How many products does your PT business have? Unfortunately for most PTs that will provoke a very quick answer… One! Possibly followed by a strange look while they think “How could I have more than 1?”
Could this be a problem with the way we sell PT? Most definitely. Just under 85% of trainers we interviewed only sell 1-2-1 PT; a premium rate product limited to the number of hours in the day — probably one of the reasons most PTs spend their time trying to find people with disposable income rather than people who need their help!
How many other businesses do you know that only have one product at one price point? PTs need to adapt their product range to be able to sell to the masses and to be able to support people who can not pay circa £50 per hour!
When looking at creating a product range rather than just selling your time you need to remember two things:
- Value your knowledge
- Your clients should get the service they pay for
If you have come from only selling 1-2-1 PT, it’s going to be a hard shift to have clients who potentially only pay small monthly fees compared to large hourly ones. You are going to have to learn to hold back sometimes and ensure you give people the service they pay for. If you are going to grow a business that is bigger than selling your time for money, you are going to have to learn to deliver different levels of service, as someone paying £1 a day for online coaching can not get the same level of support as a 1-2-1 client. People will pay for your knowledge and you need to value the time and investment you have made in your education, to grow your business you need to find ways to monetize this so you can start to transition away from having to sell time (something that runs out pretty quickly!).
So we want you to look at your business in a different way; so you have 4 products not one and here is a quick overview of each:
1-2-1 DD PT:
When we interviewed a group of personal trainers the number one issue they noted with their business was cash flow. In general as trainers we sell personal training in blocks however there are a number of issues with charging someone for say 20 sessions…
1 – Firstly it sets the wrong expectation at the start, selling a block suggests that personal training with you is a one of with a specific end point (the end of the 20 sessions). Unfortunately this can leave clients thinking that this financial commitment from them will change their life by the end – often it will not and you are left with a disappointed client.
2 – Cash Flow – yep we are doing this to help your cash flow but maybe think about your clients too? If this pack of sessions is expected to run over more than one month you are potentially putting strain on your clients to afford you using one months pay. Now what happens if their ‘re-newel’ month comes in one where they have already increased expenditure… Get excuses such as “oh I might just have a month of training by myself” – ultimately losing a client.
3 – Your cash flow – Trying to manage a the cash flow of a business that is paid in large chunks is always going to be hard especially when your outgoings are all monthly.
Selling PT of direct debit allows you and your clients to manage their cash flow far better. Your clients will see it as a long term commitment and journey and can factor your cost into their monthly expenditure and you will know how much you will get paid at the end of the month! Your business model then becomes pretty simple… sign up more clients and keep the ones you have!
Small group / semi private:
Small Group PT (also called Semi Private, paired PT etc) is another great way you can offer a high quality of service at a slightly reduced price. There are many things you need to think about when setting up a small group PT business, more of which can be seen in this separate blog.
Small group PT should be charged at approx. 75% of your 1-2-1 charge, if it is based on two people and 50-60% if three. Make sure you don’t just split the cost as you are going to have increased support with these clients due to multiple exercise plans, meal plans etc so you will need to make more per hour.
The biggest issue you will have will be pairing / grouping clients based on this type of session and the logistics you will have around this if you are already a busy trainer. We like to keep things simple…. Break your goal categories down into 4 groups and have set session times for your small group sessions. Once these are in your diary you can book your 1-2-1 sessions around these and set yourself a sales target to get the group sessions full!
Bootcamp / large group:
Many trainers that we speak to don’t feel the need for a product that only generates you around £5 per client, however done properly your large group session will not only be the highest revenue generating hour of your week, but it will be the start of your sales funnel for the rest of your business.
Like with small group training the first thing you need to let go it the level of support these guys will get your 1-2-1 clients will be charged as much as 10 times as much for that service so you need to remember that you are letting go of this level of service.
Your community: Once up and running your bootcamp will be a community of clients who rave about you and the results you get. Although you will be earning well from this hour we need to capitalize on the success these guys will have but building this community and referral pipeline. Just because these clients only have bootcamp services from you it does not mean they couldn’t refer your next 3 session a week 1-1-2-1 client. Before I get started on referrals it really is a whole topic in itself, so check out another blog we did on turning your clients into a marketing machine!
Online coaching:
Online coaching seems to be popping up everywhere now, trainers (some successful ones some not so….) marketing themselves all over social media and the next best ‘Online Body Transformation Coach’ who suggests they will change your life in 30 days, none more successfully than Joe Wicks the ‘Body Coach’ who look Instagram by storm and recently released the worlds fasting selling cook book. Although The Body Coach is a great example of how you can scale your knowledge to support on mass, unfortunately the majority of us are not blessed with his looks, screen presence and clear digital marking knowledge. This way of using Online PT to support customers online who you never meet is obviously a great plus side to having this as one of your products and something that given a little marketing support can be very successful for you. I am not a marketer but another way we want you to consider online PT is within your gym environment. Online PT will help you to support and sell to the vast majority of people within your gym who do not buy 1-2-1 training from you.
The most important thing when setting up your online programme is process and expectation. You need to decide on what contact you have with your online clients and what they can expect to gain from being on the programme. At Membr we operating using ‘Goal Setting Sunday”. This is the day where your weekly plans and group communication are sent to set your clients up for the week, then throughout the week you simply have to respond to communication from your cleints as you get it. Do not get in the trap of add-hoc building plans and setting goals for clients as they request them or you will spend your life doing admin. For the price you are charging your clients for this service is it not un reasonable for them to wait till Sunday for a new plan if they request one, just let them know that at the start of the programme to ensure you meet what they are expecting.
Having this clear pre-set process will allow you to support hundreds of members within your gym, not just to ones who buy 1-2-1 training.
With four, simple and different products you will start to have an offering that can attract any member of your gym (or social network!) not just the 5% of people who would typically have 1-2-1 PT. Your role as a coach should be to decide on the product that is suitable for them, based on their goals, motivation, location, commitment and financial position not just the one that suits your bank balance!
Get in touch with us at Membr to learn more about how we can set up these 4 products for you!
