Personal Training Beefs Fitness Business Models

Personal training accounts for about 60 percent of non-dues revenue at Fayetteville Athletic Club. Non-dues revenue, which accounts for 30 percent of total revenue, includes sales from food and drinks, summer children’s programs, swim lessons and pro-shop sales.

Travis Wood, assistant general manager at FAC, said that on any given week the club sees about 250 personal training clients. The facility has about 7,000 active members or 3,000 memberships (which may include more than one person) on its roster. That’s more than $2.5 million in annual membership revenue alone. Monthly dues average $75.

The club, which celebrates its 10th year in business this month, has more personal trainers on staff than any other health club in the two-county area.

FAC staffs 10 personal trainers and 10 fitness specialists.

The average personal trainer rate at FAC is about $1 per minute, and the minimum session is $35 or 30 minutes.

Wood said the “hot” trend right now is group training, where four to five clients train together at a rate of about $20 per person.

“It enabled us to increase our revenue without increasing the hours,” Wood said. “It was a perfect fit because it was what the client wanted.”

Jeff Bean, manager of the Village on the Creeks Athletic Club, said personal training accounts for less than 10 percent of the firm’s non-dues revenue and that non-dues revenue makes up 15 percent of the facility’s total revenue. The club has 1,100 active members.

“We really tend to focus on the membership,” Bean said. “The challenges are reconciling the marketing budget and opportunities with effective and efficient marketing.”

Wood said FAC personal trainers are considered employees of FAC and are paid on a commission basis. Commission rates vary based on sales goals, with the minimum commission being 50 percent of sales brought in and the maximum being 70 percent.

The five trainers at Village on the Creeks receive a 60 percent commission on personal sales. Bean said the club, whose rates are very similar to FAC, really doesn’t offer group personal training sessions or kid-specific programs.

Reuben Reina, head personal trainer at FAC, said that he sees a better retention rate with clients who choose to participate in group training. Reina joined the FAC staff as a personal trainer in 2000.

He said FAC changed its strategy in 2000 to be more inclusive to senior citizen-age clientele and personal training programs for kids. It created a program called “Young at Heart” that for older clientele and expanded its summer children’s and monthly children’s programs offerings.

Wood estimates the club has about 50 personal training clients under the age of 18 right now.