3 Numbers That Will Make or Break Your Personal Training Business

Let’s be honest. You started your personal training business because you love helping people.

Maybe you were always involved in sports as a kid? Or perhaps your parents were athletes so it’s "in your blood"? Maybe you’ve been through your own health transformation and want to be able to share everything you’ve learned with others so they can do it too?

No matter what your reason is, you entered the fitness industry because you wanted to spend your days guiding and encouraging others, and helping them get RESULTS.

So, to pursue your passion, you started your very own personal training business. Awesome!

You found a space where you could train your clients, you figured out what to charge them for your services, and you even put up a website all by yourself!

You told all of your family and friends about your new business, and the leads started pouring in. You had people calling you left, right, and centre and you were off to a great start, except for one thing...

You weren’t generating very much revenue.

Now what?

Show Me the Money!

You have put in a lot of work, and you're getting plenty of inquiries, but where are all the paying customers and the big fat paycheques?

The answer lies in 3 simple numbers:

1. Your booking rate
2. Your show rate
3. Your close rate

If analyzing stats and knowing your numbers doesn’t exactly sound sexy to you, I get it. Crunching numbers is for accountants, not personal trainers, right?

BUT, if you’re going to run a successful business, you need to know these 3 crucial numbers inside and out. Here's how to get started...

3 Crucial Numbers You Need to Know to Ensure Business Profitability

There are many numbers that can help explain why your business is working (or not working) as you would like, but here are the 3 most important numbers for any personal trainer:

1. Booking Rate

Your booking rate is the number of appointments you booked, divided by the number of people you talked to.

For example: You spoke to 20 people who inquired about your services. You discussed their fitness goals and how you could potentially help them. From this process you were able to set up a consultation appointment with 15 of them. That’s a 75% booking rate.

You were smart and booked each consultation within 72 hours of the phone call. That "72" is the magic number! Anything booked after a 3-day window (i.e. 72 hours) will drastically decrease the chance of them showing up!

Next, you made a confirmation call the night before the appointment to remind them about the consultation and to review their goals.

Yes, these calls might feel a bit awkward at first, but making them shows your prospects that you listened to them and care about them. Every lead you generate requires a little bit of attention like this - don't be lazy. Do it!

2. Show Rate

Out of the 15 people you booked appointments with, 9 showed up. Now you’ve got a 60% show rate (i.e. 9 divided by 15 = 60%).

A low show rate (​i.e. anything less than 60%) can indicate a few problems with your process so far. Either your leads are not very qualified, meaning that you're booking consultations with the wrong type of people, or your follow-up process needs refinement.

Remember, you want to make it as easy as possible for prospective clients to walk through your door. If your show rate is low, ask yourself how you can help make it even easier for people to get to their initial consultation.

3. Close Rate

Next we look at your close rate: how many people actually bought personal training after they completed a full consultation with you?

Imagine that of your 9 "shows," you were able to sell 1 of them a personal training package. That's an 11% close rate. We'll come back to this number in a minute...

There are so many factors that could affect the outcome of your free consultations. Here are my top 3 tips for improving your close rate:

Tip #1. Be completely honest about what it’s going to take for them to reach their goals. If you promise the sky, there's a good chance they will perceive you to be just in it for the sale, not really looking out for their best interests.

Tip #2. Whatever you say, say it with absolute confidence and excitement! You are the professional. You are the one who will lead this client from point A to point B. Tell them how you WILL make it happen!

Tip #3. Be a problem solver. Selling is not about convincing someone to pay you. If your goal going into any consultation is to sell, I can just about guarantee that you’ll come out of that consult with nothing but frustration and an unhappy prospective client who will likely never buy anything from you.

Instead, your consultation must be about working together to come up with a solution that the client wants to buy.

It’s about creating a solution to their problem, and showing the prospect that you are on this fitness journey with them. Take care of each prospect like you would want someone else to take care of your mother or other family member. 

When you show that you truly care about someone, you will be much more likely to have them get started with you as their personal trainer.

Analyzing Your Numbers for Skyrocketed Sales

Now, back to our final number. When all 9 consults are complete you have 1 new client. Your closing rate is 1 divided by 9, 11%. While every new client is a step in the right direction for your business, gaining 1 new client from the 20 initial prospects is not an ideal situation.

What can you do now?

Taking a quick look back to see what’s working well and where there could be gaps, you can easily determine what to improve upon. You always want to do more of what’s working well, and refine the area where the changes will help you get the biggest bang for your buck. 

So, remember our 3 numbers:​

• Booking rate: 75% (15/20)
• Show rate: 60% (9/15)
• Close rate: 11% (1/9)

At first glance you would probably agree that the booking rate is already in a pretty good spot. The show and close rates could use some work, but which one should you hone in on first?

Let’s say your average sale is $4000. If you had 11 people show up instead of 9, your show rate would improve from 60% to 73%. However, at your same 11% close rate, you would still have only closed 1 person (1/11 = 1.2).

On the other hand...​

If you could improve your consultation process so that you close just 1 more of those prospective clients, giving you 2/9 (22% close rate), you would have another new client and would double your revenue ($8000 instead of $4000)!

So, what are you going to work on?

CLOSING! Here are some of the questions you can begin to ask yourself:

• What does your consultation process look like?
• How can you better understand the needs of your prospects?
• ​How can you reassure them that YOU know how to help them get results?
• What sort of packages are you offering? Is there a better bundle that will meet the exact needs of your prospects?
• Is your pricing aligned with the service you're offering?
• What is your final call-to-action? How do you attempt to close the sale?

Putting Your Numbers into Practice

By understanding your numbers, you can identify the area you need to improve upon, therefore, you can make the best decisions for your business. In our example, you just doubled your revenue by knowing what to work on right away.

Doubling your sales isn't far-fetched. Begin by keeping a spreadsheet that tracks the following numbers each day:

• How many calls did you make?
• How many people did you speak with to discuss their goals?
• How many appointments were booked into a consult (within 3 days)?
• How many of those leads showed up to complete their consult?
• How many bought personal training sessions with you?

If you do this for just 1 month, and make adjustments accordingly, I know you will see the changes in your business. You will be generating more revenue in much less time, which should be the goal of every personal trainer!

Do you think this will help you grow your business? If so, share the wealth using the share buttons below!​