Do you sometimes wonder how much to charge for personal training? Or worry that you’ll get your pricing wrong? Price it too high and you’ll put off clients but price too low and you won’t earn enough to live on.
In this article – learn how much to charge for personal training, a workout plan, or any other fitness product or service, using three pricing strategies.
How Much Should Personal Trainers Charge?
Personal trainers charge between $10 and $127 per hour, which is a pretty broad range. So, how can you decide how much to charge for personal training in YOUR specific situation?
Pricing is a tricky area that’s half science, half art-form. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach since everyone’s situation is different.
Location, competition, positioning, target client, and business objectives, all influence personal trainer prices.
So, here are three methods to help you decide how much to charge for personal training, along with the pros and cons of each…
#1 – Look At How Much Other PTs Charge
The first method is to research the competition and then price yourself slightly higher or lower. This is pretty common practice in the PT industry. Depending on what you offer or specialise in, you’ll probably have a gut feeling about whether to charge more or less than other trainers in your area.
Example ⇒ Competitor A charges $60p/h and competitor B charges $70p/h so you charge $65p/h.
The good thing about this method is that it’s easy to implement. Just spend a few minutes researching the competition, and you’re away!
The average price of a personal trainer is $60.75ph so you can always use that as a starting point.
This approach also ensures that your pricing is competitive in the short term, which will help you generate PT sales from the outset.
However, this method does have its downfalls. The main one is that it can lead to a race to the bottom. If you base your prices on your competitors’, then what happens if they drop theirs? Do you drop yours? And what will they do to counter this? Yep that’s right, drop their price again.
This can lead to a downward spiral, until prices hit rock bottom and no-one’s making any money. Eventually this devalues everyone’s services, and it’s incredibly difficult to raise them back the other way. So, whilst it’s an easy option, it’s worth treading carefully.
You might also like… How To Price Gym Memberships & Studio Sessions.
Learn which fitness marketing strategies produce the best results (so you can focus on what actually works).
#2 – Calculate Costs + Profit
This is the classic approach that many product-orientated businesses take. It involves calculating your costs, and then adding a profit margin on top.
Example ⇒ It costs $40 to produce the product, pay staff and bills, and transport it to the customer, so we’ll add on a 50% profit margin and charge $60 in total.
For personal trainers, it means calculating the cost of your…
- Training courses
- First aid certification
- PPL licenses
- Equipment
- Insurance
- Marketing
- Travel
- Taxes
- Cost of your time
The great thing about this method is that it’s totally logical. It ensures your costs are covered and bills are paid (assuming you meet your minimum sales prediction).
The downside is, you may end up selling yourself short. What if the market would be willing to pay more? You’ll miss out on potential revenue, and no-one wants that.
You might also like… How To Write An Awesome Personal Trainer Bio.
#3 – Begin With The End In Mind
This method involves deciding the total amount you want to earn, and then creating an offering that’s worth the money. It’s a more goal-orientated approach, where you decide on the end result, and then work out what’s needed to achieve it.
Example ⇒ I want to earn $100,000 a year, which equals $2000 per week (assuming 2 weeks holiday). If I work 25 hours per week then I’ll need to charge $80p/h. What can I offer that’s worth that to clients?
If you’re wondering how much to charge for workout plans, online PT, or in-person training, then this approach has some huge upsides.
It allows us to think bigger, achieve financial freedom faster, and on our own terms.
However it does require more research, which takes time and effort. The maths is simple enough, but it’s that last part that requires more work… What can we offer clients that’s worth it? Because unless you can truly provide value to them, it’s just not going to be successful.
How Much To Charge For Personal Training
Pricing is crucial to the success of your PT business, which is why we dedicate an entire module to it in our online course. How To Sell Personal Training will teach you the exact steps to finding profitable clients and increasing your revenue.
Personal Training Sales Success
Learn the exact steps to finding profitable, long-term clients (minus the old-school, sleazy sales tactics).
Whether you’re a newly qualified PT or veteran trainer, ‘selling’ can be the most daunting and confusing aspect of the job. Our online course breaks it down into simple, actionable steps, and removes the ‘hard sell’ aspect.
This online course condenses 15+ years of fitness sales and marketing knowledge into 8 easy modules. It contains all the info we wish we’d known when first starting out, including…
- Why You ARE Cut Out For Selling (Even If You Think You Aren’t)
- Essential Selling Skills For The Ethical Fitness Pro
- Profitable Pricing Strategies
- Identifying Your Ideal Client
- Establishing A Client Base
- Networking & How To Approach People In The Gym
- Creating Effective Testimonials
- Closing The Sale & Handling Objections
You’ll receive 30 bite-size videos plus downloadable worksheets and templates. Preview the content for FREE or enroll today and learn how to get new PT clients immediately!
