One of biggest problems I see again and again with MOST fitness businesses is they are undercharging for their services.

They get confused with charging “membership” type rates for personal services. The 2 are NOT the same.

Personal services (ie coaching) should be priced much higher than ‘membership’. The reason being is you must not sell PRICE with services, you must sell VALUE (ie results).

Let me be clear… if you are charging less than $150/month for any of your programs (group training, Crossfit Classes, boot camp) you are way undervaluing yourself. And it’s VERY hard to make the numbers in your business work when you are priced so low.

So how do you flip things around?

1. You need to change your mindset/belief system. The first objection I hear from fitness professionals and gym owners when I tell them to raise their rates is “my clients can’t afford it”.

I ask them to look in their parking lot. Are you members walking or riding their rusty old bikes to the gym, or do you see new automobiles, luxury sedans, and SUV’s in the parking lot?

Trust me… your client can afford it.

It’s a matter of you valuing YOURSELF and then making sure your communicating the value you deliver to your clients. If they don’t prioritize their health and willing to leave your facility over $100-200/month… then they’re probably not the right clients and you need to go market to find better ones.

2. You need to have a SYSTEM of rolling out the price increase and new rates to your existing clients. In this video Dave shares his case study of doing just that and the history of our famous “Raising The Rates” marketing campaign.

This is just 1 of the dozens of campaigns and tools we give to our VIP members. Frankly, using this campaign just 1 time can more than pay for your 3 year investment in our VIP program. And no reason why you can’t roll this out immediately and have your cash position drastically increased in just 30 days.

Here are Dave’s results from this “maximum money in minimum time” HIGHLY profitable promotion:

Month     Revenue
Jan ’10     $ 40,964.32
Feb ’10     $ 38,171.05
Mar ’10     $ 69,429.91 (implemented promotion, generated $27,000 money-hit)
Apr ’10     $ 50,098.54 (significantly more than April ’09)
May ’10     $ 43,599.14 (significantly more than May ’09)

Who wouldn’t benefit from a big influx of cash NOW, and better margin in every hour of your time going forward?

This is a MUST do if it’s been more than a year since you raised your rates, or worse you still have different clients paying different rates in your business.

Most make this mistake because they feel it’s appropriate to give discounts to long term clients out of loyalty, but the truth is if your clients truly value your services then they’ll have no problem paying you what your worth. And you’ll also feel way better about the time you spend working with these folks because you’re not LOSING money training 1 client vs. another.

Frankly, if I were paying you for your time… and you were charging me more for the hour then someone else… I’d be pissed and think you were some kind of jerk for giving the discount to one client and not all clients.

Give this some thought.

Establish your new rates, and implement them as standards across the board with NO EXCEPTIONS. You’ll feel way better (no underlying resentments for not making as much 1 hour vs. the next) and it will make your business run a whole lot smoother when you have more margin in place for sure.

VIP Info-Pak’s Now Available

Just a couple times a year we open up membership in our highest level VIP program. This is now a exclusive club that includes the ‘elite of the elite’ and access to all the systems, tools, and coaching we’ve got. Including a massive vault of ready to implement done-for-you marketing campaigns (including the Raise the Rates campaign Dave showcased in this video) and tools you can use to grow your business now.

Get all the details by requesting a no-obligation info-pack here.

To your success,
Sean

P.S. Many areas are taken now for VIP and our membership is growing significantly. In fact, next year the investment to join will go up substantially. Get all the details on the program and how you can lock in our low 2010 rates now by requesting a no-obligation info-pak here.