Gym Owners:How do you pay your trainers?

[Mr.ILL]

About to hire my first employee. How do you pay your 1on1 trainers? %? Flate rate $ amount? Bonuses, raises?

[PerFit]

my trainers get a glat hoursly rate.

staff who are in roles of responsibilities have financial incentives for hitting targets.

[WoofieNugget]

I would give them an incentive to give good service. When I used to have trainers what I did was pay them 50% on the first say 20 sessions that the person trained, and then after a certain amount their percentage went up - it encourages renewals and you are rewarding the person for obviously doing a good job. Capping it of course at say 65% after they have worked with that person for a certain amount of time. They can raise their own income by raising their rates at annual intervals.

There were also incentives on commission if they found their own clients or brought in people who were already training with them. Pay your people fairly (and well) and you will never have staff turnover. You could also offer them x amount of dollars/year for education, because if they are more qualified it helps you find people for them. Or even offer to pay for say 1/2 of a cert and allow them to deduct it from their pay.

[Mr.ILL]

What I have planned so far is a flat hourly rate of $15/hour and a 15% commission from sales. This will put them over $20/an hour. This way they have an incentive to make sells.

[Quistfitness]

All of my trainers are on a commission basis. For example, I pay them 60% of everything that they bring in, so say Sally makes $100.00, she would take home 60 of that and the facility would bring in 40.

[WoofieNugget]

What I have planned so far is a flat hourly rate of $15/hour and a 15% commission from sales. This will put them over $20/an hour. This way they have an incentive to make sells.

What do you charge for training? You won't find many trainers who will work for $15-20 an hour (at least not good ones).

[PerFit]

All of my trainers are on a commission basis. For example, I pay them 60% of everything that they bring in, so say Sally makes $100.00, she would take home 60 of that and the facility would bring in 40.

What happens if one person claims to have brought them into the studio but someone else makes the sale?

What do you charge for training? You won't find m
any trainers who will work for $15-20 an hour (at least not good ones).

I agree that is low but you also must take into account their role. Are they just there to train or do they have to find their own clients?

[Mr.ILL]

The only problem I see with paying a flat rate fee is their incentive to sale is lower. With a lower hourly rate but then commission on sales would give them a bigger incentive to sale and retain.

[Mr.ILL]

What do you charge for training? You won't find many trainers who will work for $15-20 an hour (at least not good ones).

Private hour sessions $60-$35. Depends on frequency and time committed. Average would be $45/session. With commission and hourly rate that would put them above $20/an hour which is more than what the big box gyms pay around here. I also want to take good care of my employee and keep them long term. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'd love to keep hearing all your thoughts.

[EdgarAllanPoe]

I have 2 paying a flat rent...

everyone going forward will be taking a 50/50 split and finding their own clients. I'll probably set a pay scale of like 10 hours worked they get 55, 15 hours 60, 20+ 70


Right now its just setup as 50/50 till I want to change it.

[justinslayer]

What do you charge for training? You won't find many trainers who will work for $15-20 an hour (at least not good ones).

But what defines a "good trainer"? 90% of them will take the $15-$20/hr

I learned the hard way. Hiring employees is a no go for me, right now. I "might" change later. Business is about money in vs money out. I want trainers paying me, not me paying them. All my trainers are independent contractors. They pay me for space

[PerFit]

But what defines a "good trainer"? 90% of them will take the $15-$20/hr

I learned the hard way. Hiring employees is a no go for me, right now. I "might" change later. Business is about money in vs money out. I want trainers paying me, not me paying them. All my trainers are independent contractors. They pay me for space

I felt the same why but it is a very short term view of things.

Staff will be more loyal to you if you employ them rather than make them contractors. Hell, they arent even your staff at the moment. The fact they work for themself essential means their loyalty is to them and there is no real binding reason for them to stay. Sure its easier but its not great in the long run.

Its not the best set up as it leaves you wide open when 'staff' leave as they take the clients with them. You also dont have any real control over quality control. sure they pay you money for space but what if they are a bad trainer? People will know they train at your studio and your studio will get a bad name.


Staff will be your best asset and worst liability but its better to employ.

[SFT]

For those of you paying 60-70% of the training income, how do you make any money? For sake of argument let's assume $50/hr. At 60%, they keep $30 and you keep $20. Assuming they are employees, you have to match the 6.2% Social Security tax, and 1.45% Medicare tax. So, you're down to about $17.50. We haven't even talked about rent, utilities, equipment purchase/maintenance, worker's compensation, or liability insurance. I don't even think this is an exhaustive list of costs. After all of that, I would be surprised if you'd be scraping by with any sort of a profit.

A small profit per trainer per hour could add up assuming that most of your costs are fixed costs, and that you don't offer any benefits. I wouldn't even want to think about giving a trainer 70%... You would essentially be giving away 80% of your gross income, before you even start to consider ANY expenses.

If I had a facility, I would be paying my trainers a flat rate. I would want them to have an interest in the development of the company. For that reason, I think I would work out some sort of a profit sharing system. At the end of each quarter, I would look at what the net profits were and give bonuses based on performance. I would give people a different share based on years of service, awards, innovation, etc. I think this sort of a system would keep people motivated. A few years ago I remember reading about this sort of a system which was used by Vanguard.

The other importance of NET PROFITS is that there is incentive to control costs within the business. If employees know that lower costs = a bigger bonus, you better believe that people will be taking more care with equipment, wasting materials, utilities, etc.

[PerFit]

For those of you paying 60-70% of the training income, how do you make any money? For sake of argument let's assume $50/hr. At 60%, they keep $30 and you keep $20. Assuming they are employees, you have to match the 6.2% Social Security tax, and 1.45% Medicare tax. So, you're down to about $17.50. We haven't even talked about rent, utilities, equipment purchase/maintenance, worker's compensation, or liability insurance. I don't even think this is an exhaustive list of costs. After all of that, I would be surprised if you'd be scraping by with any sort of a profit.

A small profit per trainer per hour could add up assuming that most of your costs are fixed costs, and that you don't offer any benefits. I wouldn't even want to think about giving a trainer 70%... You would essentially be giving away 80% of your gross income, before you even start to consider ANY expenses.

If I had a facility, I would be paying my trainers a flat rate. I would want them to have an interest in the development of the company. For that reason, I think I would work out some sort of a profit sharing system. At the end of each quarter, I would look at what the net profits were and give bonuses based on performance. I would give people a different share based on years of service, awards, innovation, etc. I think this sort of a system would keep people motivated. A few years ago I remember reading about this sort of a system which was used by Vanguard.

The other importance of NET PROFITS is that there is incentive to control costs within the business. If employees know that lower costs = a bigger bonus, you better believe that people will be taking more care with equipment, wasting materials, utilities, etc.

Agree.

[Mr.ILL]

How do you guys track sessions with trainers?

[EdgarAllanPoe]

How do you guys track sessions with trainers?

I have a schedule of sessions form...

it'll have the clients name, trainers name, the amount paid, the # of sessions purchased...i'll probably add purchase date and expiration date.

then I have
____/_____/______ IN _______

for the date and client to initial that they were there.


I'm currently googling contractor invoice templates to find something for them to present to me.....cause apparently that helps divide the contractor/employee line...making them invoice you for payment

I think i'll switch to the mindbody software once I get consistent trainers that seem permanent.

I'm also tossing around the idea of making their clients sign some type of agreement verifying the package, possibly calling their client to confirm the package. I take recurring billing but i may only accept check for their clients unless i'm provided cc info directly from the client...i don't want that info exchanging too many hands.

[jerzyfit]

I can tell you from experience OP, some of these responses are terrible and there gyms most likely have high turn over rates.... But what do I know I'm only 20 right? What I do know is if I'm making a low hourly rate I'm not worried about making sales I'm worried about how I'm getting to work on 7.25 an hour plus commission! Lets be real, your not going to close EVERY DEAL end of story. I would say at least 10-15 dollars an hour based on how old/how much experience. I have a good amount of experience so 10 dollars an hour plus commission for ME would be good. But a 40 year old trainer who has 30+ years experience should get around 15-20 or more depending on how much you bring in and how much you can afford to pay. If they are making a decently hourly rate and not worried about just LIVING they are going to WANT to sell more because they'll be worried about that new beamer they saw or those nice 150 dollar pair of nikes, you get what I'm saying? Hope this helped!

[BC02]

16-20/hr base client or no client. bonuses for results (ie client loses 50 lbs=$100 bonus). let mngmnt do the sales, and the trainers train

[Armstrongha]

How much equipment do you have?

[EdgarAllanPoe]

also, the first question you have to ask yourself is

employee or independent contractor?

I don't know why anyone would hire an employee in this profession. If you treat them like an employee but call them a contractor and things ended badly, they could come back and really make your life miserable and request different fee's, benefits, it can become a real headache unless you distinguish between the two

most trainers probably won't know the difference but you should always protect yourself....

I'd good employee vs independent contractor and you can read a lot about it.

[Mr.ILL]

also, the first question you have to ask yourself is

employee or independent contractor?

I don't know why anyone would hire an employee in this profession. If you treat them like an employee but call them a contractor and things ended badly, they could come back and really make your life miserable and request different fee's, benefits, it can become a real headache unless you distinguish between the two

most trainers probably won't know the difference but you should always protect yourself....

I'd good employee vs independent contractor and you can read a lot about it.

This trainer will be on a 1099 not a w2. So I guess technically not an employee.

[WoofieNugget]

For those of you paying 60-70% of the training income, how do you make any money? For sake of argument let's assume $50/hr. At 60%, they keep $30 and you keep $20. Assuming they are employees, you have to match the 6.2% Social Security tax, and 1.45% Medicare tax. So, you're down to about $17.50. We haven't even talked about rent, utilities, equipment purchase/maintenance, worker's compensation, or liability insurance. I don't even think this is an exhaustive list of costs. After all of that, I would be surprised if you'd be scraping by with any sort of a profit.

I would hope that anyone with a studio would have all of these things covered without having to worry about having an employee provide income towards them. At my studio what the trainers brought in extra was put towards expanding the business, upgrading equipment or pure profit, not overhead costs like rent, utilities, marketing or insurance. $17.50 an hour at an average of say 20 working hours a week is $15k a year towards these things, which isn't chump change. Employ four trainers and you're making an extra 60k doing nothing.

And I'd echo not making them an employee. Treat them well and fairly but keep them separate. It is a natural evolution of the business for trainers to eventually leave to start their own thing. You should expect it after a year or two, and also expect them to take their clients with them. Prepare for it and you won't be shocked because it is going to happen, no matter what you do.

[EdgarAllanPoe]

This trainer will be on a 1099 not a w2. So I guess technically not an employee.

yeah but that doesn't have much to do with it, its more how you treat the relationship

such as if you train the trainer, make their hours, determine the rates they would charge, make them apply your policies, have business dinners with them, etc....these are all "employee" type things, and they could ultimately go to the irs or appropriate govt agency at some point and more or less request for employee benefits/treatment if you are treating them as an employee.

I guess so many employers try to label people as contractors to get out of paying benefits and other fees that come along with hiring "employees". Definitely google the comparisons, like i said its highly unlikely most trainers know the details to create this headache for you but there are always those people that you need to be prepared for. You don't want to have to go back and redo a year of taxes, potentially pay benefits, etc...Learn the differences between the two and try to maintain a clear differential b/t employee/contractor

the form you give them won't be the be all end all...I could've gone after a previous studio I worked with about this that's why i'm aware of it....was a contractor but i had to charge their own rates, they tried to demand I come to a meeting, they made all these new policies that I wouldn't sign off on, they felt like they could change our original agreement at anytime.....also our agreement had no end date.....contract work should always have a end date, even if its a year w/ a club option to renew for another (thats how mine is....)

I had a lawyer do mine and its written to assume automatic club renewal each year but still states the contract is for a year.

Only reason I didn't go after the previous club, that screwed me over and were awful people was that it would've been too time consuming for me otherwise I would've made every attempt to bury them....and I would have.

[EdgarAllanPoe]

And I'd echo not making them an employee. Treat them well and fairly but keep them separate. It is a natural evolution of the business for trainers to eventually leave to start their own thing. You should expect it after a year or two, and also expect them to take their clients with them. Prepare for it and you won't be shocked because it is going to happen, no matter what you do.

I'd prepare for it but wouldn't necessarily expect it. I see the benefit many have for the whole independent thing but I don't think a lot have the ambition, patience, or knowledge to really deal with the whole business side of this. I seriously work probably 40+ hours a week on the business side of things not counting the training and my part time job, i'm thinking about promotions and ways to handle things 24/7. I don't want to say its HARD or requires a master degree by any means but its very time consuming and you've gotta be all in for it to work.

Contractors, technically they're running their own business. You can't tell them what to charge or really control their business in anyway, you're just saying i'm bringing you in to train people and I'll pay you X for Y and as long as you get Y done within a time frame, our relationship works.

Which i think is great for studio owners....I work so much and log so many hours on my own business, its great to bring in people that can handle their own...pay me good cash for using my space and contractors in any field should have some type of specialization and adequate credentials so they shouldn't require your management.

and I also second the cash issue. I made sure I could afford my studio on my own. I wouldn't be making great profit right now on my own w/ no help but i wouldn't go over or owe money. I think thats a MUST.