When we sell a fitness training package, we have an instant revenue boost and our client receives access to specific services for whatever the length of that package includes. However, packages can limit the client experience as well as hinder opportunities to boost your bottomline. Given all the lifestyle components that align with fitness including mindset, nutrition, sleep, and stress-management, to name a few, we see the need to create more inclusive programs to answer greater problems our members are facing. Programs, versus standard packages, can add incredible value for both your clients and your business bottomline. Programs allow for adherence, they create an experience, and there is an opportunity for a continuous revenue stream.

If you aren’t already, seriously consider offering programs as a core of your business model and begin to let go of standard packages. A program is an experience whereas packages can often feel transactional. Look at it in the context of a hot-tub moment versus a pivotal moment. Pivotal moments have an effect on you and stay with you long after the moment is over. They leave you thinking and provide space to create new action plans. A hot-tub moment feels good while it lasts, but when it is over, it is easily forgotten.

In a world where everything is delivered to us with the touch of a button, fitness professionals have an opportunity to keep things real for our members/clients. The experience is more than hitting a button. The experience involves asking the right questions to lead to bigger thinking and greater ideas. The experience delivers content to be chewed on by the participant and acted upon in a multitude of ways. The experience offers creation and expression of unique gifts and talents that would otherwise remain dormant. The experience is a program that you can offer to give relevance to your members/clients. It has equal intangibles to tangibles. It is the intangibles that will be remembered and talked about and will keep the revenue stream constant. It is the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. It is the difference between a pivotal moment and a hot-tub moment.

Identify areas where you are particularly passionate. Create a program that offers both a solution for your clients while embodying something you enjoy. Chances are, your followers follow you because you are contagious in your passion.

First steps to create and offer programs:

1. Listen to the problems your clients are facing.
2. Brainstorm solutions.
3. Turn the solutions into a program.
4. Identify realistic time frames for the program to be offered.
5. In the beginning, middle and end of the program, lay the groundwork and offer additional content/practices/opportunities to keep the experience ongoing.
6. Provide an opportunity for the experience to continue through additional coaching, online content, private groups, weekly, monthly, or quarterly meetings or check-ins.

Three keys to create and offer successful programs:

1. KISS (Keep It Super Simple): When making changes, especially ones that give you room to evolve your business model, it does not need to be overly complicated. In fact, the simpler the program, the more likely it is that you will get buy-in from your current clients.
2. Ask questions and offer solutions: If you are constantly in-tune with the problems and frustrations your clients face, creating programs is actually quite simple. Create programs that offer solutions to these problems.
3. How you do anything is how you do everything: Give your complete attention to designing your program. Look at it from all angles and anticipate every obstacle. This way, when you launch your program, it will be fine-tuned, and you can have confidence that you are providing an exceptional and meaningful service.

Program creation case study

As a case study, I created a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) Bootcamp that started as a TRX tutorial. People were using their class packages to show up for TRX class once in a while, but never consistently in order to dive into TRX training and get better. Every time they attended class, for most participants, it was like the first time all over again. To solve this problem, I offered a six-week boot camp. To entice people to take advantage of the program, I added a nutrition piece and gifted a book that discussed PMA and the importance of getting your mind right. At the end of each class, we shared nutrition tips, hacks, food samples and recipes, and concluded each session with a mini meditation. When I saw how well received these extras were, and that people were not getting this in their lives, I let the program evolve into what we now call PMA Lab. It runs as a bootcamp series a couple times a year, with a subscription offer that includes meditations, exclusive emails and content, book suggestions and thoughts to ponder.

Your successful program is waiting for you. It is most likely something you are already doing and are passionate about!