(Editor's Note: Get more from Brent Gallagher by attending his two sessions at this year's Club Industry Show. Gallagher will present "Think Inside the Box: Making the Most with Less" at 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 8. He will be a panelist for the session "Creating a Crystal Clear Brand" at 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 7.)
The fitness industry standard is to automatically discount training services the more sessions a client trains:
- 10 sessions for $50 per
- 20 sessions for $45 per
- 30 sessions for $40 per
Do you offer less value per session the more a client trains with you, or do you offer the same (if not better) value for them when they invest longer in your leadership? Most of us would say the latter. Yet, we often discount the value of our time the more sessions a client invests in. Sometimes, it helps to look at this from an outsiders' perspective:
If you go to McDonald's three times a week for the next month to purchase a Happy Meal, do they give you a discount? Of course not. So does McDonald's value its Happy Meal more than you value your time?
The Push Back
I can hear you saying, "Everybody discounts their services." "My clients will not train more if they do not get the discount." "That is the way it has always been done."
The trouble with locking clients into longer, discounted packages is this:
- The first few sessions we completely "wow" them.
- Then reality sets in. We know they are locked in to a longer commitment and begin to provide non-wow service by simply showing up and training the client. We don't go above and beyond to create the experience and maximum value in each session.
As the training package comes to an end and it's time to ante up, we bring back the wow service.
If this is the way we train, then we should discount their services. But isn't that cheating the client's initial investment? Isn’t that providing a service any mediocre trainer could provide? It’s basically lowering the bar of true professionalism.
You're better than that, right?
It is time we challenge the status quo when it comes to valuing our time and that of our clients. A true fitness professional continues providing the wow factor, delivers maximum value in each session and should be compensated comparably.
As leaders, we need to set the bar high by valuing our time and theirs like the precious commodity it is.
The First Step
Where do you start with valuing your services differently and moving to a flat rate per session after years of operating at a discount? It starts with answering this question: Why do you value your time?
It is an open-ended question, but it’s deep. It’s hard to wrestle with why others should value your time if you don’t know why you value your own.
Once you've taken the time to answer honestly—not just because you’re certified, experienced, motivational, bubbly, hard-nosed, inspirational or super fit—you'll begin to feel the conviction in your heart to make a change to your current sacred cow of discounting your time.
What do you think about discounting sessions? What do you think your training time is worth? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.