Tips to Cross-Sell and Upsell to Increase Fitness Revenue

A personal trainer’s income is often based on commissions. When a current or new customer at the gym purchases a personal training package, the trainer earns a certain percentage of the per-session amount. If you want to increase your income beyond commissions derived from membership sales, two additional revenue strategies are cross-selling and upselling.

• Cross-selling refers to selling an existing customer a complementary product or service to one they’ve already purchased. The purpose of this approach is to increase the number of items sold. 

• Upselling involves getting the customer to buy a higher-value product or service. Generally, this means getting them to purchase a similar product or service to the one they want but that is higher in cost.

Here we share an example of what cross-selling and upselling may look like when used by a personal trainer, along with its benefits. We follow this with successful upselling and cross-selling techniques to increase your fitness revenues. Finally, we’ll share which metrics to watch to determine the effectiveness of a marketing strategy that includes these approaches.

How Cross-Selling and Upselling Work: A Personal Training Example

Imagine that you are meeting with a personal training client. You’ve been training them for a while and they’re ready to buy more sessions. 

Initially, they may have purchased a 4-week package to get them started. This time, you could upsell them by offering a similar package that is higher in cost. You might tell them how a 12-week package could really boost their results, for instance. It costs a bit more, but it also gets them even closer to their goals. This is considered an upsell.

So, what does cross-selling look like? During their training sessions, clients will likely want a water bottle and towel. You might offer these fitness products at a discounted price if they purchase them when buying their training package. Or you could throw in a nutrition plan at a lower cost if they buy it right then. This is cross-selling in action.

Benefits of Upselling and Cross-Selling in Your Fitness Business

Both upselling and cross-selling increase customer lifetime value. This requires considering not just how much clients spend with you at one time, but how much they buy from you throughout their relationship with you as a trainer.  

For example, a typical client may buy a 12-week package when first working with you. However, if the average client purchases a total of five 12-week packages, their customer lifetime value is five times the cost of the package. The more they purchase in total, the greater their value. 

Pro Tip: It can help to remember this when first meeting with a potential client. They aren’t just worth whatever it is you’re trying to sell (or upsell or cross-sell) to them right then. They are worth the cost of all the services and products they buy from you over time.

Each approach can also enhance the customer experience. You know that your fitness clients will get better results after 12 weeks versus training for four. By upselling a longer package, then, you are providing them the opportunity to get closer to their goals. The closer they get, the better their experience with you as a personal trainer.

Providing a positive experience helps inspire greater customer loyalty. A loyal customer not only stays with you longer term but also raves about you to their family and friends. This helps you grow your client list—giving you even more opportunities to increase your revenue with upselling and cross-selling!

Tips to Cross-Sell and Upsell to Increase Fitness Revenue

There are a few things you can do to create an effective upselling and cross-selling campaign.

• Choose the right products. Think about what clients buy outside of memberships. If you have access, review their purchase history. Do their past purchases include protein shakes, branded apparel, or other fitness products? Once you have this information, make a “related product” list. These are products you could upsell or cross-sell. 

• Offer an additional service. Sometimes cross-selling involves giving clients an additional service versus an additional product. Maybe you are a personal trainer and nutrition coach. You could offer nutrition coaching as a cross-sell to your personal training clients or vice versa. To use it as an upsell, you could create a higher-cost package that includes both. 

• Focus on personalized recommendations. Before trying to cross-sell or upsell clients, think about their goals. What is it they are trying to achieve? Match your offers to their specific goals and it becomes easier to make the sale.

• Time your offers appropriately. One of the best times to present a cross-sell offer is after clients have been with you for a while. This helps increase their trust in you. It also allows them to see some progress, making it easier to consider additional products and services. The same is true when it comes to an upsell offer. Allow them to start with a shorter training package. Then, when they’re ready to re-enroll, upsell them to a package with more sessions.

• Stay aware of sell opportunities. Just because there’s a best time to make upsell and cross-sell offers, that doesn’t mean that other times won’t work too. Maybe you’re in the middle of a training session and a client asks about supplements. If you sell them, this is a good time to cross-sell these products. (That is, after you determine if supplements are right for them.)

• Share success stories based on other upsells or cross-sells. Success stories serve as a form of social proof. It highlights what others have achieved with the same products or services. This can increase your clients’ desire for these things too.

• Implement strategies in your social media campaigns. You don’t have to limit your upselling or cross-selling strategy to being in person. You can do both online too. If you write a blog about a particular product or service, include a link to related posts about a complementary product or service. Or you might talk about how the two things together can improve their results.

Potential Downsides of Cross-Selling and Upselling (And How to Avoid Them)

There are a couple of potential drawbacks to upselling and cross-selling. One is that you risk overwhelming clients with choices. To avoid this, don’t give them too many options at once. Marketing expert Neil Patel recommends giving just one choice at a time. 

It’s also important that you don’t develop an upselling or cross-selling technique that comes across as pushy or aggressive. Remember that customer satisfaction is key. So, recommend additional products and services that could help your clients reach their goals faster, easier, etc. If they decide to not buy the upsell or cross-sell, that’s okay. 

Measuring the Success of Your Cross-Selling and Upselling Efforts: Marketing Metrics to Consider

How do you know if you’re effectively upselling or cross-selling products? By watching your metrics.

Keep track of how many current members or clients purchase additional or higher-value products and services. Most larger gyms will have this information in their computer systems. If you are an independent trainer and have a website, Google Analytics provides online customer data as well.

Google Analytics will tell you how many people visit your website, which pages get the most views, how many conversions you have, and more. The more you learn about this data, the easier it becomes to see which marketing efforts are working and which may need to be tweaked a bit for better results.

Earn More as a Certified Personal Trainer

It can also boost your cross-selling and upselling efforts to earn your certification. The reason for this is that with certification comes greater authority. It signifies a higher level of knowledge in personal training, making you a more in-demand trainer.

If you aren’t already certified, ISSA offers Personal Trainer Certification. This course is completely online and enables you to earn your certification in a matter of weeks. It also covers several avenues for increasing your personal trainer revenue.