How To Set Up EFT In Your Personal Training Business

I’m currently using PayPal, how does that stack up compared to 1shoppingcart?

I’m flying solo as a trainer.

I’m using paypal now and we are making the change over to 1shopingcart. It takes time but I can clearly see why it is going to be way better for us.

B.
Thank you for clarifying the EFT program. This is a big help for all of us. I look forward to your next post.

Also, do you find credit card fees and debit fees are high? do you incorporate these into your price? I currently run a business that is almost all cheques (there are 3 trainers)
Will using eft cut a lot into our profits?

Hey B

I have ur PT cours, Fitpro News Letter, and I just recently purchased Shapenet for EFT and trking sessions. I have 7 trainers including myself and it looks like once I get the hang of the program it will work great. Teri w/ Shapenet is great at coaching u through how to use it. Only complaint is after 12 days the Gateway company they use still do not have my EFT set up… Other than that thanks for everything HP

Going to EFT 9 months ago TRIPLED my monthly revenue within 3 months, it was crazy!

Dustin

Rahsaan, pay pal is okay to start with. But it’s not what you want long term. For one thing it’s way too consumber friendly and not enough merchant friendly.

Meaning a client can stop payment using their papal account and never give you a reason why they stopped which means you’ll never have the opportunity to save the deal.

Plus unlike paypal, 1shopping cart (and I believe GetShape) have a delinquent client follow up system so that when a clients payment does not proccess the system automatically follows up with email notifications to the client and attempts the charge three more days in a row.

B

@ Prime, sure there are credit cards fees and gateways fees but those are relatively small compared to the benefits they deliver (like collections, follow up, automation, ect).

If a couple percentage points are going to negatively impact your profits then I say you’re under charging. The solution to that is to increase your price per session or per month and then increase the perceived value and your future clients will never bat an eye.

B

Great info Bedros! I currently use an Aweber form and Authorize.net. The fees of Authorize.net aren’t too cheap, but I really like how easy it is to navigate.

Another solution instead of Authorize.net is Merchant One. Either one will work and allow you to accept credit cards from your clients.

Paypal users: the reason why this solution stinks is because the client can opt out at any time and there is no way to collect or bill them once they cancel their subscription.

By using EFT with the 1Shopping Cart or Aweber forms method alongside a payment gateway you have all the control in your hands moreover a third party and your client.

Quick Question: regarding 1Shopping Cart… is this simply used to place a form on the site, like Aweber can do, or is there an actual payment that is set up in that where it is automated on the Authorize.net site and our account?

Thanks!

Bob Garon

When you have an EFT set up, how do you handle it when a client misses a session, because of vacation, illness or whatever?

Started with Paypal but a f/#’ing nightmare, only lets your clients put so much through before stopping it……1shopping cart works a dream - have loads on this for bootcamp regular payments everymonth - the client cant cancel - they have to come to you to stop it.
It was when i did your original “The Art of Selling Fitness” Bedros that i switched onto EFT and it made such a big difference thanks
Spencer

You can check out what i have set up here B http://www.fmbootcamp.com/enrolment.html

Hey Spencer, how did you get the EFT sign up page onto your website? Is that with 1shoppingcart like you said? Basically how do you link the EFT form to your website? Thanks, Alex

Thanks Bedros! As usual, you knocked it out of the park.

OH, by the way, I just purchased your PT business course and am anxiously awaiting it in the mail.

thanks for all of your great information.

Hey Bedros,
I just want to thank you because if I didn’t run into your website, I would have gave up training and settled for any random job. Because of your brilliant info, I’m able to to pay my rent and provide for my family. THANK YOU! I’m looking forward to blowin it up in 2010!

Carlos that’s awesome! Live your passion…
B

THanks for this great post. I’m set up with 1shoppincart on my blog and its worked great. Your info here has also helped me organize my billing system for when I start offering training sessions

Hi Todd,
What I would do is put a 24 hour cancellation clause or whatever time frame you want in your contract and tell the client what needs to happen if they need to reschedule a session or miss a bootcamp. If my client cancels on short notice they get charged. if they need to reschedule, we have an alternate date and time for them to come in and make up the session.
Not sure if this is the best way, but it’s worked for me. Bedros will likely have a better solution.
Can’t wait to hear what it is.

Hey

I use paypal, and I find the fees exorbitant, I actually don’t accept payment via my website, but once I do a consultation I get CC info and I plug it into Virtual Terminal with recurring billing. I have to pay an additional $35 a month plus the transaction fees, but it does allow me to have full control of the process without consumer input.

Don’t know if it accepts payments via US, but in Canada, I haven’t had any problems yet. It even allows you to reverse payments without too much trouble.

Hope that helps all the paypal users out there.

hey i’m with todd @ 4:08! what happens when a client is billed $720 a month but misses due to various concerns? are you setting up sessions with no cancellation policy? just a flat monthly fee? i don’t know any of my clients who would go for that….. HELP!

@Todd and Brian, if someone misses a session or two this month just roll it over to next month, and if they don’t use them in that next month then those rolled over sessions expire.

Say you have a client who’s gonna go on an extended vacation… Then have a 30 And 60 day freeze option where you freeze their billing for that time till they get from vacation.

EFT is actully pretty felexible in that way.

B

If you are reading this and don’t have EFT in your business GET IT AND GET IT NOW!!!

This one concept put us on a path to more than triple our business in the time since we implemented it.

Of course this more than paid for our spot in the mastermind group.

Have fun.

Scott Lofquist

Do all of the above sites work ok for outside US?

I’ve been looking into shape.net and went through their demo and everything. From that demo, it sounded like you still needed something like authorize.net as well. Am I just misinterrepreting it?

Can we get maybe a rundown of average fee’s both per month and per transaction comparing the different methods, along with pros and cons of each.

Thanks

Nathan

EFT looks like the way to go. Great information Bedros.

Thanks Bedros. Yeah I would definitely agree with Dustin that EFT is the way to go. It’s one of the best things I’ve done in my business as I’ve seen my monthly income markedly increase and I don’t have the stress or pressure of having to resell PT or BC clients.

So just to make sure I get this correct.

1- Client walks in the door requesting PT

2- I close the sale with a payment plan and mention that I only except credit card on a automated system. No cash!

3- I take the first months payment immediatley from the card and set the reacurring payment date for the next month at same date.

What if the client is sick or a work trip comes up, which happens a lot?

This is my fear!

Can anyone advise on this situation please.

Thanks for the info,

@Lee you pretty much have it right. One thing I did was to take the first and last month down durring sign up a d then set up the EFT for the following months.

Like I said before… If a client misses a session they just make it up that month or the session rolls over to the following month and if it’s still not used it expirses.

Finally with EFT you can accept checks using GetShape and ASF International (another billing co.)

B

I just recently set up my EFT and it’s been great so far. Clients love it too because they don’t have to think about it every month and remember to bring in their card or check book!

Whoa! Great info. I am still trying to get used to setting up the 1st and Last Bedros for EFT.

I just need to do it and stop second guessing.

Hello Everyone

Before I met Bedrose I was taking checks, cash, and using Paypal. It was a lot of grunt work to make a living.

EFT is the only way that I conduct my boot camps, and Personal training.

I have read most of the comments posted and I see that some of you are using PAYPAL. STOP TODAY. PAYPAL IS THE TRAINING WHEELS OF EFT(Bedrose told me that when I met him)

Go to your bank and set up a Merchant account. You will be charged an average of 3% of your total income each month, but that is a Business Tax Write off for you, and you will never have to ask for another payment from your clients. Just sit back and watch the money pile up

As far as clients missing sessions, I will always either make them up or send them a refund check. (if they gave me 24 hour notice) This way the same amount is coming out each month without you having to adjust your EFT.

I have all my clients sign contracts that will state how much will come out each month on what day, and for how long. I have a cancellation policy that each client must read, initial and sign. I make sure that all bases are covered so they never try to pull a quick one. (watch closing 9 out of 10 clients)

I always charge on the 2nd or the 17th for a minimum of 6 months, and month to month after that with a 30 day cancellation notice.(which will give you another month of income, and time to find more clients)

If they want to pay with a check it has to be 6 months in advance. I will NOT chase my clients for cash again.

That is tough way to live and You will not have any stability.

I hope this helps some of you.

Fred, killer info man! It’s great to hear from you.z
B

Lee- I would accept cash, check or CC on their intial visit/down payment. Then you fil out the EFT info so you can automatically debit their account for the monthly payments after that point. We used a sign out sheet for their visits, if they bought 12 months of training (96-144 sessions) the signout sheet would show this and everytime they came in at the end of their sessions the trainer would write the date a brief description of the workout and the client would intial the sheet acknowledging they were in for the session. If a client needs to cancel the session then its ok because although you are charging them monthly they are still buying a certain amount of sessions. Our cancellation policy required all cancellations to made at least 24 hours in advance to not be charged for the session anything under 24 hours was up to the clients trainer to charge or not charge depending on the reason.
I hope this helps.
PS… we have done EFT for personal training since 1998 and can’t believe how many trainers/business’s don’t.

I already have all of my clients on EFT. By using the strategies and techniques I learned from your PT Business Course, I was able to get 51 PAYING CLIENTS in 25 DAYS!!! All sessions are 30 min and all of which are on EFT. My question is how you recommend I staff my health club with trainers to help me train. I can do it myself but I dont have much time to do anything else. The income is GREAT but I would rather work ON MY BUSINESS not IN MY BUSINESS!

Here is a great blog posting on what is a merchant account. http://www.myvolo.com/blog/bid/10924/Fitness-Professionals-ask-What-is-a-Merchant-EFT-account. It has some really good info about what is a merchant account and how much you will be paying for it. Automating your billing will make a big difference in your business. Make sure to check out the options available to you.

Does any body here use Premium Web Cart? I just read a review of 1Shopping Cart and it wasn’t too inspiring. This may just be one man’s opinion, but I’m not familiar enough with EFT to disregard it. Here’s the link to the review.

http://www.scamdetective.com/eCommerce-Tools/1Shoppingcart

I would be interested to hear if anyone’s having the same issues with 1shopping cart or if these issues have been resolved.

Thanks in advance

Here’s my registration page… check out the next couple steps too. I use Aweber for my form and Authorize.net for the merchant.

http://synergykettlebellbootcamp.com/register2.html

try to schedule extra workouts before they leave and after they get back as well as possible, but them being on your roster costs them that much each month… because you are in demand and that busy. you always appreciate their business, but “this is how I run my program”.

Thank you so much for this EFT info! I’ve been using Authorize.net for years and I’ve signed up to check out GetShape.net. I’ve been using another studio management system for about 6 months and so far been somewhat, at best, satisfied with it.

I got the Art of Selling Fitness and I’m so glad one of my trainers found you! Keep up the great work!

Thanks for your thought,and prayer about Haiti, as an Haitian Trainer one of the best in ILLINIOS,thanks for this EFT keep up the great work see you this year.
Danielle.

Gonna set up a Paypal until I sort things out for real… cheers for the info Bedros.

I am using minbodyonline.com for all of my EFT and it also keeps track of my classes, clients, and everything else

Great info!

What about for a PT that is located in Australia.

Any payment companies that can assist with Australian transactions?

I’ve been using shape.net and it sucks!!! Stay away from it! It took 6 weeks to get the gateway set up. The software is way too complicated, it made me much less productive then I was on paper. What a nightmare to get this software figured out. I think EFT is a must to set up, but use a different software because Shape.net sucks! I wasted 2 months with Shape.net and now I’m going to cancel it and switch.

I don’t have a set location yet for my business but I need to get my clients on EFT. What system do you guys think is best for someone whe doesn’t have constant internet access?

Also, does 1 shopping cart allow you to enter billing information by phone?

Ok….I am going to try American Express Accept Pay…I only need the vitual terminal so this looks to be a good fit at $25.00 a month. So far their customer service has been outstanding…..They also provide forms on American Express letter head that I can use to take credit/debit card and bank account info in person in the event that I am not able to access the internet….I will let you know how this works!

[...] Start using E.F.T. (auto debit) in your business and you’re going to see two things happen. 1) you’re going to automatically start retaining clients for a longer period of time. 2) You’ll have more time to train clients, market, and kick back because you’ll doing a lot less check chasing and collections. PLUS you’re income becomes VERY predictable. I have a post all about EFT here. [...]

Bedros,
This is an amazing post for any personal trainer looking to automate their payment solution. You, Steve, and Chris are fitness marketing gurus.
Thanks for your help!

Ok….I lied….I am not going with Accept Pay….I got set up with them but it is way too difficult to change cycle dates and things like that. I am gonna get set up through Merchant One. They are an all in 1 company so you don’t need 2 companies to get eft rolling. The fees look very reasonable and I will be able to bill every 35 days. This way I don’t have to roll sessions over to the next month or book extra appointments. Some months they will get 1 or 2 extra so it will balance out any missed sessions due to cancellation. Let me know if you guys/gals think this is a bad idea…lol

Hello,

I am really interested in what you are doing.
I am working now for 5 years by myself, but it does not working out very well.
I am doing this in the Netherlands.
I am giving now personal training and want to give Bootcamp in the park next week.
For personal training my clients pays me every two months, and after every two months they can stop or they can go on.

That is not your way I suppose?

And the bootcamp, I will working with every month payment, is that the good way?
I have put a lot of flyers in the people houses, but very less respons.

Can you tell me what I need to do, to explode my business?

I hope to hear from you.

Regards,

Rene Boon
The Netherlands

[...] you don’t do auto debit then check this post out for all the [...]

I check 1shoppingcart and they want $35 to $99 per month. To me that is expensive. Which option should I chose if I go with 1shoppingcart? Do I need the Professional option of the lesser one?

Hey Lynn,
I would go with the $35 option if you are just looking for a way to collect eft, you can always upgrade to the basic or professional down the line if you find you want to use it for email campaigns or autoresponding. You then have to get a merchant account with authorize.net, internetsecure, e-online data, etc. So you will be looking at approximately $60 + transaction fees /month. Think big picture, if this amount is going to affect your business you need to charge more or hit the pavement and market harder.

Bedros you rock!

hi guys can some1 help please im currently running a bootcamp and using a refferal system with every refferal = 50% and so on…

so my question is how do you go about eft when their payments are going to be differant every month if they reffer some1..

please help as we gettting a lot of cash, and finding it difficult to manage!

do you take money up fromt first? not sure how to go about it or will can i change eft payment with a click of the button on eft..confused…….

many thanks

kane

Hi Kane, I had that same problem but I am just accepting only eft payments, no cash. You could try giving them a refund or pausing their payment for 2 weeks. Or give them cash back in their hand?

Ben

[...] Here's a post I did a few months back where I laid out how to set up Auto Debit in your fitness business and practically double your income in a couple months. [...]

Hey everybody,
do I get this right: If I don’t want to accept payments online I don’t need 1shoppingcart or something like this? I only would need a merchant account? Is there a reason why I shouldn’t ask my bank for a merchant account?
BTW: Could I run into any trouble opening a merchant account? I don’t have a credit history and no credit score because I just moved to the states a few months ago.

Thanks for your help!

Jennie

Bedros

Good question here! What to do when the client change the card or he/she cancel the bank acount and don’t want to pay anymore and they disapeare or they don’t answer phone calls or emails?

Thanks Bedors

Sincerely Luis

Hey,

right now I have “shared” internet access and don’t want to jeopardize my clients CC#s by using an internet source of EFT but am extremely limited on funds for EFT equipment until I get my business fired up.

What are your suggestions? Many thanks!!

[...] Of course it goes without saying that you’ll want to put all of your “regular” ongoing clients on recurring monthly payments (EFT). If you don’t know what that is or how it works… you can read a killer post on EFT and how to set it up here. [...]

Emery client has a different bill every month, because one month is 30, the other one’s 31 days! Plus they travel, they go on vacation… it’s not that easy!

I use Merchant warehouse gateway eft and pretty happy with it.

Hey Bedros

Say I’m running a bootcamp, so if I have no stop date on monthly EFT payments, does that mean they can leave at any point well before the 6 or 12 month contract expires?

@Joseph, if you have people on a 6 or 12 month agreement then that’s how long they are committed to say. However if the agreement says that after the 6 or 12 month term they will go to on-going recurring billing them you’re in even a better place since you never have to re-sell that client ever again.

B

Thank you. This info was very helpful. A little confusing, as I’ve just started working my business from a professional aspect. Have worked it for nearly 4 yrs. on a “hobby” basis, but now moving toward more business-oriented strategies. Just trying to learn all I can about the business aspect. Would love some more info. Thank you.

We have been using Mindbody for about a year and it’s fantastic. Highly recommend it.