Thomas Plummer: It Comes Down to Program Design

Don’t limit your business with the product you offer. Thomas Plummer shares his knowledge of how layered pricing can benefit your facility and help you with program design by properly challenging your clients.

Now, let’s get into a little of the business system. Write down the term templates. I’ll pay you $100 a month to use your toys. I’ll pay you $100 a month to let me use your gym.

What does that mean?

I have enough experience, but I don’t like program design. I know how everything works. Trust me. I know how the kettlebells work. I have all of this, but you know what? I don’t want all of this stuff in my basement. I’m bored. I’ll pay you $100 a month to do that, but every four weeks give me a program. Write a program for me.

What we’re moving from is traditional one-on-one training gyms to membership, or hybrid, training gyms where you have people who pay for training, but everybody in there gets training. However, it’s the type of training they get that’s different.

I just need leadership.

What we sell, people, is leadership and program design. We don’t sell motivation. I already know you’re not a good trainer when you say, “Thom, my clients come to me because I’m a motivator.”

Maybe once, it works, but on Friday night, I’m tired. You beat me to death all week. I’ve been with you for a couple of years. Dude, I’ve heard your stories. I’ve heard every story you have. You’ve heard every story I have. We’re not going to talk about The Bachelor tonight. This better be a hell of a good workout or I am so out of here.

It always comes down to this: Longevity is program design and program design is longevity.

People stay longer and pay longer if you challenge them. The problem with one-on-one workouts is it’s hard to challenge them.

What I want you to consider is layered pricing. That’s what we’re going to get into now—a layered pricing system where your pricing of your business model appeals to the widest possible range of clients.

You’re limiting your business by the product you offer.

You only have one product—big piles of people in the room. Come on in and I’ll beat it out of you. We give them free tape. I’ll just tape you up. Everybody has tape.

What we have to do is a wide level of pricing that appeals to a wider range of people. Now, let me take you back one more step.

How many of you are in this to change lives?

Every damn hand in here better be up. We believe that, right? But you’re only going to change eight people in one group with one product. You don’t want anybody else because your training philosophy is getting in the way.

I’ll take all of you in a group tonight. We’re going to do 10 or 12 people with me. It’s a big group—a cheaper price.
You two are a small group—a low price.
You’re like a hot blonde babe. One-on-one training, I’m not charging you, but I have issues. I’ll be back. You guys are training for some athletic event so I’m going to see you.
You two are a small group.
You, you have a lot of experience. I’ll just write a program for you once in a while.

Come on in. You can use my equipment. $99. $249. $149 a month. Free. Bermuda, I’ll be back to you later.

$99—I have a price for everybody, but I have one, two, three, four, five different clients. You have one—one-on-one—and there are not enough of them to feed you.

How are we going to do this? The first thing we’re going to do is this: no sessions and no packages.

Let’s get into the business side now. All training memberships run 12 months. All training memberships are 12 months. I prefer to do a full-blown 12-month membership agreement or, as you may call it, a contract.

I know. That’s scary.

How many of you when you do your one-on-one stuff and get the credit cards? A couple of days of the month, you’re rich. Then, you have to train the guy for like six more weeks so you’re rich and poor, poor, poor.

Have you ever heard Cosgrove’s story on this? The first time he did a $1,500 package he was excited. It was like he was rich. He’s walking home, stops in a pub and gets totally drunk. He buys a $200 pair of tennis shoes. By the time he gets to his house, he’s broke. He burned up the whole check, drunk, going home the first day.

Or does he tell this story? Maybe I’m speaking out of turn . . . next time you see him . . .

My point is now you have to train the guy for two months, so we’re going to stretch it out. We’re also going to add this program, but we’re also going to add . . . write this down—it’s very important for us: weekly payments. We do weekly payments for all training.

Does anybody have a calculator? Yeah, turn on your phones, people. Somebody hit calculator on your phone for me, please. $129 times 12. Give it to me. $1,548 divided by 52—You can sign up at my training gym for $129 a month for group personal training, or $29 a week.

How many of you get paid weekly or every other week? Most of the world. Why would you charge monthly? It’s because this is an Americanism that comes from the 1950s. In Australia, every club is set up for weekly payments. In Europe, every single club is weekly.

Everywhere in the world except here, every single club is weekly because people get paid weekly or every other week. There’s no downside to this. Just change all of your payments to weekly and give clients the payment option.

This is called a layered pricing system. In this club—this training gym—there are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven different prices aimed at four different clients.

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