In the past few years I have written several articles about how to sell more personal training or coaching. Some of these have been published at Club Solutions Magazine and some at my website. The reason for so many articles on this topic is because, in my opinion, the present and future of running a gym requires doing more than simply renting equipment for $40.00 per month.
The competition is all around you, and much stronger than even just a few years ago. You have the $10.00-per-month club down the street with 100 pieces of cardio and across from you is a CrossFit.
The only way to survive is to get more money from you current members and keep them staying and paying longer. The best way to do this is by keeping your member’s visits to eight or more per month. And the best way to keep members coming at least two to three times per week is to get them with a coach/trainer.
Recently, I wrote about the six keys to selling training or coaching to 25 percent or more of your members. Check out that article here.
In this article, I would like to go a bit deeper into how to sell training to more than a quarter of your members and focus on two big factors. These factors are so critical, so you need to execute them properly and successfully, or you will not succeed.
Getting 70 percent of new members to the personal training salesperson. I want to be perfectly clear: Your membership salespeople will not be part of a bait and switch. You do not need to hide the fact that this one-hour meeting with a trainer includes a presentation on the club’s personal training/coaching options. But I want you to focus on the fact that during this awesome one hour with a trainer, the member will go through a strength workout and be shown some great exercises that he or she may never have done before. Email me at jason@jasonlinse.com with “strength workout” in the subject line and I will shoot you back the one I recommend.
Hitting 70 percent or more is very important. This business is a numbers game like no other. Starting with the mantra, “What you make important, becomes important,” will help send the message to your membership salespeople for how critical it is to get new members to set an appointment with a trainer/coach. The gyms I work with that consistently hit 70 percent or more, typically have this in common:
- They meet daily with each salesperson to discuss new members and the next step.
- They incentivize membership salespeople to hit these numbers.
- Their membership salespeople participate in the services being offered. (Small group, team training, one-on-one, etc. In other words, the employees of the gym use the product being sold and love it).
Getting 50 percent of members who meet with the personal training salesperson to purchase a training membership. This may require some trial and error, but it is worth the time and effort. In my experience, a personal training salesperson (I prefer the term “assessor”) will hit his or her goal of 50 percent or higher if the following is in place:
- You have a few options. One-on-one, small group, team training, etc. If you don’t have space for team training, no problem. One-on-one and small group can be broken down into unlimited and five times per month.
- The experience is fun, and the member works out hard. This hour should not be spent on poking and prodding and assessing the member’s fitness level. It should be about showing them how working with a coach is fun, challenging and the best way to reach their goals.
For $40.00 per month, a member should receive support. But for the best support, he or she needs to pay more and work with a coach.
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Jason Linse is president and founder of The Business of Fitness, a consulting company. He also owns a personality assessment company called People Plus+ Fitness. Contact him at jason@jasonlinse.com or 612-310-1319 for resources on scheduling more tours and personality assessments, or visit www.jasonlinse.com.
