How to Create Personal Training Packages

Watch our video on how to create Personal Training packages the right way, that can enhance both client sales and retention.

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We’ll show you exactly how to create your personal training packages the right way, how to get clients on higher end packages, and increase your chances of converting prospects into new paying clients using a few sales techniques. 

Thousands of Personal Trainers go about creating PT packages the complete wrong way!

What we’re going to show you is our proven strategy that OriGym implemented that led us from setting up as a sole Personal Trainer - to owning 12 PT studios across the UK and now becoming the UK’s largest fitness education company.

But before we jump in, expand the services you offer by combining personal training with nutrition by completing our Level 4 Sports Nutrition Course. Find out more by downloading our course prospectus and get in touch with us today!

What Do Bad Packages Look Like and What’s the Issue?

Bad PT Packages that look like these:

What’s wrong with these personal training packages?

Too Many Options!

Firstly, but not the most important factor is that there are far too many options! It’s confusing for clients. While it's good to have plenty of personal training package ideas, if you’re struggling to close clients, it might be the fact you’re giving them too many options to pick from that they genuinely need to go away and think about which option is best.

This can massively impact your conversion to sale as when people reflect on buying luxury items (such as Personal Training) they often talk themselves out of it and the sale has gone.

The Packages Have End Dates!

What do we mean by end dates? Where it says buy 5 sessions or 10 sessions for X amount of money, there is a defined end date to when your personal training services stop. So, what happens when I buy 10 sessions, what are you as the trainer going to have to do……re-sell to me!

In an ideal world, the client re-buys another 10 sessions, however reality is very, very different.

Let’s evaluate what a client really says at this time and this is assuming that you have done a good job and they want to continue. 

1. I’d love to carry on with you… what’s the best offer you can do for me?
2. Another trainer I spoke with is doing it for less… can you match that?
3. I really want to carry on with you, but I have a holiday coming up, so I’ll be re-buying once I get back from that?
4. I feel I’m happy with where I’m at, so I might do it on my own for a bit.
5. I have a slight injury, I might be back once this has heeled up… I’ll let you know

These are all things clients have genuinely said to me and you might be familiar with too?

Selling personal trainer packages with expiry dates, causes so many more issues too, such as:

Double the Workload

One of the hardest parts of Personal Training is selling to try and get new clients… Why would you want to double this effort by having to re-sell to the clients you already have? Not only does it double your workload, but it doesn’t allow you time to focus on growing your business.

Creates Payment Gaps

With clients saying they will re-book but after their holiday, kids birthdays, Christmas (the list of excuses are endless) this causes gaps in your payments, meaning you’re earning less than your potential. This in turn causes issues with forecasting - as you might not know when or if this revenue is going to come in, not allowing you to forecast your projections for things such as rent, bills, insurance or buying new equipment.

Dilution of Price

When clients create price objections, many trainers feel forced to reduce their price or give away extra free sessions in a desperate attempt to keep their client… which not just dilutes your income and value, but can even cause issues with other clients who are paying more. Would you pay more than someone else for the same thing?

So what's the solution?

Personal Trainer Monthly Packages!

Fitness goals do not have an end date, goals just change and adapt over time, so your Personal Training packages need to reflect this.

Monthly packages are a great way to make money as a personal trainer as these are super simple for your clients to understand! No overcomplicated X number of sessions per week times by X number of weeks.

This would drastically affect your closing ratios as when you get a client in for a consultation you should be aiming to close 80% of them at the first time of asking, but through presenting them in overcomplicated tables you’re giving them something to go away and genuinely think about. 

So what does a typical monthly package set-up look like and why does it work?

This is a typical monthly package structure. It has just 3 options!

Bronze which is 1 session per week, silver which is 2 sessions per week and gold which is 3 sessions per week. Really clean and easy for prospective clients to understand.

Prices should reduce the more sessions per week someone buys.

the exact amount you should charge is really down to you and how much you value your time and services at and which aspect of the market you are trying to attract. Additionally, in this example, we have called our PT Packages, Bronze, Silver and Gold, but you can call your packages whatever you deem fit, just ensure the package name appeals more, the more sessions per week the package has.

As you can see, there is a contract of minimum term of six months, before it rolls month to month.

These prices should always be your prices, whether someone is referred to you, has price objected or is a friend asking for a deal. You should never de-value your service.

To encourage paid in full sales (after all cash in the bank is important), have a paid in full discount price, so if they pay for the six months’ worth of training upfront, they can save a little and you get paid upfront so you can re-invest in marketing, new equipment and building your business.

You must however ensure as part of the agreement that when they pay in full, they also fill in a direct debit mandate for when the 6 months runs out so they either pay in full again before the end of the six months at the slightly discounted rate or it will go up to the higher monthly rate once the six months has expired.

We will show a closing technique later in this video to get people onto both your higher end packages and how to push people to Pay in full… But first!

Why do monthly packages work so well?

• They keep clients paying continuously – There are no gaps in receiving payments as they are set-up to pay via direct debit on the same day each month
• This monthly payment becomes habitual and part of their monthly outgoings and there not manually having to hand cash over. As you have client’s set-up via direct debit, you can see how much you will be bringing in each and every month allowing you to forecast for new equipment, your rent and taking your business to the next level.
• You’re hardly ever having to re-sell to your existing clients allowing you time to focus on what matters, getting even more clients and delivering sessions.
• No client complaints - Every client is paying the same in relation to their payment method and number of sessions. You won’t mind if someone says another client is paying less if they are on either more sessions per week… or have paid in full (as they can too!...) just get them to sign up to the upgraded package! That’s even more revenue for you!

You might be wondering, what if my client gets injured or goes on holiday for a few weeks?? No problem, we’ll cover that now:

Contingencies

Ensure you get your contracts done by a solicitor, we recommend using lawbite.co.uk, as you can get good quality, yet affordable legally binding contracts created.

Within your contracts, you need to factor in for holidays and injury and what will occur when these outcomes do happen.

Factoring Holidays Into Your Personal Trainer Packages

All clients will go on holiday, this is inevitable… you will simply increase their sessions for the first few weeks when they come back. For example, if the client bought the silver package for 2 times per week and went on holiday for 2 weeks, the client would be owed 4 sessions. When  they come back from holiday you will do 3 times per week for those first 4 weeks until 4 sessions owed are fulfilled, before going back down to 2 sessions per week. It couldn’t be simpler and keeps the client paying continuously. 

Factoring Injury Into Your Personal Training Packages

If a client gets injured mid contract and is therefore unable to train, then you need a clause in your contract that states that their account will be frozen for the duration of their doctors note.

For example, if again I was on the sliver package on 2 sessions per week and was 3 months into my 6 month contract but required shoulder surgery making me unfit to exercise for 1 month, I would have my payments froze for 1 month but the 1 month out would be added to the end of my contract.

This keeps it fair to your client so they are not paying for something they are not using due to circumstances out of their control, but ensures you still get the full value of the contract.

Like this article? Go and check out our other useful articles and videos below:

• VIDEO - Personal Training Career Options
• ARTICLE - Personal Training Package Ideas & Inspiration
• VIDEO - 5 Must Personal Training Advertising Strategies

Adding Extra Value Into Your Higher End Packages & Creating Urgency

Before we jump into putting these new packages into action, one thing you can do is adding extra value to either your packages with more sessions per week or on paid in full sales.

What do we mean by extra value?

Extra value means extra services or products that perceives to dilute the price.

Extra value services you could include will differ based on your specialities, niche, and services you provide, but here are a few suggestions:

• Free nutrition plan
• Free biomechanical analysis
• Free gate analysis
• Free protein tub / shaker
• Free bootcamp sessions
• Free extra sessions for your first month

Notice how none of these actually dilute the price? They do not influence how much money a client will actually give you.

Not just are you drumming up added value to your higher end packages, but you can leverage them to create urgency when closing prospective clients.

We’ll show you how to do this shortly.

Summarise Before You Price Present

Before you price present, you should ALWAYS summarise their goals back to them.

This is to get them focused on what they want to achieve, and the time frame they want to achieve it. It gets your clients focused and motivated. After this video, check out our article 'Personal Training Consultation' to see how important a good summary is and how to do this effectively.

How to Price Present Your New Personal Training Packages & Close Sales?

Now we created, 3 options, bronze, 1 session per week, silver 2 sessions per week and Gold three sessions per week, but our personal training price presentation is only going to highlight two of these options.

Silver and Gold!

This is because we want to try and push clients onto our higher end packages with more sessions per week and make more money from one sale.

Think of it this way, let’s say you get 25 clients all on the bronze package of 1 session per week:

That would be therefore £120 X 25 people = £3,000 a month, which seems great, but look at the difference if we throw in some 2 and 3 sessions per week into the equation.

For example, if we actually only had 15 clients, so 10 less, but 10 were on 2 sessions per week at £216 per month and the remaining 5 clients were on £288 per month, that equals £3,600 a month despite me having 10 less paying customers!

This is why you must present your highest priced monthly packages only.

The obvious reason why is that you not just can generate more revenue from your clients, but secondly it’s easier to manage 15 clients than 25 all whilst you’re making more money at the same time.

The third reason (which we will cover later in this video) is when someone prices objects, we have a backup of our 1 session per week that you can fall back on.

Selling Your Personal Training Packages: Techniques

Firstly, sit next to your client when price presenting, this is not a job interview and you want them to feel comfortable with you. If you want to be super pedantic sit to the side of them you write with, so if you’re left-handed sit on their left and if your right-handed sit on the right.

This keeps your body language nice and open and when you write anything down, it doesn’t cover up anything.

when you price present explain very clearly the two packages starting from left to right, not the other way round as we read left to right, so present it that way.

Emphasise the extra value in your 3 sessions per week package and how the hourly rate dilutes, making it the better option both financially and having more value.

Also, you need to create urgency when selling your personal trainer packages by emphasising your added value items in your 3 sessions per week package and setting an end date. Here is how this should look when presenting to a prospective client.

Selling Monthly Personal Trainer Packages: Script

Now, let’s break what is said down:

1. Creating Conformity - By saying “most popular creates conformity”, other people like me go for this option therefore I should too.
2. I have presented the hourly rates, not the monthly amounts so I can show its slightly cheaper.
3. I have added value by giving away a free nutrition plan and free body analysis check without changing the price.
4. I have created urgency, that the offer finishes today.
5. I have used a sales technique called alternate closing to ask them which options suits them best (which we’ll come onto in the next section).

Closing Techniques to Increase Conversions

Now, let me show you some little sales techniques that can drastically improve your closing.

Starting with the first technique we touched on a moment ago.

Technique 1 – Alternate Closing

Alternate closing is simply removing the option to say “No” out of the equation. 

For example, many people default to saying phrases like this:

These are big No’s when price presenting, as you’re giving the client the option to say “No”.

The alternate closing technique is simply a shift in wording. Instead of starting your sentence with “do you”, start the sentence with the word “which”!

And it looks something like this….

WHICH one of those two options do you feel would suit you best?

This forces the client to pick one of the options we have suggested and removes “No” out of the equation. 

Selling PT Packages: Technique 2 – Silent Assassin Technique

The Silent assassin technique has been around for years.

All it is, is once you have asked them which option suits them best, say nothing….literally not one word until they have spoken.

There is a rule with the silent assassin technique, the first one to speak loses.

This is because at this stage there should be nothing else to say! You should have built up rapport with them, conducted a thorough needs analysis and shown them the cost, there is nothing else you should be saying at this point and you want them to focus on the question at hand, “which option suits you best”.

I have sat in over a minutes’ worth of silence before a prospective client indicates which one suits them best, which doesn’t sound like a long time, but when you’re sat next to someone who you don’t know, feels like an eternity.

You just need to stay calm until they indicate towards one package.

Which brings us onto the next step “Confirming the sale”.

To find out more about creating rapport with clients as mentioned above, check out our article 'Rapport Building as a Personal Trainer'.

Technique 3 – Confirming the Sale

Now, prospective clients will give you different levels of assertiveness and enthusiasm when answering the question “which one do you feel suits you best”? Here are some examples:

BEST -  WORST ANSWERS

• I think the Silver package is perfect for me
• The gold package looks good
• The silver package seems to suit me more
• The Silver package sounds ok
• If I had to say I would probably side with the gold package I think
• I’m really unsure…..maybe the silver package

The level of enthusiasm or package they opt for is actually irrespective to the sales process, as long as the prospective client indicates even slightly towards one Personal trainer package over the other and your response will always be same.

“I completely agree with you, I think that’s the perfect option for you.”

This is you confirming their choice as a correct one and ultimately confirming the sale. You will say this irrespective of which package they choose.

What if Someone Prices Objects?

The most common objection when selling Personal Training is always price, after all its not cheap and is a luxury service.

But, remember our bronze Personal trainer package of just 1 session per week we have had in our back pocket?  This is where this comes into play!

Were now going to present the bronze package which is much cheaper.

It goes something like this:

CLIENT: “I like the sound of the Silver package, but I just can’t afford that monthly number”.

YOU: “I completely understand (always show empathy). What I can do to get that monthly fee down is show you the bronze package, which is just once per week and reduces the cost to just £120 a month, which is £96 a month less.

Now which would suit you best, the bronze or the silver package?

CLIENT: Yes, I think the bronze option is good for me.

See how it links back into alternate close, again so the prospective client is choosing which option as opposed to saying “Yes” or “No”.

If the client objects again, you should walk away from the sale. As we mentioned earlier in this video, never dilute your price, the price is the price. 

This now leads us into the last technique…..

Technique 4 – Assumptive Closing

Once you have confirmed the sale and their choice as being a great one, you now need to assumptively start the signing up process – this is what is called assumptive closing.

Assumptive closing is the intentional assumption that the prospect or in this case the client has already agreed to buy, and you to start the onboarding process.

The assumptive close, makes it very difficult for the prospect to interrupt and stop the sales process from starting.

Additionally, by following it up with a soft, unrelated sales question that they have to answer moves the client to even further along the onboarding phase, making it even harder for them to say “No”.

An effective assumptive close after you have confirmed the sale like this:

Confirming the Sale - I agree, I think that the gold package is the perfect option for you.”

Assumptive Close - “Great then, what WE WILL do is, we’ll get you booked in for your first session, I just need to get some details from you, I have your full name, what’s your date of birth?”

Notice how the last time the client spoke was to answer “which option they felt suited them” and the next time they speak is when the boarding process has started, almost without them realising when they’re answering the question such as in this example “what’s your date of birth”. They feel like they have already signed up.

Closing Rules

Never leave prospective clients unattended until they have paid and actually become a client.

• Always book your client’s first session with them, this gets them motivated and committed.
• Never leave clients filling in forms such as exercise questionnaires – this gives them time to build up the courage to pull out of the sale or create an excuse.
• Always take payment & process the contract Last – this is because you want them fully bought into the sales process first and we want to push them to pay in full.

Taking Payments:

A sale is never a sale until the money is taken, or in this case a prospect is never a client until they have paid.

You need to take the payment right here and now. Don’t let clients leave without taking payment unless you absolutely can’t help it.

Now to take payments you need a card terminal. You can use Worldpay or Sage for your deposits or taking paid in full sales. And for your monthly direct debits, we recommend using Go Cardless.

Don’t allow for standing orders, Direct debits is far better as you can retry payments if someone’s misses a payment and Go Cardless will notify you if anyone cancels their mandate or if they mis a payment, which standing orders will not do. 

There is links in the description to sign up pages to Worldpay, Sage and Go Cardless.

Now, remember our alternate close of “which option do you feel suits you best?” -  Well, we’re going to use this technique again when asking how they would like to pay and add extra value into the paid in full option.

It looks something like this:

YOU: “Now - would you like to pay the higher monthly amount or pay in Full and get a 10% discount and a free protein tub? WHICH would you prefer?”

The extra little discount and value item (in this case a protein tub) encourages paid in full sales and if you get a paid in full sale on 3 sessions per week for 6 months even with a 10% discount and a £40 protein tub, this works out at them paying you £1,515.20.

Not bad from one client!

Closing Script: Putting it all Together

YOU: Alternate close - WHICH one of those two options do you feel would suit you best? Silent Assassin Pause

“Silent Assassin”

CLIENT: ummm…..I kind of like the gold package

YOU: Confirming the Sale - I agree, I think that the gold package is the perfect option for you.”

YOU: Assumptive Close - “Great then, what WE WILL do is, we’ll get you booked in for your first session, I just need to get some details from you, I have your full name, what’s your date of birth?” 

CLIENT: 14/08/1986

(After you have finished your admin and paperwork)

YOU: “Now would you like to pay the higher monthly amount or pay in Full and get a 10% discount and a free protein tub? WHICH would you prefer?” 

CLIENT: I may as well save myself some money and go for the paid in full option.

Creating monthly personal training packages as opposed to blocked sessions is the most optimal way of selling Personal Training, allowing you to focus your time on building your business, not sustaining it. Increase your closing ratios and paid in full sales using these little techniques and you’ll notice and big difference to the number of clients you’re actually onboarding. 

Before You Go!

Ready to expand the services you offer and create the ultimate personal trainer packages? Check out our Level 4 Fitness Courses, especially our Sports Nutrition Course, to combine personal training with with nutrition advice.

Enquire today to find out more and download our course prospectus to see exactly what we offer.