Here is a run down of the potential value of a great personal trainer to a club.  I'm a little scared to write this blog because poor trainers and/or unproven trainers may use these figures in discussions with club operators, and that is premature.  The key word is 'great' personal trainers.  A poor trainer or even average trainer is not a wise option for any club operator and I'll discuss that in an upcoming blog - comparing club based PT with studio based PT - the benefits and pitfalls.

To take a close look at the financial value of a great Personal Trainer I'm going to break the income down into direct (ie it comes from the trainers pocket) and indirect (ie it comes from someone else but the trainer has a part to play). 

Direct income is predictable and fixed.  Indirect income varies dependent on the Personal Trainer's skills and abilities, and it fluctuates over time.

Direct income:

PT rent.  This is the amount paid by a Personal Trainer to access the membership, the facility and be associated with the club's brand.  As a rule I set this at 4 x the average one hour session charge being used by the Personal Trainers.  So, if they charge an average of $60 plus GST then I would look to set rent at $240 plus GST per week.

Before I move on, PT rent is often a bone of contention with both parties.  It is usually a focus because it is written down and clear.  Clubs sometimes stick doggedly to a set figure and Personal Trainers often spend an inordinate amount of time grizzling. 

In my experience the clubs that show no flexibility create no good will - and that creates a similar behaviour from Personal Trainers.  Compromising is not about 'discounting the rent'. It's sometimes enough to explain the rent. Other options are offering some rent free periods at troublesome times of the year where a Personal Trainer struggles with cash flow (I offer to do this by putting the base rental up so the nett yearly rent is the same, but there are two-four weeks where rent isn't payable). Explain how long you've held the rent the same despite inflation and most importantly work with the Personal Trainer to develop their business skills - after all, the 'great' trainers very rarely ask for rent reviews as they are most often filling their boots doing great business - so the key is to help this trainer become great.

For Personal Trainers asking for rent review you're mad!  Firstly, you usually get a great deal - facility, marketing, database, referral (if you know what you're doing), infrastructure and support.  I've been a trainer, I was successful and I never thought rent was an issue.  In fact you could have doubled it and I'd have been fine.  Do the math - if you are 'great' and do 30 sessions a week (this is full time) and you only have to work 4 sessions to pay rent (remembering this is a payment that takes care of most of your needs all at once) then 4/30 = 13% of your turnover is rental.  That's ridiculous!  Now I understand a Personal Trainer who is not good enough at PT will struggle - for example 4/15 sessions = 27% of turnover but a rent reduction will not relieve your burden much at all.  If you're not great a Personal Training work on that alone - make it your mission to be as good as you possibly can, as fast as you possibly can.

So, if you came to me for rent review I would have one major question for you 'why?'  I hope to deal with the many ways of improving your Personal Training over time through this website, but if you are hot about your rent price - then take all that energy and put it somewhere where it will make a difference - put it into you.  Right, back to the topic.

Indirect income:

Referral membership sales.  OK, club owners take a deep breath, but in combination with your marketing efforts and the club's brand, Personal Trainers can bring members to your floor.  That said, they have to be encouraged to do so and there are ways to do that that I won't deal with here.  What I will say is that a 'great' Personal Trainer should minimum bring one new member in each quarter - so four members a year.  Working that through, with an average membership price of say $1,000 you're looking at $4,000 a year income.

Retention.  A Personal Trainer simply won't survive with a retention rate below 70% annually.  Why?  Because they are constantly going to be recruiting and inducting new clients which is the most costly (time wise) activity in Personal Training and if they are not good enough to retain, the market place will talk and eventually the recruitment of clients will become more and more difficult.  The Personal Trainer's client base will then shrink into oblivion as clients choose the better option.

So, a great Personal Trainer will have at least 70% of their client base active with them at the end of a 12-month period.  In general, clubs on average achieve 50% retention.  So 'great' Personal Trainers can consistently retain 20% more memberships than a club can.  If a Personal Trainer has a client base of 25 clients that's 25 x 20% = 5 memberships.  Again, at a value of $1,000 per membership, there's another $5,000 in the club coffers.

There are other financial implications of having 'great' Personal Trainers in a club.  It's recognised in most industries that customers purchase across a range of products in a category and PT allows this to happen in the fitness environment.  Essentially PT diversifies the product range available in the 'individual fitness instruction' product mix of the club.  PT also spreads visitation patterns in clubs (particularly important in smaller fully loaded corporate clubs) because clients are often flexible with their session times when they want to see their 'great' Personal Trainer.  Also, a smart club will use their trainers to market their membership through the trainers client base - friend get friend campaigns can be most powerful if put in place with your club's happiest members who are getting the best results - essentially your personal trainers' clients.

In summary you have the following (plus or minus a bit) based on my figures above:

Rent $12,000

Referral $4,000

Retention $5,000

Total $21,000

There are costs to running and supporting a 'great' team of Personal Trainers in a club, but the benefits do outweigh the costs.  The key is to recruit, induct and support Personal Trainers effectively.  The critical stage in any club is in recruiting and inducting trainers.  Too many clubs chance their arm with a trainer and the result is catastrophic.  Think of it this way, if you were going to a restaurant would you ever chose the one where some of the customers were extremely happy with their meals whilst others couldn't stomach the fare.  A bad trainer devalues everything they touch, your club, other trainers' businesses, the referral campaign you are running etc.  Yes, 10 great trainers will put a big lump on your bottom line as a club operator.  But you'll be swimming in the quick sand of incompetence if you don't recruit and induct very carefully. 

Happy hunting to both great trainers and great clubs - I hope you find each other soon - you deserve to!