If you work for yourself (not in a gym), have you tried Groupon or similar companies to market your Training business?
I have been in the fitness business 17 years and owned other businesses over 20 years. I own a fitness studio and never use those “discount” services for one basic reason…
ONCE you give a discount and people come to you because of a discount, you will never be able to charge your “dream” client rate.
I found this out with offering specials on other ad services and found that after the client used up those “discount” sessions, they were no longer interested in training because they got their jump start which is worth so much to people.
When I raised my rates, stopped offering deals and discounts–my income more than doubled AND I work less, period.
What you have to offer clients is a worth a million dollars over the course of their lifetime (health wise) so if they have connected with you and YOU have sold the value of working with you…the cost is an INVESTMENT in their health.
Hope this helps you in your business!
Kimberly
P.S. Besides being a certified trainer, I have my MBA and do fitness business coaching/consulting.
Thanks Kimberly,
That really helps a lot! I really don’t like using “specials” and “sales” on my services, although at the gym that I contract at we do. That being said, I will only give a discount of $3.00-$5.00 dollars per session at the gym when we do offer any discounts at all.
I have thought about Groupons and other things like that (including Amazon.com) to increase my business (especially when it’s slow), but as I don’t know anyone who actually does this and works for themselves (or contracts), I’ve really wondered would it really be cost-effect.
Thank you so much Kimberly and have a fabulous weekend!
Lisa
PS..What does a Fitness Business Coach/Consultant do? 😀
As a successful fitness business and marketer, I use my experience to help other fitness professional increase their market share.
My specialty is social media marketing and will be speaking at the IDEA Personal Trainer Institute in Alexandria VA – “Social Media 101 for Fitness Professionals”.
I do private coaching which will help you focus on the things that will make you money in and out of the gym.
If you want to chat more about coaching etc, shoot me an email at [email protected]
Kimberly
I couldn’t agree more with the posts here!
IBISWorld recently identified Gyms, Health & Fitness Clubs as one of the Top 10 industries that actually suffer from Online Deals like GroupOn:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/industries-307215-hurt-websites.html
Although the profit margins of a health club will differ with yours as an independent trainer, this finding just also shows that online deals can do more harm than good on a business, particularly in very competitive industries.
And as it’s already been said here, what we do is way too important to drastically discount!
