If there's one thing a potato farmer knows, it's this: diversify.
Potatoes are subject to disease, pestulence, and the frivolity of the weather. Not enough rain? They wither. Too much? Late blight. Fungus? All the Yukon Gold are susceptible.
There's a growing tendency among CrossFit Affiliates to limit their service offering. "We don't want just anyone," they say. "We want committed people only." Leaving aside the argument that it's our job to build commitment, setting a pricing model around only one offering - the 1-month unlimited package - means missing out on potential revenue AND an opportunity to do the best thing for your clients.
Three years ago, I wrote a piece called, "The Three Boxes," which was adapted from a book called, "How To Sell A Lobster." In a nutshell (lobster shell?), pricing should give context: a higher-priced 'premium' service should be offered to frame your main product; a lower-end 'bargain' service should be offered to allow people to try a scaled-down version. This allows for discounts and trials without modifying the price of your main service.
Offering Personal Training at your Affiliate satisfies the 'premium' service problem.
Try as they might, some clients simply don't respond well in a group setting. They're too socially aware, maybe; they're too scared of making a mistake to take a risk, perhaps. They require much more attention than others. The best service you can give them is more of your time.
Offering Personal Training at your Affiliate means they can get the one-on-one time they need to get better.
The small-group-training model, popularized by strength coaches like Zach Evan-Esh, is a good one: given that you have limited time each day, it makes perfect sense to try and make the most revenue per hour spent. If every hour of your coaching time is filled, the only way to increase revenue is to encourage clients to train together. What if every hour is NOT filled?
Offering Personal Training at your Affiliate allows you to derive income at non-peak times.
CrossFit is for everyone: soccer moms to Navy SEALs. We scale by load, but not by type. One of the greatest services we can provide is the arena of sport to those for whom fitness has seemed inaccessible....until now. For some clients, though, modifications are SO great that they can't smoothly scale up or down on their own.
Offering Personal Training at your Affiliate means you can help those who don't fit the mold.
You have GREAT Coaches, I'm sure. They're educated. They WANT to help people, first and foremost. They also need to eat.
Offering Personal Training at your Affiliate means your Coaches can work as much (or as little) as they like, without fighting for class time. They can also take more ownership of their income, their clients' programming, and their time, by being responsible for a stable of private clients.
If it isn't raining in your market now, it eventually will. The all-or-nothing approach means that some of your best potential clients are being turned away at the porch. If your class schedule isn't completely filled, Personal Training offers a convenient way to sell your services....and do the right thing for many of your clients. Hey, it's how Glassman started....
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