For the most part, a key to being a successful personal trainer means having a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit. Some of us have it and others don’t. One of the most uncomfortable aspects to being a trainer is dealing with money. Good or bad, we become friends with many of our clients and asking for or having discussions about Money can be a tricky situation.
Within the bigger issue of dealing with money is the idea of price integrity. I have seen far too often trainers who have different rates for different clients. This usually happens because a potential client begins to negotiate the price down and the trainer is firm on the price. While it may not be easy to stay firm on a price, I feel like it is important to do to as a professional. At the end of the day, a personal trainer is running a business. There are very few businesses where a person can walk in and negotiate a lower price. This should apply to personal trainers as well. By maintaining a set fee structure you establish yourself further as a professional. In my experience, people will make their decission to work with you based on their connection with you and not $5 off of the session so don’t be afraid to be firm.
One way to seccessuflly deal with potential clients looking for a new deal is to offer incentives for working with you. Maybe a free session for every 20 sessions completed or something similar. This gives the client something that they may view as a deal without lowering your per session rate. Another thing that works well are package deals. Offer a lower rate if they purchase multiple sessions. This is a great compromise and works well with clients. There are plenty of other options out ther but my point is that in order to maintain a professional appearences, a trainer needs to establish his or her value and not waver from it.
Ryan George Fitness 
Thanks for this post!