Research suggests that adding a gym membership to your business can increase revenue by an impressive 50%. If you’re looking for ways to boost your company’s bottom line, this is one way to do it.
“how to make a gym profitable” is a research-backed strategy that can help you increase the revenue of your gym. It also includes tips on how to improve your business, and how to decide what type of business model will work best for you.
This post is part of our Fitness Business Startup Guide, which is a collection of articles to assist you in planning, launching, and growing your fitness business.
If you plan to open your own gym or fitness facility, you’re undoubtedly thinking about how you’ll attract and retain consumers. If that’s the case, you’re on the correct course.
As you will see momentarily, member retention is critical to a fitness center’s success. Fortunately, there are a variety of things you can do to win over your consumers.
To assist you, we sifted through a jungle of broad (and generic) ideas to uncover just the tactics that have been proved to increase income. Let us know on Twitter or Facebook if you have an excellent contribution.
1. Concentrate on offering outstanding customer service.
This one should practically go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway since the evidence in favor of outstanding customer service is overwhelming.
According to a 2010 Customer Experience Report by Harris Interactive/Right Now, exceptional service that is consistently given is more significant than price competition. It’s even defendable in the face of the most ferocious rivalry.
By making customer happiness a major performance metric, you’ll be much more likely to concentrate on developing methods that will encourage customer loyalty and, in turn, lead to more recommendations to your gym (don’t underestimate the value of word of mouth referrals).
While the advantages of outstanding customer service are many, they are also significant profit drivers: 86% of customers are willing to pay extra for a better customer experience.
The reverse is also true. If you provide poor customer service, you risk losing a lot of money, particularly if you don’t handle complaints—50 percent of customers want a company to reply to a query within one week or they would cease doing business with them.
So, go above and above with your customer care to keep your members coming back.
2. Encourage folks to go to the gym more often.
Did you know that just boosting your client retention rate by 5% may boost your earnings by 25% to 95%?
Attendance and retention are inextricably related in the fitness sector. When members believe they are not obtaining value from their membership, they visit less often and eventually quit altogether.
This is why it’s crucial to keep track of your attendance figures. You’re probably not reaching your members’ expectations if they quit coming. Obviously, there are a variety of factors at play here: there are finer facilities elsewhere, you don’t provide the appropriate programs, they dislike your staff or personal trainers, and so on.
Your best strategy is to find out why customers are canceling or showing up less often. Encourage your front-desk employees to spot signals that someone is losing interest and have them speak with your clients to figure out why.
You might also invest in gym attendance software to help you log your workouts more efficiently.
3. Establish the proper working hours
While your gym’s own attendance data will tell you a lot, when people are coming in (and how many people are coming in each day) can tell you a lot about the hours you should keep, as well as the best times to offer courses.
Fitness club attendance patterns vary, although peak hours are often 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. When you include in work, it makes sense—those periods include “before work,” “lunch break,” and “after work.”
When it comes to weekday attendance, Monday is generally the most popular, followed by a steady decline as the week goes, with Sunday being the least popular of all.
Because we’ve just said how crucial attendance is, the more hours you can locate and convince people to attend, the more likely they are to remain around. In fact, according to a 2001 research by the Fitness Industry Association, the higher the initial attendance, the smaller the drop-off.
Consider how you can best inspire folks to keep coming back for more since attendance habits are generally formed during the first three to six months of membership. This might be accomplished by concentrating on loyalty-building tactics over a period of time. This involves keeping members informed, fostering a feeling of community, and assisting them in saving money.
4. Be inventive when it comes to marketing.
Good advertising requires a lot of creativity.
It distinguishes a firm, makes apparently mundane items or services look more appealing, and has the capacity to alter people’s perceptions of you or the services your organization provides.
One of the best things about running a gym is that you may target a variety of different niches. So, instead of thinking about how to advertise your company in general, focus on the particular and be creative—there are plenty of options available.
For example, you may run a Facebook campaign for a “summer slimdown,” a membership anniversary special, a corporate challenge, a free training day, food recommendations through email, a weight reduction challenge, and so on. The options are limitless.
Keep in mind that advertising is all about getting the proper message through. So, if your creative ideas aren’t relevant, don’t get caught up in them.
5. Make your income sources more diverse.
Having numerous profit centers—that is, various methods to bring in income—is a terrific approach to diversify your risk and generate revenue. Why depend only on gym subscriptions when there are other ways to save money?
According to Mike Feinman, Executive Vice President and COO of Gold’s Gym, another advantage of many profit centers is that they offer value to your membership and frequently improve outcomes for people who use them. Of course, you must execute it correctly; otherwise, it may have the reverse effect and reduce your earnings.
Contemplate what your consumers are asking for as you consider adding more profit centers to the mix. Better still, do a poll of them (and use Help Scout’s Gregory Ciotti’s guidelines).
Workout facilities now provide services ranging from tanning and personal training to group fitness, juice bars, massage, and merchandising. In fact, many gyms and fitness facilities will collaborate with local companies to form referral agreements. Consider this option if you want to expand your reach or generate awareness but don’t have the funds to open a juice bar.
If you decide to expand your income stream, one of the first things you’ll need is a strong sales force, or at the very least front-desk personnel who have been educated to upsell your other services. After all, how would your members know about these new services if they aren’t prominently shown in your marketing or gym?
What comes next?
Keep up with the current fitness industry trends in addition to these five suggestions. This isn’t exactly a revenue-generating technique, but it’s a solid advice. You get a competitive edge by staying on top of the current trends.
This doesn’t necessary imply purchasing the most up-to-date equipment, but it may mean adding a new sort of class to your group workout schedule, such as Zumba.
You wouldn’t believe some of the bizarre things that have recently become popular in this profession. Anyone up for some paddleboard yoga?
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Frequently Asked Questions
How can gyms increase their revenue?
A: The most important things for a business to increase their revenue are workload and pricing. Some gyms may be able to raise prices, while others can try increasing the amount of memberships they offer or by making it more affordable.
How can the demand of a gym be increased?
How do you attract gym members?
A: You can use a cross promotion, or perhaps offer discounts if the person joins.
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