How To Name Your Personal Training Packages (Case Study)

​When deciding on the name of your personal training package it's tempting to look to others for inspiration or come up with the most masculine name possible. Or worse, naming them something generic like Level 1, 2 and 3 or Bronze, Silver & Gold.

When thinking about these packages we often look at the outcome and the value of the outcome from our own perspective as opposed to the clients' perspective. Here's how to name your packages to get the best possible response!

How to Name your Fitness Packages

Back in 2009 I did an Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) course. NLP is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California in the 1970s. It's since been adapted and developed for various businesses.
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One of the subjects within the course was about setting well formed outcomes for your clients. It was about how sometimes clients climb a ladder in life only to discover that it’s propped up against the wrong wall. They set goals and take action towards those goals and yet feel unfulfilled or dissatisfied, even when they are getting results.

Richard Bandler and John Grinder

It’s only when we set ‘well formed outcomes’ that we discover what it is that we really want in our lives and, very importantly, what it is that we don’t want. Both are equally important.

So, this got me thinking from a marketing point of view, how can I label my packages to provoke an emotional response in relation to someones goals and therefore the outcome they expect to receive from achieving those goals. In other words, how do I show them that the ladder I have for them is propped up against the right wall? It's getting complicated but bare with me...

What I did next was so simple and yet so effective I astounded myself. At the time, all of my personal training packages were named "Bronze", "Silver" and "Gold". Very standardised but it seemed to work alongside a pretty aggressive personal trainer marketing campaign nonetheless.

In a bid to appeal to the clients emotional needs better, I reassessed my packages, had their names adhere to a clients' goal, increased the prices by about 20% and sat back to see what happened.

For example, instead of Bronze, Sliver and Gold, I named my Packages "Weight Loss for Women", "Muscle & Size" and "Fit for Life". I added in a few extra bits like the Muscle and Size package included a muscle fibre test and the weight loss package included an optional supplement stack.

The Result

I'm sat chilling in the leisure club I worked for at the time just minding my own business when Alex, one of the members who had always asked for advice but never committed to any sessions comes up to me. I'd been working there for two years so I considered us friends at this point so I wasn't interested in exploiting Alex for his money. Our conversation went a little something like this:

Alex: "Hey Dan, I saw the package you posted up on Facebook, the Muscle and Size package. I think I'm gonna go for it"

Dan: "Oh yeah? Awesome, but to be honest, it's just the Gold package with a muscle fibre test"
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Alex: "Yeah that's cool but I'm definitely going for it"

Dan: "I don't think you understand. The Muscle and Size package is literally just the Gold package but it costs more. If you came to me and asked for the Gold package and your goals were muscle and size, you'd get exactly the same thing but for less money. Are you sure you don't want the Gold package?"

Alex: "No. I want the Muscle and Size Package"

At this point I was a little dumbfounded. I'm being ridiculously transparent with this guy and trying to save him some money because he's a good friend and I still can't persuade him to take the cheaper option with exactly the same outcome! This really helped me to understand the value of connecting with the client on their level.

How to Structure Your Fitness Packages

If you're struggling with a name for your personal training packages, think about how the client is going to respond to the name of the package. Try to reduce the amount of steps it takes for them to associate your package with their goals.

It doesn't matter how silly it sounds, or even how generic it could be. The sooner the client can see that your package will help them to achieve their goals they are much more likely to hit the big "Start Here" or other call to action you have.

​If you need help with your personal trainer marketing, contact us with any questions!