Hiring a nutrition coach at your gym can be a great way to increase revenue for your business. Unfortunately, many gym owners make the mistake of allowing one of their fitness instructors coach their members on nutrition in an effort to save time or money. You wouldn’t hire someone lacking the proper education to train your members on fitness. So why would you let anyone other than a certified nutrition coach, nutritionist or registered dietician train your members on nutrition?

Allowing uncertified staff to coach nutrition at your gym can be a huge liability and risk to your business. There are rules and regulations (see below) regarding the legality of what nutrition advice can be offered and by whom. That’s why you must make sure to you’re hiring a nutrition coach with the proper certifications, experience, and skills. We recommend the following five areas to evaluate potential nutrition coaches for your gym:

1. Formal Education Or Certification In Nutrition

Firstly, you must research and take into account the laws that your state has regarding nutritional advocacy. If you reside in a red state, you may only be able to hire a Registered Dietician (RD) for your business. Orange, yellow and green states also have individualized criteria that you are required to adhere to. Additionally, different certifications and licensures provide a different scope of practice. It’s important to select a nutrition coach that is certified based on the services you wish to provide to your members.

For instance, if you are looking for someone to provide basic nutritional guidelines then you may be looking for a “health coach”. In contract, if you are looking for someone to work with members who have more advanced needs, such as chronic diseases that may be affected by a diet change, then you’ll need someone with more credentials. Some of the more well-known types of nutrition certifications, licenses and credentials include:

• A Bachelors or Masters Degree in Nutrition or related field
• Licensed Registered Dietician (RD) or Registered Dietician Nutritionist (RDN)
• Precision Nutrition Certifications
• NASM CNC Certified Nutrition Coach
• ISSA Nutritionist Certification
• ACE (American Council on Exercise) Fitness Nutrition Specialist

2. Leadership Skills

Credentials aside, a nutrition coach that will make your nutrition program valuable will also be a passionate and dedicated leader. Your new nutrition coach will likely be building the nutrition program from scratch and will have to take the lead on multiple initiatives to get the program up and running.

Furthermore, a good nutrition coach should also lead the way in that they practice what they preach. A coach should lead by example by practicing good nutritional habits themselves. This doesn’t mean that your nutrition coach has to be a fitness model just like being a fitness model does not qualify that person to dispense nutritional advice. However, in the same sense that your fitness coaches are practicing fitness safely your nutrition coaches should be practicing proper nutrition.

3. Interpersonal Skills

A good nutrition coach should not only be knowledgeable but also compassionate, patient and empathetic. Nutrition isn’t always the most easy or exciting topic for people to teach or to learn. Therefore, it’s important that your nutrition coach is able to make the subject interesting and engaging. Finding a prospective nutrition coach who is able to plan and hold events such as nutrition challenges will ensure the longevity of your nutrition program. Similarly, your nutrition coach should align with your core values and business goals.

4. Work Experience

If potential nutrition coach candidates have the credentials and the skills but lack the experience you can still evaluate their ability to work well with others. A good coach will have a track record of experience working both closely and well others. Look for someone who has a genuine interest and passion for helping people. Likewise, they should be an effective communicator and understand that communication is important to the success of their clients.

5. Compensation Expectations

Nutrition coaching is a professional service, so you might charge additional fees for this service in addition to your general membership prices. What you charge for nutrition coaching will vary depending on the degree of service. However, a general rule of thumb is it should be similar to what you would charge hourly for personal or group training depending on the credentials of the nutrition coach. Additionally, it’s important to have a plan in place for how you will compensate your nutrition coach before you decide on prices.

One option is to partner with an established external nutritionist. In this case, you might offer them an 80/20 profit split to work with your members. This arrangement is mutually beneficial as the nutritionist would have access to your members and you would not have to invest financially in an internal hire. Alternatively, you could offer hourly rates in addition to or in place of an 80/20 arrangement. Compensating your coach for running seminars, writing informational articles, and hosting events for your members will provide value for your nutrition services and give your nutrition coach additional ways to earn money.

If you can afford to hire a nutrition coach full-time then you have the potential to build out a formal nutrition program at your gym. This will allow you the ability to include nutritional consultations and plans as a part of membership fees, increasing your membership value. Furthermore, your nutrition coach can provide value by also coach fitness classes, working at the front desk, cleaning the gym, etc.

Time To Hire Your Nutrition Coach

Now that you know what to look for when hiring a nutrition coach the next step is to put together a nutrition coach job description based on the above criteria. Remember to review potential candidates for certifications and credentials, leadership skills, interpersonal skills, work experience, and compensation expectations. Once you’re ready to post the job consider sharing it within your own gym community first. Inside your own network is an easy and trustworthy place to find referrals and prime candidates for an outstanding nutrition coach for your gym.

To buy a gym for sale, or to build one from scratch, that is the question. There are, of course, pros and cons to both options; however, if you have an opportunity to buy a great gym that’s already turning a profit, I’d advise you to explore that option. Before you start signing contracts though, you must investigate these three queries outlined below. If you can answer “yes” to all three questions on the list, then it might be time to get more serious about buying this gym you’ve got your eyes on.

1. Does The Gym Thrive Without The Owner’s Presence?

If you’d like to buy an existing gym, the first thing to examine is whether or not the owner is the glue that holds the business together. Do they coach most of the classes? Do they “live” at the gym? If the answer to those questions is yes, then buyer beware. Your goal is to find a gym whose owner is actually doing the job of an owner, not an employee.

An owner sets the vision, creates strategies, nurtures the culture, and manages the employees. If the gym that’s for sale has an owner doing all that, then you should definitely consider purchasing it.

2. Is The Backend Of The Gym Business Spotless?

When my husband and I sold our gym in 2018, we gave two handbooks to the new owner. Firstly, our Employee Handbook which is given to all employees during onboarding. Secondly, the Gym Playbook which explains how to run everything from cleaning the floors to running a nutrition challenge. These two handbooks gave the new owner confidence that she could hire employees and operate the gym successfully from day one. If the gym you want to buy doesn’t have handbooks or material that explain the operation of the gym and the onboard process for employees, then I’d reconsider.

It’s a red flag when a business operates haphazardly and doesn’t use any kind of organized system for gym management. It tells me that if I were to purchase the business, I’d have to build the recipe by dissecting the pieces rather than just follow (and iterate) the existing, functional recipe.

3. Is The Gym’s Brand Strong?

Look to buy a gym that has a fantastic reputation—one that has a loyal following and satisfied customers. Take a look at their online reviews and make sure they have good ratings across all platforms. Additionally, take time to feel the energy at the gym. Are folks happy to be there? Is everyone engaged with each other and the coaches? Do you feel good in the space? If yes, then you’ve found a gym that’s more than just a gym, and for that reason it’s certainly worth considering. It’s a bonus if the branding and design are of high quality, too; but it’s not a huge deal if they need some love and attention. Compare it to buying a house: as long as the bones are good, the decor is an easy fix.

If the reputation fails to impress, however, don’t be so quick to be the superhero that swoops in and saves the failing brand from impending collapse. While this gym might already have the space, the signage, the branding, and all of the necessary gym equipment, etc. if they don’t have a happy membership you could be taking on more of a mess than you bargained for.

It can be tremendously easier to buy an existing gym that’s for sale rather than start your own. The time, effort, and money it takes to start something from scratch (rather than improve upon something that already thrives) is vast. If you find a gym for sale that checks off the three items above, you might very well have a winner. However, if you come to the conclusion that you’d like to start your own gym rather than buy an existing one, read up on our four-part Growth Guide. It’s a perfect way to start your gym ownership journey.

So, you have a vision—you want to open a gym. Well, there will be a myriad of decisions you need to make to get started. One of the most critical decisions to be made when opening a gym is to decide what your gym membership prices are going to be. Sure, it can be deliriously fun to get caught up in your logo, paint colors, and t-shirt designs. But before you start going too far down the creativity rabbit hole you’ll need to figure out how to properly set your rates to make sure you can pay your bills, your staff, and yourself. Be sure to consider each of the steps below because an effective pricing strategy will pay dividends for your fitness business.

Understand Your Market

Firstly, understand that your pricing will vary based on the kind of market you’re in. Therefore be sure to conduct lots of market research and make sure you’re hitting the pricing sweet spot. This means your prices are not so expensive that no one in your area can afford you, and not so discounted that no one in your area will value you. My husband Josh and I opened a gym in 2012, and we made a huge mistake by structuring our pricing and offerings based on what worked at a CrossFit gym in Austin, Texas that we admired. Ultimately we learned that what worked in Austin didn’t work in South Florida. In short, get to know your market intimately before you set your offerings and gym membership prices.

Decide on Your Offerings and Gym Membership Prices

Have you heard of the paradox of choice? It’s the contention by American psychologist Barry Schwartz that says eliminating consumer choices can greatly reduce anxiety for shoppers. In other words, the more choices a consumer is given, the less likely they are to buy because they become overwhelmed and skip the purchase. As a gym owner, you can use this knowledge to your advantage to limit your offerings.

We settled on three offerings at our gym: Drop-In, 8x/Month, and Unlimited Classes. Identify what the per-class rate is (your drop-in fee) and then set your gym membership prices based on that rate.

For example, if your drop-in rate is $30, then offer a discount if the client signs up for a recurring monthly membership. For the 8x/Month Membership, you could offer 10% off your per-class rate: 8 x $30 x 90% = $216. For the Unlimited Classes, you could offer 20% off your per class rate: 12 x $30 x 80% = $288. (For the Unlimited Classes, I assumed that a client with an unlimited membesrship would attend an average of 12 times per month.)

Do Some Basic Budgeting

Figure out what your monthly operating costs are. Once you know how much it costs to operate your business every month, then you can set your gym membership prices. After that be sure to keep in mind that your projected monthly operating costs will likely be an underestimation. Therefore you’ll want to provide some cushion for your business when setting your rates. Aim to price at a place where if your monthly operating expenses prove to be higher than your projection, you wouldn’t be in trouble. In addition, if finance isn’t your thing, recruit your most business-savvy friend or relative to help with the projections.

Check Your Competitor’s Rates

Do some research and find out what your direct competitors are offering and charging. You’ll likely want to be in the same ballpark as your competitors when it comes to pricing. If you’re going to charge more than your competitors, make sure you show why your product is more valuable. On the other hand, If you plan to charge less than your competitors, be sure not to undercut the price to the point where you devalue the product.

Believe in Your Pricing

When we first opened our gym, both Josh and I would cower at our prices, and even make excuses for them. Our lack of confidence in our pricing and offerings didn’t sit well with prospective athletes. If we didn’t believe in our worth, why should they? Once we came to the realization that the service we offered was absolutely worth the price, we no longer felt uncomfortable when we discussed the gym membership prices with prospects. Know your worth and believe in your price. You’ll have a hell of a time making a sale if you don’t. For instance, new business owners often fall into the trap of offering discounts, especially when they aren’t confident about their prices. Beware of this tactic—it often backfires.

In conclusion, you’ve got an amazing new season of life coming your way—you’re opening a gym! If you’re prepared for the season, you’ll do great; but if you haven’t done the work you’re in for a rough ride. Remember to take your time in setting your offerings and gym membership prices. Find some trusted advisors to review your ideas and projections with. Furthermore, keep in mind that pricing is an iterative process. Don’t expect to get it right on the first attempt, it will likely take you a few times before you get it right.

Whether you’re ready to open your doors as a new gym owner or you’re trying to build your current member base, getting new members can be quite the mission. While you may be tempted to throw out discounts on membership packages to get those new members in your doors, it’s totally possible to get new members without offering discounts.

Sure, everyone loves a bargain. However, discounting memberships can devalue your time and your brand. Alternatively, by implementing membership standards early on , such as a no-discount policy, can help your gym attract quality leads, attain max profitability, and prevent you from financial troubles at the start of your business venture.

The problem with low barrier offers

All it takes is one early financial mistake like too many discounts or a bad offer to set your business up for failure down the line. Moreover, the wrong types of discounts or offers can attract the wrong types of members that won’t stay with your business. For example, low barrier offers tend to attract low-quality leads.

For reference, a low barrier (or LBO) is generally considered to be an offer that is less than 30 days long and costs less than $100, such as “Only $99 for your first month.” Similarly, the following list of common membership discounts can also backfire later down the line in the same manner as LBOs:

• “Lifetime”, “Grandfathered”, “Founding Member” or otherwise locked-in membership rates.
• 6-Week Challenges.
• Groupon deals.
• Bartering free or discounted memberships in exchange for other services.
• Discounted tier packages, ex: “Buy 1 class for $20, Get 3 classes for $50.”

Think about it, if you are offering $1 memberships and free pizza night, you might get a lot of people to sign up at first, but will they be motivated to stay at your gym without the commitment that comes from making a financial investment? When you offer low barrier deals, you run the risk of attracting members who are just looking for a deal.

Furthermore, you also chance that these “deal-hunters” will tell people in their network who are similar in nature and not qualified leads. The LBO method might get a lot of members in your door at first, but your churn rate will be high because when they have to buy a full-priced membership package, or your rates increase, many of these members will inevitably leave your gym to find the next deal.

Trying to lure members to your gym may not seem like a difficult task if you’re offering discounts, but you must then figure out how to keep them in order to avoid the revolving door dilemma. You can avoid this by adhering to your membership standards and avoiding discounts overall.

You can avoid this by adhering to your membership standards and avoiding offering any discounts at all.

Alternatives to offering discounts at your gym

So if you don’t offer discounts you might be wondering, how do I get new members in the doors of my gym? Savvy gym owners know how to offer so much value that they don’t need to discount their memberships because they have people knocking down their gym doors through the following incentives:

1. Issue a no-commitment policy.

The biggest argument in favor of offering LBOs is to convince members to join who are afraid of making a financial commitment such as a year-long contract, or cancelation fees. Avoid this by implementing a commitment and cancelation policy-free membership policy. The benefits of no-hassle memberships will also save you headaches down the line when it comes to membership management

2. Host free trial classes.

Letting someone try a group class or two for free is not going to cost you a thing. This type of try-before-your buy offer is a similar form of sales psychology as LBO’s, however, with a free trial class you have the opportunity to prove the value upfront at no cost to them or to you.

3. Offer feeder programs.

Otherwise known as “lite” or “intro” programs, memberships for these programs come at a lower price point than your core packages and serve as a segway to get paying members in your door while also making a financial commitment. The intention being that these members will love your product so much they will eventually upgrade to higher membership offerings. An example would be offering “sweat” or “bootcamp” class memberships that feed into your main, higher-priced CrossFit membership.

4. Promote personal training sessions first.

Generally, someone who purchases pre-paid sessions isn’t going to stop coming after their first few classes. They made a financial commitment that they are going to see through. Once they see your value, and the results, they will be more likely to stay and commit to a membership.

5. Partner with fitness marketplace programs like ClassPass.

ClassPass is a monthly fitness membership that provides users access to local studios, gyms, and wellness offerings. As a gym, you’ll never be charged a fee to be listed as a partner on ClassPass. In fact, they pay you for reservations.

Tips on maintaining your membership standards

Implementing a strict no-discount-policy may sound counterintuitive to starting and marketing a business, but keep in mind that manipulating your price is not a sustainable business approach. Here are some simple tips that will help you maintain your membership standards while adding value to your gym, and bringing members to your door:

Over-deliver on results:

Offer an unbeatable product. Hire knowledgeable, reliable and enthusiastic staff. Put all of your energy and efforts into making sure that you are offering the best of the best. If you succeed in doing this, your reputation will attract new members to the gym itself.

Add value:

Instead of lowering your prices, provide added value incentives, like free clinics, seminars or fitness assessments. Choose offerings with relatively little incremental cost and a high-perceived value to engage member satisfaction and drive loyalty. Another low-cost, low investment strategy is to offer giveaway items like branded t-shirts, water bottles, etc.

Build community:

For many, the gym can be an intimidating place, and by creating a sense of community at your gym, it will ensure that clients keep returning. Make sure that each person who enters your door feels like they are a member of a family and not just a gym.

Tell don’t sell:

Provide high-quality free content. Think fitness tips, motivation tactics, success stories, and healthy recipes. Share this information on your social media pages or create a free book that you provide to new members.

Offer incentives for referrals and reward loyalty:

Rewarding your loyal members is a proven strategy for attracting new members and a far better investment than offering a discount to someone just because they walked in your door. Remember, it costs more to acquire a new member than to retain a current member. As such, once you start building your membership base retention should always be your primary objective. Plus, long-term members are more likely to refer family and friends that will stick around.

Did you have a positive experience offering deals when opening your gym? Or do you wish that you had attracted new members without discounts in hindsight? Share your comments below!

Whether you want to increase revenue, attract new members with additional services or enhance your current member satisfaction rate, running a nutrition challenge at your gym can be a great way to accomplish your fitness business goals. Before you dive in, be sure to consider the following aspects for why and when a nutrition challenge might be a good venture for your gym.

Why you should run a nutrition challenge at your gym:

Exposure

If you’re thinking about implementing a nutrition program at your gym or already have one established, you can run a nutrition challenge as a means to increase the exposure of your program to your members. This venture is a low-cost and low-risk way for members to dip their toes into learning about nutrition. If they complete the challenge with having moved closer to their aesthetic, lifestyle or performance goals, they will likely consider digging deeper into their nutrition needs post-challenge.

Community Building

When you run a nutrition challenge you also create a great community building medium for your gym. Challenges should foster an environment that encourages members to interact with each other. Whether it’s through sharing recipes, or personal bests on workouts, building camaraderie with other members is a priceless byproduct of a gym-wide nutrition challenge. When members are encouraged to interact and support each other, a sense of belonging and trust in the community is gained.

Motivation

Now let’s be honest, who doesn’t get motivated by some friendly competition? If there is a golden carrot hanging at the end of the race, people will inevitably do whatever it takes to get to that carrot! Not to mention the fact that if you run a nutrition challenge it will help people look and feel better by design. If that isn’t a win-win situation, I’m not sure what is! Running an in-house challenge or competition is a great way to stimulate your community to grow better, together. If you have the capacity to offer a prize, members will go full speed to the finish line!

When to run a nutrition challenge at your gym:

Timing

Offering your nutrition challenge at the right time is paramount for member participation and success. An ideal time to start is at the beginning of the year when people are motivated to clean up their diet and change their ways. Another highly successful time for a challenge is in the spring. Every spring is a new opportunity to build that “beach body” we all dream of. Imagine how much more successful members will be with a little extra nutrition guidance! Be sure to avoid running through school vacation periods, as this is generally when families go away.

Frequency

One or two challenges per year seems to be the ideal amount to host without overdoing it in a fitness community setting. If you desire to add more exposure to nutrition beyond the challenges, adding in social events like a “Learn to Meal Prep” series of classes is a great addition. This entices the community to continue learning and interacting in a way that benefits their health and compliments their lifestyle.

Gym owners are always looking for a way to save time while improving or maintaining a strong member experience.  After all, a smooth and seamless member experience will drive your business forward. But where to start?

Identifying the friction points, or points of interaction, between your gym and your members can give you great insight into where to focus your effort for improvements. Optimizing at these points in your customer/member journey have the biggest positive impact on your member experience.

One of the biggest friction points in any boutique fitness facility or studio is the walk-in experience. It’s your best opportunity to deploy a solution that’s time-saving, seamless, and multi-functional.

Enter, the Kiosk.

Before we dive into that though, let’s first take a look at your current walk-in experience and what we’re solving for!

Defining Your Walk-In Experience

Your walk-in experience is the first 10 seconds to 60 seconds from when a person walks into your gym. Many gym owners obsess about theirs because they recognize, and with good reason, many people will walk through their doors for the first time and immediately decide how they feel.

This first impression is based on inferred judgments and it takes only 100 milliseconds for a potential new member to form an opinion. It’s an understatement to say the walk-in experience is a critical friction point in your prospective and current member’s journey.

Make this micro-window easy and enjoyable and you’ll win more business and retain more members. To maximize the experience in this window, we must have 4 goals in mind:

• Solve Immediate Needs
• Save Member (& preferably Staff/Owner) Time
• Keep It Personal
• Communicate Your Brand

Solve Immediate Needs

What’s the first thing people do when they walk in your doors? What are they looking to do and how is it being resolved. Is the front desk staff greeting them, checking them in, or signing them up? How are new faces handled? These needs must be quickly attended to.

Save Member (& Staff/Owner) Time

It’s real simple, a great solution should save everyone time.

Keep It Personal

Make the process enjoyable by making it personal. Any solution, human or automated, needs to be able to engage and acknowledge on a human-level. The power is in the details.

Communicate Your Brand

Make the process enjoyable by making it personal. Any solution, human or automated, needs to be able to engage and acknowledge on.

Choosing your Solution

A fully-staffed front desk can solve this in a 1-to-1, human way. Unfortunately, it is not always cost-effective or easy for the member to stand around and wait while someone manually assists them.

You hit on many goals for optimizing your Walk-In Experience but there’s a glaring miss in time-savings and ease of use. The Kiosk solves for the customer and hits all criteria for delivering the best member experience possible. Make sure you get one that can function as:

• Gym Check-In
• Gym POS
• Gym Payments

Pulled up on a front-facing iPad or Tablet, the Kiosk is the perfect self-service multi-functional screen in one of the key friction points in your gym.

If we look at the Triib Kiosk, for example, new or returning members can get exactly what they need, in seconds.

When you have a tool in place at this friction point your customers have a better experience and you get hours back into your weeks.

Implementing a nutrition program can help grow your business and benefit the health and wellness of your community. But before you make the jump, there are many factors that need to be addressed. Making sure you have systems in place and a clear vision will make the transition seamless and successful. Here are 4 important factors to consider that will help you take your nutrition program off the ground.

1. Staff

A full-time Nutrition coach is imperative to run this program effectively. Our goal is to provide our community with an experience that far exceeds what they could find from an online company. This added value comes from having a friendly face that members can interact with daily. This not only reminds them of the accessibility to the nutrition program, but also offers daily accountability. By simply knowing they will be crossing paths with their nutrition guru regularly, member “buy-in” will, indeed, increase.

2. Awareness

Educating the entire community in addition to individuals will create a buzz in clients ears. This gym-wide exposure will be seen as an added value to your members, and serve as free advertising to your nutrition program. Therefore, information should be posted in a place where members will run into it without fail. Whether this is a whiteboard in the front entryway or a website that they visit daily to see their workout, it must be convenient to access. Additionally, having this information in a place where members can ask questions will encourage more frequent engagement.

3. Space

Discussing nutrition can be very personal for clients. Having an enclosed space will make individuals who are seeking advice feel more comfortable. Whether you have a space devoted to your nutrition program, or you have designated hours when this space can be used, privacy and professionalism must be taken into consideration.

4. Accessibility

Finally, and arguably most importantly, we must make sure our nutrition coach is accessible. Allowing our nutrition coach to interact with members of the community on a casual and regular basis will create relationships which are imperative to the success of the program. Undoubtedly, having a friendly face at the front desk, or on the gym floor, is the ultimate way to create a receptive community.

Successful gym owners know the importance of tracking metrics for their fitness business. As a gym owner, you help your members to get into shape, and encourage them to track their progress through workout scoring. Similarly, getting your gym business into shape is a matter of keeping score. When it comes to making progress in the gym it’s not enough to just hope that if you work hard results will follow. The same goes for your business–you have to know the numbers in order to set a baseline for where your business is now, determine a goal for where your business to be, and track your progress from now until you reach those goals for your business. Triib Gym Owner, Jeff Woody, shares how he learned to keep score of his gym and improve his business metrics below.

Let me first express a giant caveat in this story. My business partner, Shawn, and I own North Ankeny CrossFit and Acceleration Iowa Ankeny and are far from perfect. Faaaaaar from it. We’ve been working as operations directors for a combined 15 years, but we have only been owners since May of 2018. We’re still figuring this out as we go and learning from failure. So take these as lessons hard-learned so you don’t have to.

Failing to keep score is a score of zero

One thing that I do know pretty well is how to work a Concept 2 rower during a workout. It’s one of my favorite movements, because rather than pacing yourself off of a feel — like “don’t get to muscle failure” — it literally tells you a number about how fast you’re going and how many reps per minute you’re performing — your calories per hour and strokes per minute. Calories per hour are probably between 900-1400 for women and between 1200-1700 for men. Strokes per minute are probably 28-32 for short people and 24-28 for taller people. Those two numbers will roughly calculate how fast those calories tick. But many people get distracted by the fact that the calories aren’t moving anywhere and totally lose sight of what they can actually control.

So how did I learn to keep score of my business? Let’s start at the beginning – It’s March of 2017. I’d just returned to the CrossFit world as the operations director at North Ankeny CrossFit (after a painfully dull year in the corporate world) in January, and we were looking to drive membership up. I’d finally stabilized in the position and Shawn and I knew we had a community that wanted to grow but didn’t really know how to do it, as we had no formal onboarding process at that time.

As many of you have probably done, we came up with a great booster idea: Partner Week. The drop-in rate is waived for anyone who comes in with a member and all workouts are partner workouts that can be scaled up and down for any skill or experience level. It was a great concept and home run for us. We added six new members that week alone, and for us at the time, that was a HUGE week.

But in the process of doing Partner Week, we also had to continue to care about our members. And at the time, neither I nor Shawn was all that good at client or member relations. Also, one time that is very convenient for people to fall through the cracks and discontinue membership are times when they’re not showing up anyway; vacations. Do you know what else is in March? Spring Break.

Our location is in an upper-middle-class suburb of Des Moines, Iowa, so spring break is a big deal. In the planning of, packing for, bragging about, and socializing around their vacations, there were three husband and wife pairs who stopped showing up before their vacation. Then they went on vacation. And then they didn’t come back after because it’d been three weeks since they last came in. +6 members in a week. -6 members for the month.

We did actually grow that March, but our month over month growth rate was much less than it should have been. And we didn’t realize exactly the missed opportunity we’d just had until after we retrospectively did the numbers later. When we looked back at our months (having figured out what we like to budget with), our CrossFit March had a 0.2% growth (revenue), a 6.3% monthly churn rate (people), and netted zero new members.

Like I said, we’ve learned a lot by failing.

If you don’t keep score, you won’t know if you’re ahead

Let me make a radical statement which may come as a shock to those of you whose hearts pushed them into this industry.

You are here to make money. Period.

The names in your head that you just called me are mean and I take offense to them. But seriously – the reason you get into this industry is not to make money. We all know that. We do what we do because we love helping people and we thrive on seeing the results that come from a good job; weight loss, confidence gains, better relationships, friends made, bigger smiles, endless gratitude. But that stuff all literally can’t happen if you can’t pay your mortgage or go buy yourself food from the store.

So you need to make money first to help people second. The core goal you have is to help, but your main means to make that happen is to make a profit. And profit is a fickle thing outside of one metric: monthly membership. And more specifically, monthly EFT (electronic funds transfers).

You can make a bunch of money off supplements like protein or pre-workout, drinks like Kill Cliff or FitAid, or apparel like shirts and sweats, but those things are invariably inconsistent. Sales of those items, depending on the personal budgets of people and families, can be stopped at any moment. They’re extremely discretionary and tend to be one of the first things cut in household budgets. So basing your income and banking on add-ons is unwise. But– if you’re doing a good enough job– your services will be one of the last things cut.

In February of 2017, we had $9,629 in membership revenue with services provided to (at some point) 89 members and were +2 net members. In March, we netted $9,649 with services provided (at some point) to 95 members and were +0 net members.

Revenue is to business as score is to fitness

Again, the ultimate goal is to increase the monthly dollar figure coming through. But like rowing for calories in a workout, you can’t make the calories go up by wishing them up, you have to control the two things that matter: the rate of calories per hour and your strokes per minute. The calories will come once you’ve controlled what you can control.

Your “calories per hour” that you can at least partially control is called “churn.” Churn is loosely defined as how many people stopped paying in any given time period. We calculate ours as a monthly figure, which is done by taking everyone who paid– or would have paid– you anything during the month. In March, we came into the month with 89 members. We had 6 newbies start, so our calculated value is 95. Churn is then calculated by dividing the number of people who canceled out of that 95. That was our 6 who left for vacation and never came back. So take 6/95 and you get 6.3% churn. Which is not ideal. We like to try and stay at or below 5% in any given month.

The fastest way to increase your membership dollars is to reduce this number, plain and simple. With a low churn comes a cascade of great things for you. If your members aren’t leaving, that means you’re doing an awesome job of integrating yourself into their lives and becoming indispensable. Likewise, if you’re indispensable, that means they’re going to tell their friends about you. And if they’re telling their friends about you, that means your trials and new members will go up. Therefore, if you continue to do a good job, your membership base has now increased, which means more people who can refer to more friends. So no matter how many new people you add, unless you reduce your churn, it’s like filling up a bucket with a mesh bottom.

The “strokes per minute” value is your net members at the end of any month, which is a correlate of churn. If you fill the hole at the bottom of the bucket and then add more water, the amount of water will increase. Both are necessary. And your work should be directed as hard as you can at those two metrics.

You can measure your output in a bunch of different ways as a business. But unless you’re looking at raw membership dollars, you probably will be panicking about many dollars later. And the way to increase them, just like the way to increase your calorie output on a rower, is to control the things you can control.

Reduce churn and net members. Control that monitor. Speed up that rower. Go buy yourself something nice. Like a new rower.

In a recent survey we conducted, over 50% of gym owners viewed “Attracting more members” as one of their biggest challenges. So we asked several thriving Triib gym owners what works for them in growing their membership. We broke down their advice into 4 proven strategies to attract more members to your gym below:

1. Offer Free Trial Classes

Whether you are a new, young, or established gym, offering free trial classes to your network (think friends, family, even your first few members) is a no-brainer for attracting new members no matter what stage your business is in. All of the gym owners we spoke with offer free trial classes at their gym either once a week or once a month, depending on the turnout. Be sure to follow these three steps our gym owners recommend in promoting free trial classes effectively:

• Promote internally to current members by announcing the free trial classes before and/or after workouts. Many gyms call the event “Bring a Friend Day” to signify to current members that they should invite their friends and family.
• Additionally, make sure to promote externally to your local community at large. Share the news on your website, social media, and distribute fliers around town and post on community forums.
• Lastly, once you do get those referrals in your gym, don’t be afraid, or forget to follow up! PJ Massey, Co-Owner of CrossFit Rail Trail, admits that he learned the hard way “not to just expect people will come back” after a trial class. Once PJ started reaching out to member leads directly, CrossFit Rail Trail increased their membership by 30-40 members in one year.

2. Develop A Referral Program

Looking to reach a milestone membership number quickly? Want to get your first 50 members, or to get over the first 100 members hump? Incentivize your current member base to bring members to you by developing a referral program. PJ and his partner Mike Burnes, Co-Owners of CrossFit Rail Trail, offer a referral program they call “Friends With Benefits”. Here they reward existing members with 1 free month of membership for each successful referral they make who stays active at the gym for at least 3 months. Additionally, they run a monthly giveaway raffle for each member who made a referral. The investment in creating a referral reward program is small in comparison to the pay-off of a new membership.

While you’re busy developing your referral program, don’t neglect the importance of organic referrals. Amanda Ellis, Co-Owner of Shockoe Bottom CrossFit, believes that simply offering a good product helps her earn referrals to her gym, “I don’t want my members to send me referrals just because they will receive something in return. I want them to refer my gym because they believe in our product and want others to get the same experience.”

3. Network In Your Community

Networking is essential for any gym looking to attract new members in their local community. David Cardenas, Owner of CrossFit Windrose advises, “Unfortunately, gyms are not one of those businesses where if you build it they will come, especially amongst a neighborhood of established gyms.” Partnering with neighboring business can be a low-cost, high-return way to drive more awareness and attract new members into your gym. The gyms we spoke with have had success running events with schools, breweries, restaurants, neighboring fitness businesses, and charity organizations. Active outreach is proven to further your gym as a business leader in your community. Which in turn, will attract new members directly from the client list of anyone you choose to partner with.

One proven networking tactic to attract more members is to partner with local businesses to gain access to their employees. LJ Dicarlo, Co-Owner of CrossFit TILT, was able to do this by “offering free outdoor classes in the business parking lots and following prospects up with a corporate rate discount that was roughly 16% off.” Alternatively, you could host an open house exclusively for employees of local businesses at your gym. Get the word out by making flyers, and asking the Human Resources departments to disperse them to their employees.

4. Develop Retention and Loyalty Reward Plans

Once you reach your membership goals, you’ll want to stay on top of maintaining those numbers. Attracting new members to your gym is certainly a feat, but keeping them can be something more of an art. Customer service is a critical component of not only attracting new members but retaining them as well. You’ll want to keep your members happy and loyal by developing a solid, perhaps even rewarding retention plan so your business doesn’t become a revolving door.

Offering your first, or “founding”, members special treatment is one effort that can promise long-term retention from members. David Cardenas, Owner of CrossFit Windrose, kicked off his gym opening with a special offer for gaining and retaining members called “The Founders Club”. David limited the offer to the first 40 members and promised them exclusive deals to motivate participation.

Already an established gym? Austin Maleollo, Head Coach of Reebok CrossFit One and Co-Owner of One Nation Fitness, runs a “Committed Club” program, based on attendance at his gyms. You can easily track member attendance through your gym management software. Then, reward members who have the best attendance record with a prize or even a shout out on your website. Member satisfaction is essential to maintaining membership numbers, as the cost of customer acquisition is 5x higher than customer retention. So, although this strategy is last on this list–if you’re looking to grow your membership, be sure to invest within first.