How to set prices for your personal training business

Whether you own or rent a space for your clients, or even if you use public facilities that you have to pay for, setting prices for your clients can be a bit of a minefield. You don’t want to overcharge, but you also need to ensure you are turning a profit. We’ve identified a number of steps to ensure your pricing meets the market and your clients accept what you charge.

How do I know what to charge?

We’ve identified a number of questions that need to be answered when you are determining your pricing model. While it’s not a great idea to ever focus your marketing on price alone, you need to ensure that your pricing is realistic and achievable and importantly will turn you the profit you need to have a sustainable business.

What’s your position?

Like all products and services, you need to determine where you want to position yourself. Do you want to be known as a high-end Personal Trainer who has an exclusive clientele, or do you want to focus on the group training market and set lower prices but rely on volume. Only you can choose how you position your services but it is important to be consistent as your clients are likely to find out what you are charging other people, and you don’t want them to question the value of your service.

What’s your competition?

Unfortunately, there will always be rogue operators who charge either insanely high or insanely low prices. Regardless, you have to ensure that your prices will be acceptable to the market. Start off by researching your competition. What are they offering, what are they charging, what is their point of difference? Let their price and service be the guide on what you need to offer and what your particular target client is likely to pay, and always ensure like for like when you are deciding what to charge. For example, if your competition offers an indoor air-conditioned studio, then their clients might be willing to pay more for that service, so take that into account when you are evaluating the competition.

What’s your USP?

Before you set your price, you have to know your Unique Selling Proposition. In a crowded market, those who offer a point of difference tend to be the most successful. Whether your USP includes the hours you offer, your program variety, or your reputation for fast results, whatever you offer has to at least meet the market in order to charge the same as your competition.

What are your overheads?

If you are paying rent on a studio or paying off equipment, you need to include all of these ongoing and sunk costs when you are developing your pricing model. Make sure you consider all of the ongoing fees including professional development and license fees to create a model that is sustainable in the long term.

What is your profit margin?

While you might fundamentally love what you do, unless it is a hobby, it needs to return you a profit in order for it to be considered a successful business. When you’re setting out you may consider a smaller margin, in order to encourage new clients, but you have to consider how long this can last. One way to do this is through introductory pricing or incentives to increase your client base but also plan for greater profit in the future. There are always seasonal fluctuations, so you need to ensure that your pricing will get you through both the busy and slower times throughout the year.

What are your business goals?

We believe in the importance of setting fitness goals for your clients and it’s equally important to set goals for your business. When deciding on a pricing model, work through how many clients you need each week and month in order to reach your profit goals and like with your clients, evaluate your progress each week. Apps like Scheduliser can help you to look at a range of different metrics to assess how you are tracking as a business and we encourage you to implement these to help you set your goals and clarify your pricing model.

For more information on managing clients or growing your personal training business see the Scheduliser app.

Scheduliser helps you manage your PT clients in an easy-to-use platform with unlimited client capacity, auto appointment reminders, and cancelation notices, and in-built business insights to help you increase your return, grow your business and save valuable time and money.