One thing us health and fitness professionals love doing is coaching people to becoming the best versions of themselves.
One thing almost all of us health and fitness professionals hate doing is asking for money.
We are such help-oriented people that we almost feel guilty that we should be charging for our services and getting paid what we deserve.
I have found (myself included) that with many health coaches, in the beginning, they do a lot of programs for free just out of the goodness of their heart.
Friends, family, co-workers — You name it, you created a free program for them.
Moreover, you have even done free sessions, consults, or programs designs for your paying clientele even though they have already clearly demonstrated that they are willing to pay you for your services.
But, then you reach a point where you become a popular trainer and the time demands on your schedule simply make it impossible to help everyone around you for free.
If you keep that cycle up, you end up both exhausted and broke.
Eventually, you have to start charging everyone for your services (yes, this means family and friends too) — and then after that, you’ll reach a point where it’s time to raise your rates.
When To Know When You Can Raise Your Rates
Here are some major things that you can use to qualify your decision to raise your rates:
- If you have a portfolio of testimonials
- If you have a portfolio of before and after pictures
- If you have attended several seminars since your last price point
- If you have gained new certifications since your last price point
- If you have personally accomplished something major in the form of “walking the walk” since your last price point
- If you have been professionally mentored by a well-known coach since your last price point
- If you have learned a major new skill to help your clients accelerate their results since your last price point
Although there are seven different points above, you only need one of them (if you do it good enough) to justify raising your rates with solid integrity that will drive reasonable acceptance from your client/customer-base.
If you have a combination of the above, then you’re a little late to the party in terms of raising your rates.
Moreover, if 10% of your customer-base doesn’t complain about your price point then you’re not charging enough. Period.
How To Raise Your Rates
Here is a template you can use to send the right message to your clientele and put yourself in the best possible position to have well-rounded acceptance from all parties involved:
Dear *client*,
Thank you for always placing your trust in myself to lead you towards your health and fitness goals, that never goes under-appreciated on my end and I want you to know that.
Because of the great work people like you have been able to put in and get great results, my personal training business is growing due to word of mouth.
This growth in combination with the new skills I have acquired this year at *insert the continuing education you did* have led to a new price change moving forward.
On *date*, my current rate of *$* will be increasing to *$*.
This rate increase will cover increased investment in the quality of our training sessions, the effectiveness at how we will be able to get you better results, and to ensure you receive the absolute highest level of personal attention you need to reach your goals.
Thank you for being a part of the team, please let me know what works best for you moving forward so I can continue to support you in every way I can.
Your friend and coach,
*name*
Final Thoughts
The above thoughts should help you:
- Realize that you need to start raising your rates if you want to make a real career out of this
- Demonstrate the criteria which gives you the leverage to raise your rates
- Provide a done-for-you script that you can send to your clientele about the increase in price points for your service
Don’t get stuck in the rat race, start getting paid what you deserve. And if you really want to take your business to the next level, check out the Create Freedom Academy and allow Kevin and I to take it from there.
Dan Garner
