Tis the season for holiday sales, right? You see them everywhere. Everyone is having sales. I get it. It’s the end of the year and the volume of sales makes up for the loss in markup. Even gyms and health clubs are having sales. There are discounts on personal training, group fitness, and special programs. The question I have is should there be sales on health and fitness?

A debate that has been going on for many years is the idea of discounting health and fitness services. On the one hand, everyone does it and the public has come to expect sales and discounts. On the other hand, many fitness professionals believe that discounting diminishes the perceived value of their services. A frequent rebuttal is, “Your doctor or physical therapist don’t have sales or give discounts.” I’m inclined to agree with that viewpoint. Most clubs still discount personal training based on the number of sessions that you buy. Buy 1 and it’s x. Buy 10 and it’s 0.8x… 24 and it’s 0.6x. If the trainer is paid based on a percentage and not a flat fee, they get paid less for larger packages. That does not incentivize them to sell larger packages. Not to mention that the people that can afford a 24 session package don’t need a discount.

Discounts are for products, merchandise. If you want a holiday promotion, discount your merch. Or use your merchandise as add on value for service purchases. Give a T-shirt away when someone buys a program.

You could discount your monthly membership as that in itself is not a service, but I’d still rather you add to rather than decrease. i.e. add a merchandise giveaway or add extra month or two onto a membership. Aanndd… if you have any initiation fee or joining fee or processing fee, we all know there is very little cost to having someone join. So, its real purpose is to use it for discounting or waiving as a promotional tool anyway. Do that.

I know that you’re getting my thoughts/opinion on this and you may feel differently, but… give this some serious thought. Just because it’s the season of sales and discounts, doesn’t mean it’s what we should be doing. IMHO

Happy Holidays!!!