I’ve known many personal trainers through the years who “couldn’t afford” to pay for further education, mentorships, networking groups, and/or services that could help them build their business. It’s interesting that the inability for those trainers to see the value is not so different from how some individuals looking for health and fitness results balk at paying for personal training. It’s about finding the value.

Now, not all programs or products are worth it and that’s why you want to rate each offering individually for its value.

As personal trainers, one of the basic questions is, “Will this get me more clients, and, if so, how many?” When you look at the value of a new client, you are also not simply looking at one session, or a week’s worth of sessions, but what the lifetime value of gaining this client.

To figure out the lifetime value of a client, look at how much you receive for the average personal training session (your income, not the fee they pay), multiply by the average number of times per week that you meet with clients, times the number of weeks you train clients each year (hint: it’s never 52), and finally multiply that by the average number of years that clients stay with you.

In example:

• Average income/client session = $35
• Average sessions/week = 2
• Typical weeks/year = 46
• Lifetime of client = 7 years

$35 x 2 = $70, x 46 = $3220, x 7 years = $22,540

Yeah… that’s right. The lifetime value of one new client could easily be $22,540!

So, back to the question. Is spending $500 (or more or less) on a program, conference, or… whatever, worth it? If it will get you one or more clients that you wouldn’t get otherwise, the answer really is easy. Yes. How can you afford not to?

Invest in the future of your business.