How to Sell Your True Value

A young athletic woman leaping in the air - how to sell your true value

In Part 1 of this series, I told you that if you want to make money in fitness, you’re going to have to create it by creating value.

And that’s all nice and good. But there’s no sense beating around the bush: At some point, someone will have to pay you real money.

Here’s the process.

1. Determine your Perfect Day. How much time do you want to spend working? What else do you want to do? Where do you want to live?

2. Determine how much your Perfect Day will cost. Add up the expenses associated with that lifestyle.

3. Divide that total cost by 12 months.

4. If you own a bricks-and-mortar gym, multiply that number by 3. Divide this new number by 150. That’s how much each client will need to pay per month if you have 150 clients and a 33 percent profit margin.

5. If you own an online coaching business multiply that number by 1.2. Divide this new number by 20. That’s how much each client will need to pay per month if you have 20 clients and 20 percent overhead costs.

6. The number you just determined is your absolute minimum rate. That’s your lowest rate, including all discounts, trades, etc.

7. Now double that number. This is your target rate.

8. Answer the Magic Question—see below. (I’ll get to it after I show you an example of the math.)

Example:

My Perfect Day is to work fours hours and net $100,000 per year.

That’s $8,500 (net) per month.

I own a bricks-and-mortar gym, so I multiply that number by 3 ($100,000 x 3 = $300,000). That’s $25,000 per month to make $8,500 net if I can hold a 33 percent profit margin.

To make $25,000 per month from 150 clients, I need to charge each $166.67 at minimum.

Doubling $166.67, my target rate is $333.33 per month.


The Magic Question


Here it is:

What service can I provide that’s worth $333.33 per month?”

And that is how you build your service.

Forget “what the market will bear,” forget the average that other gyms charge in your area, forget that you’re “in a lower-income area” (everyone says that). People will pay your target rate if you deliver the value to match.

That doesn’t mean running better group classes. It doesn’t mean better programming. It really doesn’t mean more letters after your name. It means excellence, consistency, attention, empathy and appreciation.


Key Questions


It all sounds simple, I know.

But to really be worth the $333.33 per month, I have to ask myself these questions:

Am I really an excellent coach or do I just know a lot about technique?

Are my people actually getting the results they wanted when they signed up?

Am I reviewing their progress to make sure?

Are my coaches really as good as I am or does the ship only run smoothly when I’m at the wheel?

Can I count on a new walk-in getting the same experience every single time or would I be embarrassed if someone showed up in my gym right now?

Do I count on long-term members to let me off the hook when the bathroom isn’t clean or I don’t start their appointment on time?

Am I counting on them to behave like a friend would … and then charging them money?

Am I giving my personal attention to their goals? Not just 1:1 movement correction in the group—that’s the bare minimum.

Am I talking to them outside their workouts?

Am I telling them why a particular workout is important for them and what their specific goals are for that workout?

Do I honestly care enough about my client to do whatever it takes to get results?

Will I tell them they need more from me even if it’s more expensive?

Will I send them to another gym if that will help them more?

Will I text them at 8 p.m. to say, “Go cut up some veggies for tomorrow’s snacks”?

Do I thank my clients in person at least every month? Do I cultivate gratitude and teach my clients to do the same?


Value Must Increase


If you’re like me, you probably did a lot of this stuff when you started. But over time, you got overwhelmed by work or grew your client base and started delivering by the clock. I get it.

But you can’t scale up your business while you scale down your value. You must replace yourself with systems, people and tools when you can no longer deliver these things yourself.

And these are just the basics. They’re not the extras.

In the next post in this series, I’ll tell you how to increase your value beyond double your group class rate.


Other Media in This Series


How to Literally Make Money in Fitness
How to Increase Your Value
28-Day Virtuosity Challenge

Like
Tweet

One more thing!

Did you know gym owners can earn $100,000 a year with no more than 150 clients? We wrote a guide showing you exactly how.