Pricing · 8 min read
Most gym pricing is a number pulled out of the air, then said with a flinch. The three service types, the floor under each one, the margin test, and how to say the price so it lands.
Dave did not have a sales problem. He had a math problem.
I keep coming back to that line because it is most of you. The consult goes fine. They like you. Then you say the price and something in the room goes sideways, and you blame your closing. You did not lose it at the close. You lost it when you pulled a number out of the air, and somewhere in your gut you knew it, so your voice dropped the second you said it.
A pricing problem almost always shows up wearing a sales costume. Most of the no's that follow up cannot fix were never objections. They were a price thrown out with a flinch.
So this is both halves. The number you set, and the way you say it. It works the same whether you run one on one, a small group studio, a box running large group classes, or some mix of all of it, which is most of you.
Before any math, get this straight. Your price has nothing to do with what you can afford. It is not built for your bank account. It is built for your ideal client, what you deliver, and what it is worth to them.
Most owners price from their own wallet. They would not pay $299 a month for training, so they assume nobody would. That is the money baggage you carry into the room, and it kills the deal before you open your mouth.
Finish these three sentences honestly:
Everybody feels some version of this. Naming it is how you stop pricing from fear.
Too many gyms pull numbers out of thin air, or copy the gym down the road that does not know its own numbers either. That ends here. Every coached gym sells some mix of three things, and each one gets its own floor.
| Service type | Who runs it this way | The floor |
|---|---|---|
| One on one | PT studios, anyone selling private sessions | $80 a session |
| Small group | Boutiques, semi private, four to six people | $299 a month |
| Large group | Boxes, bootcamps, classes of ten or more | $139 a month |
These are floors, not targets. The lowest you go. You do not go under them.
One on one is your anchor. Everything else is priced off it. If your private rate is $150 an hour, your small group rate per session should land between one half and one third of that, so at least $50 a session. Put four to six people in the room and that is $200 an hour or more for the same hour of your time. Price by the room, not by the seat.
Large group is a volume game. It is never an undercharge game. A box running twenty people through a class at $99 a month is leaving money on the floor every single day and calling it accessible.
Most gyms are not one of these. They are two or three. A box that also sells small group. A studio that runs one on one and semi private. Fine. Price each service type against its own floor and build your menu across them. What you do not do is let the cheap one drag the other two down.
It sounds generous. It destroys the value of what you do. Unlimited means nobody knows what a session is worth, attendance turns into whoever feels like it, and the members who show up most are subsidized by the ones who stopped coming in February.
Price by weekly attendance. Cap the sessions. Let people move up when they need more.
Here is the test most owners have never run.
Add up what it costs to deliver, and put your own hourly rate in the costs. Not what is left over at the end. Your pay is a cost of running the business. Then count what is actually left.
Twenty percent is the floor. Thirty percent is the target.
If you are under twenty percent after paying yourself, the price is wrong. Not the client. Not the neighborhood. Not the economy. The price. Raise it or fix the delivery, but stop selling something that loses you money every time it works.
Look up the median household income within ten miles of your gym. That is your client. Price to that person.
If your marketing is right, your ideal client already expects to invest in themselves. They are not looking for the cheapest option. They are looking for the one that works. Do not let your own doubt undercut them. And when one of them tells you the gym down the road is cheaper, that is a value conversation, not a reason to touch your floors.
A clean menu is one anyone on your team can explain in one breath. If they cannot, it is too complicated to sell.
Four rules:
Then memorize your numbers until they feel automatic. When you know exactly how each one was built, you stop hesitating, you stop negotiating against yourself, and you stop selling from fear.
This is the half everybody skips. A perfect price said with a shaky voice still loses.
Say the range the same way you say your name. No drop in volume. No apology on the end. Then stop talking.
The flinch looks like this. Reading off a pricing sheet. Fumbling the number, "uh, the, um, package is." Apologizing for it. Offering a discount nobody asked for. Adding "which I know is a lot."
The land looks like this. No sheet, a real conversation. The range at full voice. No softening. Say the number, then shut up, and let it sit until they answer.
If you flinch, they flinch. If you are calm, they are calm.
Say it in plain words, like you are talking to a friend. No fancy fonts, no charts, no big bold numbers.
Sounds like this:
"Based on everything you've shared, I recommend you train two days a week, Mondays and Wednesdays. That builds consistency without wrecking your schedule. The investment for that program is [the range]."
Then you let it land. You are prescribing a professional solution, not begging for a yes.
Follow up fills the pipeline. Pricing decides what each yes is worth. Set the floors and say them without flinching, and the number that climbs is your average contract value. Same number of yeses, more money. You already fought to fill the calendar. Make every one of those conversations pay you what it should.
If you want the full pricing chapter, the objection playbook with three responses each, and the qualifying call script word for word, that is what the book is for. Five dollars plus shipping at tomleonardis.com/claim, or on Amazon Prime.
If you would rather have me on the phone with you while you build the menu, that is what the one on one coaching is for. A few spots open at a time.
How much should a gym charge for memberships?
Price each service type against a floor. One on one at $80 a session minimum. Small group at $299 a month. Large group at $139 a month. Those are the lowest you go, not the target. Then run your real margin with your own pay counted as a cost, and move the price up until you clear twenty percent.
How do you price small group training?
Off your one on one rate. Per session, small group should be one half to one third of your private rate, and never below the $299 a month floor. With four to six people in the room, aim for at least $200 an hour for the room. Price by the room, not the seat.
How should a box gym or large group program be priced?
Large group is a volume game, not an undercharge game. The floor is $139 a month, priced by weekly attendance with capped sessions. Never sell unlimited. It destroys what a session is worth and lets your most active members get subsidized by the ones who quit.
How do I know if my gym prices are too low?
Run your real margin. Put your own hourly rate in the costs, then count what is left. Under twenty percent and the price is wrong. Then check the median household income within ten miles of the gym. If you are pricing for your own wallet instead of that client, you are too low.
How do you present the price without discounting?
Say the range at full voice, the same way you say your name, then stop talking. Use the four line offer: frequency, timing, outcome, investment. Never apologize for the number, never add "which I know is a lot," and never offer a discount nobody asked for. If you flinch, they flinch.
Keep reading
These notes are the short version. The full system is in the book — How to Sell Fitness Without Selling Your Soul.
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