Great topic.
Don't charge them, but make them feel like they are getting something that is very valuable (because it should be), and you are giving it to them as a gift.
I speak at some business nearly once a week (sometimes more). Every single time I speak I get new members and new personal training clients or bootcampers for my trainers. Sometimes the response is HUGE!
I don't do a hard-sell presentation... I make it very fun and informative, and then do a soft mention in the end about my business and our services. In fact, I always like to give stuff away.
I'm giving away all my good tricks now, but here's one that works really well. I spoke to about 50 people a couple of weeks ago and at the end everyone was excited about the drawing for a free month at my gym. So I got everyone to fill out information and then just told them "ah heck, I'll just give everyone in the room a free month!" The cheers were deafening. I signed up 30 new members of that one gig.
It is a daily event for me to sit down with my little notebook full of potential gigs and call as many people as I can to keep lining up speaking gigs. Get them booked out for months in advance.
Two things happen. One, you are constantly in front of people, building a solid reputation and becoming the "go-to guy" in your area. Word gets around fast, trust me. Two, you get a direct result from each one of those talks. One client could potentially be worth $5K or more (based on them becoming a regular for a year). Work up to having 50 people or more in your bootcamps (which is what I do) and you are really raking it in.
So both in the short term and in the long term you win. Don't quibble over a few bucks when you have that much potential income at stake.
Most importantly though, knock their socks off! Entertain them and give them something really unique. I promise my groups that I am going to rock their very paradigms about fitness, and I usually do. It's not just getting the gig, it's giving them a great presentation that gets them talking and keeps them talking long after you are gone.
I personally think that for a gym/personal training studio, it is the best spent marketing investment you can possibly make!
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