what is a reasonable fee for a personal trainer session
Hi Denise,
Both Larue and Karin are spot on in their answers. I firmly believe your education and experience should be reflected in your price point. Keeping your target demographic in mind is also essential. I have found that semi-private sessions (2-3 clients) allow for pricing at a more accessible rate. This allows you to keep your one on one sessions a little higher and more in line with your experience/education, but still allows accessibility to those without the funds to afford a private session.
Hope this helps, and good luck with your business.
Hi Denise,
LaRue makes excellent points. I looked at your profile to learn more but you have not completed it.
Much also depends on your own experience. You write that you just about to start an in-home business; do you mean in YOUR home? Or in clients’ homes? Obviously when you add travel time, you need to charge extra for that.
Do you already have a client base because you train at a gym. In that case I would charge initially the same as they are already paying. You also need to find out the ‘going rate’ in your geographic location.
Hi Denise. You have just asked the “$64,000 question” for trainers! “How much do I charge?” is so dependent on a number of factors, some business factors, some personal. A lot depends on your financial situation, your goals and your philosophy. For example, is your training philosophy for your home training business to attract and work with busy “high-end” clients (e.g. doctors, lawyers) in your area, or to work with a needy and under-served population like the elderly? Your fee reflects this approach and should be designed to attract clients and make your services accessible to that population.
Within that philosophical approach, you then want to position yourself – including your fees in a way that makes you competitive with other trainers who compete with you for those same clients. Do you want to be on the low-end of pricing, or again offer the high-end services and pricing within that range?
As you can see, there are many considerations in setting your fees, including your direct and indirect expenses – which I haven’t discussed here. The approach used by many trainers is to simply set a price and move on. I would advise taking your time, consider some of the factors that I’ve mentioned here, and then set your price.
The fees that a trainer charges are more of a marketing and strategic decision that many of us think or give it credit for!
I hope that this helps, and good luck in your new business.
LaRue, CSCS
www.lecfitness.com
[email protected]