Fill Up Your Classes and Get More Clients...

Has your pilates studio or business declined a bit in the past year due to the "economy"? Have even your long term clients stopped coming so often? Do you have an introduction package or customer appreciation package? Have you lowered ANY of your prices?

Well, maybe you don't need to lower prices. But you do need to find some new ways to fill up your schedule, your group classes, and your private sessions.

I think it might be time to take a few tips from Personal Trainers. Even though pilates instructors go through a different set of training and the overall industry is different in many ways, the essence of what we do is train people on a personal level. Even in our group classes, we try to give people individual attention. We have the same goals as personal trainers.

So, taking the lead from other personal trainers, very successful ones, I started offering FREE PILATES SESSIONS and TESTDRIVES. I know...free sessions. Sounds crazy, right? But, why do we have such resistance to giving away free sessions? I know we want to get paid for our time, but offering people a free session or a free class is a great way to get people in the door. They get a LOT of value - we know that - and if we take the time to talk to them before and after to get detailed information on their goals, we can remind them throughout the session/class why pilates would be great for them.

So, as much as you don't want to give away FREE PILATES. To me, it's better than just lowering prices. Lowering prices doesn't TELL people ANYTHING about what you have to OFFER. People still don't buy off the page or by seeing a lower price tag -- unless they know already what you offer and are already buying from you. You need to find a way to give away some of your valuable services to show people how Pilates will benefit their lives.

Here are some reasons you should try this technique (some of these are very obvious):

1. Free Sessions show the potential client exactly what they will get if they sign up for classes.
2. People are going to decide pretty quickly if they like you and/or the class. You aren't wasting your time.
3. People do appreciate that they are there for free. Every single person that has come to one of my classes for free tells me emphatically at the end how good they feel and thank me for letting them come to the class.

Still not sure about giving away pilates...try it with your group classes first. Having one or two free people in a class is not going to break you. It will only make your class bigger and more fun for everyone!

Have a great day and don't be afraid to give a little.