Let’s set the stage for you first. I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside globally recognized brands within the online coaching industry for the last five years — cycling coaches, triathlon coaches, ultra coaches, mountain bike, gravel and CX coaches. I’ve also worked with coaches in strength and conditioning, weightlifting, physique and bodybuilding worlds.
You name it, I’ve seen it. After working with hundreds of businesses that have succeeded, I want to give you insight into how they’ve done it.
It’s my mission to help coaches influence the world’s athletes, create a positive impact and achieve business outcomes to a level they’ve only dreamt about.
The best way to provide world-class service is to provide supreme value to those you serve. Providing not necessarily “more” value but better value is the differentiator and something the best coaches on the planet do without exception. So, how do you provide that level of value to your athletes? The answer is simple. It starts with premium solutions.
Benefits of Premium Athlete Accounts
There’s a reason that the world’s top endurance coaching business onboards all of their athletes with TrainingPeaks Premium athlete accounts. Premium is, well, premium for a reason. It delivers real, tangible value to athletes daily. Our most successful coaches use coach-paid athlete premium to drive value to their athletes.
| Athlete Account type | Coach-Paid Premium | Self-Paid Premium | Free Basic |
| Who pays for the account? | Coach Pays | Athlete Pays | Free |
So how do Premium accounts affect you as a coach?
| Athlete Account type | Coach Paid Premium | Self Paid Premium | Free Basic |
| Can I plan for the athlete? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Do I have access to all of the charts and graphs? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can I get Post Workout Notification Emails? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Can Athletes get Post Activity Comment Emails? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Can I sync with WKO? | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can I see my athletes’ Peak Performances? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Can I see my athletes’ weather? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Can I plan using recurring workouts? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| See athlete availability? | Yes | Yes | NO |
Premium gives athletes the ability to:
| Athlete Account type | Coach Paid Premium | Self Paid Premium | Free Basic |
| Athlete has access to all charts and graphs? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Can edit files, create ranges, delete channels, etc.? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Athletes can see Peak Performances? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Add their Availability? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| See their weather forecast? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Access the StackUp Feature? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Search and filter workouts? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Edit completed workouts? | Yes | Yes | NO |
| Use the Drag-and-Drop Workout Builder? | Yes | Yes | NO |
Feel free to compare the features of Premium and Basic. But you might still be asking why coaches should upgrade their athletes. TrainingPeaks Premium athletes stay on the platform longer, train longer, compete more and achieve more. Bluntly, they are invested in their training and your services.
Do you see the opportunity to make more money? Money may not be your primary motivation, but it’s the lifeblood of any business. You’ll need cash flow to deliver your services, knowledge and coaching to athletes. From a business perspective, it doesn’t make sense not to utilize the coach-paid Premium athlete accounts.
Now I’m guessing you’re thinking, “But what about the additional cost to me?” With a TrainingPeaks Coach plan, you pay a wholesale price for Premium athlete accounts starting at $9 per athlete per month.
Remember that the pricing for coach-paid Premium athlete accounts works on a graduated volume scale: the more athletes you upgrade, the better the pricing per athlete gets. And since these are invested clients, you make more money over time. You can check out the coach-paid Premium volume discounts to see where your price breaks would fall.
Compare those prices to what the athlete would pay — $19.95 per month.
The Business Case for Premium
Yes, you are paying for each athlete’s Premium account each month, but this is where your business savvy takes over. Include that $9 per month into your service charges, giving your business room to drive more margin while providing the most premium experience to your athletes, built in.
Hear me out through two examples.
Case Study #1
Basic 1:1 Offering: A coach sells coaching at a monthly price of $175/month and highlights “TrainingPeaks Basic” as free. If the athlete converts, they will wind up paying you $175 x 12 months = $2,100/year and they’ll get none of the benefits listed above.
The average basic athlete’s lifetime within TrainingPeaks is seven months so you’re more likely to earn $1,225 for that athlete. There is less Lifetime Value for this particular athlete. The athlete simply doesn’t get enough to make it worth paying for.
Case Study #2
Premium 1:1 Offering: A coach sells monthly coaching for $220/month with Coach Paid Premium included = $220 – $9 = $211 x 12 = $2,532/year and they’ll get the best features and services on the internet.
The average premium athlete’s lifetime is 21 months so you’re likely to resell that athlete and earn $4,431. This case has a much higher Lifetime Value, which is what the best coaching businesses are built on.
Essentially a coach has to retain three or more Basic athletes versus one Premium athlete to generate equivalent annual revenue.
More Value, More Business
Some coaches believe that the price hike will scare away some potential customers. And it might, but only if you don’t position the value of your product correctly.
Quick Tip: The Marketing 101 tactic is to tell the potential athlete straight-up, “You get a TrainingPeaks Premium account on me! That’s a $20/month value for free!”
One coach-paid Premium athlete is worth three times that of a Basic athlete. You would only need to attract and convert one-third of the volume of athletes compared with the lower-priced, more “economical” option.
More importantly, you get the added benefit of athletes becoming fans and promoters of your coaching, your products and your brand. That’s free advertising, and social proof is the best way to create viral effects. Those viral network effects are what every business owner and brand creator is after to scale and maintain their business. And it’s all done through premium solutions.
