I’ll be honest with you: I hate the term “high ticket.”
It feels sleazy.
However, I think gym owners and trainers should have a max-speed, max-value option that costs a lot more than what they’re currently selling. I have a few reasons.
First, most gym owners are wildly undercharging for the value they provide. Many “high-ticket offers” should just be the normal offering.
Second, many clients really want to get to their goals faster. Not everyone. Maybe 10 percent of the people in your audience are impatient. They should—and will—pay for speed. Failing to offer them the fastest possible route to their goals is holding these clients back. And impatient clients (like me) will keep wandering around and looking for the fastest option instead of starting right away. Yes, you read that right: Cheap prices and discounts push some clients away. Like me.
Third, thinking through the absolute best plan will force you to rethink your other offers: “If I’m putting together a high-ticket service and it’s completely different than my normal service, is my normal service really getting results at all? Or is it just getting results more slowly?” Remember: When people buy high-value offerings, they’re buying speed.
Fourth, selling a high-ticket option for the first time usually proves to gym owners that they’re more valuable. They start to see their other services differently and adjust everything to suit.
Fifth, a higher price will often force clients to stick to the program. Paying more is sometimes good for them. It’s certainly true with many of my clients: If they weren’t paying for 1:1 attention, they would shrug off the expense each month, half-ass their efforts and get no results.
Sixth, a higher-touch service creates more opportunities for your staff.
The Exact Steps
Here’s how to present a high-ticket offer:
Pull out the value stack you created in the previous post in this series.
Remember: The whole stack is worth far more than the sum of its parts. The features (recipes, check-ins, stretching videos) might take you little to no extra time to create and supply, but they add immense value to the client, and that’s what’s important.
Get with your mentor to determine your high-value offer and its price. For many people, this is around five times the price of their average group-class membership. That’s how much value they can deliver when they put so much focused attention into a client.
Add the high-ticket offer to your sales binder.
Prescribe the option when it’s appropriate for the client’s goals.
When Should You Add a High-Ticket Offer?
Here are some other tips on “when” to offer the high-ticket option:
1. You should be in late Farmer Phase of gym ownership—the second stage, in which you have a foundation under you and you’re looking to grow. It’s a mistake to add a high-ticket offer before your service, systems and processes are absolutely dialed in. You’ll burn through your best clients by failing to deliver on your promise. Waiting for Tinker Phase—the third phase—is best. (Take our quiz to find out what stage you’re in.)
2. You should also be comfortable with the sales process and know when to make a higher-value offer. If you’re still trying to guess a client’s budget and sell what you think they can afford, you’re not ready to sell something more valuable yet.
3. You should have the experience to confidently say, “I can get you there faster.” You really don’t want to make a big promise at a high price and then fail to deliver.
4. You should know when a service like this is best for clients, regardless of their budgets. If they can’t afford it, they’ll tell you so—and then you can sell them something else. But don’t project a “no” that isn’t actually coming.
Look, there are now a dozen people who will teach you some high-ticket sales tactics. But you should feel good about your high-ticket offer before you sell it—and that’s why I refer to it as a high-value offer.
I know how much impact such a service can have on the life of a client, so I’m eager to sell it to the people who need it most. Book a call with your mentor to build an offer like this!
