What if every member at your gym paid you $205 per month?
How would that average revenue per member (ARM) affect your profitability?
Would that solidify your business?
Would it allow you to focus more on the clients you have instead of spending time trolling for more?
Would it allow you to keep your business open longer?
The data says yes.
Target No. 1: $205
The top 10 percent of gyms in our 2020 State of the Industry data set earned at least $205 per member per month. And the top Two-Brain gym in September 2021 earned double that much per member per month. But most microgyms are a long way away (less than $100 per member per month).
That means most microgyms need twice as many members to make the same revenue as the top gyms. But with twice as many members, they also need a lot more space and staff, and other expenses increase as well.
In other words, it takes most microgym owners 250 clients to make the same income as a Two-Brain gym with 100 clients.
Worse, gyms with over 150 clients are almost always the gyms with the worst retention rates. It’s an extremely fragile model.
I’m going to let the leaderboard champs tell you how to increase your ARM. The leaderboard above shows you what the top gyms in Two-Brain scored in ARM in September 2021. Here are the ways the people on that list got there:
“Two main things: sales and quality of packages. I spent a lot of time on sales training learning how to ask the real questions and get to (people’s) real issues of why they want to join our gym. Then we grouped our services (PT, nutrition and mindset) into one package and as a result were able to sell it at a higher rate.”
“I’ve focused on prescribing higher value services to prospective clients—PT packages and hybrid options. I start from the top of our sales binder with most folks and work my way down.”
“We work really hard to identify who belongs in group programs and who should do 1:1 programs.”
“I started sharing some of our goals with our staff. I decided it was time to share where I thought the gym could be with the team, where the opportunities are—I communicated ‘this is what you can do to make this happen.’ I gave them more focused goals based on achieving results—specific to their skill and focus—which was different than the past.”
They Were Like You
$205 ARM isn’t the right target for everyone. But it’s probably the first target for most gyms. And here’s the bonus: all of these gyms started with a low ARM, just as you might have!
