How to maximize your Pilates personal training and group class revenue during a recession
During this tough economic climate, Pilates instructors find themselves with a smaller client base than they did two, even three years ago. For instance, at our New York studio, Pilates on Fifth, our numbers are still down about 30% from what they were two years ago. Ouch!! But we are not alone. We are fortunate to know Pilates studio, Yoga studio, and even spa owners around the country, and most are experiencing a similar situation.
So then, the big question is “how do we Pilates instructors retain our clients and thus maximize our revenue?”
Let’s start with what NOT to do!
1) Take your discouragement with your personal financial situation with you to the studio, the home of your clients, the gym, etc. After all, it’s PERSONAL training, and your personality is a large part of what helped you retain the client in the first place! So remember, it’s your personality that could lose them as well.
2) Talk about yourself and your personal life. Now is the time to make sure that you are focused entirely on your client or the students in your class in their hour. Phoning it in will not gain you clients or help you retain them either!!
3) Raise prices unnecessarily in your attempt to make up for the decrease in clients. While it might be necessary to raise prices due to increased costs you might be incurring, make sure you know exactly why you are raising the prices, and if you do, make sure that the service you are delivering eclipses the percentage increase tenfold!
That being said, let’s talk about the more positive side of what you SHOULD do!!
1) Be completely invested in your clients’ progress in results. If you don’t invest in them, how can you expect them to invest in you? Take a moment to ask yourself if you’ve seen them make progress in the past two months. If the answer is no, then think of what you can do to program more effectively.
2) Mutually re-evaluate your clients’ goals. Let them know that you want them to reach their goals, whatever they may be. Additionally, by setting goals together, you can motivate your clients to make their appointments and show up both in body and mind to each and every lesson. After all, we don’t want our clients phoning it in either! Goal setting also allows you, the instructor, to create benchmarks which you can then use to chart your clients’ progress. Once they see their own records of improvement, they’re more likely to keep at it.
3) Bring your A++ game to the table every lesson or class, every time. No excuses! We recently had a conversation with our top instructors at Pilates on Fifth, and across the board, we noticed that regardless of teaching style, our best instructors are the ones who are excited about the hour, keep the energy up, and keep their clients moving. Ironically, in doing so (and we all agreed on this!) the hour FLIES by… and that’s never a bad thing, right?
4) Make it ENJOYABLE!!! Exercise is one of the BEST forms of stress relief, so keep that in mind!
All in all, we’ve noticed that our best instructors have not only retained, but GAINED clients, even with this crazy economic climate. Hopefully these tips we’ve provided will help others gain and retain lots of clients, both for group mat classes and for private lessons!!!
Katherine and Kimberly Corp on Ella Speakes!
Kimberly and Katherine Corp were guests on the Ella Speakes show on Monday, January 11, 2009. They spoke about Pilates on Fifth and what is was like to own a small business in 2009, complete with the challenges and opportunities for growth and change that 2009 did provide. You can find more information about her radio show, which is broadcast in the Oklahoma City area, at this link: http://radiotime.com/program/p_124073/Ella_Speakes.aspx .
Ella is one of the most gracious hosts we’ve worked with, and she generously informed her listeners of not only our studio, Pilates on Fifth, and our Pilates video podcast, but also our Ultimate Pilates Workouts website. We were able to speak in detail about everything our 
Pilates workouts site has to offer, and especially how to do Pilates correctly as well as Pilates for beginners. We highlighted Pilates exercise routines such as the Pilates Morning Low Back Care Workout, My First Pilates Workout for Pilates beginners, as well as the Pilates Pink Ribbon workout, for survivors of breast cancer. We stressed that the sort function on the site allows users to sort not only by duration, but also by LEVEL. If you’re doing Pilates at home, you can select the level that’s completely right for you!
Finally, we encouraged Ella’s listeners to utilize our podcasts so that they know if they’re doing an exercise correctly. From our podcasts 
page, look on the right side of the page for the list of exercises that have been covered. From there, just look for the name of the exercise that you’d like to review! It’s really that simple.
Ella was also kind enough to encourage her listeners to send in their testimonials, and even send us “before” pictures so that once you’ve embarked on your Pilates journey, you can follow it up with a fantabulous “after” picture with a story of your Pilates experience! Feel free to friend us on facebook or send us an email at info@ultimatepilatesworkouts.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
Many, many thanks to Ella Speakes for having us on her fabulous show!
Know your Anatomy and Become a Pilates Instructor Who’s in demand!!
A myriad of skills are required to be a highly skilled Pilates instructor, and one of the most important is a strong foundation in anatomy and biomechanics. Rock-solid knowledge of anatomy will not only help you excel in your Pilates instructor training program, but also enable you to design more effective workouts, work with minor aches and pains, and address sports specific concerns. With an arsenal of Pilates exercises on hand that target each muscle, you have all you need to serve you and all your clients’ needs!
Studying anatomy initially can be a little boring (it can seem like rote memorization), but whatever you do, don’t just memorize!! The best way to learn anatomy while you are going through your Pilates instructor training program is to pick one muscle at a time, and then start moving! Find the exercises that target the muscle you want to “memorize“, and then do each Pilates exercise, concentrating on the muscle being worked. The combination of the kinesthetic awareness with the visualization of the muscle will change your entire outlook on learning anatomy and biomechanics! You’ll learn quickly, more effectively and more efficiently….and you’ll remember it too!
Thus, when your clients come in and tell you that their shoulder is bothering them, sore, achy, untoned…. whatever, you first know what questions to ask to pinpoint the possible source of the pain. Does it hurt to reach forward? Behind? Out to the side? From their answer, you must quickly decide (with your client’s feedback, of course) whether it is best to avoid that joint all together or find safe ways to address it. The good news: because you have spent so much time practicing your Pilates exercises while thinking of the muscles being used, you will know from your own experience which Pilates exercises will best target or avoid the muscle in question. You can further strut your stuff by giving your clients two or three ways to target the muscle in question by addressing different planes of movement and different actions of the muscle. And if you have a studio full of Pilates equipment, then you have even more ways to utilize your knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics with all the offerings that the Pilates Reformer, Pilates Cadillac and Pilates Chair afford.
The Corps Pilates Blog 
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