The PT Roadmap

The weekly newsletter for personal trainers who want to build and run a great business.

Hey!

Thanks for opening up today's newsletter. I appreciate you being here.

Let's get into it!

If you’re an Instagram story user and you would love a few more clients, I’ve got a free download you’ll enjoy.

5 IG Story Enquiry Scripts

The PDF gives you 5 scripts to test on your stories to get more enquiries.

I recommend testing one weekly for the next month to see what works best. Then, repeat the most effective one monthly.

One of my mentoring clients recently used the ‘open slots’ script and signed up a new client for PT three times a week.

You just never know who is sitting there, watching your stories, thinking about hiring a PT and waiting for the right moment to try your service out.

Using one of these might just be the gentle nudge someone needs.

Get a free copy of it HERE.

Business

How to Scale Your Business Beyond 1-1 Personal Training

1-1 PT is amazing.

It's my favourite way to deliver PT.

You get to know people on a level that no other method allows. You build incredible relationships with your clients. You get to personalise your programming and coaching to just one person.

But, it does have a ceiling.

You can only take on so many clients before you're full.

And if you’re anything like me, you’ll get to a point where you’ll want some hours back, a clear way to increase your income and with room to grow.

So, here are some business models for scaling beyond or away from 1-1:

Quick side note: you do NOT have to scale, stop, remove or change anything. If you're happy with where you're at, there is no need to do anything I suggest below. I know plenty of PTs who run very profitable, lifestyle-accommodating 1-1 PT businesses. It is absolutely possible.

-- Price Increase

This one is less about scaling and more about increasing income without increasing hours.

Your prices should be going up each year.

Especially as you're the type of PT who reads newsletters like this!

Increasing your prices is the simplest solution if you want to increase revenue without adding another service.

Should you increase your current client's rates?

Yes, IMO.

It doesn't need to be by much; 3-5% is reasonable.

A 5% increase across ten clients paying you £200 a month is an extra £100. It's not huge, but it is an extra £1200 a year for the same work.

For new clients, the increase can be larger.

I've advised PTs to jump from £30 to £40 (33% increase), as the demand was there, and they were undercharging.

This free playbook tells you how to do it without losing or offending your clients.

-- 2-1 Sessions

Take two 1-1 clients and merge them into one session.

I’ve done this often with clients with similar goals and programmes, and it always works well.

I tell them I’ve got another client I think they’d work well with and offer them a free trial session. If they enjoy it, we start doing 2-1s. If they don’t, we return to 1-1. No harm done.

I price it by taking 10-15% off the normal rate as I’m still providing a high level of service, but it does acknowledge to the client that they are now sharing their session.

For example:

• 1-1 rate = £35

• 2-1 rate = £30 each

I’ve also always clarified that the cost will be the same for sessions where the second client isn’t present and they receive a 1-1. If this becomes an issue (e.g., one client is cancelling often), we’ll revisit whether it’s worth continuing.

Transitioning some clients into this business model also leads nicely into our next option. By putting some clients together and proving it works, you open the door to doing…

-- Small-Group PT

Small-group PT (3-6 clients in one session) offers an effective way to work with more clients, charge more per hour and get some time back.

You can open up some semi-private training slots in your week and start moving your clients into them.

Like the 2-1 session, I advise framing it as a trial so clients know they have an easy out.

Or you can set a date and tell all of your clients you're shifting over to small-group and there’ll no longer be 1-1 slots (like my 1-1 mentoring client Katie Hughes talks about in this podcast episode.)

Rather than making £35 for a 1-1 session, you can charge 3-6 people £15-20 and bring in anywhere from £45 to £120.

-- Large Group Outdoor

The bootcamp style of training is still a popular way to train people.

I know trainers who do them with groups of 10 and 30+.

Price it appropriately, and you have a very profitable side to your business.

I ran a few of these early on in my career and never quite ran them right or felt I was the right trainer for them. I’m not the Mr Motivator type 🤣 

-- Hybrid

A mix of 1-1 and online.

See your client once or twice a month in person, and then support them online for the rest.

For the right 1-1 client, this method can be a great way to move clients through your business.

For example:

• Months 0-6 = 2x 1-1 PT per week.

• Months 6-12 = 2x 1-1 PT per month + online.

• Months 12-18 = 1x 1-1 PT per month + online.

• Months 18 onwards = fully online.

Read more about starting a Hybrid service in this newsletter issue.

-- 1-1 Online

This is probably the most common method, and I'm sure many of you are using it or considering it.

Keep your one-on-one clients and start doing some online coaching. Or move some of your in-person clients online.

It's much harder to get clients online than in person, but it is a method that works well for many PTs.

5-10 online clients paying you £80-150 a month can allow you to up your income, drop some in-person clients and get some time back.

Learn more on this podcast episode.

-- Online Group Coaching

Another popular method: run an online group coaching programme.

The most common way is to give it a name (e.g. Lose Weight in 8), run it for a period of time (6-12 weeks), offer a specific outcome (e.g. fat loss or an improved relationship with food) and price it slightly cheaper than 1-1 online would be (£50-75 per month.)

If you've got a following online, online group coaching can be a great way to monetize this.

Learn more on this podcast episode.

Social Post

I just loved this perspective from Arnold Schwarzenegger on why he still trains.

It is part of who he is.

If you’ve studied self-determination theory and the micro theory within it, organismic integration theory (OIT), you’ll know all about this.

You’ll have seen OIT in action when you start working with a new client. They’ll often come in stating reasons such as “My doctor told me I need to exercise” or “My partner says I’m getting unhealthy”

6 months later (or a much longer or shorter timeframe), they have become the type of person who does deadlifts on Monday.

They’ve gone from being externally motivated to a more integrated form of motivation.

In writing this, I’m reminded how much I enjoy this stuff. Learning about SDT and OIT has improved how I coach my clients in both a PT and mentoring setting to no end.

Thanks so much for reading.

— Stuart.

Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways I can help you:

1. One-to-One Mentoring. Do you wish you had someone to talk to every week to direct, guide and keep you accountable? My 1-1 mentoring service is perfect for PTs with an already solid business (making at least 2.5K a month) but feeling a bit stuck with what to do next to grow and improve. Just hit reply if you’re interested, and we’ll set up a time to talk. No hard selling here, just a chance for you to talk about your business, it’s problems and whether my help might make sense 👍

2. The Lead Gen Roadmap. This course is for you if you need clients or want to develop a systemised approach to consistently getting leads. It is everything I have learned in my 11 years of Personal Training about getting clients. I've tested every strategy, script, playbook and tactic myself and with 100s other trainers. Start it today for as little as £57.