get any “advanced” qualifications to add value.  Here are a few “value adds” I used in my PT business that worked well and allowed me to increase my session rates over time without ever losing client:

• Provide a workout towel, bottle water and post workout snack
• Make the workouts enjoyable by catering to your clients preferences rather than yours (may seem like a no brainer but it does happen the other way around) More info on delivering addictive PT sessions here
• Provide assisted stretching at the end of the workout
• Email, text or phone reminders of up upcoming sessions and/or key targets and actions for the week
• Follow up phone call after workouts and between PT sessions   
• Provide tips, information and resources relevant to the client’s goals wants needs (even better when you automate this process)
• Reward progress periodically, eg. Certificate and/or progress chart for client to show off to their friends, family, partner/spouse, take them for coffee or lunch
• Remember their birthday and make them feel a little special.  Again lunch, coffee, text, email, call, birthday card – all inexpensive yet greatly appreciated.
• Listen to your clients, empathise and be flexible and adaptable to unforeseen situations and slip up’s.  It’s not just about cracking the whip, towing the line and sticking to the program at all costs.
• Build a relationship (not that kind!) find out about your clients partner/spouse, kids, work etc. and take a genuine interest in how things are going with them 
• Reward your clients when they refer qualified leads to you

See?  Not an advanced qualification or string of letters after your name in sight.  The days of personal trainers simply writing programs, counting reps out loud, spotting, holding a clip board and cracking the whip from time to time are gone and the myth that “more qualifications means more value” has always been exactly that - a myth.  More on that here

To charge premium rates for personal training you must deliver a premium service and the formula is simple: 

1. Get very good at what you do
2. Build rapport
3. Find out what your clients want, when, where, why and how
4. Give it to them in a way that consistently meets and exceeds their expectations and provides great value.

In the balance

I believe that personal training as a collective and as an industry is at time in its relatively short history where the professional status pendulum could swing either way.  We could linger around in our current wider public perception as hard ass fanatics who count reps, hold clipboards, spot on the big sets and yell “keep going!” when the going gets tough (and sometimes discount our rates for the privilege of doing that!) OR we could join the ranks of the most highly regarded professionals in the world who put “people first, training second” and deliver premium, personalised and customised solutions in exchange for premium rates and a business and lifestyle most would envy.

What say you?