Approve a Trainer's PT Package on WhatsApp, With the Money in the Message
In short
When a trainer sells a PT package, the owner gets the client, dates and money on WhatsApp and approves, keeps the last commission rate, or declines.
- The WhatsApp request carries the client's phone, dates, price, what was paid, who has the money and the next due date.
- On a renewal, Keep last rate approves in one tap at the last package's commission.
- New rate and Approve ask for the commission as a number, open for 1 hour.
A trainer closes a personal training sale at 7 in the evening. The client has paid part of it in cash, the trainer has the cash in their pocket, and the package cannot start until the owner says yes. The owner is at the other branch, or at dinner, or asleep. So the trainer messages the owner, the owner asks three questions back, and the client's first session waits until somebody opens the app the next morning.
Most of those three questions are always the same. Who is the client? How much was paid, and who is holding it? What commission does the trainer get? This article is about putting all of that in the message itself, so the owner can decide in one tap from WhatsApp, and about the one button that saves the most time on a renewal: Keep last rate.
Why PT approvals pile up at a gym
A gym that lets trainers sell their own packages needs somebody above the trainer to approve each one. The approval is not a formality. It decides three things that cost money if they are wrong:
- The commission. The rate set at approval is what the trainer earns on every session of the package. A rate typed wrong is paid wrong for twelve sessions.
- The money. A sale often comes with part payment, sometimes in cash with the trainer, sometimes by UPI to the gym. The owner needs to know where it sits before the package goes live.
- The client's number. A package opened against a wrong phone number reaches nobody when it is time to renew.
The trouble is not the decision, which takes ten seconds. It is getting the facts in front of the person who decides. When the alert only says "a trainer sent a request", the owner has to open the app, find it, and read it. On a busy evening that is the step that slips, and a client who paid on Monday starts on Wednesday.
What the owner sees on WhatsApp
In Shiftelio, when a trainer asks to open a package, the owner, and anybody whose role has the Approve tick under PT Sessions, gets a WhatsApp message with the whole sale in it:
- The trainer's name and the client's name
- The client's phone number, to check before approving
- The package, the number of sessions, and the start and end dates
- The price and what has been paid so far
- How it was paid (Cash, UPI, Card or Bank transfer) and who has the money: the trainer or the gym
- The next payment: an amount and a due date, or "Fully paid"
For a new client the message has two buttons, Approve and Decline. For a renewal it also shows the commission on the last package and offers three buttons: Keep last rate, New rate and Decline. A renewal for a client called Rahul reads like this:
Amit Sharma has asked to renew the PT package for Rahul Agarwal. Package: Monthly PT 12. Sessions: 12. Starts on 29 Sep 2026 and ends on 28 Oct 2026. Price: ₹6,000. Paid so far: ₹6,000. Paid by: Cash. Money is with: the trainer. Next payment: Fully paid. Commission on the last package: 20%.
PT package renewal request, WhatsApp
Keep last rate, New rate, or Decline
Most renewals are the same deal again: same trainer, same client, same commission. That is what Keep last rate is for. One tap approves the package at once at the commission of the client's last package, and WhatsApp replies with "Package created with 20% commission", the client and the package.
New rate is for the renewal where the deal changed. Tapping it asks a question back: what commission for this trainer on this package? The owner replies with a number, for example 25, and the package is approved at that rate. A reply can be a whole number or one with decimals, from 0 to 100, and the question stays open for 1 hour. A reply that is not a number is treated as an ordinary message, so the owner is never stuck inside the question.
On a new client, Approve works the same way as New rate: it asks for the commission, because there is no last rate to keep.
Decline turns the request down, and nothing is opened.
The checks that still run from WhatsApp
A tap on WhatsApp goes through the same approval code as the app and Telegram, so the rules a gym already set do not have a back door:
- Only somebody allowed to approve can approve. The tap must come from a WhatsApp number linked to exactly one account in that business, with the PT Sessions Approve tick, or the owner. A number shared by two accounts, such as a family phone, changes nothing and is told to decide in the app.
- A wrong client number goes to the app. If the client's phone is missing or not valid, the reply says so and links to the PT requests page, where it can be corrected before approving.
- Money still needs the money tick. If the trainer reported a payment, it is marked as received with the approval only when the person tapping holds Confirm payments. Otherwise the reply says the amount is waiting for somebody with "Confirm payments" to confirm it in the app. Approving a package and signing off cash stay two different jobs, which is what the split cash and UPI article argues for.
- A request decided twice is decided once. If somebody already approved or declined it in the app, a later tap changes nothing and says so.
When the package is approved, however it was approved, the trainer can get their own WhatsApp: the client, the package, the sessions and the commission they will earn.
Turning it on
Both messages start off. In WhatsApp settings there are two switches:
Sends the request to owners and to roles with the PT Sessions Approve tick when a trainer asks for a new package or a renewal.
Tells the trainer their package was approved, and the commission.
If a manager approves packages on the owner's behalf, give their role Approve. Give Confirm payments only to whoever actually handles the money.
Each message is a WhatsApp message from the gym's prepaid WhatsApp credit, like every other alert. For the client-facing side, session done, sessions low and payment received, see automatic WhatsApp updates to PT clients.
Which gym software lets the owner approve PT packages from WhatsApp?
For the rest of the trainer's side, from sessions to pay, see gym staff attendance and trainer commission, or the whole picture on the Shiftelio page for gyms. WhatsApp's own Business Messaging Policy sets the rules these alerts follow, including the STOP reply at the end of each one, and India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 is why the client's number is shown only to the people who approve.
Questions owners ask
Can a manager approve instead of the owner?
Yes. Anybody whose role has the PT Sessions Approve tick gets the request and can approve it from WhatsApp. The owner can always approve.
What if I tap Keep last rate by mistake?
The package is approved at the last commission at once. Change the commission on the package in the app, which needs the PT Sessions Edit & cancel tick, ideally before sessions are recorded against it.
Does it work for a brand-new client?
Yes. A new client's request has Approve and Decline. Approve asks for the commission. Only a missing or invalid client phone sends the decision to the app.
Is the cash the trainer collected marked as received?
Only if the person approving holds Confirm payments. Otherwise the amount waits in the app for somebody who does.
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