Asking for people’s money is tough, especially when you first get started in this field.
But I have an idea…
Humor me for a moment by entertaining the notion of adding something new to your sales pitch. I want to take your anxiety surrounding selling a premium-priced service model, and take it up a notch. Start by imagining your most expensive training option. If you operate a semi-private model, it might be something in the range of $499/month for unlimited training.
Whatever the cost may be, I want you to double the price and slap the term “Elite Package” on the title of that training option.
You know what, forget double...make it three times the price.
Now your premium-priced unlimited semi-private training option has a fancy big brother, and it is called the “Elite Semi-Private Training Package.” The cost for “the best you’ve got to offer” just moved from $499/month on up to $1,499/month.
Terrifying, right?
So how are you going to justify the significant cost increase for this option?
For starters, you’re going to throw everything you have into the mix, including the kitchen sink. This means that “elite” clients get things like consistent check-ins from your nutrition coach, a weekly manual therapy treatment, a smoothie every time they wrap up a training session, and the comfort in knowing that they will be able to train at any time they’d like so long as it falls within your advertised hours of operation. These clients don’t work around your available training schedule, you work around theirs.
In addition to these perks, elite clients get handed a cool tee shirt every time you roll out a new model, all of the bottles of water they can handle, and a distinct sense that they are VIP’s at any moment they set foot in the gym.
Go ahead and tell me that this would break your system, and that you’re not staffed appropriately to drop everything and take care of a client who wants to train four times a week on his terms. To this, I would ask you -- how difficult is it to find an extra coach for four to six hours per week when you’re sitting on an additional $12,000 in annual revenue?
“Breaking” your system and stepping outside of your pricing comfort zone might be a good idea for your business, and here are three compelling reasons why:
1. There’s a market of people who crave expensive.
Almost a decade ago a professional baseball player named Cory Gearrin strolled into my office and closed the door behind him.
“Can I give you some unsolicited feedback?”
Absolutely, Cory. Hit me.
“Your subsidized pricing strategy for MLB-affiliated players is actually deterring a number of great athletes from considering your services.”
He went on to explain that he’d spent upwards of $6,000/month for off-season training at a widely recognized “elite performance training gym” the year before, and the experience was similar, if not less impressive than the one we were offering for $199/month to professional baseball players. While he was appreciative of the effort we were making to deliver an affordable off-season option for our guys, he also knew that some of his teammates in a big league locker room thought that we couldn’t be taken seriously because their careers were too valuable to put in the hands of the bargain-basement priced training option.
I was reminded that day that my pricing strategy tells a story. I owe it to myself to deliver a cost structure that aligns with the quality of the product I’m delivering, regardless of how eager I am to quickly capture market share.
You know what a proposed Elite Semi-Private Training option would do? It would tell the story that the Rolls Royce of semi-private training exists, and it happens to be in my gym.
2. Everything else suddenly looks affordable.
That $499/month unlimited training option you’ve been pedaling for years occasionally comes with a little sticker shock, right?
Not anymore.
The proposed Elite Semi-Private Training service you’d offer may look terrifyingly expensive to your average consumer, but it also suddenly makes $499/month seem more doable. When given multiple choices for payment and service options, customers are inclined to make a selection that falls within the middle. Some refer to this as the Center-Stage Effect, and you can learn about how it impacts pricing strategy here.
By bringing a new premium-priced service option into the mix, you’d effectively move your most profitable training option closer to “the middle” of the pricing list. Why not create a dynamic that drives more people toward your highest-margin offering?
3. You’ll have no choice but to become a customer service Jedi Master.
Your default answer to every request this hypothetical new client presents…
If you do go ahead and take the leap to offering a super-premium option on your service list, you’re instantly going to be forced to step up your customer service game. You’ll feel compelled to erase existing lazy habits and begin over-delivering on services that you’ve probably been running on auto-pilot since your business is probably systemized well at this point.
This isn’t a bad thing, as establishing these new habits may not be as difficult as previously expected, and you just may find yourself standardizing them across all platforms. Few things will prompt you to be better than the need to accommodate a demanding client.
shake up your approach business development
My business partner Eric and I are looking forward to hosting our CSP Business Building Mentorship at our Florida facility on Sunday, April 7th. We’ll spend a day digging deep into everything from lead generation, to pricing strategy, gym design, and everything in between. If you’re interested in learning exactly how we’ve attacked building and maintaining the model we’ve had in action since 2007, this packed day of information is for you.
Check out all of the details HERE, and make sure to shoot me an email (pdgymsolutions@gmail.com) if you have follow-up questions.