Should You Offer Complimentary Consultations or Free Classes?

by Machelle Lee
(Santa Cruz CA USA)

Machelle Lee and Ryan Andrews The Invisible Gym Mobile Fitness Training

There is always a huge debate in our industry whether or not it is a good idea to offer complimentary consultations or free classes/services. Some people argue that by giving away your time/service or product that you are decreasing the perceived value of your services.

However, there are many different products and services that you sample before you make a purchase and your perception of the value doesn't change. A good example of something that people sample before making a purchase is a car. People test drive cars before they buy and after test driving the car the person doesn't feel like the car is worth less because someone let you drive it for free. In fact, the opposite occurs, many people want to buy the car after they test drive a car.

One of your goals as a fitness professional is to make your prospective clients feel as comfortable as possible when they are making a buying decision. So how do you do that? A great way to do this is to let them experience your services, feel the benefits, see how knowledgeable you are and showing them that they need your services. You can't do that with a print ad in the newspaper or a direct mailing postcard.

Of course, by offering complimentary consultations or free classes you are going to run into the occasional "freebie junkie" but you'll also be getting dozens of other people who may not have contacted you if you didn't offer them some sort of sample of your services. I can honestly say that in my 8 years of offering complimentary consultations, I can count the people in one hand who didn't want to sign up for personal training right after our mini workout.

Keep in mind that most people love to "try before they buy." A big part of finding new clients is letting them get to know you, like you and trust you. And what better way to do that is to let them meet you in person or sample one of your services.

Machelle Lee and Ryan Andrews own and operate The Invisible Gym.
www.the-invisible-gym.com

Our frustration with the lack of resources for the mobile trainer led Ryan and I to start presenting at Health and Fitness conferences and we also created a resource manual called, The Mobile Fitness Guide To Business Success!
http://www.the-invisible-gym.com/mobile-fitness-professionals.html

It is our hope that mobile training become an integral part of the health and fitness industry and we are trying to create a mobile training community!

If you have any questions about mobile training you can contact us at: getfit@theinvisiblegym.com

Keep a pair of sunglasses handy, the future of mobile fitness training looks bright!