Sales for Yoga Teachers
Selling is an essential component for your career as a yoga teacher. If you are a yoga teacher you are going to have to sell someone on the idea that they should have or do something. That might be selling someone on the idea that they should come to your class, or selling to a fitness studio why you are the best for the job. Understanding the sales process helps with these situations. Sales are not just about a monetary transaction – it’s about getting your point across, and reaching a point of mutual understanding with your prospect.
There’s no way around it, you’re in the sales business now. With this in mind, it’s preferable, especially if you’re starting to be a yoga teacher, to not just think of yourself as a yoga teacher, but to think of yourself as an entrepreneur or business owner. Because that’s what you will most likely have to be. In fact, the majority of yoga teachers in Australia, and the world, are independent contractors. This means they have their own Australian Business Number “ABN” and are often, if not always, contracted to teach yoga on pre-arranged terms.
This way of thinking helps you think and organize your classes, services and offerings to a paradigm based on objective reasoning. This helps you provide more value to your clients, be taken more seriously as a yoga teacher and build a stronger brand. Below are my top tips for sales as a yoga teacher.
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Selling Tips for Yoga Teachers
Be Sold on Your Product or Service
You need to genuinely believe and be confident in what you’re selling. This means understanding why your buyer needs your product or service and why people should give you their hard earned money. You need to be sold 100% on your product and service and be ready to answer any questions confidently so you can give your assurances to the prospect.
As a starting guide, you should be confident in answering these questions without hesitation:
- Why is your product or service worth your prospects time?
- Why would you buy your product or service? Would you?
- Why does your prospect need what you are offering?
Don’t Undercharge Too Much
You can’t survive or build a business if you undercharge. The focus should not be on decreasing prices to get customers or clients. The focus should be on increasing value to make your option the best option. Reducing prices will mean that people are coming to you because it’s cheap alternative and not necessarily because you are a valuable alternative. To survive as a yoga teacher, you have to be a valuable alternative not just a cheap alternative.
Close Deals and Be Persistent
The world isn’t going to provide a clear path for you to be a yoga teacher. You have to define it through closing deals and making new connections. This can be intimidating for new teachers or anyone in general. But remember, if you are not out there actively pushing your product or service in to the world, it’s highly unlikely anyone else will be.
To close deals means to have people sold on your product and service and see you as the only viable option. But even if you are, or believe you are, or even if they believe you are does not mean they are going to hand over their money and buy from you. In fact, getting money is often the hardest part about being a yoga teacher or any sales strategy. Whether it’s a 5 Class Pass valued at $100 or a $20,000 Luxury Retreat, you need to both assure your customer it is the best decision for them and make it as easy as possible for them to pay you.
Sometimes for the assurances or reminders you have to actively call and engage your prospect. People are busy and even if it’s the best decision for them they might forget about it or get lost in their day-to-day lives. This is where the marketing comes in and the importance of social media advertising. You need to stay in people’s minds or they will forget about you. If you really have something that is going to make someone’s life better, you owe it to that person to make sure they get it.
Selling Practices
Have Multiple Payment Options
You want to make sure you have multiple options to pay for your products or services so that people can have a package that works for them. This knowledge is generally applicable for selling your yoga classes or services to the public as a small business owner or self-employed. This probably wouldn’t apply if you were teaching as an independent contractor at a gym or the like.
Single Pass / Product / Service
A single pass is good for people who want to try without the extra commitment. You should generally price this as more expensive than if someone was to buy a 5 or 10 class pass.
A single yoga class typically sells for around $15 – $30.
Five / Ten Class Pass or Similar
This is a good way of selling because it keeps people coming back. Have the price so it works out slightly lower than if someone purchases individually. An expiry date also makes sure that people use the pass and that your classes stay active.
Private Lesson / One on One Coaching
You want to price this to reflect your value and time. It’s largely dependent on what you are selling but for a yoga class this should be no less than $65 p/h.
When selling a private session think of the opportunity cost as well. For example:
- How much could you make if you had a group yoga class at the same time?
- How much preparation before class and work once class finishes?
- Rent / Electricity Costs / Travel Expenses associated?
Note that undercharging in the hope to get new private clients can both lead to burnout and undermines the value principle.
Direct Debit / Memberships
Direct debit works by setting your customers up to a payment plan that continues for a specified period of time. You generally incentivize people to do this by having the prices lower than if they were to purchase separately. Be aware that excessive contract terms may scare people away from signing up this way. First you need to establish trust and credibility in your brand. This is the importance of marketing.
This is what you want to aim for as a business owner or yoga teacher. The reason for this is that the revenue occurs without having to sell your client on the sale every transaction. For example, when someone finishes a 5 Class Pass, they will need to repeat the transaction process, which generally falls to your responsibility to re-sell to them. Direct debit avoids this by having a set transaction plan for future payments.
This is good for your clients because they don’t have to think about purchasing every time they come to a yoga class. It’s good for you because you get recurring revenue and you can track your income more accurately.
This tends to work well if the product or service you are providing is consistent enough so that clients know what to expect in the future. In the case of yoga, it helps if you have a fixed schedule in a fixed location so that people are comfortable committing to a membership or a payment plan for an extended period of time. This would probably not work if you were teaching at multiple different places or your classes are not consistently.
Make Your Sales Process Easy!
You want to have your product or service as easy as possible for your prospect to purchase. To do this it’s important that you have already established your credibility and that the prospect is ready to commit.
You should have your prices and payment plans set up so the purchaser can easily see which method is best for them. For example, a table of the different services or prices is most common for yoga teachers. This can also be incorporated in to online payment system or booking software.
If you have a website or online marketing, have your pages directed to the sales page. When selling face to face, have your products and services in visual and written form. People trust what they see, not what they hear.
If you are interested in some general yoga coaching, feel free to get in touch or check out my next Yoga Teacher Training for my next intake. I also have an online Yoga Business Basics Course here.
Read my top tips on getting clients as a yoga teacher here
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