As gym and fitness studio owners, we all want to grow our business and make money consistently.
We spend hours upon hours promoting our businesses through social media, email marketing campaigns and more.
However, it can be difficult for us to keep up with the demands of running a successful fitness business if you don't have the right tools in place.
In this blog post, I will share 7 ways that gym owners and fitness studio owners can use to grow their business while making consistent revenue!
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Then you'll want to check out these other business and marketing tips for Personal Trainers, Gym and Studio Owners:
- The PERFECT Fitness Marketing Formula
- How To Create A Content Calendar For Your Gym
- The Key To Marketing Success For Your Gym Or Studio
- Introducing The New Rule of Marketing
- How To Write A Welcome Email Sequence For Your Gym or Studio
And while you're here, be sure to download my FREE Local SEO Cheat Sheet
7 Ways To Grow Your Fitness Business & Make Money Consistently
1) Create a website for your gym or fitness studio
The quickest way to grow your fitness business and keep attracting new leads and revenue is to make sure to have a website.
A well designed website is a must-have for any fitness business as it gives you a strong online presence.
Your website attracts new members, helps you manage your customer data, generates leads and helps you sell online.
In the age of technology, it's essential for any fitness business to have a website as part of their lead generation strategy!
Hot Tip: The look and feel of your website along with its purpose should be carefully mapped out before any design work is started. This will save time and money without sacrificing the quality of your website.
To find out more about how to design your own website or hire someone to do it for you check out: How To Design Your Own Website Or Have A Professional Do It For You
2) Build an email list
If you think that email marketing is dead and isn't important for your fitness business, then think again!
Email is still the easiest way to stay in touch with your clients and prospects to keep them engaged with your business.
Email helps you keep them up-to-date with your latest offers, online and offline events, or to recommend affiliate products which pay you commissions when they buy.
In this day and age, most people check their email several times a day, so having an active mailing list is important to your business success!
Check out these other business and marketing tips for gym and studio owners:
-How do you build an email list?
-What are the benefits of building one?
-Is it difficult or easy?
Here are some tips for building an email list:
- Create a sign up sheet at your gym, fitness studio or event so that people can subscribe to receive updates from you on new classes, special offers etc.
- Consider hosting contests and giving prizes away to entice more people to sign up.
- Send out an email marketing campaign as a way of building your list
Hot Tip: Include something in the subject line that catches their attention. An example might be, "A free workout video for you today!"
- Offer an incentive in exchange for their email address
Hot Tip: Give them a coupon, or access to your new fitness program. You could also offer discounts on gym equipment and apparel as well.
- Create content that is valuable enough so people are willing to share it with their friends, colleagues or family members
Hot Tip: Provide fitness tips and tricks on a blog post or video. You could also give away one-time discounts to your gym members, for example 20% off their membership fees
- Put up flyers around your neighbourhood about the new classes you're offering
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You can also grow your business & make money using what you already have:
3) Give A Great Client Experience
Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying "“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time” .
By providing a great client experience, you are sure to please the people who come into contact with your gym. Commit to going the extra mile and treat your clients as well as you’d expect to be treated.
Examples of a WOW service:
- Always greet your clients with a smile and offer help when needed
- Take their feedback to heart, even if they complain about something that this is not an issue for other gym members.
- Offer them some water, a workout towel or a post workout snack
- Be sure to tell them how proud you are of their efforts.
- Offer them some additional fitness tips by way of a printed handout, newsletter, blog post, or Facebook post
- Offer promotions to local businesses who service your ideal client base like a free month of membership for referring a new client.
- Send them an email reminder when their gym is closed / on vacation
- Invite them onto your email list and send regular updates on new classes or equipment that might interest them.
- Share their achievements with the gym community
- Use technology like the web, mobile apps, DVDs and YouTube videos to engage clients from home
A great client experience can make all of the difference in your fitness business!
Hot Tip: Follow up with your clients at least once per week via phone or email to stay in touch and to remind them you are on hand to help them succeed with their fitness goals.
A great client experience can make all of the difference in your fitness business!
Remember, you may not be able to please everyone, but you can definitely aim to give them great client service. Clients who feel appreciated will tell their friends and family about how much they love your gym or studio!
Hot Tip: Be kind, respectful and attentive to all of your clients at all times -- even when it's busy!
There will be times when clients request a refund or have some questions about their purchase, so be prepared to answer these requests in a timely manner. Stick to your rules about refunds but never disregard or disrespect a client.
Remember that negative reviews are much easier to find online than positive ones, so be sure to stay on top of your client service.
As a gym or fitness studio owner, it's important that you're always striving for excellence in all areas:
- product quality and variety
- reasonable prices and excellent value
- accessibility (hours of operation)
You will need to keep track of the following metrics if this is something you want to do:
- monthly revenue from memberships and personal training sessions
- number of new members or customers in a given month
- average transaction size per customer (i.e., the amount that they spend)
This type of data will help you understand how your business is doing, where it falls short, and what you need to do to make it better.
One of the easiest ways to grow your business and increase its profitability is by increasing customer loyalty--a key metric that tracks how many clients come back in a given month or year.
- percentage of new members who become repeat customers within six months
- average number of visits per member each month
-average sale per client
- average transaction size per client (i.e., the amount that they spend)
This type of data will help you understand how your business is doing, where it falls short, and what you need to do to make it better.
One of the easiest ways to grow your business and increase its profitability is by increasing customer loyalty.
4) Increase Your Prices
When was your last time you increase your prices? Are your rates competitive with other gyms in your area?
- There is a direct correlation between price and retention. The higher the price, the higher the renewal percentage typically becomes.
- Flexible pricing options can also be great for attracting new customers who want to try out a gym before committing.
This type of data will help you understand how your business is performing and whether it is growing or shrinking.
- You need to prioritize which areas of your business you want to focus on and then make a plan for how these changes will happen.
Remember, if your prospects don't have the opportunity to see or try something out before they buy it, they are less likely to commit in the first place!
The most important thing when it comes to prices your services, is that you’re confident in the value of what you offer and that your expertise is worth that new rate.
Make sure you breakdown the value of what you offer in detail to your current clients and customers so they aren’t likely to go elsewhere.
Hot Tip: If you decide it’s time for raise your fees, then be sure to give everyone your clients and prospects ample notice that your prices will be going up soon. Announcing a price increase in advance, can be a big motivator for anyone whose been sitting on the fence, to jump in and take advantage of the lower prices.
5) Offer Something New To Past Clients
We know that people always buy from those they know, like, and trust. And repeat business can be a solid foundation for your business.
So, make sure that you are regularly in touch with past clients and offer them something new each time they contact or return to your gym or studio.
Don’t Know What To Offer? This is where many gyms and studio owners get stuck.
Basically knowing how to create a “hot offer” is about understanding your idea clients, their wants and desires, what they are looking for in a fitness program, and how you can fulfill those needs.
So think about your past clients who have left the gym or studio and see if there is anything that might entice them to come back.
This type of offer is commonly referred to as a reactivation campaign.
Repeat business is the key to any gym or fitness studio. It helps you grow your client base, stay in contact with past clients, and continue generating new leads without spending a lot of money on advertising.
Take a look back at your past clients list and look at what services they had signed up for.
Then look at the reason why they left in the first place.
Then, brainstorm an offer that would entice them to return and not just stop there but stay for good!
This could be a free trial class or discount on their next purchase. It’s all about understanding your client needs and what will work best for them.
Maybe they were coming into class at peak hours? Offer some personal training sessions bundled into a Jump Start Pack at a discounted rate to entice them back.
Maybe they were coming in for the group X classes but not taking any of your personal training sessions?
Offer some one-on-one or small group training session at a discounted price to get them hooked.
You can also offer some new fitness program such as Yoga, Spin, TRX circuits or specialised training such as P90X, Insanity or boot camp to get them back in the door.
There are a lot of ways you can think about this and hopefully these suggestions will help spur some creative ideas for your own business!
As gym and fitness studio owners we need to be conscious of what our clients want so that they remain satisfied with...
- What struggles do they have every day?
- What are the hot topics in their industry right now?
- How do they like their information presented?
The simplest and quickest way to know what they want is to simply ask them and then create a reactivation offer tailored to them.
Hot Tip: Offer free fitness consultations (think: Health MOT) for those who have been a client within the last 12 months. Keep in mind that this is not an opportunity to pitch classes on sale but rather to introduce potential new clients to what they offer.
6) Offer Something More To Existing Clients
While there are hundreds of tactics and strategies you can try, they’re only going help grow your fitness business if they can successfully do one of three things:
- Increase the number of members/clients you serve.
- Increase the transaction size of each sale you make.
- Increase the purchasing frequency of each client.
That’s it. There’s no 4th or 5th option. If you’re not doing one of these three things, you’re not going to grow very fast.
Most gyms and Studio owners focus their marketing efforts on generating new leads and sales. That's important, but you should also look at how you can offer more to your existing clients, and make that into a marketing strategy.
What if you offered a free fitness consultation with one of the experts on staff?
How about partnering with a massage therapist to offer a monthly massage with your membership?
How about partnering with the local yoga studio to offer discounted Yoga classes on-site at your gym or Studio, so clients can get fit AND stay limber?
Keep thinking outside of the box and looking for new ways to serve existing customers better.
Maybe you can offer a weekly personal training session to your monthly group class members, or offer an exclusive hybrid fitness program that provides group class members with the chance to invest into a premium package that consists of a personalised workout program, group fitness classes, eating plan and an onsite nutritionist.
Or perhaps you can design a monthly fitness challenge for your clients with prizes or incentives - who doesn't like the challenge of competition??
Give them an experience that they’ll love and will keep them coming back! That way you can offer discounts on services too as well as look to generate referrals.
7) Ask for referrals
When you’ve done all of the above, it's time to ask for a referral. It can be an emotional moment when you realise that your customer is really enjoying their fitness experience and they say "I love coming here! I tell everyone about this place!"
Make sure to thank them in your response by asking if they would like to bring a friend along to join them.
It’s natural for friends to talk about an amazing experience they’ve had and share it with their friends. The more referrals you get, the better and stronger your client base will be.
And when it comes to getting feet in the door, a referral program could be just what your business needs.
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust referrals from people they know. As well as that 74% of people regard word of mouth as a key influence on their purchase decisions.
So I hope you can see that the power of referral can’t be ignored by ambitious fitness business owners.
The simplest way to succeed with referral generation is to systemise the process.
Referral programs have been proven to work time and again, but there are a few things you need to do to make it successful.
First of all, when someone comes in for their first class or purchase ask them if they would like an incentive for referring friends or family members that might enjoy the products you offer. This helps to plant the seed of referral early on, and they’ll be more likely to do it.
Secondly, make sure your incentive is worth the effort for them; a free class or 20% off their next purchase will work wonders.
Thirdly, have fun with this process! This should be a mutually beneficial endeavor where you help people find fitness goals.
A referral program has the potential to offer accelerated growth to a business. With today’s advancements in social media, a single Facebook post could end up in front of hundreds or even thousands of future members.
Finally, don’t underestimate the power of word-of-mouth advertising! If you do a good job with your clients and have an attractive offer for them to refer people to you, they will be more than happy to help promote your business.
According to the New York Times, 65% of new business comes from referrals.
By offering a referral program, you can also intervene early on if a current member doesn’t refer your gym to a friend.
There may be a reason for this, and by finding out early on, you can make improvements or offer a more attractive offer.
Here are some incentive examples for gym referral programs:
- Free fitness class
- Free month of gym membership
- Discount on personal training sessions
- Free Zumba class (or other fitness classes) for referring friend to your studio or gym. A free year-long pass!
- Free T-Shirt or gym gear
- Free nutrition bars or protein supplement
Keep it simple: The program should be easy for clients to refer your business. How do you usually communicate with your clients? These should be the channels you use for your referral program. Make it easy for clients to get referral rewards. Think about the process your customers will go through to sign up.
Promote it: For your program to be effective, you need to get the word out there. Post about it across your social media channels. Use posters on your business premises to advertise the program and approach clients directly. Encourage gym members to spread the word about your referral program. Whether you’re using printed referral cards or keeping everything online, make sure to promote the program to your clients.
So there you have it, 7 ways to grow your fitness business and make money consistently.
We’ve covered a lot of ground here.
Now, it’s your turn to decide which idea is the best fit for you and your fitness business.
If you want help with any of these ideas or have questions about how they can be implemented, let me know!
I will be happy to provide guidance as needed on how I can help grow your business and make more money from it.
