Fitness and training is not something that people typically stop when the economic climate changes. The stock market doesn’t affect people’s willingness or desire to be in shape or improve their health. For these people, you are in need regardless of the economy’s condition. Even in a recession, selling personal training services can be simple if you take the correct approach.
Use these ideas to help stay profitable regardless of the economy.
Shorter Sessions
Are you able to offer shorter session? Maybe you normally offer hour long sessions. You don’t want to offer a half-hour session for half the price, but if you normally charge $60 per hour, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to offer $40 for a half-hour. Offering more flexibility in session lengths can open yourself to more clients and more budgets.
Group Training Sessions
If you have two clients who are considering reducing from two sessions to one session a week, perhaps you recommend they stay with a single one-on-one session for each of them and then a small group session once a week. This can help with decreasing session loss in tough economic times. It is also possible to increase your revenue with group sessions. For example, rather than train one client for an hour for $60, you could train a group of 8 people at $10 for an hour-long group session.
Set up AutoPay for Clients
There is extensive research showing that cost is perceived as higher if you continue to be reminded of it. If your client is giving you $60 cash or sending you a $60 Venmo every time they meet with you, they are reminded of the cost rather than the benefit. Have you noticed that many businesses (such as phones, utilities, memberships) encourage you to set up an automatic recurring payment? This is so you forget about it and are not regularly reminded of the money spent.
Don’t Undervalue Yourself
While there are methods to help make your business more recession-proof, remember that your business has a consistent value regardless of the economy. The issue with personal training in the mind of many people is that it is seen not as a necessity but as a luxury. It’s up to you as a trainer to work to make your services a real need and something of constant real value for your clients.
Emphasize Health Over Results
Unfortunately, it’s not as easy for you to offer immediate gratification to your clients as it is for a movie theater or a restaurant. It takes commitment and effort for your clients to see results and feel satisfaction for their work. This makes it even harder to make your services become a necessity for your clients. Conversely, people’s desire to be healthy and in shape do not change when the economy goes down. If you focus on health and the idea that a healthy lifestyle achieves more ultimate satisfaction that immediately gratifying activities, your services will turn into a staple for your clients and subsequently recession-proof your business.
Personal trainers have the unique power to bring long-term results to people through the application of sustainable behavior change. This power is the foundation of a successful personal training business. The factors that help bring clients back? Make the training as enjoyable as it can be. While endorphins naturally flow through the body during exercise, giving your clients new ideas and keeping the sessions varied will help keep your clients smiling and happy throughout their sessions.