The Secrets to High-Ticket Pricing with Scott Carpenter

Pricing is one of the most emotionally charged topics in the fitness industry. Coaches and gym owners constantly wrestle with two questions: How much should I charge? and how do I get more clients? These are not just business decisions. They shape your stress levels, your confidence, your family life, and ultimately your future in the coaching profession.

That is why Scott Carpenter’s story is worth listening to. As a gym owner, online transformation coach, and consultant to fitness professionals around the country, Scott has experienced firsthand the mistakes that keep coaches undercharging and overworking. His journey from financial collapse to multi-million-dollar success is a blueprint for anyone trying to build a stable, fulfilling career in fitness.

From Rock Bottom to Reinvention

Scott’s journey did not begin with triumph. It began with disaster. After several financial missteps in a previous career, he ended up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt with ruined credit and a collapsing personal life. The gym became the one place where he felt alive and happy. Eventually, he quit his stable corporate job and started over from scratch as a personal trainer.

Through grit and sales skill, he climbed into gym management, dug himself out of debt, and took a huge risk: purchasing a failing gym in Arizona. It was only bringing in $600 per month while rent alone was $3,000, but he believed he could turn it around.

What he had not prepared for was the grind. As his business grew, he opened more gyms, took on more roles, and soon was working more than 70 hours a week. He spent his son’s early years eating every meal inside a gym. Every photo from that phase shows him wearing a logoed shirt or standing next to equipment. He had set out to build freedom, but accidentally built himself a cage.

The Breakthrough: Transformation Over Transactions

Everything shifted when Scott noticed something that did not seem to make sense. Online coaches were charging between $3,000 and $8,000 for short transformation programs—sometimes only eight to twelve weeks long—while brick-and-mortar gyms were fighting over clients who paid less than $100 per month.

“How are they charging that?” he wondered. And more importantly: “Why aren’t we?”

The realization hit hard: workouts are everywhere. Programs are cheap. Meal plans can be downloaded for free. In a world saturated with fitness information, a workout alone has almost no monetary value. However, solving a serious problem in someone’s life—helping them change their health, identity, confidence, and future—is worth a great deal to them.

Scott invested in mentorship that specialized in high-ticket transformation, and what he learned fundamentally changed the way he approached coaching. Instead of offering a single price for everyone, he built a structure that matched different levels of client need. Some people needed simple programming. Others needed structure, accountability, and coaching. And a select group needed deep, transformative mentorship to address the emotional, psychological, and lifestyle barriers that held them back.

The moment he made this shift, results exploded. One of his clients implemented the same system and sold a nine-week executive transformation program for $6,000. That client renewed for a full year. His wife joined shortly after. The next year, those two clients alone brought in $90,000—a life-changing jump made possible not by working harder, but by charging appropriately for high-impact work.

Why High-Ticket Works

The core truth behind high-ticket transformation is simple: people do not want to exercise. They want what exercising gives them. They want to feel confident, proud, energized, and in control of their lives. They want the version of themselves they know they are capable of being, but cannot reach on their own.

Scott often teaches coaches a simple conversational tool he calls the TED Framework:

“Tell me more… Explain that… Describe that…”

When clients express a goal, the coach digs deeper. A desire to “lose ten pounds” often reveals deeper struggles—shame, exhaustion, fear of aging poorly, frustration with setting a bad example for children, or a loss of identity. When you understand the emotional truth behind the goal, you are no longer selling a workout plan. You are offering a path to restore someone’s sense of self.

That is why transformation coaching commands premium pricing. The service is not about the reps and sets. It is about identity, confidence, and regaining control over one’s life.

Designing Offers Like Mercedes

Scott often compares coaching offers to the Mercedes-Benz lineup. Mercedes does not just sell one car. They offer an entry-level model that makes the brand accessible, a mid-tier model for their core audience, and ultra-premium vehicles like the G-Wagon for buyers who want the highest level of performance and luxury.

Coaching is the same. Some clients want something simple and affordable. Others want more structure. And some want the highest level of support possible. The key is aligning value with need—not raising every price indiscriminately, but offering premium transformation to clients who genuinely need it.

The Freedom Transformation Coaching Creates

The real reward of high-ticket coaching is not the money, it is the freedom it creates. Coaches can earn more while working with fewer clients. They no longer have to chase volume. Their relationships deepen. Their stress decreases. Their time opens up. And because high-ticket clients are highly invested, their outcomes improve dramatically.

Scott captures it best: Most coaches do not need more clients. They need the right clients, paying the right prices, for the right problems.

His story proves that when coaches stop selling workouts and start selling solutions, their business, lifestyle, and impact all grow exponentially.

This material was recently covered in the Business of Coaching Workshop, a series designed to help coaches grow their businesses by mastering key principles like trust, pricing, and delivering value. Each session dives into actionable strategies to build better client relationships and drive success. Want to take your coaching practice to the next level? Join us for the next workshop—it’s free.