James Breese: [00:00:00] Strength Matters Media. Video. Print. Podcasts.
Josh Kennedy: Today's topic, when clients ask for discounts, a case study in business boundaries. I'm going to ask James not to take a step because he ruined my first intro. Um, but this is something that I'm sure a lot of PTs can relate to, uh, clients approaching them for discounts.
Something that's happened to us over the years and something that happened very recently. James, you want to share our experience with it? Yeah, literally
James Breese: yesterday. Uh, so we thought we'd just go straight into it today and share an example of what happened. So a client came to us in cricket matters. He was convinced he knew what was best for his son, and he wanted us to change our products and services to match what he was doing and he wanted to have done for his, his, his son.
And I basically said no, in the nicest, and we politely, we did respect, well,
Josh Kennedy: ChatGPT helped you do it more politely.
James Breese: Yeah, it was. The initial email was, was quite forceful. It was nice, but it was forceful. Then I put it to ChatGPT, double check. It [00:01:00] was the right way and it did change the tone appropriately and I thought it came across really well, but it's a classic example where people constantly, constantly try and barter with you and discount your services as a fitness professional and they always tend to think they know better and they always try to think that They can do better themselves.
However, when they want to try and adapt and change what you do, which you know works accordingly is completely wrong. You would never go into a dentist and halfway through the middle of being on the chair, say, actually, I think what you're doing with my. Changing my tooth or putting a filling in my tooth is wrong.
You wouldn't do that. Same as if you go to a doctor and you're paying for service. Yet, people automatically assume us as fitness professionals, we should cater and bow down to every beck and whim. The problem is a lot of personal trainers and coaches do that. Because they're trying to get money in and trying to please everybody.
However, from our experience, no, stick to your guns. [00:02:00] Raise your level of professionalism and make sure that what you're offering is right and if they try and barter with you We
Josh Kennedy: don't do it. I was gonna say Andrew Do you think it can be tempting though? Because people obviously, you know, it's like oh god Well, if I'm a discount, I've got that's more money coming in.
I've got a new client Um, so sort of people would be tempted along Along those lines, you
Andrew Wallis: can be and you certainly are, you know, from people previous experience back in the day, you know, I had that very same, um, situation. I buckled to the to the client's women. I did reduce my price for them. But then when it came to others hearing about it, uh, you know, new prospects, well, they wanted that same price.
So you forced I'm forcing myself into that. But then equally and perhaps more importantly, Um, I, I peed off the existing clients I had because they get wind, you know, clients talk and they're talking about the price that they're paying compared to what the existing one was and it was, it was a whole heap of mess that, um, I had to, I had to [00:03:00] address and I ended up losing clients.
So it was an expensive, um, uh, decision I made back then. You know, a mistake I learned from.
Josh Kennedy: Well, you are, as you say, you're making a rod for your own back, especially if other clients, if you discount for someone and then other clients get wind of it. Um, you know, it's, you put yourself in a difficult position.
So what obviously is important to say no. What are some alternative solutions without compromising your value, James? Well, I think
James Breese: this is, this is what we try and do. So we go back for those who know, want to know what our training model is, particularly with cricket matters, which is probably more relevant to a lot of people out there.
Like they wanted to come into our, um, pro package services. However, they didn't want to pay, pay the pro prices. Right? So the, the theory was they said, well, look, I think his cardio is fine. I don't think he needs nutrition. And I think his health is absolutely fine. We just want to work on the strength of movement.
So therefore I want to pay this much. Uh, per month. I'm not going to go above this. I just literally went and said no. [00:04:00] Like, so, they'd missed the bigger picture. Like, health, movement, strength and cardio. It's all interlinked. And most people, they think their little Johnny is uh, fit and healthy. However, it's not always the case from what we've seen.
They think they can run, I'll give an example. They said, yeah, this guy can do a really good 5K. His 5K was 27 minutes. Right, that's not a good 5K in terms of athletic development. It really isn't. Nowhere near it. Yeah, he eats healthy and he's not overweight. They're coming back with 20 percent body fat, like we've got to have all the numbers in front of us to make sure we do a good service and provide great exceptional quality.
So they, he wanted to have a mixture of the Kickstarter with the pro package. And I was like, no, it's one or the other. Cause it makes us and hold us accountable to be more professional with what we're doing. And that's missing out the
Josh Kennedy: health and. And cardio a bit.
James Breese: Yeah, exactly. So it's, but it's the idea is this idea of professionalism.
And I think that's the biggest problem. A lot of the industry has as a whole [00:05:00] is most fitness businesses aren't professional. That sounds crazy, but it's the professionalization compared to the big businesses that stands out where little simple things that's from start to finish allow people to come in and think, yeah, I can do this.
I can barter with them and it's fine. Nope. Hold your ground. So make sure you have options and packages. That's what we do. We have three options with the Kickstarter, the Pro, the Pro Plus. So we just stick to our guns. Like, hey, you don't want to pay the Pro prices? That's okay, because guess what? We have a Kickstarter package for you that you can use.
You can get a baseline of what our services are.
Josh Kennedy: Yeah, I think, I think that's a really important point. To point out actually the professionalism. You need to present yourself as professional, don't you? Because, um, you know, there is little regulation, unfortunately, in the fitness industry, um, anyone can call themselves a fit fit pro and nobody's going to bat an eyelid and you don't, you can have zero qualifications to do it.
But you wouldn't ever, as you've mentioned, James, you wouldn't ever question the professionalism of a doctor or a dentist or a physio. They're held in higher regard and it's a shame us PTs are not. [00:06:00] Um, so that's why we need to hold, hold ourselves to high standards, I guess. Here's a special message from our sponsor.
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Don't wonder, act. Now book your free strategy call at strengthmatters. com forward slash website today. Even though we're at the forefront of the, of the, of the medical industry in some respects, even though at the forefront. So, but it's little things that set up this professionalism. So we're very adamant that you must book in with a free strategy call with us on a certain time and a certain date.
You can't just message us on WhatsApp and take a call randomly, it's got to [00:07:00] be booked in. If we're going to go any further, it's another pre booked in date. So we're creating these barriers to raise our level of professionalism. That's what we're trying to do and set expectations. And it goes with our services.
We are not discounting our services like this or changing it for the beck and whim of certain people. We know what works, what works best for most people having years of experience. And you should adhere to that same thing too. So just bear that in mind. Don't try and bow down to people saying, yeah, I could do this.
I know it's tempting, but it has a knock on effect to everything else
Josh Kennedy: that you do. Yeah, absolutely. Andrew, do you think it's just important to have? Being able to offer people different options if they are attempting to get a, uh, a discount. So you've got different packages to offer.
Andrew Wallis: Definitely. And that's where, um, you know, the terminology I use is the value ladder where you've got, you know, two to three different pricing options.
You've got your, um, or using our example, your Kickstarter, your pro and your pro pro plus, um, then, [00:08:00] um, depending on what their budget, if, if it's a budget. Um, issue and they're embarrassed about not having, uh, the available funds to invest in the program that's best suited for them. Well, then you can, you know, address that in the best way possible and just guide them to that, uh, that lower price point.
Uh, but, but as we say, never, never discount, just have those options, uh, those different pricing options available.
James Breese: Because if you discount and become a commodity and it's a race to the bottom, and that's the biggest problem you then competing against. Other people who are doing the same thing, and that's why most trainers go out of business.
They've got it, they're cheaper, cheaper, cheaper, cheaper, where they can't pay their bills and they're working longer hours. And we don't want that to happen to you and your business. So, you know, value your services, value your expertise in the niche that you're working in, and make sure you stick to your guns.
So, That's, I can't emphasize that enough. And that's just a specific example we've come across now in the last 24 hours, quite literally.
Josh Kennedy: Yeah, absolutely. That is it for [00:09:00] today. I'm off to the butchers to try and get some cheap steaks. Please don't forget to rate, review and subscribe. And if you want to find out what's holding you back from growing your fitness business, go to strengthmanners.
com forward slash quiz.